Lazy Bastard changed how I play this game

[DruAndrew]

Since getting Space Age, I decided that I would go for the Lazy Bastard achievement on this run, and it has really changed how I look at and play the game. I knew it would take longer to get through the early game- and it was a real grind. but once I got past that bit- it has made the rest of my game so much better.

Historically I relied a lot on hand crafting as a way to put off solving the current problem I should deal with, so I could instead pursue a more exciting problem that I don't really need to deal with yet.

With this current run- because i needed to have a production line for literally everything I needed more than one of- I just got to solving all those early and easier problems right off the top. And since those early/easy items were already setup, all my later problems were much easier to solve.

Now that I have the achievement and am working on getting to my 2nd planet- I have had the ability to hand craft for a week or so now, but I really haven't used hand crafting at all except to build upgraded armor, (I visited Fulgora first- it was really hard to solve but completely sold me on how fantastic this expansion really is.) and even that was way faster because I already had all the ingredients made, so I just had to have my robots deliver me enough of the ingredients, and I could just hand craft the new thing I want, and not have to wait for a bunch of intermediate things to happen first.

Aside from a desire to express an appreciation for the expansion- my real point here is to encourage you to go for Lazy Bastard if you haven't gotten it yet. The beginning is much slower, but it becomes much faster once you get a basic production line going.

The secret to getting it done is to turn off hand crafting using the /permissions menu once you have your first machine built. Also "pinning" that achievement is really helpful to keep track of how many things you have hand crafted. I totally messed up on my first attempt and having that pinned gave me the ability to start over once I realized I messed up.

Happy engineering!

[Chindraba]

Originally posted by DruAndrew:

Since getting Space Age, I decided that I would go for the Lazy Bastard achievement on this run, and it has really changed how I look at and play the game. I knew it would take longer to get through the early game- and it was a real grind. but once I got past that bit- it has made the rest of my game so much better.

Congrats! And, great lessons come from hard challenges.

Originally posted by DruAndrew:

The secret to getting it done is to turn off hand crafting using the /permissions menu once you have your first machine built.

Permission menu not even necessary, Just unbind the keys.

Even after a rocket launch I don't hand-craft. For so many things it's simpler to just use a pocket assembler. The machine can be working its magic while I do other things and the finished thing will be there when I'm ready. For armor upgrades I'm probably also going to want more and/or better equipment as well. I can set a few assemblers to making all that and it will be done much sooner than if I hand craft each of the single, or limited quantity items. I could make the mech suit, a couple more legs, upgrade the batteries to MK3 and get a trio of extra personal roboports from machines all in the minute I would have to wait for just the mech suit when hand-crafted.

[DruAndrew]

The /permissions is because I used to have a bad habit of clicking the thing I want without thinking about it. no unbind would save me from that mistake- it is part of why I had a false-start on my first attempt. I ABSOLUTELY solved a lot of on the filed issues with a pocket assembler, and continue to use that for some situations. I even have a dedicated machine right by my re-spawn on Nauvis so I can rebuild or use the requester chest next to it for a fresh loadout (or at least the stuff I need/want to get to my corpse)

Like I said, I have only hand crafted that one armor upgrade since I got the achievement- and that was mostly because I was running around tying up loose ends before heading out to my next planet, and I didn't want to leave it behind because I forgot it after getting side tracked.

[Navin]

Lazy Bastard also taught me to play properly, hand crafting is for luddites

[Chindraba]

Originally posted by DruAndrew:

The /permissions is because I used to have a bad habit of clicking the thing I want without thinking about it. no unbind would save me from that mistake- it is part of why I had a false-start on my first attempt. I ABSOLUTELY solved a lot of on the filed issues with a pocket assembler, and continue to use that for some situations. I even have a dedicated machine right by my re-spawn on Nauvis so I can rebuild or use the requester chest next to it for a fresh loadout (or at least the stuff I need/want to get to my corpse)

Like I said, I have only hand crafted that one armor upgrade since I got the achievement- and that was mostly because I was running around tying up loose ends before heading out to my next planet, and I didn't want to leave it behind because I forgot it after getting side tracked.

Try it. Open the key binds and make "Craft 1" 'Not set' by right-clicking it. Then try hand-crafting anything, even a simple wooden chest.

[Hurkyl]

While I agree the OP seem to have missed the point that unbinding can solve the same problem that the /permissions menu solves, I do prefer /permissions solution to the unbinding one since it's narrower in scope. I don't have to rebind it to play a new game or an older save, or risk forgetting to re-unbind it if I pick up the LB save again, or other similar things.

[mrxak]

Congrats. With parameterized blueprints it's never been easier to set up new factories for any item you might possibly want to build. I recommend anyone play, even if they are doing some hand crafting, to make parameterized blueprints for generic builds. It's a huge time saver.

[Quillithe]

As a note, the moment I get bots I basically don't hand craft ever again. Just keep a bot fed assember blueprint with a limited box size and I drop it whenever, because if I want 1 of something I may as well make a whole stack, even if it's not important enough for a 'real' (non-bot) production line

[DruAndrew]

Originally posted by Chindraba:

Try it. Open the key binds and make "Craft 1" 'Not set' by right-clicking it. Then try hand-crafting anything, even a simple wooden chest.

I see now. I just didn't know about that. I had read on another thread about the /permissions trick- so that's just the first way I learned how to skin that particular cat. Though now that you bring that to my attention, checking the bindings would be a worthy exercise for me as there are plenty of controls/commands that might make my life easier.

[DruAndrew]

Originally posted by Hurkyl:

While I agree the OP seem to have missed the point that unbinding can solve the same problem that the /permissions menu solves, I do prefer /permissions solution to the unbinding one since it's narrower in scope. I don't have to rebind it to play a new game or an older save, or risk forgetting to re-unbind it if I pick up the LB save again, or other similar things.

Yeah, I totally didn't even realize that was a thing that could be done. I hadn't messed with the permissions tab yet when I learned about the trick I used. It is cool to learn that there are other ways to do that, though from my experience- the permissions tab worked great.

[Chindraba]

Originally posted by Hurkyl:

While I agree the OP seem to have missed the point that unbinding can solve the same problem that the /permissions menu solves, I do prefer /permissions solution to the unbinding one since it's narrower in scope. I don't have to rebind it to play a new game or an older save, or risk forgetting to re-unbind it if I pick up the LB save again, or other similar things.

My issue with the hand-crafting wasn't forgetting to not hand-craft, it was clicking in the "craft" panel rather than in the inventory when I wanted to "pick up" something. For some reason I look right before looking left, find what I want and click it. Then I close the menu to place it and find my 'hand' is empty.

Setting the keybind, in my case to Ctrl+Shift+LMB allows me to hand-craft at will, in all games, and prevents the "miss-click" of failed targeting. I don't have any issues with forgetting I'm doing LB, because it's natural for me anyway. Even after a rocket launch and over 1000 hours on a map the hand-crafted count is still at 104 unless I've intentionally made a spare furnace and miner in the beginning. (The only time I've used the original furnace to make the boiler was in my 100% run.)

I set the keybind to the alternate and keep it there for all plays, even when I replayed the tutorial.