Copy/Paste Feature

[TheLostWorldJP]

I have a lot of factories that use the same general layout. Will there ever be a copy/paste feature to place groups of items at once?

[Aven]

27 pages of posts on blueprints, what's one more thread?

For me, I feel blueprints reduce innovation. My current "standard" factory is the product of over 300 hours of trial and error. This "standard" is nothing more than a set of guidelines I follow for consistent design and implementation, and it isn't something that would even benefit from a blueprinting system since I actually work with the terrain which makes every factory unique.

I could see a benefit to more zooping options, maybe even with some adjustable offsets, but anything more is going to be riding slippery slope, one that eventually leads to downloadable "best factory for x," and where new players become increasingly reliant on community designs rather than learning the game for themselves.

[BIT Bear]

Blueprinting function similar to that of Factorio would be an excellent addition BUT may also be to the detriment of the game whereas lazy players would copy/paste others their designs without trying things for themselves and burns creativity and fun. (I had this with a friend in Factorio multiplayer before and it sort of ruined the fun for me.)

Edit: I'm not against the idea. In fact for me it could be really useful. But maybe we can have features like these on a toggle before making a new save?

[⎛⎝Duckers McQuack⎠⎞]

smart u6 on the mod site can at least multi place as many of the same factory you want, but it'a quite buggy with belts and splitters atm, but at least placing factories and platforms is super easy to mass spawn (it still uses resources on hand, so ain't cheating, just more productive)

[Muu]

Originally posted by Aven:

27 pages of posts on blueprints, what's one more thread?

For me, I feel blueprints reduce innovation.

No.

[Aven]

Originally posted by Princess Muu-Muu:

Originally posted by Aven:

27 pages of posts on blueprints, what's one more thread?

For me, I feel blueprints reduce innovation.

No.

Care to elaborate?

[TheLostWorldJP]

Originally posted by Aven:

27 pages of posts on blueprints, what's one more thread?

For me, I feel blueprints reduce innovation. My current "standard" factory is the product of over 300 hours of trial and error. This "standard" is nothing more than a set of guidelines I follow for consistent design and implementation, and it isn't something that would even benefit from a blueprinting system since I actually work with the terrain which makes every factory unique.

I could see a benefit to more zooping options, maybe even with some adjustable offsets, but anything more is going to be riding slippery slope, one that eventually leads to downloadable "best factory for x," and where new players become increasingly reliant on community designs rather than learning the game for themselves.

I agree actually. I was just working on a 100+ machine factory and wasn't looking forward to all of the conveyor belt connections. The game would get boring if you didn't have to do the core game mechanic.

However, a reduced copy tool (not blueprint savable, just temporary copyable) that limited a selection of 5-10 items could be balanced. All of my factories (even those that are different from each other in design) have duplicated repeated sets of machines in certain configurations. Like a splitter going into 3 machines then into a merger is pretty uniformly the same across all of my factories. There would still be a lot of manual work to get the factories running. It would just reduce the amount of time to do the tedious repetitive connections that are the same for 100+ machines.

The copy tool could toggle between the original heights of the machines when copied and snapping to the height of the terrain.

[Muu]

Originally posted by Aven:

Originally posted by Princess Muu-Muu:

No.

Care to elaborate?

No.

[Bookslayer10]

Originally posted by Princess Muu-Muu:

Originally posted by Aven:

Care to elaborate?

No.

Is this you elaborating, or are you denying their request to elaborate?


Honestly, I just don't think a blueprint system is needed. Assembling giant factories would be sped up just as much by adding in ways to automatically connect belts, zoop buildings, or power machines without wires using endgame tech.

Maybe if you build the same factory in different places multiple times it would be more useful, or if you use other people's designs to not need to create anything yourself.

[mxsuzuki458]

It would be nice to have a personalized set of blueprints you can save as in being able to copy something you have already made in game but not able to import from outside. I just started a cylindrical build for my plastic and rubber manufacturing and its going to be 16 floors of hell. I am about 8 hours into it and I'm almost done with the first floor. It would be dope to be able to just lay the foundations and copy/paste all the machines, pipes and belts to the next floor and just have to hook everything up but that isn't gonna be the case. The hard part is configuring the first floor layout so everything fits and works right but I figure I can probably bang out a floor an hour after I get the ball rolling. Either way, I'm in it for the long haul now...

[The Big Brzezinski]

I see no purpose for this. I have never found a situation where it would've been helpful to replicate a factory. Only one source for a given product is ever needed. I draw iron plates from the same factory box at phase four as I did at phase two.

I foresee blueprints quickly leading to Nexus pages full of other people's factories you can use off the shelf instead of designing something yourself. At that point, you're just having other people play the game for you.

[redboy023]

Wow, the Game Designers completely missed the point of why you would want to have the option to create in game blue prints. If you take the time to create your power plant or to create your iron manufacturing area you want this for each mine not just once. Why would I want to spend the time to place everything again. Ever heard of insanity, doing the same thing over and over.
No, and here is an example of how you could do it and bring value. No freebies.

You should be able to create a blueprint in game of something you created using three points to map the object. Save it with a name for your new construction showing your building and being able to rotate it by showing a small picture of it so you can set the front of your construction. You would need to place one foundation block to set the height and place your construction. This will create a large 3 dimensional block showing construction signs around it with no entry. There will be one belt input and one belt output. The input will be for all the materials that are needed to create your construction. The output is for any items loaded to the constructions that is not needed so the belt does not get stuck.
This makes sure that you still need to create all of the building materials for your construction. This does not take away from the creation but adds to the need to mass produce and spread across your map. You still need to build and to optimize as you go.

[iFred]

It doesnt make any sense for whole factories. It would make sense for me if you can save custom sets as a blueprint, like a miner-building or a manufacturer on a foundation with glass fronts and conveyor-connections, but thats it.

Factory blueprints dont make any sense.

[Bookslayer10]

Originally posted by redboy023:

Wow, the Game Designers completely missed the point of why you would want to have the option to create in game blue prints. If you take the time to create your power plant or to create your iron manufacturing area you want this for each mine not just once. Why would I want to spend the time to place everything again. Ever heard of insanity, doing the same thing over and over.

Do you really make the exact same thing over and over again though? I rarely have enough space to put down a clone of a factory anyway, even if I want the same products with the same recipes with the same resources nearby.

If the building in this game should be sped up, then easier ways to place buildings, hook up power, or connect belts is the way to do it. It has more control, uses more easily implemented systems, and matches what's currently in the game.

[Man's Best Friend]

Originally posted by Bookslayer10:

Originally posted by redboy023:

Wow, the Game Designers completely missed the point of why you would want to have the option to create in game blue prints. If you take the time to create your power plant or to create your iron manufacturing area you want this for each mine not just once. Why would I want to spend the time to place everything again. Ever heard of insanity, doing the same thing over and over.

Do you really make the exact same thing over and over again though? I rarely have enough space to put down a clone of a factory anyway, even if I want the same products with the same recipes with the same resources nearby.

If the building in this game should be sped up, then easier ways to place buildings, hook up power, or connect belts is the way to do it. It has more control, uses more easily implemented systems, and matches what's currently in the game.

Whole factories? No. But components within a factory, like an entire row of assemblers all connected to common input and output lines? Yes, all the damned time. Copy and paste doesn't need to be powerful enough to copy an entire factory in one go. However, the ability to copy a single machine with all its belts and splitters/mergers already attached and aligned to easily connect to central lines that carry inputs or outputs would be fantastic. There isn't really anything to optimize at that level, and all it's really doing is removing the tedium of setting up the same belts over and over again. Even if it can't directly attach to existing belts it still reduces the tedium of placing every single belt and splitter/merger individually.

[Bookslayer10]

Originally posted by HTTP Error 418: I'm a teapot:

Originally posted by Bookslayer10:

Do you really make the exact same thing over and over again though? I rarely have enough space to put down a clone of a factory anyway, even if I want the same products with the same recipes with the same resources nearby.

If the building in this game should be sped up, then easier ways to place buildings, hook up power, or connect belts is the way to do it. It has more control, uses more easily implemented systems, and matches what's currently in the game.

Whole factories? No. But components within a factory, like an entire row of assemblers all connected to common input and output lines? Yes, all the damned time. Copy and paste doesn't need to be powerful enough to copy an entire factory in one go. However, the ability to copy a single machine with all its belts and splitters/mergers already attached and aligned to easily connect to central lines that carry inputs or outputs would be fantastic. There isn't really anything to optimize at that level, and all it's really doing is removing the tedium of setting up the same belts over and over again. Even if it can't directly attach to existing belts it still reduces the tedium of placing every single belt and splitter/merger individually.

I could see something like that being added. Being able to zoop buildings, using foundations that connect machines on them to power, or having ways to automatically connect belts would achieve the same goal though, so a copy and paste feature isn't really needed specifically.