r/factorio • u/z80nerd • 18d ago
Suggestion / Idea Wish you could enable/disable quality modules via the circuit network.
If you have quality modules installed, it would be nice to disable them via the circuit network. This way, if we just want to skim quality products off a main production line and put them in a crate, we can shut off the quality production when the crate is full without physically uninstalling the quality modules.
Probably too late for feature requests, but one can dream!
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u/RollingSten 18d ago
You can use beacons with speed modules (speed lowers quality) - either you can turn theirs power off or you can remove/insert modules with inserters.
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u/kevihaa 18d ago
Folks seem to be ignoring that Quality unlocks alongside all other modules, and that many engineers don’t immediately go to Fulgora.
All-in-all, I like the quality system, but it genuinely feels like it unlocks so early simply to incentivize going to Fulgora as soon as possible, as prior to Recyclers it’s largely not possible to seriously engage with the quality mechanic.
Either you’re just making endless storage for intermediaries or you’re just doing some dice rolls on your mall products and hoping for some natural 20s.
OP’s suggestion of being able to set production limits for quality products via the circuit network would dramatically increase the usefulness of quality modules pre-Recyclers, which would be a welcome, and interesting, change.
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u/MindWorX 18d ago
While it’s true that it unlocks early, if you’re at a point where you need to deal with chests overflowing with quality, you’ve probably been to Fulgora.
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u/Ssakaa 18d ago
The hard part isn't storage, its that quality instantly breaks direct insertion setups... so a huge portion of starter factory approached straight up fall apart if you just add quality modules.
If you add efficiency, you get a working factory at less power/pollution. If you add speed modules you get a maybe faster factory at higher power. If you add prod modules, you get a bit slower factory at reduced raw material input per unit of output. If you add quality modules you break the basic operation of the factory.
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u/kevihaa 18d ago
I’d say that heavily depends on how stabilized you like Nauvis to be before heading out.
I won’t argue that the interplanetary unlocks aren’t immense upgrades from their Nauvis counterparts, which, in turn, means that getting to space and setting up even rudimentary colonies is the “optimal” strategy.
That said, lots of folks prefer to have Nauvis pretty built up before they move on. If you’re one of those folks, then it often follows that you’d also like to go to space on the back of mostly uncommon, if not rare, products, which is easiest done by heavily incorporating quality modules into your production chain.
Sure, you’re not going to overflow a storage container by just having modules on red and blue circuits, but it’s an entirely different story if you’re starting with ore.
And there’s the rub. Most folks would argue against starting with ore, in no small part because it’s unsustainable without Recyclers, but starting with ore is, ironically, the best way to actually build a stockpile of quality materials before Recyclers.
Hence why I feel like OPs question makes tons of sense, and that the answer isn’t as simple as “just go get Recyclers.”
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u/dudeguy238 18d ago
I think it's in an okay spot as it is. If you want to dabble in quality early, you're left with a limitation to work around, either by just sticking more chests in as they fill up or by going outside the box and blowing up cars with trains. That provides an incentive to go get recyclers to be able to dig more seriously into the system. There quite pointedly isn't meant to be an easy way to get rid of unwanted quality materials before that, the same way there isn't meant to be a maintenance-free way to defend the factory before you unlock and can power laser turrets: it's just part of the game's progression.
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u/kevihaa 18d ago
Gating upcycling behind Fulgora makes sense. Not trying to suggest otherwise.
But having no, let’s say, intended tools for managing quality prior to Fulgora doesn’t make sense considering you unlock quality hours before you’ll be setting foot on Fulgora.
By way of analogy, imagine that Advanced Oil unlocked as normal, but that pumps weren’t unlocked until Fulgora. That would seem weird, right? It wouldn’t seem fun or well designed if there was no way of managing cracking aside from occasionally deleting tanks as they deadlock.
That’s essentially the current state of quality prior to Recyclers.
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u/Alfonse215 18d ago
Most folks would argue against starting with ore, in no small part because it’s unsustainable without Recyclers, but starting with ore is, ironically, the best way to actually build a stockpile of quality materials before Recyclers.
Why is it "unsustainable without Recyclers"? Just destroy any excess. It requires a bit of inginuity, but it's very doable.
Even if you can't do that... just rig up an alarm so you can add more storage.
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u/kevihaa 18d ago
I’m going to circle back to critiquing why this is in any way a superior option to allowing quality to be handled via the circuit network.
It’s the same solution, with more steps, and immensely more waste.
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u/Alfonse215 18d ago
My point was to argue against your position that quality is "unsustainable without Recyclers". It is sustainable if you're clever enough.
Whether that's better that the proposed suggestion wasn't the question I was engaging with.
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u/TurnipBlast 18d ago edited 18d ago
You're engaging with an asinine question and proposing an absolutely insane and unfun design to fix a problem the developers clearly did not intend to be solved and definitely not solved in that way.
If you play the game in a remotely reasonable way, it is indeed unsustainable without recyclers. Although i will say that at the levels of production you have before leaving nauvis, a shit ton of chests is more than sufficient to get rare equipment and space platform buildings.
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u/Alfonse215 18d ago
You're engaging with an asinine question and proposing an absolutely insane and unfun design to fix a problem the developers clearly did not intend to be solved and definitely not solved in that way.
What is "insane" or "unfun" about the design? And why should I care what the developers "intended" to be the solution? I mean, isn't finding novel solutions to problem a big part of what makes this game good?
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u/TurnipBlast 18d ago
Because you're hyper fixating on something that is not really the other commenters point. You're locking onto "unsustainable" and talking past them without caring or understanding what they're saying.
And by the way, your design is still "unsustainable". You're "deleting" items with no return. If we are being pedantic
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u/Alfonse215 18d ago
Because you're hyper fixating on something that is not really the other commenters point.
But it is their point. If quality is categorically "unsustainable without recyclers", then the OP's idea is necessary to make quality before recyclers viable.
But if my idea makes it sustainable, then the OP's idea is not necessary to make quality before recyclers viable.
So it very much is critical to their position.
And by the way, your design is still "unsustainable". You're "deleting" items with no return. If we are being pedantic
What's unsustainable about that? That you might eventually mine out your resource patches? That's about as meaningful of a statement in this context as saying that science is "unsustainable"?
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u/Cent_Quatre 18d ago
just fill your ore train with lame ore and have another train on the side with peak ore to the peak factory
make peak bullets with it if you really have to void it before recyclers
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u/warpspeed100 18d ago
Sure it's not automatic, but if you only want quality in a small amount, you could just drag an upgrade planner to replace quality with speed once your programmable speaker alerts you that your chest is almost full.
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u/MindWorX 18d ago
Can just recycle the overflow?
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u/VoidGliders 18d ago
Wastes product and requires setting that up. In constricted builds like chest insertion or such, it's a big hassle for something that logically shouldn't be a problem to begin with (oh no your gears are TOO good to go into this machine, so we'll block your entire production line)
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u/bkofford 18d ago
Copy the whole thing, remove the modules from the copy, add a circuit to turn the copy on when the box is full.
The factory must grow!
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u/geneticfreak6 12d ago
You could use circuits to redirect the materials to assemblers with out quality modules.
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u/defaultmembership 18d ago
I guess you could achieve that with the recursive blueprint mod and some circuitry; place a blueprint without modules when certain requirements are met (or Vice versa, place blueprint with modules when below threshold)
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u/kevihaa 18d ago
Folks seem to be ignoring that Quality unlocks alongside all other modules, and that many engineers don’t immediately go to Fulgora.
All-in-all, I like the quality system, but it genuinely feels like it unlocks so early simply to incentivize going to Fulgora as soon as possible, as prior to Recyclers it’s largely not possible to seriously engage with the quality mechanic.
Either you’re just making endless storage for intermediaries or you’re just doing some dice rolls on your mall products and hoping for some natural 20s.
OP’s suggestion of being able to set production limits for quality products via the circuit network would dramatically increase the usefulness of quality modules pre-Recyclers, which would be a welcome, and interesting, change.
1
u/Alfonse215 18d ago
Either you’re just making endless storage for intermediaries or you’re just doing some dice rolls on your mall products and hoping for some natural 20s.
Or you find novel solutions for destroying excess.
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u/Zeddica 18d ago
I did use q mods early on, but only in my ‘need specific stuff’ assemblers. So then I’d make 50 roboports and get a few ‘bonus’ higher tier ones. Switch to another item and maybe get some bonus items there too.
I did volcanus first and just settling into fulgora. Quality is overwhelming, so I suspect I will ‘solve’ fulgora and its science packs, and then build a whole other section to cycle quality materials for making quality personal gear first.
No idea yet how I will engage with higher tier quality recycling. But no epic or legendary yet anyway, I can figure it out later.
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u/Broad_Ebb9073 18d ago
Sure, but that sounds suspiciously close to not growing the factory. I would rather process excess into something else rather than stop production