qol Little changes - Huge impact

[Sasza22]

4 hours ago, Grimgaw said:

massage room doesn't decrease stress

This one actually does. It gives -30% stress on top of the massage table bonus when in the room.

[goboking]

4 hours ago, Grimgaw said:

Bring back ability to change overlays in screenshot mode (Alt+S)

I have no idea why they changed this in the first place, but I certainly want the change reverted.

[peachkillu]

Cut pipes,wires,... without needing to completely disassemble a segment and rebuild it.

[paNdre]

Let us apply different colors to different electric networks

[goboking]

I, uh...yeah, I've got one more.  Sorry. 

• Revert the gas overlay to the old system wherein polluted oxygen was easier to spot.

[Sasza22]

Another one. For consistency sake. All raw minerals should have a triangle art when mined out. Stuff like ceramic should be a triangle, same for fossils (or just make it unable to build from them). Meanwhile lime and abyssalite should be a circle to indicate you can`t build regular stuff out of those.

[Lilalaunekuh]

Ok last call to post your own ideas, before I start a new thread with polls for the "controverse" changes.

(Most people (like me^^) just want consistency, but there are always 2 ways to make it consitent^^)

[Grimgaw]

48 minutes ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

before I start a new thread with polls for the "controverse" changes.

We're like 1% of whole player base. Please don't do polls unless you can, somehow, cover all bases and aren't biased in any way.

Pretty much every poll made on this forums was useless stroking of OP's ego.

[Lilalaunekuh]

Just now, Grimgaw said:

Pretty much every poll made on this forums was useless stroking of OP's ego.

That was my reason to start his thread here.

I know we are just a small fraction of the player base discussing here, but I think real "consistency problems" can´t have a bias.

Spoiler

The new features and many other suggestions will always be biased. (Even the order of the answers I present, will result in some bias^^).

 

For consistency issues there are always examples for more than one way to do something implemented in the game.

(That´s the definition for conistency issues.)

=> If I just present consistency issues I can reduce the bias, by just presenting current game mechanics.

 

Example:

Problem: Wire briges couldn´t be deconstructed when in the power filter

Solution 1: Let every filter behave like the power filter.

Solution 2: Let the power filter behave like every other filter.

=> Not beeing biased isn´t possible, but by just presenting consistency problems I can reduce the bias.

 

But I can´t cover every base and if I wait to long the "critical phase" to submit new ideas to the developers will be over.

I never excepted to cover everything and it wasn´t my goal here. (I don´t wanted a suggestions forum 2.0 ...)

=> My goal was just to draw more attention to at least some of the "little" inconsistencies.

[Grimgaw]

23 minutes ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

My goal was just to draw more attention to at least some of the "little" inconsistencies.

And you and all others in this thread did that. Devs read this thread (and forums), we know that - they told us.

Game development isn't some democracy where majority of players get to make decisions (and polls on this forums are really not even close to majority).

[Lilalaunekuh]

21 minutes ago, Grimgaw said:

Game development isn't some democracy where majority of players get to make decisions

But a developer will always approach his own game with a preset mindset.

Most of the time a developer will not really think about it like a player.

=> Our input could help to improve the overall player experience.

(And a could is enough for me to justify the time to start a poll ^^)

Spoiler

Like letting low amounts merge when they rush into a vacuume.

Sounds like no big deal if we just talk about little amounts of matter conversion .

 

But as a player your more looking to exploit such a system and you might encounter stuff a delevoper will not.

 

 

[Gus Smedstad]

On 4/5/2019 at 5:33 PM, goboking said:

• Either allow us to build mechanical airlocks out of ceramic or insulation, or add a standalone insulated airlock to the game.

This one has burned me in the past. Or rather, it scalded my Dupes. I've built something which gets really, really hot and forgotten that the door was going to conduct the heat.

There's a workaround, which is to always build vacuum airlocks when you need something like this. It's one area where proper airlocks are better than the waterlocks that most players seem to prefer.

[minespatch]

I'd like a boxing bag for destructive dupes.

[Lilalaunekuh]

Sry guys a bit more caught up in work the last days than I was expecting.

=> If someone is in the mood feel free and start a thread with polls using the ideas we collected here.

Spoiler

Else I will do it when I have enough time to write something a bit more elaborate.

 

[Nitroturtle]

Here's something I'd like to see that I haven't seen mentioned.  How about making it so hotkeys apply their action on the selected item if appropriate?  For example, if I have a tile selected and I press the hotkey that usually enters deconstruction mode, it just marks the selected item for deconstruction.  Or if I have a section of pipe selected and I press the hotkey for empty pipe, it marks the selected pipe to be emptied?

[Gus Smedstad]

42 minutes ago, Nitroturtle said:

  How about making it so hotkeys apply their action on the selected item if appropriate? 

I’d turn that option off if it were available. I’d be marking things to deconstruct unintentionally all the time.

[Nitroturtle]

With sickness becoming a more common occurance, it gives dupes yet another chance to drop items and clear the sweep flag.  When items are marked to be swept, they should remain marked to be swept until they end up in a container. 

[Sasza22]

24 minutes ago, Nitroturtle said:

With sickness becoming a more common occurance, it gives dupes yet another chance to drop items and clear the sweep flag.  When items are marked to be swept, they should remain marked to be swept until they end up in a container. 

Same with critters. A dropped critter should either remain wrangled/bagged or remain marked for wrangle.

[Aevum]

On 30/03/2019 at 1:55 PM, Lilalaunekuh said:

I Your input:

 

• Either allow us to build mechanical airlocks out of ceramic or insulation, or add a standalone insulated airlock to the game.

 

I think this should be expanded upon. It would be nice to see the airlocks in the game just work better in terms of keeping gasses separate.

Waterlocks are counter-intuitive and new players will not generally know about them without digging through guides. They are also so effective they are borderline essential to running a smooth base.

Manual/automatic airlock doors as they are in the game right now are unbelievably ineffective, compared to waterlocks.

Having an intuitive airlock option added to the game that is effective like waterlocks would make the new player experience 1000% better.

 

[Gus Smedstad]

2 hours ago, Aevum said:

Waterlocks are counter-intuitive and new players will not generally know about them without digging through guides. They are also so effective they are borderline essential to running a smooth base.

Manual/automatic airlock doors as they are in the game right now are unbelievably ineffective, compared to waterlocks.

This is not true. Waterlocks being “borderline essential” or automatic airlock doors being “ineffective.”

I ran my colony to cycle 1300-ish without ever using a waterlock. Every time I wanted an airlock, I built a door / pump / door setup. Worked fine every time.

There seems to be a mass misconception that vacuum locks don’t work or leak gas. They do work, and they don’t leak gas. Gas pumps have no trouble keeping up even with fairly heavy traffic. Gases don’t move very quickly on their own.

I guess you could argue that this is “counter intuitive,” since a number of people think they don’t work, without ever having tried them. But I’d argue that how to build them’s pretty obvious.

Pros and cons: Waterlocks don’t require power or plumbing. Pump airlocks don’t require a dip in the floor, don’t inflict the “soaking wet” debuff, don’t transmit heat, and work even if the other side of the airlock is at 200 C or above.

A lot of new players seem to think airlock doors are self-contained airlocks, preventing air and water movement even while open. That’s clearly not the designer intent. They probably should be more clearly labeled “doors” rather than just “airlocks.”

[Lilalaunekuh]

4 hours ago, Aevum said:

Waterlocks are counter-intuitive and new players will not generally know about them without ...

For most players I know (including me) was it the first thought, when it comes to seperating rooms without gas exchange.

=> It´s more about common knowledge than knowing anything about the game.

 

4 hours ago, Aevum said:

Manual/automatic airlock doors as they are in the game right now are unbelievably ineffective, compared to waterlocks.

They shouldn´t call it an airlock. It´s just a door and except the name nothing promises you a perfect separation.

 

 

[pacovf]

It’s an airlock door, in the sense that it’s the door from an airlock, not in that it’s a door that *makes* an airlock.

But yeah, it can be confusing 

[Aevum]

 

1 hour ago, pacovf said:

It’s an airlock door, in the sense that it’s the door from an airlock, not in that it’s a door that *makes* an airlock.

But yeah, it can be confusing 

It's not exactly confusing, nobody is under the assumption that an airlock door would perfectly separate gasses. The ingame description and the look of the door are doing a perfectly fine job at showing that they are not supposed to separate gasses in rooms on their own without causing confusion.

 

The problem is that they are just very ineffective compared to filling not even 2 full tiles of total volume with liquid and calling it a day. Yeah you can run a base without liquidlocks, even use the door/pump/door configuration to keep gasses from passing through, but liquidlocks are just far more effective and efficient, which is silly and counter-intuitive.

It would even be fine if an effective airlock building was something that you can only get much later in the game, then people can still use liquidlocks early for efficiency if they want to. But new players would have an an intuitive solution waiting for them there.

 

It would make designing a base that more resembles the promotional screenshots for the game like this one a lot more viable.

[Lilalaunekuh]

1 hour ago, Aevum said:

Yeah you can run a base without liquidlocks, even use the door/pump/door configuration to keep gasses from passing through, but liquidlocks are just far more effective and efficient, which is silly and counter-intuitive.

Liquidlocks are what kind of efficient is the question:

1. Efficient to set up: Yes

2. Space efficient: Yes (better than most other locks with a good gas seperation)

3. Duplicant time efficient (use): OK, but not perfect

A liquid lock will always add to the travel time of a duplicant, so it´s not the perfect solution.

=> There is still potential to optimize in the late game, but if you want to trade space and power for travel time is an other question.

 

Spoiler

But why is it counterintuitive that this ancient design is so good?

Even in real life most "air locks" that rely on pumping gas are much slower than jumping into a little siphon filled with water and a ladder on both sides.

 

[Gus Smedstad]

2 hours ago, Aevum said:

 

It's not exactly confusing, nobody is under the assumption that an airlock door would perfectly separate gasses. 

You’d be surprised. “Airlocks are broken” is something I’ve seen new players write fairly often. Because apparently enough people do think the airlock doors are full-fledged airlocks for it to be noticeable.

53 minutes ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

3. Duplicant time efficient (use): OK, but not perfect

A liquid lock will always add to the travel time of a duplicant, so it´s not the perfect solution.

That’s part of why I never use waterlocks. Dropping down and climbing up takes time, as does going through the “eww, wet” animation. Against that you have to weigh the time for automatic airlock doors to open, which while fast, is still a slight delay.

The other part is purely a personal preference - I find waterlocks inelegant, and building a gas pump lock feels like I’m doing it “right.”  I don’t feel strongly enough about it to really advocate for them, since I’m aware waterlocks have their advantages as well. I only spoke up here because of the claim that they were significantly inferior, which isn’t so. As I said, each solution has its advantages, and to my mind they’re kinda-sorta equivalent for that reason. In a “six of one, half dozen of the other” sense.