Petroleum Generator Researched Before Plastic

[Kairanis]

The Petroleum Generator uses the plastic resource. This is all well and good, but it's very strange to have a pre-plastic building require it. Looking at the research tree, you don't research plastic until immediately after the generator, making the building's placement in the research tree completely useless. Should probably cut the plastic requirement or add it to the plastic research. The plastic-based luxuries, I can understand - they're in a different research line entirely - but this is one particular thing that bugs me.

[LeadfootSlim]

A lot of the research requires other research before it's viable - you want to run Natural Gas or Hydrogen generators without Filtration? Good luck..

[Kairanis]

I suck with words. Let me try this again.

https://gyazo.com/984fb5e236fb27e9b37eb56d37f1c7f5 <-- This is what I'm talking about. 

You research the petroleum generator under Fossil Fuels. At this point, you still cannot make plastic. In the immediate next research along the same line, which Fossil Fuels is required for, you can then research Plastic Manufacturing.

The issue here is not that you have to do other research, not at all. I have no problem going down a separate line of research to get Filtration before my Internal Combustion will work without destroying my Hydrogen Generator. It's separate and has its own vast array of uses.

My issues are these exact details, exclusively in combination with and context of each other:

 - Fossil Fuels does not give you plastic in any way, shape, or form. On its own, not a problem.

 - The Petroleum Generator requires plastic to be built at all. Once more, on its own, no complaints.

 - The Petroleum Generator is part of Fossil Fuels, rather than Plastic Manufacturing. Again, no complaints.

 - You are physically required to research Fossil Fuels before Plastic Manufacturing. If it was only this, no problem!

These details combined, however, mean that the Petroleum Generator is a dead schematic (you can't even start building it while you wait) until you finish the next research in that line. Why did they require plastic to build this thing, and then have it unlocked before plastic can be researched at all? It serves no purpose here.

My suggestion, then, is to do one (not both) of the following:

 - Move the Petroleum Generator to Plastic Manufacturing, at which point it can actually be constructed. Sure, the research seems a little less organized, but then you can just keep the plastic requirement without having a schematic you can't even build.

 - Remove plastic from the list of materials used to construct the Petroleum Generator. This one makes a little more sense, given that it fits just fine into Fossil Fuels, but then it's easier to build. Could always increase the other material costs to compensate.

 

By contrast, we have the example situation LeadfootSlim presented:

Quote

You want to run Natural Gas or Hydrogen generators without Filtration? Good luck..

This is absolutely correct. You need to research Ventilation to use the Gas Pump, or you can't collect Natural Gas or Hydrogen for those generators. You need to research Filtration to sort out the gasses that would otherwise damage said generators. You are capable of researching the Natural Gas and Hydrogen generators without Ventilation or Filtration. However, this does not fit in well with the point I am attempting to make.

For reference: https://gyazo.com/92254fcc09458d883ec48c0849eb00cb

Neither Ventilation nor Filtration requires you to first research Internal Combustion. You can research them relative to each other in any order you please, but this is not the case for Fossil Fuels and Plastic Manufacturing. These two must be researched in their exact order. Fossil Fuels comes first. You don't have the option to get plastic first, so when you research Fossil Fuels, the Petroleum Generator will always be useless.

With its lengthy construction time, this makes a bit of a difference. If I research Internal Combustion and Ventilation before Filtration, I can at least build the Hydrogen Generator, Gas Pump, and the majority of the vents while I wait for the Filtration research to be completed.

Edits: Various grammar mistakes. Added Gyazo images. Tried to be more specific.