GIGAFACTORIES

Suggestions for new DLC projects.
PinoX7
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GIGAFACTORIES

Post by PinoX7 »

Much like Elon's Gigafactory concept, Raw material comes in one end, and a 100% finished product comes out the other end.

Yes basically I would like larger factories, this could be done two ways, hopefully both.

Either with a larger floor plan perhaps 5x5 (larger world map footprint as well)
and/or 2x2 expansions for warehouse, storage, marketing, prep-work that you could expand from.

I know you can already build your own gigafactories with many many large ones. (I had one that took up 1/4th of the city myself) But I would like the option to step it up
Rusty Gamer
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by Rusty Gamer »

I am actually for the idea of having new sizes for buildings which would also mean new layout sizes.

I would like to see a "Tiny" size, retail stores, factories etc which are only 2x2 layout. As such, they would use up less land space and obviously cost less in general.

I wouldn't jump from a 3x3 to a 5x5 but maybe to a 4x4 at first. Each extended layout might have to be researched.

I would also like the option to be able to expand or shrink the current building. Currently we can relocate or demolish/sell but we can't alter the size. If we were to expand the building then obviously this would require buying more of the surrounding land.

Under this idea, there could also be more varied layouts, such as a 2x3, 3x4 etc. Perhaps you would be limited in expanding the direction of your building depending on what surrounding land is available.

You could funny events like a cantenkerous old man is holding out for more money or just refusing to leave his home and he's lying down in front of the bulldozer. :)
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David
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by David »

This is an interesting idea and is worth exploring further.
Spac3y
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by Spac3y »

Rusty Gamer wrote:I am actually for the idea of having new sizes for buildings which would also mean new layout sizes.

I would like to see a "Tiny" size, retail stores, factories etc which are only 2x2 layout. As such, they would use up less land space and obviously cost less in general.

I wouldn't jump from a 3x3 to a 5x5 but maybe to a 4x4 at first. Each extended layout might have to be researched.

I would also like the option to be able to expand or shrink the current building. Currently we can relocate or demolish/sell but we can't alter the size. If we were to expand the building then obviously this would require buying more of the surrounding land.

Under this idea, there could also be more varied layouts, such as a 2x3, 3x4 etc. Perhaps you would be limited in expanding the direction of your building depending on what surrounding land is available.

You could funny events like a cantenkerous old man is holding out for more money or just refusing to leave his home and he's lying down in front of the bulldozer. :)
Rusty, I do like the sound of this. Especially when your in a crowded city can can just put down another 3x3 store because theirs no space, but you could expand it a sqare by square which would fit in very nicely. It would be nice to get more options than the 9 square grid we have currently, the extra floors took care of some of this, but expanding from the 3x3 space to a 4x4 or even 5x5 would allow more products in stores and be great.

I am chuckling at the cantenkerous old man scenario, thats a very good idea actually, perhaps they might even want 1% of your stock...depends on how important it is to you :D
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eleaza
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by eleaza »

Spac3y wrote:
Rusty Gamer wrote:I am actually for the idea of having new sizes for buildings which would also mean new layout sizes.

I would like to see a "Tiny" size, retail stores, factories etc which are only 2x2 layout. As such, they would use up less land space and obviously cost less in general.

I wouldn't jump from a 3x3 to a 5x5 but maybe to a 4x4 at first. Each extended layout might have to be researched.

I would also like the option to be able to expand or shrink the current building. Currently we can relocate or demolish/sell but we can't alter the size. If we were to expand the building then obviously this would require buying more of the surrounding land.

Under this idea, there could also be more varied layouts, such as a 2x3, 3x4 etc. Perhaps you would be limited in expanding the direction of your building depending on what surrounding land is available.

You could funny events like a cantenkerous old man is holding out for more money or just refusing to leave his home and he's lying down in front of the bulldozer. :)
Rusty, I do like the sound of this. Especially when your in a crowded city can can just put down another 3x3 store because theirs no space, but you could expand it a sqare by square which would fit in very nicely. It would be nice to get more options than the 9 square grid we have currently, the extra floors took care of some of this, but expanding from the 3x3 space to a 4x4 or even 5x5 would allow more products in stores and be great.

I am chuckling at the cantenkerous old man scenario, thats a very good idea actually, perhaps they might even want 1% of your stock...depends on how important it is to you :D
Perhaps we should make it so the interior layout is exactly matching the exterior unit shape, like 1 tile in the main map is mapping to the shape of usable units inside (and different sized unit can be mapped to the output tile?). Or is this too much of a change to the core mechanism, and best left for the next new project?
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megapolis
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by megapolis »

I think that the game has grown up from this lovely mini-game with 3x3 layout. All the perfect layouts are simple and well-known. Adding 5x5 layout won't change it. I already suggested the opposite in the past.
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by David »

Actually we are thinking about taking the gigafactory suggestion to an even larger scale, allowing the player to create a factory with a 10x10 layout or even larger.

And the manufacturing methods will increase from supporting a maximum of 3 inputs to 5 inputs or even more.

This will be a DLC and its gameplay is not to be complementary to the base game but to curve out a new style of gameplay on its own, for those players who like optimizing factories to achieve maximum efficiency.

Of course, this is just a very rough idea at this stage, like other ideas proposed on this "new DLC suggestions" forum.
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eleaza
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by eleaza »

David wrote:Actually we are thinking about taking the gigafactory suggestion to an even larger scale, allowing the player to create a factory with a 10x10 layout or even larger.

And the manufacturing methods will increase from supporting a maximum of 3 inputs to 5 inputs or even more.

This will be a DLC and its gameplay is not to be complementary to the base game but to curve out a new style of gameplay on its own, for those players who like optimizing factories to achieve maximum efficiency.

Of course, this is just a very rough idea at this stage, like other ideas proposed on this "new DLC suggestions" forum.
This feels like more like a factory line management game mechanics. Perhaps not just more input material types per product, but also with much longer product line chain, like instead of max 4 steps like automobile chain in current base game (and most products are just 2 steps usually), we can have most products with much longer chain (like 4 to 5), and very complex products have 10s or more steps. Then it will definitely worth a DLC, even a completely new game (it will be especially fun if the interior is not exactly as perfect square, but have shapes determined by exterior expansion). The only concern might be will this mechanics too complex for new players, and will it be too laggy late in the game, as well as how will AI corporations handle it? (much more default layouts for AI to choose from? how will AI deal with different interior shapes? Or simply limited AI to just the old 3x3? But will AI still be able to compete with human optimization?)
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David
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by David »

This feels like more like a factory line management game mechanics. Perhaps not just more input material types per product, but also with much longer product line chain, like instead of max 4 steps like automobile chain in current base game (and most products are just 2 steps usually), we can have most products with much longer chain (like 4 to 5), and very complex products have 10s or more steps.
That's right.
Then it will definitely worth a DLC, even a completely new game (it will be especially fun if the interior is not exactly as perfect square, but have shapes determined by exterior expansion). The only concern might be will this mechanics too complex for new players
I would assume that people who buy DLCs are experienced players already.
and will it be too laggy late in the game,
AI processing is the most CPU intensive part of the game's processing. Just having a larger layout should not be a big burden to the game speed.
as well as how will AI corporations handle it? (much more default layouts for AI to choose from? how will AI deal with different interior shapes? Or simply limited AI to just the old 3x3? But will AI still be able to compete with human optimization?)
This is a good question. AI will be inferior to human players on utilizing large layouts with so many possible configurations. The only way for this DLC to work is not shift the focus of the game from competing with the AI to something else, while retaining other compelling elements of the game.

Right now, we are thinking of shifting the focus to export - like CES DLC's export system and pitching the companies in the game against overseas competitors.

The export volumes will be tremendously larger than CES DLC. For instance, it will make a lot of sense to set up gigafactories for exporting tens of thousands of cars to overseas markets.

The player's goal will be to set up complex layouts in gigafactories that maximize production capacity and efficiency, and ultimately make lots of money from selling them to overseas markets.

What do you think about this design direction?
megapolis
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Re: GIGAFACTORIES

Post by megapolis »

David wrote: The export volumes will be tremendously larger than CES DLC. For instance, it will make a lot of sense to set up gigafactories for exporting tens of thousands of cars to overseas markets.

The player's goal will be to set up complex layouts in gigafactories that maximize production capacity and efficiency, and ultimately make lots of money from selling them to overseas markets.

What do you think about this design direction?
I think it's useless for three reasons.
1. Even now at a certain point we reach the moment when we don't have a place where to invest the money. Billions are just rotting on our bank accounts. There's just no need to optimize anything.
2. 3x3 or 10x10 - does not matter. Within a week we will have a perfect factory design for every product on the forum. Just copy it and save in layout plans library and the game is over.
3. There's a lot of games that are focused on factory planning. Big Pharma, for example. Or Factorio that I can only describe as a masterpiece.
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