Foundation Manipulation Unit - Revisiting the Foundations of Satisfactory.

Question

So, someone may have already posted this.  I've got roughly 400 hours spread across a dozen or so files.  Recently decided to post for the first time in light of the 8X1m foundation.  It created a lot of variation to my factory for sure, but every so often I found the height difference to become more of a compulsive annoyance to have everything look even or symmetrical.  But it sparked what I think is the best idea I've had thus far for a suggestion, but having very little knowledge of how taxing it would be on the coding end I hope it's something that could be worth doing in the future.  But I digress:

Revisiting the Foundation - Ramp Height

So I'll start with the most obvious: 8x1m Ramp - Obviously was my first reaction to seeing the flat 8x1m foundation.  It's been a miracle worker for me and I didn't realize how useful it was until I had it.  But having the full 8X4m Foundation as the game's largest foundation piece... I thought:

'What if it was possible to build any sized Foundation (Thickness) from 8X1m to 8X4m?'

Pretty nifty notion, but the clutter of having every single foundation in the build menu seemed like a bit of clutter, even for having an entire submenu devoted to Foundations.  

'So what do we do instead of throwing an option for every Foundation/Ramp/Wall for every corresponding height?'

I'm glad you asked.  Weird, it's almost like we're thinking the same thing... :P.

Foundation Manipulation Unit (F.M.U.)

This is where it gets a bit different.  Instead of expanding the foundations menu, we could almost remove it entirely:

Have a selectable option for each (Foundation, Wall, & Ramp), but have the height be adjusted by a separate keybind.  For example:

Select Ramp, Mouse Wheel could be the new height adjustment (Rather than default being rotation you could easily bind that to < > / [] / Pg Up Dn / etc.) for ramps & walls as well as thickness for flat foundation.

How would R & D approach upgrading the players F.M.U.?

This would be pretty simple, at whatever stages we have put in place for R&D providing blueprints for foundation work, would determine the sized foundation you have available to you.  Provided the foundations that I have proposed to be implemented is on the developers To-do list, I have no real preference or thoughts as to when/if we would ever see 8x3m, 8X4+m foundations.  

Any Cost Differences in the varying foundation?

In all seriousness, I'm not sure why different sized foundation (X4m &X1m) require the same materials.  On a basic level I feel 8X1 should cost less than 8X4.  But I would hope there's a reason for it and I'm just not seeing why.  But I just wanted to throw the idea out there and see what everyone/anyone had to say about it.  :)

Edit: 2:30pm 7/24/19

Addition: Upside down Ramps -

This is more just a preference for me personally, so maybe i'm slightly selfish in suggesting it, but having a lot of my factory ceilings varying in height has me wanting something more.  Upside down ramps would help give my factory more shape rather than the blocky right-angled monstrosity jutting from the skyline. But any similar idea is more than welcome.  If there is one, I'm tragically unaware, so please enlighten me if you can. :P

Upside Down Ramps: Control/Keybinds?  How do we do it? -

Simple. Example for Ramps:

1) Using proposed FMU - Just for kicks, we will use < - Decreases Ramp H| > - Increases Ramp H. But if you press '<' when having the 8X1m highlighted, it inverts the ramp entirely and further pressing '<' would increase the degree of Upside Down Ramp to X4.

Or, just add an Upside Down/Inverted ramp option.  I suppose it wouldn't be a ramp either, so maybe just Angled Foundation?

2) Current live build: Add Upside Down/Angled options for each desired height.  

Thanks for the read ladies and gents.  Should this get some good feedback, I would most certainly enjoy posting more in the future.  This game is something special that I didn't know I wanted in my gaming life until I landed on this crazy planet for the first time.  I have some thoughts on conveyors I'm currently refining as to reduce the rambling nature of my posts. lol.  Stay efficient!

-CMK

Epic: PushntheCushn

P.S. - But at the very least, for the love of efficiency, pls add 8x1m ramps.  If you haven't already.  :P

Comments

could be done with just the build tool even. saving hotbar slots. same principle could be applied to other items. for example mk1, 2, 3 and so on.

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Overall i also need far more foundation ramp  types. In Addition, i want Foundation ramps turned over.  For ästhetic bridge Building e.g.
So Yes, really interesting Suggestion.

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Big fan of something along these lines. I don't know about a "Foundation Manipulation Unit", but the ability to custom create foundations of different sizes would be fantastic. The current system for creating foundations feels... archaic? unsuited?

It works well enough for making machines... but foundations are a sufficiently different beast that I feel like some sort of more customized methodology may be necessary at some point.