Modular Factories

After following the threads about engineers around factories, multiple bays per factory, and so on, I think it's time to step back and consider the entire concept of a 'factory' in RTS games.

The implementation of the factory hasn't changed much since the days of DUNE. You have a single building, you click on it, and select what you want to build. They still do exactly that to this day, with some minor changes like a queue, or a repeat button.

Supcom came up with one of the best ideas for factories in the 'factory chaining' concept - one factory could 'assist' another factory, and it would take items off that factory's queue and build it.

I propose that this should be taken a step further.

Modular Factories

Goal: Simplify factory management and keep micro to a minimum

Introducing the modular factory. Each factory consists of a command and control module and one or more satellite modules. Each module can add to the build menu and capability of the factory. Modules are buildings that can be short distances away from each other, and they link together. Each module contributes to the build power of the entire factory, and the factory is managed as a single unit, with its own control interface.

Example modules would be:
- C&C Module
- Land Unit Module
- Air Launch Pad Module
- Dry Dock / Shipyard Module
- Engineer Assist Parking Station Module
- Additonal Construction Bay Module
- Advanced Air Technology Module
- Advanced Land Technology Module
- Additional Disembarkation Bay Module

WHY?
While being slightly more complicated than a simple 1 factory = 1 queue system, the purpose is to be able to scale upwards quickly and effectively, making it much simpler to manage your production. So it may be a bit more work to set up your first factory, but it takes minimal effort to add production capacity to your base. You will no longer need to select and configure each factory as it gets built in your base, and you will get a comprehensive control of all your factories. This gives you the ability to see exactly what the engineer assist will cost you, allow you to set how many resources you want to keep in reserve, and turn production on/off for the entire base.

Best of all, your entire base can now be managed through a single interface:




An example of a base layout would be:



TLDR:

So the idea I'm presenting here is to toss the old idea of a factory being one building that has a limited menu of things it can build, and replace it with a base-sized network of factory modules that work together to produce your units.

But what happens when you want to produce faster than a single factory can? Build up a whole new set of these? We could mix the options, by adding multiple of the same module to the factory so you essentially double/triple/etc. the production speed for each module, eg an air module.

Or is that what those numbers mean?

You could go even further and ignore the whole concept of "to build you click the factory".

Just give players the option to drop down a marker and say "I need 20 heavy tanks here" and let the AI sort out which factories need to build them in which ratio and how to bring them over.

Also, I cannot see the image you posted?

WTB, +1, 10/10 would want again, etc.

So world in conflict?


Anyways, go play earth 2160, there are some rather interesting mechanics in base construction used there that are very similar to what you have described.

I love this concept so much!

I don't think it would make adding quick factories any harder, assuming the basic module can already build stuff without adding any addons.

This is an idea I can get behind. Down the micro, up the macro!

I am not sure I completely understand the concept.

Would this be making a factory upgradeable to construct the different unit types over building specialized factory's?

An unique idea, indeed.

Would this turn factory's into more if an industrial complex over a single structure?

Could be done well, with the right visual markers so people know what has been upgraded.

One point - what happens if the C&C module gets destroyed? All factory output on that planet grinds to a halt...?

I would imagine so, as the CNC hub seems to act as a starcraft type pylon.

I wounder what would happen if the enemy built their own CNC building there, would they gain access to the extra satellite factory's?

Not necessarily, the C&C Module could be some kind of controller. Allowing you to control your factories from a single building. Losing it would mean you'd have to control each factory individually again.

Adding a dozen features to every factory does NOT make things simpler. It in fact makes things much more difficult to manage. Now you need to build barebone pads and add modules until they're functional. If you forgot some key module, now you have to go through every factory to find the one that's missing.

If you need more X, build more X factories. If you want to focus production, shift engineers. It's simple, it's efficient, and it's readily visible at a glance.

Besides, the idea of a single, super upgraded factory falls apart at the sight of a tac missile.

I think the idea is that you have a primary control system that manages local factory's and what ever upgrades and the like, and could form the bases for the named bases seen in the trailer.

Less tech more synchronous production complex that is easy to expand on.

I like the idea personally, but it would need to be tested for effectiveness.

All this modulation sounds convoluted and no quicker than just ordering the placement of more factories, if speeding up the game is your goal here. I don't want to have to 'upgrade' my factories just so engineers can assist, and why is something like construction and disembarkation bay two separate modules? Also as far as I'm concerned, something like the C&C module shouldn't even exist.

What Supreme Commander did wasn't a change in factories, but a change in the user interface. I'm pretty sure you could also select multiple factories at once to give them all the same build order. (I might be wrong on this; I don't remember exactly.)

None of the problems you outlined couldn't be fixed by a more efficient user interface.

To goal is to minimise the total number of factories, by making them larger.

It's all about the gains you make as you scale up the factory, compared to building and managing more factories.


Personally, I still think orders as first-class entities would do a better job than modular factories.

Okay, but why? Unit count is not an issue for this scale of game. It acts as a massive tech barrier, as production is directly dependent on getting factories, built, upgraded, and up to speed.

There's nothing wrong with making factories easier to manage, but that can be done without changing the entire premise of a factory.

minimizing the number of factories so you have space to build other things is a good idea.

it wouldn't have to be as complex as they say most upgrades would most likely be researched not built that way you dont miss certain modules and you build on it if you want to produce multiple units at the same time. there are several different ways of doing this. warzone 2100 comes to mind when i think about modular buildings and factorys

I think you guys may have misunderstood the OP. The way it's worded in the beginning I know it sounds like he's suggesting super-factories you have to "grow" that would make your like more complicated, but it's not really like that. It's more about getting the factories in your base to work together like an interconnected industrial complex (as igncom1 said).

Sure, you could manage most of this stuff via UI improvements, but personally this sounds way more interesting.

And it wouldn't really be lowering the number of factories, as each module is its own building anyway. Try going back and reading the OP and replace the word "factory" with "industrial complex" and the word "module" with "factory" or "structure."

How so? I see no indication that shrinking the number of factories is a good or bad thing. One could argue that base spread is a good thing to protect against AoE damage. Or that land space is its own resource where factories should be competing against everything else.

Well, if it's not the original idea at all.. that does sound pretty sexy. It might make some issues where for example you have an island outpost that has different construction needs from the main base. It also can make a pretty messy interface as every construction option is becoming available at once. How are these factory AIs going to be linked, exactly?

By range to a CNC hub supposedly.

And the UI shouldn't be too difficult considering the Cluster **** of a UI that TA and SupCom and we all dealt with.

If there aren't any redundancy in the units then it should work well.