Hi

I like the idea of longer reach, but I like the idea of the player having to "earn" it, either via researching a character ability upgrade, or else via researching and then slotting in an Armor Module to provide this bonus.

I also personally think that 12 tiles reach is a bit too long. Vanilla reach is 6. One fairly easy (20red/30green, x10s) upgrade that gives +2 reach, and then another hard (150 r/g/b/p, x30s) upgrade that gives +2 more reach, would be more appropriate, in my opinion.

Peter34: You may be interested in my mod, which does exactly as you say, although I currently have it set to +4 reach for each 2x1 module: https://mods.factorio.com/mods/ntm/ExtendoReach

Having a research-based reach-bonus sounds like an great idea, and I will implement that for the next version.

in all games, i could easily have unlimited reach by using other mods (lots of mods for cheating etc). and to have more of a challenge, i could play with vanilla reach :-)
but when i want something in between these extremes, i probably will like this double reach, most of all in the beginning when collecting ore and coal from mining drills by hand, before(!) i could do any research. later, i can use mods like extendo to get a bonus in my power suit (having the challenge of balancing shields, reactors, exos, and reach), and small increases by further research (from this mod) are not needed.

i think, using both (this for 12 in the beginning, and extendo for +4 x N later) gives a nice combination for my next game.