Hi!
I was just wondering, is there a specific reason why almost all furniture entities are implemented as crafting machines (without any valid recipes), instead of for example simple-entity-with-owner or simple-entity-with-force? For example, the traffic bollard from Dectorio is a simple-entity-with-force.

Also, for many of the entities, I think it would be fitting to make them containers (with just one or a few inventory slots), especially the pallet, the cabinet or the fridge.

I love how the chairs and sofas are implemented as cars though. :D I've noticed that you can actually drive them, not sure if that's intentional? ^^

Honestly, why not have crafting benches and research desks?

Desks and benches which are entirely manual, so your character needs to be standing by the desk for them to work.
You'd still need the science packs in order for the research bench to work, but because the would be manual, they are low-pollution options to enable research and crafting low-teir components.

@BenDragon1337

Desks and benches which are entirely manual, so your character needs to be standing by the desk for them to work.

Fun fact: I've literally built this (the research desk) for my WIP overhaul mod. :D It's needed for early game research and uses a custom science pack (called "Paper and pencil"). So you're basically working on a desk and writing down ideas on paper to figure out steam power, electricity and finally the automated electric lab.

I've also been thinking about using the same idea for crafting benches, but I'm not sure what to use it for (in the context of my mod). You could basically disable normal handcrafting and give the player even more incentive to automate everything, which could be a fun thing but would probably also get tedious quite fast. ^^

(For the research desk, I've actually used one of the sprites from this mod, the desk with the blueprints on it. I hope that's okay 😅 )

Honestly, that sounds perfect. 👍

How about limiting the research desk to handle the "Paper and pencil" and the red science packs? Similar to the way the https://mods.factorio.com/mod/atan-crash-site handles the lab.

Super useful for early game development, but becomes pretty much useless late game.

I also use https://mods.factorio.com/mod/aai-industry which has a setting which allows you to disable basic logistics. It may be a thought to try to integrate it?

The research desk only works with the "Paper and pencil" science pack. I thought about allowing the red science pack too, but decided against it for several reasons. ^^ You want to get to electricity and the electric lab as soon as possible anyway, so there isn't really a point in using the research desk any longer than needed.

To use the research desk you also have to not just stand in front of it, but actually "power" it by clicking a button every second or so. 😅 (Technically the research desk is a burner device with a hidden/unobtainable fuel item, and clicking the button basically just inserts a small amount of fuel into it. ^^)

As for AAI Industry support, I think my mod (which also adds a bunch of new resources etc.) has quite a different approach, so mixing it with other overhaul mods generally doesn't make too much sense.

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with that.
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/research-desk/discussion/62eb103969065f3cd247590a
It could actually be worth considering something like this, where there are mods that adds things before electricity.

And it's going to be a standalone mod, fair enough.

Ohh, I didn't know that mod. (Realizing someone else already implemented the same idea that I had that I thought was original... 😅 But yeah I guess my version of it is still unique in some aspects :P)

I was also thinking about making a standalone mod just with the research desk, maybe I'll do that at some point, but for now I wanna focus on getting my overhaul mod done. 😅