Hi there, i like the idea of this mod, yet i cannot use it as my server is always online and even with max settings i would end up rebuilding my factory way too often. I use the "server continue to run even with no players" option so it's really 24h24.

My questions are :
1/ Would it be possible to extend maximum age duration to something way above your current limits, or would it be a problem ? (Seems to work just putting higher limits in settings, but not sure it's ok on long run as i didn't inspect the code)
2/ I would like an option if possible to base ageing depending on produced units rather than pure time, which would make sense to me more than time (if you don't use it, it shouldn't break or not as easily). In addition to time mechanics, or replacement. Alternative idea : ageing based on pollution, which would encourage not polluting. Whatever it is, not based on time would be better for me :) (maybe a mix of all ?)
Thanks for the mod o/

Hi DarkyPupu,
thank you for this suggestion :)
To point 1: I'll rise the upper interval limit from one to four weeks. The code should handle this fine.
Regarding point 2: This is already implemented for furnaces and assembling machines, but in a very simple way: If the machine didn't produce at least one item, it ages five times slower.

The idea that pollution lead to increased ageing is very interesting, but also a bit brutal :D

I'm glad you like this kind of challenge!

Thanks :)

Actually i'm playing with this on always online, as well as Pyanodon and other masochists mods, i'm fine with the difficulty but it's currently just un-sustainable before bots, which i won't have before <insert here several hundred hours>. Still trying xD

The maintenance chest is a good idea but it's not really an option as i don't know what's going to be requested for each building neither the amount. Currently i just leave the building die as i didn't find a smart option to do otherwise. Just trying to make an automated part of the factory which would create spare parts and bring them so all points looks more complex itself than vanilla game as i have to deal with limited resources also.

Of course, i could disable part of your mod or lower the difficulty, but i like the concept as a whole and "some parts wouldn't age" sounds just like cheating to me :p

That said, i hope more time would solve the problem, yet an even better idea would be to find a real solution before bots, which i don't have currently.

Some thoughts / remarks :
- At this stage of the game, i need maintenance items which i cannot produce (ex: lubricant) so some buildings are bound to die anyway
- I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to repair by hand the malfunctioning structures, it would be one cheap and non-automated way to reduce the pain in early game (since it's by hand i don't think it really defeats the whole purpose or would be exploited)
- Maintenance chests : apart from filling them with all components a bit randomly, they're hard to use with just basic automation, or i missed something ?
- Maintenance chests : random idea, but if it would be possible to accept "basic repair kit" as fallback to repair, instead of what's asked, it would make it liveable in early game. If you provide what's asked : fine, else maintenance chest could use repair kit to sill make 0.5 speed repairs or something like that. Just to not be blocked :) In addtion, that would solve the "don't know what to put in maintenance chest" + "components not available" issues. You could always deal with repairs, even if repair performance would be crappy.

That's just ideas, interested in your feedback :)

Modlist, if it can help to see the context:
alien-biomes_0.4.15.zip
alien-biomes-hr-terrain_0.4.1.zip
Big_Brother_0.5.1.zip
EvoGUI_0.4.401.zip
HighSpeedTrain_0.4.0.zip
LinearResearchCost_0.1.1.zip
MaintenanceMadness_0.9.6.zip
NightBrightness_0.0.6.zip
pycoalprocessing_1.3.7.zip
pyfusionenergy_1.3.4.zip
pyhightech_1.2.9.zip
pyindustry_1.3.0.zip
pypetroleumhandling_1.3.0.zip
pyrawores_1.5.9.zip
Rampant_0.17.26.zip
RampantArsenal_0.17.18.zip
research_causes_evolution_0.17.2.zip
robot_attrition_0.3.8.zip
rso-mod_5.0.17.zip
SmogSolarPanels_0.1.4.zip
SmogVisualPollution_0.0.1.zip
SpaceMod_0.4.4.zip
stdlib_1.2.2.zip
toxicPollution_0.3.6.zip
UltimateBelts_0.17.1.zip
WaterAsAResource_0.6.17.zip
YARM_0.8.18.zip

Thank you for your suggestions! These really help me to improve the way this mods interacts with players. I'll go trough your points one by one:

• Limited maintenance in early game: Every maintenance item extends your machines age. Even if not all items are available from the beginning, maintenance will reduce your cost to replace machines. It's true that very simple machines are better just replaced instead of repaired.
• Early grind: To avoid/reduce this is crucial. Without bots, maintenance is only possible by manually replacing machines, which will be regularily needed because without proper maintenance, machines age 200% faster. There must be a better way to simplify maintenance in early game state without breaking balance.
• How to use the maintenance unit: After reading your post I think about adding some kind of small GUI that tells the player wich materials might be requested by wich machine type, either for maintenance or for repair. Regarding your question about using them with basic automation: This should be fine, they are just an early game mechanic to semi-automate maintenance. They are designed to be inferior to bot maintained bases.
• Manual repair: This would reduce the need to rush construction bots and is in fact a nice idea. I'm still not sure how to implement this (maybe with some kind of planning tool), but I think this would make this mod a lot more intuitive.
• Universial repair kit: I think this wouldn't be needed if the player would have the information which items are needed to repair a certain machine by hand/maintenance unit.

What do you think about the GUI idea?

• Limited maintenance in early game: I'm fine with this, not sure if it was intended or not to not be able to satisfy all demands. I think it's ok and you're happy when you can actually do it :)

• Early grind: That's the main concern. I'm all for a maintenance mod and the "don't just build thousand things you don't need, because there's a cost", however in my games it becomes the #1 concern, way above any other aspects of the game. It's probably because since the server is always running, even if i connect once a day, i have to rebuild (nearly) all the base. I don't really have a solution here, replacing all is penible, but it's only in the early game. My guess is, with bots this mod becomes quite trivial actually ^^, and balancing "before bots" not killing the "with bots" is indeed a challenge.

• How to use the maintenance unit: Knowing at least what can be asked would definitely be awesome. I cannot feed all potential items to all structures, but a known list would be possible to handle, i think.

• Manual repair: Of course, allowing this would make it way "cheaper" than regular maintenance with chests or bots, but at the same time, it'll never be automated so i think it's kind of acceptable. Would also fix a problem i have when reconnecting to my game : everything is disabled usually and it would be nice to be able to reactivate all manually instead of rebuilding all / using maintenance chests on all (it's kind of long procedure).
• Universial repair kit: True, but remember what is commonly called "early game" is a few hundred hours for me :p so even filtering items is not that easy. To be honest, i don't even consider game with bots at this point xD

I never went that far, but i don't think the maintenance is any problematic in a game with bots (== increasing resources usage but not real trouble). Do you have any feedback on that ? I have the feeling that when / if i ever research bots, the difficulty will sink drastically :)

May I also attract your attention on this mod :
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/WearAndTear

I used it back in time on 0.15

Maybe you'll find some ideas there :)

Hi, the next update is 75% done and will cover some of the balancing issues you mentioned.

Regarding Wear and Tear:
To be honest, I also played with Wear and Tear(s) and was amazed for its idea and the unique challenges it offered, but at the same time annoyed by some of its shortcomings and its inappropriately large focus on non-core functions. Unfortunately, withers did not port it to 0.16.
After a long wait, I decided to recreate a mod with maintenance mechanics like WaT from scratch, but without the small issues and nitpicks WaT has had. I think this mod could therefore be seen as WaT's spiritual successor ;)

I totally agree :)
Thanks for the mod progress update too !