Hey. So I was recently made aware of that issue with lost vehicle equipments through Krastorio's fueled vehicles power sources. (https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Krastorio/discussion/5d536748bbf501000cb9d8ff) I ended up finding your mod which "is designed to solve those bugs".

So of course I'd download it, but here's my first issue and suggestion.

• Autodrive isn't compatible with Krastorio's equipment grids. I know it has already been suggested, but since I'm on the subject, could you add compatibility with these?

Next is another compatibility issue. (Probably?) It's about Aircraft. When trying to order it around, it causes a crash (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1834332951) It might be caused by the fact that they travel in a straight line most of the time, or because of their speed, they need to loop around sometimes to reach the destination point. So I don't know if it fits more as a bug report or a request for compatibility.

Finally, two suggestions about shortcuts. I have used AAI extensively, and I found two things missing with Autodrive. The first is a shortcut for the remote. AAI had a shortcut button and a keybind. I'm only interested in the keybind, but I'm sure that other people would like a button too.

The other is a way to save and load "groups" like AAI did. Though, since Autodrive isn't about a full-on RTS approach, saving individual vehicles would be great. The thing is that sometimes, it's a real hassle to find the vehicle you need - so much so that sometimes, you're better off actually walking. There is always the option of a button/shortcut to call the last used/favorite vehicle (like another mod which name I can't remember did) but that sounds a bit limited in comparison. If you're using a mod like Autodrive, you're probably using more than one vehicle to begin with.

Though, if you go down that road (or want to add it as an option for people who don't want to deal with the whole save/load business) you might add it the same way you did the rest of Autodrive's equipment and add a "favorite vehicle" equipment or something.

Anyway, just a bunch of suggestions/compatibility requests. Thanks for yet another great mod.

0.1.10 should fix the crash -- Helicopters did that too due to a nil collision_mask -- and the Krastorio grid compatibility.

The shortcut request sounds fine.

Groups, probably not. Since it sounds like the problem is finding vehicles, perhaps just a toggled window listing known vehicles with "find" buttons. Not save/load, just current state.

Neat.

I like the idea of a list. It's even better than the whole save/load business actually. I suggested that because I'm just so used to AAI but a list would make the whole procedure much smoother than having to remember a keybind and its associated vehicle(s) for each group.

Just to be clear, the "find" button would select the vehicle as if it were manually selected with the remote, right?

Good point. "Select", not "find".

Heh. My confusion was legitimate then, I guess.

I have one more suggestion.

Currently, when you want to use the remote to designate a position to a vehicle, you have to come to a full stop. If you don't, instead of designing a point, the remote will start do draw a selection rectangle. It's even worse when you are a vehicle which is already headed somewhere - you can't repath without arriving to destination or manually coming to a full stop.

Could you perhaps change this behavior? I don't remember ever having that issue with AAI now that I think about it. Perhaps you could take inspiration from… whatever it is that Earendel did to avoid that?

Otherwise, perhaps add an alternate keybind (ideally configurable) which might be, by default, something like a modifier + left-click? That alternative keybind would only designate so as to avoid that issue entirely. (Or the other way around depending on what you think is better.)

AAI took the separate key binding approach iirc, but I'm not (yet) sold on doing that too. Will have a think. Current workarounds include:

• Jump out first, use control to call car back
• Switch to world map overview, use control to change destination

I tend to always be in overview mode doing other stuff while waiting for a trip to complete, I guess.

0.1.11 has first cut of a GUI.

Wow. Neat. I really love how your mods all have that "as simple as possible, but with all the functionalities you might ever need" philosophy.

As for the selection rectangle, I'm using the workarounds you mentioned when that's a time-efficient option. There is still the situation in which you are on foot though.

Ideally, you could run and repath your vehicle (so it catches up) as you advance. With the current behavior, if you want to do that, you have to stop beforehand, leading to some wasted time - and if you're using Progressive Running, your momentum.

Maybe a follow-me sensor?

Good to hear the mods work for you. I build mods for myself to improve the parts of the game that bug me, then try to reign in the feature requests that stray too far from the original idea.

Makes sense. There isn't much point in building a mod that isn't useful to you. Likewise, I try to keep my requests in the scope of the mods I'm suggesting and think about how it could improve other people's experience too, but sometimes… that proves to be difficult. (Usually, when it comes to balance…) So yeah, my apologies if that ever happens.

Back to the subject.

A follow-me sensor would be perfect since it would automate the whole hassle. But what of its behavior? I believe it would need to be toggleable, for two reasons:

1. You don't want a tank following you everywhere, and removing it from the grid every time kind of defeats the initial purpose.
2. It's pretty much necessary to accommodate multiple vehicles.

Assuming that you could make it toggleable (I have seriously no idea of what's possible by scripting, so I can only assume here…) it would be perfect if you could add that option to the newly added GUI. This way you could simply click the toggle button, and have your personal uber of choice on its way/stop in its tracks. And I suppose that once you get in, it should toggle off so it doesn't consume UPS needlessly and doesn't interfere once you get out.

Follow sensor, tech, and GUI toggle added in 0.1.14.

I had fun testing this one :-) It's like having a pet dog at your heels guarding you from the biters.

I have to admit… That's actually even more satisfying than I imagined.

The mod really feels complete now - can't come up with a single missing feature anymore.