Hey (again!)
So I'm in the middle of an early-game playthrough with a mix of Bob's Mods and AAI Loaders, and I'm using your mod! So... obviously, the thought of being able to cast transport belts... would be life changing. Like Velvet Oreos. You sir. You'd be my savior. Obviously I have some bias right now, but cough... transport belts seem like they would be a good fit and possibly align your mod's philosophy.
The Bob's way of upgrading belts tier-by-tier is a classic frustrating Factorio puzzle, but a single-step casting recipe for each tier would be a fantastic logistical alternative. My goal here is to propose some from-scratch casting recipes using the same principle of aligning them with the Foundry's +50% innate bonus.
Proposal 1: Casted Transport Belt (Yellow)
- My Thinking: A vanilla yellow belt is basically some iron plates, gears, and a circuit (and with Bob's Mods, it's even more complex!). If I were to make those parts in a foundry, I'd need about 40 Molten Iron and 15 Molten Copper. To make a casting recipe that's balanced against that, it should be 50% more efficient.
- The Math:
- Target Cost:
40 Fe / 1.5 = ~27 Molten Iron and 15 Cu / 1.5 = 10 Molten Copper.
- Proposed Recipe:
- Inputs:
27 Molten Iron, 10 Molten Copper
- Outputs: 2 Belts
- Time: 1 second. This is a bit slower than the vanilla craft, which feels like a fair trade for skipping the gear and circuit assembly lines entirely.
Proposal 2: Casted Fast Belt (Red)
- My Thinking: A red belt is a big step up in complexity, needing way more gears and circuits. If I calculate the total cost to make one from scratch (including the parts for the yellow belt it builds on), it comes out to a whopping 240 Molten Iron and 165 Molten Copper.
- The Math:
- Target Cost:
240 Fe / 1.5 = 160 Molten Iron and 165 Cu / 1.5 = 110 Molten Copper.
- Proposed Recipe:
- Inputs:
160 Molten Iron, 110 Molten Copper
- Outputs: 1 Belt
- Time: 2 seconds.
Proposal 3: Casted Express Belt (Blue)
- My Thinking: The blue belt is the first one that introduces a new resource type: Lubricant. A casting recipe should honor that. The total cost to make one from scratch is immense, around 640 Molten Iron and 465 Molten Copper, plus the Lubricant.
- The Math:
- Target Cost:
640 Fe / 1.5 = ~427 Molten Iron and 465 Cu / 1.5 = ~310 Molten Copper. The Lubricant isn't an item that gets a productivity bonus, so its cost should stay the same.
- Proposed Recipe:
- Inputs:
427 Molten Iron, 310 Molten Copper, 0.5 Lubricant
- Outputs: 1 Belt
- Time: 3 seconds.
This approach would create a full set of castable belts that feel powerful and offer a real choice to the player: do you stick with the traditional upgrade path, or do you invest in a foundry setup to cast high-tier belts directly? (I know which one I'd choose, obviously!)
