Fishing Trawler FAQ

1. What does this mod add?

The mod adds a fishing trawler to cargo-ships.
When placed on a waterway, the unit becomes a waterway version.
When placed outside a waterway, it remains an independent boat.

1. How do I unlock the trawler?

The trawler is unlocked by the Fishing Trawler technology.
The same technology also unlocks buoys for automatic net and bait switching.

1. How do I enable or disable the net?

By default, press F.

You can also place a trawler net buoy on a waterway.
When the trawler passes through it, the net toggles automatically.

1. How do I enable or disable bait?

By default, press H.

You can also use a bait buoy.
When the trawler passes through it, bait scattering toggles automatically.

1. Why can’t I enable the net or bait?

Most common reasons:
• you are not inside the trawler and do not have it selected,
• you try to enable bait without raw-fish in the cargo hold,
• the trawler is not moving correctly along the water route or is stopped while interacting with a buoy.

1. How does bait work?

When enabled, the trawler leaves a baited trail and consumes 1 raw-fish per 2 chunks traveled.

The effect lasts about half a day in-game and attracts fish from up to 75 tiles away from the active trail.

1. What are buoys for?

Buoys automate trawler operation:
• the net buoy toggles deploying and retracting the net,
• the bait buoy toggles bait scattering.

This lets you set fixed route points and avoid manual key presses every trip.

1. Does the trawler slow down when the net is deployed?

Yes.

Speed is limited by the runtime setting Slowdown after net deployment (%).
By default, the mod keeps about 12% of base speed.

1. What settings can I change?

The mod includes four runtime settings:
• damage alert,
• slowdown percentage after net deployment,
• number of fish attracted at once by bait,
• bait attraction speed.

1. What does net range research do?

Fishing Trawler Net Range 1-10 increases net span.

Each level adds +10%, up to +100% after completing the full research chain.

1. The trawler takes damage. Does the mod have alerts?

Yes.

The mod can send a message to players of the same force when the trawler takes damage.
The alert is limited to one message per trawler every 10 seconds.

1. Bait stopped working. Why?

Most common reasons:
• no raw-fish left in the cargo hold,
• bait was manually disabled with H,
• the trawler passed through a bait buoy and toggled state,
• the old baited trail expired over time.

1. Can this mod reduce UPS?

Yes, especially when many trawlers use bait at the same time, because the mod frequently scans fish in water.

If performance drops:
• reduce Number of fish attracted at once,
• reduce Bait attraction speed,
• limit the number of active trawlers using bait,
• check Script update in the Factorio debug overlay.

1. What is the fastest way to test if the mod works?

   1. Research the trawler technology.
   2. Place the trawler on a waterway.
   3. Put raw-fish in the cargo hold.
   4. Press F to deploy the net.
   5. Press H to enable bait.
   6. Check if the trawler catches fish and leaves a visible bait trail.

2. Does this mod require cargo-ships?

Yes.

The dependency in info.json is set to cargo-ships >= 1.0.28.