Advanced Belts

Two things in one mod for Factorio 2.1 Space Age:

• Four belt tiers beyond turbo, each with a transport belt, an
  underground belt, a splitter and, with
  AAI Loaders, a loader.
• Loader features for every loader in the game, whichever mod adds it:
  belt stacking, a per-loader full stack mode, a price divisor for the
  expensive mode of AAI Loaders and, optionally, AAI loaders unlocked by
  the technologies of their belts.

Each tier can be turned off in the startup settings. With all four off, the
mod is just the loader features.

Belt tiers

Each tier is made from the previous one, starting from turbo, plus
lubricant. Recipes work in assemblers and in the foundry — and in any other
machine that crafts metallurgy, on any surface. The upgrade planner goes
turbo → superior → ultra → hyper → absolute.

The mod is pure Space Age: it does not depend on Krastorio 2 or on planet
mods. Planet mods can retune it through the API below.

Loader features

• Belt stacking — every loader puts stacks on belts; the stack size is
  set in its window.
• Full stack mode — a loader in this mode puts items on the belt only
  as full stacks, so belts are packed. Switch each loader with SHIFT + M
  or the switch next to its window; new loaders start in Full stack.
• Cheaper AAI loaders — in the expensive mode of AAI Loaders, the
  recipes of all AAI loaders are divided by 5 (configurable).
• AAI loaders in belt technologies (off by default) — no separate loader
  research: each AAI loader comes with the technology of its belt.

Details of every setting are below.

Settings

All settings are startup settings.

• Per tier: enabled, speed, underground length. Speeds are multiples
  of 15: the game stores belt speed in steps of 1.875 items/s, so only
  those are whole numbers. A disabled tier is skipped — the next tier is
  made from, researched after and upgraded from the previous enabled one.
• AAI loader price divisor (default 5). In the expensive mode of AAI
  Loaders every ingredient of every AAI loader recipe — AAI's own, this
  mod's and other mods' — is divided by it, rounded up. The previous loader
  in a recipe is not divided. Recycling follows the new recipes. The
  lubricated mode is not affected.
• AAI loaders in belt technologies (off). Every AAI loader — AAI's own
  tiers, this mod's and other mods' — is unlocked by the technology of its
  belt, found by the loader recipe, and the separate loader technologies are
  hidden. In the lubricated mode a loader may unlock before lubricant; it
  stays idle without it, like any AAI loader.
• Belt stacking for all loaders (on). Every loader can put stacks on
  belts; the stack size is set in its window. When off, the mod leaves
  stacking alone and AAI Loaders uses its own setting.
• Full stack mode for loaders (on) and new loaders wait for a full
  stack (on). A loader in Full stack mode puts items on the belt only as
  full stacks; Instant puts whatever it has. Switch a loader by hovering
  it and pressing SHIFT + M (rebindable in Controls) or with the switch
  to the right of its window. The mode is kept in blueprints and copied with
  entity settings.

Good to know

• Stacks need research. A loader puts stacks as high as the transport
  belt capacity bonus allows, or as set in its window. Before that research
  both modes put single items.
• Sparse supply waits. A Full stack loader holds back the last items
  until a full stack is there. Use Instant where the last few items must
  get through.
• Biter eggs spoil and hatch. The absolute tier costs biter eggs, which
  hatch into biters when they spoil.

For mod authors

Add ? shm-advanced-belts to your dependencies and call the API in your
data.lua:

if ShmAdvancedBelts then
  ShmAdvancedBelts.set_enabled('ultra', false)
  ShmAdvancedBelts.configure('hyper', {
    speed = 120,
    color = { 0, 200, 120 },
    recipes = {
      belt = { ingredients = { { type = 'item', name = 'my-plate', amount = 5 } } },
    },
    technology = { count = 3000, prerequisites = { 'my-planet-science-pack' } },
  })
end

Tier keys: superior, ultra, hyper, absolute. Fields: enabled,
speed (items/s), color, recipes (belt, underground, splitter,
loader, loader_expensive), technology, loader_technology. Values set
through the API win over player settings. To lock a setting instead, do it
in your settings-updates.lua: a bool setting with forced_value and
hidden, a number setting with default_value, a single-value
allowed_values and hidden.

Before removing the mod

The non-default loader mode is a separate hidden entity. When the mod is
removed, the game deletes loaders in that mode from the map, like any entity
whose mod is gone. Switch all loaders back to the default mode first.

Languages

English, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish,
Ukrainian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Corrections from native
speakers are welcome.

License

MIT for the code of this mod. The graphics are masks derived from Factorio
turbo belt sprites (Wube Software), see LICENSE.