Thick Crude Oil

by NOiZE

Crude oil is too thick to flow through regular pipes. Requires special thick fluid infrastructure with limited range, forcing early-game oil transportation via barrels. Features new pumps, pipes, and a specialized barreling machine.

Content
7 days ago
2.0
54
Logistics Fluids

Changelog

Version: 1.0.0
Date: 2026-03-06
  Changes:
    - Added dedicated Thick Fluid Wagon: a crude-oil-only tank wagon that exclusively connects to thick fluid pumps
    - Regular fluid wagons can no longer be accessed by thick fluid pumps, closing the fill-via-thick/drain-via-regular exploit
    - Thick Fluid Wagon graphics are modified to be darker to reflect crude oil residue
    - Thick Fluid Wagon is unlocked by the Advanced Oil Handling technology
Version: 0.1.3
Date: 2026-02-26
  Bugfixes:
    - Fixed barreling machine icon.
    - Fixed compatibility with AAI Loaders: pipe graphics are now assigned directly instead of path-substituted, preventing sprite replacement when AAI Loaders modifies vanilla pipe prototypes before this mod loads
Version: 0.1.2
Date: 2026-01-08
  Changes:
    - Updated thumbnail, Credits to Osmo. Thanks a lot!!
Version: 0.1.1
Date: 2026-01-08
  Changes:
    - Updated thumbnail, love you all.
Version: 0.1.0
Date: 2026-01-07
  Info:
    - Initial release
  Major Features:
    - Crude oil is now too thick to flow through regular pipes - requires special thick fluid infrastructure
    - Early game oil processing forces you to transport crude oil via barrels until advanced infrastructure is unlocked
  Changes:
    - Pumpjacks now output to a special thick fluid pipe system (cannot connect to regular pipes)
    - Regular pipes and pumps can no longer transport crude oil
    - Oil refineries, chemical plants (Space Age), and cryogenic plants (Space Age) accept crude oil from thick fluid pipes
    - Fluid wagons can be filled with crude oil using thick fluid pumps
  New Content:
    - Thick Fluid Pipe: Special reinforced pipes for crude oil transport
      * Limited to 16 connected segments before requiring a pump
      * Significantly reduced flow rate (120 fluid/second with pumps)
      * Cannot connect to regular pipe network
    - Underground Thick Fluid Pipe: Underground variant with 3 tile maximum distance
    - Thick Fluid Pump: High-pressure pumps required every 16 pipe segments
      * Pumps at 120 fluid/second, high energy cost (300 kW), and increased pollution.
      * Can connect to fluid wagons for train transport
    - Thick Fluid Storage Tank: Large storage tanks for crude oil (25,000 capacity)
    - Thick Fluid Barreling Machine: Specialized 2x2 machine for handling crude oil barrels
      * Only machine capable of filling and emptying crude oil barrels
      * Required for early game oil transportation
      * 2 module slots
  Technologies:
    - Oil Gathering: Now unlocks thick fluid pipes, barreling machine, and crude oil barrel recipes
    - Advanced Oil Handling (new): Unlocks pumps, underground pipes, and storage tanks
      * Requires: Production Science, Utility Science
      * Cost: 1000 of each science pack (automation, logistics, chemical, production, utility)
      * Space Age: Also requires Metallurgic Science
  Balance:
    - Early game: Must use barrels and the barreling machine to transport crude oil from pumpjacks to refineries
    - Mid game: Research Advanced Oil Handling to build proper piped infrastructure
    - Pipeline extent limitation encourages strategic pump placement
    - Reduced flow rate simulates the thickness of crude oil
  Graphics:
    - Custom graphics for all entities by Keysivi (https://mods.factorio.com/user/Keysivi)
    - Distinct visual style to differentiate thick fluid infrastructure from regular pipes
  Compatibility:
    - Automatically detects and supports other mods that use crude oil as an ingredient
    - Space Age: Tungsten variants for pumps and storage tanks
    - Works with existing saves (though you'll need to rebuild your oil infrastructure!)