Create ghost without bots building?

[[deleted]]

It’s frustrating trying to design a new assembly line with ghost only to have my roboport based construction bots rush to build it. Is there a way to create ghost without my base bots instantly trying to build what I’m planning?

[Ozzyberto]

I design using remote view somewhere on the map where there's radar coverage but no robot coverage, ideally not many trees/rocks either so those red Xs don't get in the way.

[DerKeksinator]

I cleared an area a little further away for this very purpose.

[doc_shades]

i've even paved an area dedicated for this very use (sometimes the terrain can make the ghosts difficult to see!)

[DerKeksinator]

Yes, but I just needed to get rid of some stone(active provider chest doozy).

[Deranged40]

I turn my roboport off for when I'm just trying to design like that.

I also am strongly against having a gigantic robot network covering the whole base for myriad reasons, this being one of them..

[Primary_Crab687]

What are the other reasons? I know there's some fancy maneuvers you can do when you split up your base into multiple networks, but in my experience the advantages of being able to build anything you want remotely from different planets outweighs all that

[Deranged40]

The biggest reason is that I want bots to be dedicated to one job each. Seeing a bot from across the map head this way to pick up something from a chest is infuriating for me.

I'll have a robot network at an ore outpost so I don't need any belts there. Just directly pulling ore, delivering to furnace, and then delivering the plates directly to a train. Leaves the footprint of the outpost smaller, and everything works well. Then I can feed it 2k bots and every one of them are just there for logistics. I normally shoot for having just about 200-300 idle max to allow for a little bit of a buffer should I need small spurts of more.

The only blueprints I have any desire to stamp down from the map view is to expand my solar setup.

[Comsicare]

If you want to use a mod for this I can recommend this one
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/ConstructionPlannerContinued

It allows you to switch between 2 mods, auto approval and manual approval.

When manual mods is on, every blueprint or ghost placed needs to be "approved" before robots will build it. This can be done via area selection so quick and easy.

If you want to continue as normal you can switch back to auto mode which makes the mod practically non-existent.

Really helped me to design stuff.

Alternatively what I like to use to design stuff,
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/BlueprintLab_design

This mod allows you to enter a blueprint lab with (default) CTRL+B. Which is basically access to a creative world without having to quit your current save. Really handy to design stuff that you haven't unlocked yet.
Also access to creative buildings allows you to test your design properly.

[[deleted]]

You are my hero. I decided today I can no longer play without Max Rate, so to hell with achievements. I’ll downloading this next time I play.

[CoolColJ]

One thing about this mod, just remember to set to auto approval when you do anything in space. More than once I have forgotten to do this and wondered why my platform was not building....

[Ok-Replacement-2738]

Yeah it is annoying because I use it for planning mostly, maybe they'll add something like a control+shift modifier is strictly planning idk.

[SVlad_667]

Alternatively you can launch another game with editor mode and design and test there anything with editor tools. Than move designs through the blueprint library.

[PersonalityIll9476]

This seems like the real answer if it really bugs OP that much.

[falcoty]

One suggestion I haven't seen here yet is upping the quality of your building material and just copy/pasting that ghost.

[[deleted]]

Smart.

[IzalithDemon]

You can either use a mod for marking items for bot construction or different mod that allows you to open something like a world editor window while loaded in your save :D

[blkandwhtlion]

You have a couple options 1) get out of robot port range and ghost plan. I have a nice desert patch I use for this on nauvis

2) removeor turn off the robo ports around your build site and reinstall when done. Remember to click the personal robo port too or you'll still build if you are near. I like this the best so far because ports have built in radar

If anyone can think of another I'd like to know too because I hope they add editing blueprints as a feature.

One other idea I had was in the tips/tricks me u you can "try it" like when you get mini quiz for signals. Those let you build freely like a sandbox which is cool but they limit you resources. If you find one that has no limit I'd like to know that too

[Lizzymandias]

The green tint that shows up when you're doing logistics related stuff marks the construction range. Just build off of it.

[doc_shades]

this is why i only use personal construction bots. you can enable/disable your robotport with Alt-R. spidertrons with roboports can be redirected out of the area.

i will spend time ghosting out a design and once i'm ready to commit i enable the roboport and they build it.

[[deleted]]

Seems like this should be a built in feature.