Individual build menus for machines

[Surly]

This has been suggested before, but I'm going to re-suggest it.

Basically the idea is having a project menu for each machine, similar to the main project menu (complete with Ajax menu/html menu option).

I imagine this could be programming heavy, but I think it would make using machines much easier. For a start it would prevent the issues with incredibly long drop down boxes (e.g. the fire pit) and it would enable searches of the projects on offer. It also makes project comparison much easier and the whole thing more user friendly.

A possible alternative would be to have one machine project page, with all projects listed underneath the respective machine. I imagine the main programming obstacles would be similar on each idea.

On a side-note, would this also enable machines to produce items by creating an item project and blocking the machine whilst the project is in progress? I'm sure there are programming problems as to why this aspect would be especially problematic!

[dryn]

I agree that the long drop downs can be really hard to scan...

If you want some bonus marks, it would be handy if the machine detected what materials you had in inventory and only offered up what you have the materials to build. So if you only have meat and wood, nothing else, then the fire pit will only show 'Cook Meat' and not any nonsense about pots.

[Piscator]

On a side-note, would this also enable machines to produce items by creating an item project and blocking the machine whilst the project is in progress? I'm sure there are programming problems as to why this aspect would be especially problematic!

I have a strong suspicion that this would be no problem if we were able to define project results manually for machine projects.

The RD tool for creating new objects allows us to enter a "build result" line which enables us to create basically anything (including resource heaps etc.) if you know how to do it. With machine anchored projects, I assume, this line is created automatically from the contents of the form we use to enter project parameters (which doesn't include fields for objects or multiple outputs). With a more sophisticated (and less fool proof) tool, creating items with machines might not be exceptionally difficult (at least in non-multiplyable projects).

on topic: Anything that would increase the user friendliness of machines has my support.

[Surly]

As a variant on this, would it one day be possible to also filter the project list by area type? This would enable us to have "farmland" machines which we could then filter the projects by location type (e.g. grassland, plains, mountain) and perhaps soil type (sand, mud, stone) to provide farmers with the option to actually farm (rather than gathering the local wild produce).

[EchoMan]

This is an interesting idea. It would also be cool if you could create e.g. farmlands in suitable areas. Even in deserts you could be able to create farmlands if you have a well, a "pump" and put enough dung and water into a project. And then get a very limited patch where you could grow food. Just an example.

[Surly]

This is an interesting idea. It would also be cool if you could create e.g. farmlands in suitable areas. Even in deserts you could be able to create farmlands if you have a well, a "pump" and put enough dung and water into a project. And then get a very limited patch where you could grow food. Just an example.

This was kinda my line of thinking. If we could limit the projects by location type, we could have farmlands built anywhere but have projects for each location type. For instance the desert may only be able to have a few types of food and require high water values. This aspect of the idea would build on the herb garden.

Overall, I think the Ajax menu (before it broke) was a really good addition which made the interface much more user-friendly. If we were able to expand it to all projects in Cantr but filtering out inappropriate results in whatever way, I think it would certainly help the players as well as enabling RD to be more imaginative.

[EchoMan]

The suggestion is not necessarily connected to the Ajax build menu. The same filtering and logic functionality can be accomplished without Ajax. The only difference is that with Ajax, the whole page doesn't have to reload each time you specify a selection.

[Surly]

Well, that's good news. That is, in fact, better than thinking about it with Ajax in mind.