https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-392
Hello, I'm going to cover a feature I only just finished. I was thinking about this idea for years already. I always thought the feature is too hardcore to be included, but I learned that it is usually a mistake to underestimate the players, so I gave it a go, and decided to share it right away.
This change is interesting. The process of creating parameterized blueprints looks a little tedious, but I'm pretty sure that's just inherent to the idea in general and there isn't much room to make it better, and I imagine the ease of using such blueprints that are e.g. downloaded from the internet is perfectly fine.
I play a lot of Factorio in multiplayer, with a group where not everyone has the same desire to make blueprints, and we in-general resist just downloading designs off the internet and try to do everything in-house. This leads to a lot of asymmetric gameplay, where e.g. I may design a blueprint and others will use them. I think this kind of change will work well overall for that (complex train systems are now a reality) but might come with the cost of the blueprint producer spending more time faffing around with the blueprint UI.
Not much faffing needed. The challenge is in creating blueprints that are truly suited to generic parametrization. It's the same deal with generics in programming.
Sounds truly amazing! Missed that feature over the last years. Same for the train interrupt, which simplifies refueling.
When can we expect these features to arrive in-game?
I also wonder, isn't a follow-up game coming out soon? How long will they keep making Factorio even better?
Uh, have you heard about v2 and the expansion? Check a few blog posts it's all there. This feature will be in v2