The whole reason the Steam Workshop exists is to easily share content and said content must remain easily accessed by players. It should not be gated behind late game tech. The factory is largely a convenience item and a tool for sharing creativity. Of course building by hand would remain in place, largely unchanged to how it is now.

Perhaps drones fly around shooting nanite beams that 'grow' your buildings. Watching your ship or base be constructed should be something that catches your eye. Exactly how this is done and how short you can make the build timer is to be determined and would also depend on the difficulty settings, but players should not be forced to wait 12 hours for a ship to build when they have the means to shorten it. The ability to reduce the build time should be kept in. There's no reason to make it overly restrictive or tedious. The system should err on the side of creative freedom. A new player must be able to use blueprints in the beginning game, not just mid or late game. No need for overcomplicated mechanics.Д«lueprints should be usable and useful at all levels of the game, from starter HVs to massive capital ships. It should remain simple to use said blueprints to create ships and bases. It should remain easy to design (or subscribe to) blueprints. Whatever form the shipyards or factory ultimately takes, it's important to keep some things in mind. I guess the 'waiting time' question will come up when they put the factory back in the game, so I'm just following the thread and game development, like you are. When the devs made the 1st iteration of the factory, there was no 'waiting time' but just a 'base' required to spawn a blueprint over it, with adequate size. Why not give players the benefit of this time already spent ?

This is just a question regarding immersion : why does it require 'waiting time' ? Feeding devices in the factory implies that these devices have been made previously, and this took 'time'. I think it's covered and just needs some adjustments, but 'power' is not 'waiting time'. Why do people bath or eat, since teleporters could put food in stomach directly or just 'beam' people out of their 'dirt' ? Why do people still carry anything and don't simply use the transporters to 'spawn' stufff wherever it is needed ? Why is there need for a doctor since transporters can scan a 'healthy' body, retain this 'condition' and restitute it to atomic precision ?ДЇor the 'power required' question, Empyrion has power requirements for almost everything, from cargo boxes to couches. A big thanks to them.Д¬lick to expand.I used Star Trek for convenience because most players have heard about it, but I could also say that even Star Trek doesn't follow its own 'logic' and it is mostly to have something more graphical to show to auditors. This is the mark of a customer driven dev team that works hard for all our enjoyment. Regardless if and when it changes in all likelihood the devs will allow those that don't like it to turn it off since they try to keep as many people as happy as possible. I am also a backer of the path the devs are on and will be purchasing a 5th copy for yet another friend who will likely give up on it before really trying it, but damn it I want to see them finish with a great product! I just wanted to air my thoughts as a long time player, not that my opinion holds any more weight then anyone else's cause it honestly doesn't. They have made it pretty obvious that shipyards are to come. We can all debate it till we are blue in the face but the devs will do what they wish, after all it is their game. And why all the dry-docks in Star Trek then. I believe in Voyager they replicated the parts and assembled the Delta Flyer. As for the Star Trek reference, even those require power and they never replicate an entire ship. It takes time to assemble, even a 3d printed device takes time. New instance new time requirement, Harley Davidson doesn't roll off an endless stream of bikes just because they built one already.

Space engineers nanite factory tutorial