I've just begun to get interested in doing an any% speedrun, so I read up on the rules. After spending the last week designing blueprints for the run, I found that blueprints are not allowed during "any%" speedrunning.

This strikes me as strange, because after all it's an "any%" run! Blueprints are a part of the game, and an integral part of designing a base.

I'm proposing to change the rules to allow blueprints in any%.

Pros:

• More complex base designs are possible due to being able to invest time in designing them, and being able to reproduce those builds during gameplay.
• It allows people with poor memory talent to take part. Those who cannot remember every grid square of their finished base should not be penalised.
• It would make for more interesting final designs for people to see come into fruition.
• All those hours spent designing late-game builds won't be put to waste!

Cons:

• You could in theory blueprint every single part of your base, meaning the game is more of a "game on rails" than a dynamic play through.
• For those that wish to retain WR status without using blueprints there would need to be a new category "any% no blueprints" specifically for them.

Are there reasons why we can't use blueprints that I'm not aware of?

Thanks!

We do have both categories right now, just with different names than you are suggesting. Any% seems to be more enjoyable for most the runners and the audience. The New Game+ category however is just any% with imported blueprints. The NG+ category was meant to be a gateway for newer runners into any%, but recently most new players skipped that step or didn't submit their runs with blueprints.

@macros42 Thanks for the rapid response. I didn't realise that NewGame+ existed until you pointed it out! I can understand why people skip it, it's off "to the side" where no one goes! People would rather do the any% run to get the glory.

It still seems odd to me that blueprints are disallowed though in an any% run. "any%" to me says you can do anything including glitches and in-game settings, anything that the game allows you to do without cheating.

It strikes me as obvious that blueprints should be part of an any% run, and a category for no blueprints is the extra category, rather than the other way around.

One thing to mention is that "blueprints" are not disallowed, and all runners use blueprints, so the system is being used.

What however is disallowed is external blueprints (e.g. blueprints from outside the current save).

That said there is nothing against having pictures of complex layouts on like a second screen or even printed out, you'll just have to manually recreate them. Most of the time, a complex layout is still easily broken into pieces which you can then copy/paste anyway.

@Yivry Aye you make a point about the system is being used, just that you're limited to blueprints you create during that save. However, that means that part of the system is being removed, going against what I would consider a true any%.

Your suggestion of having pictures to one side is a good one, and might make up for the fact you have to remember every detail. Offloading that to either external blueprints or a printed picture is actually pretty similar.

I still believe, however, that an any% speed run should take full advantage of all legitimate game mechanics. That explicitly includes all of the blueprint features! I feel that if there is a limitation put onto how you play the game, it's no longer an any% category, and something else... maybe an "any% no external blueprints" category, same rules as any%, except in this one you can't use external blueprints.

Just consider some of the speed run categories for other titles, they frequently have categories for "any% glitchless" and "100% no save games" and such things. A speed run category which excludes features on other games are categories of their own.

Allowing all game options would also allow custom map strings that go beyond the in-game map gen settings and all debug options. Both of these things are legitimate parts of the game, but the current any% category does not allow them. What is your opinion on allowing them in any%?

@danrayson I'm not sure there is such a thing is a pure any% definition for all games. The rules are usually suggested and voted on in the community. You are free to leave a rule change suggestion for the upcoming 1.0 on https://forms.gle/6U7qT58kGx7TPUxQ6 . For us we defined any% the way that you can use everything that you created within a savefile, not everything that the game offers. I will go as far as saying that loading saves is part of the game as well. However I would not accept a run that loads a save that is about to launch a rocket and win the game instantly either. For us the import of external blueprint is kinda like loading a save. You import something you created outside of the savefile without recreating it. That saying it's all about the recreation part. You are very free to run a 2nd instance of Factorio with a prepared design that you recreate 1to1 to your actual run as a reference, too

@Bilka That's a very good point. Custom maps I could probably get on board with to be honest, but debug options... That's a much harder pill to swallow.

If I continue with argument that using "everything the game legitimately offers" as my basis for arguing my point, I run into the issues you raise about the debug options. I don't honestly think I can maintain my position.

@AntiElitz You also make a good point about the idea that blueprints are in effect an external save file, which if included, should be part of the timed run. That would obviously negate the benefits. I wouldn't suggest that loading a save file right before a rocket launches is in any way an any% run, clearly you should start from the beginning on the save file. But, as you point out, blueprints are external save files, just in a slightly different form.

In that regard, does using a particular map generated seed also count as a save file though? I see this as a grey area where in terms of "is this a saved game?" it goes [map seed] < [blueprints] < [save game right before launch]. There's a scale there, and at the moment it seems that the decision to allow map seeds is as far as people want to go. Blueprints are probably the next step along that scale, and as you point out are getting a little dubious about whether they should be allowed.

@All Honestly after reading the last two posts I don't think I can put my foot down and say blueprints should be allowed any more. They both raise very valid points, and I think that sums it up.