The Factorio Mindset

Post by IIAOPSW » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 8:28 AM UTC

cwkoss wrote: post #195

hathawsh wrote: post #124

I own a copy of Factorio, yet I never play it. Whenever I think about playing Factorio, I think what I really want to do is emulate biology, not industrial machinery. I want a game that lets me alter genomes slightly and try out several branches to see which ones are better for the world I'm trying to create. I want to fast forward through time so that evolution can run its course, then if I don't like the outcome, I…

Early in my software development career, I tried building something like this. It's a really interesting problem, highly recommend trying it yourself. Even with a simple system and very modest skills: it was able to create results that surprised me, which was very rewarding. Copying previously written comment (you might also be interested in the "ALiEn – a GPU-accelerated artificial life simulation program" topic of…

Post by bmn__ » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 8:47 AM UTC

genewitch wrote: post #242

MattRix wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dyson Sphere Program is a great Factorio-like that feels more optimistic and less dark. It’s still about harvesting every last resource though. On the other hand there’s Terra Nil, where the goal is to clean up a destroyed landscape and then leave it without a trace. It’s more of a puzzle game than a factory game, but still worth playing: https://vfqd.itch.io/terra-nil

I've been waiting for Terra Nil since August, i think. I'm always bummed out when i see someone playing a game for video, and it's "not available yet". It's almost as bad as games that have been in early access for over a year.

Post by zrobotics » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 9:49 AM UTC

sudosysgen wrote: post #284

beaconstudios wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the source of energy production - if we're drawing all our energy from solar and wind, then we're not introducing new energy into the earth. That's the problem with fossil fuels - we're reintroducing sequestered carbon into the atmosphere; if we were to burn wood instead and keep the carbon cycle in balance then it wouldn't be an issue. Nuclear energy does introduce new energy though, so that could cause i…

That's actually not true. If we use solar energy, we are reducing the albedo of the earth, thereby introducing more energy than otherwise. As far as wind, you are correct, but the amount of wind energy we can harvest is limited enough that there simply won't be enough at that point assuming that trend. Similarly with wood, at that point we would just run out of wood.

Post by mcv » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 12:47 PM UTC

jeffrallen wrote: post #202

enraged_camel wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like a greater focus on externalities, honestly. Oxygen Not Included does that really well IMO. Almost every production process has inputs and outputs, and a lot of the outputs are waste that you need to figure out either how to utilize as input in another process, or to dispose of safely and in a scalable way so as to avoid negative repercussions. Waste isn't just in the form of products either. For example, one…

Speaking of that... When people talk about limitless cheap energy from fusion reactors in 30-50 years, I wonder about goal warning from water great from all that energy consumed and turned into waste heat radiated into Earth's atmosphere.

Post by kroltan » Sat, Feb 12, 2022, 1:01 PM UTC

bduerst wrote: post #247

kroltan wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, the game is really made for the "10s of people scale". But thanks to how it works, it doesn't need 10s of coordinated people, you can certainly just join some existing server with a friend and have an equally good time.

This was my biggest annoyance with Eco. It really does take a community, which is disappointing because you can't scale it down to 1-4 players. Are there any mods for this?