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Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

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Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#92

Briefly mentioned in this and rendered: space exploration is an incredible factorio mod and the deepest game I've ever played. In Factorio you launch a rocket and win. Space exploration takes that and continues. You end up developing a base across multiple worlds in the solar system. After developing the solar system from the different unique resources on each planet you expand to interstellar space and then other so…

I got pretty far into a Seablock run before eventually giving up (I think it was around the 4th or 5th science color). I ended up stopping because the factory design started getting tedious. I had all the requisite ingredients coming in on neat belts (city blocks / LTS delivered) and the lines were modeled in Factory Planner, but just assembling them for each science pack was a larger and larger amount of tedium: not…

yes, space exploration (which is a different mod entirely), aims to introduce new automation challenges instead of simply extending the same kind of challenges as in the base game (though it also does a little of that: it'll probably take you a bit longer to launch a rocket than in vanilla and that's more or less the start of SE, but it's nowhere near as slow as seablock). It basically requires use of the circuit network, for example (though the required use is relatively simple, it benefits from more advanced usage).

Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually prefer to completely turn off biters. They’ll still be there on other planets, but the anxiety on the home world is gone

Agreed. The difficulty creep that was demanded by vocal experienced players has made Factorio much harder for newcomers to get into. Factorio is a brilliant Zen garden and an absolutely terrible real time strategy game. Since the beta there's been more and more biter types and a gradual ramp up in how frantic you have to be to keep up. It's tremendously off-putting and completely opposite to what makes Factorio what…

I don't recall thinking the biters were at all frantic on default settings. They shape your play, but they don't really push things hard in my experience. I get why people play with them off (though I reckon a lot more it's because people wind up finding them boring after the first few runs), but I don't think it's obvious that it's something that should be the default for new players.

Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#94

Briefly mentioned in this and rendered: space exploration is an incredible factorio mod and the deepest game I've ever played. In Factorio you launch a rocket and win. Space exploration takes that and continues. You end up developing a base across multiple worlds in the solar system. After developing the solar system from the different unique resources on each planet you expand to interstellar space and then other so…

I got pretty far into a Seablock run before eventually giving up (I think it was around the 4th or 5th science color). I ended up stopping because the factory design started getting tedious. I had all the requisite ingredients coming in on neat belts (city blocks / LTS delivered) and the lines were modeled in Factory Planner, but just assembling them for each science pack was a larger and larger amount of tedium: not…

It has tedium in the science imho but it's low enough bandwidth that I solved that with logistic chests without ever falling behind on science.

The larger aspect is effectively restarting repeatedly on new worlds which have unique new resources until they too are shipping rockets of stuff into space. Each new world has different properties. Some have almost no solar, others no water, some have no bugs, but others have bugs dropping in from space anywhere on your base so it's not the same thing each time. I don't mind this aspect. It is a bit like playing Factorio on repeat but it has reasoning behind it. And each restart you get to bring a cargo rocket of stuff with you and the ability to build anything you've already researched.

My outpost worlds are often messy and do the bare minimum to send up rockets of stuff to space. But it works. I'm finding it fun but I'm only a couple of hundred hours in.

Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#95
post #73

Briefly mentioned in this and rendered: space exploration is an incredible factorio mod and the deepest game I've ever played. In Factorio you launch a rocket and win. Space exploration takes that and continues. You end up developing a base across multiple worlds in the solar system. After developing the solar system from the different unique resources on each planet you expand to interstellar space and then other so…

another modpack that should be mentioned here is pyanodons [0]. similar to space exploration it also extends the game significantly after the rocket launch, but it also adds additional content before (in fact, the rocket launch itself becomes rather unimportant and is an at first optional blue science tech) pyanodons adds very realistic ore processing chains, petrochemical processes (the main developer, pyanodon, is…

pyanodons really does seem like grind for the sake of grind. It's great if you're basically a utility monster for factorio's core gameplay and want as much of it as possible without any regard for repetition, or you really get a lot out of the satisfaction of achieving ridiculous goals, but most people are not likely to find it very fun, even if they liked seablock or SE.

Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#96
post #8
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Factorio team is pretty chill about stuff, generally, which is why they make the game so moddable in the first place. The only time I remember them having to take any legal action was to deal with someone reselling stolen keys or something. It's understood that anything cool the community does is good for Factorio. > i would absolutely love to see the original source code for As someone who's seen the source code…

> What keeps it all running as well as it does is a comprehensive set of automated tests "Let's game it out enters the chat" Really though super cool to hear a perspective from someone with inside knowledge!

I'd be impressed if they managed to find any bugs, it's probably one of the least buggy games I've encountered (the speedruns for example contain no glitches at all).

Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#97

Briefly mentioned in this and rendered: space exploration is an incredible factorio mod and the deepest game I've ever played. In Factorio you launch a rocket and win. Space exploration takes that and continues. You end up developing a base across multiple worlds in the solar system. After developing the solar system from the different unique resources on each planet you expand to interstellar space and then other so…

I got pretty far into a Seablock run before eventually giving up (I think it was around the 4th or 5th science color). I ended up stopping because the factory design started getting tedious. I had all the requisite ingredients coming in on neat belts (city blocks / LTS delivered) and the lines were modeled in Factory Planner, but just assembling them for each science pack was a larger and larger amount of tedium: not…

> I'm willing to be told I'm just doing it wrong, but does vanilla + Space Exploration have a different sort of challenge curve

Completely different. The SpaceX mod used as an endgame in Seablock has no relation to Space Exploration.

Space Exploration makes pervasive changes throughout the game, and adds the ability to launch yourself into space, build a space station, build colonies on other planets, and mine resources on other planets (and elsewhere) which aren't available on the starting planet. The research required for the first rocket launch is reduced, and there are multiple tracks of research unlocked once you get into space.

Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#98

Briefly mentioned in this and rendered: space exploration is an incredible factorio mod and the deepest game I've ever played. In Factorio you launch a rocket and win. Space exploration takes that and continues. You end up developing a base across multiple worlds in the solar system. After developing the solar system from the different unique resources on each planet you expand to interstellar space and then other so…

If “interplanetary Factorio” is your thing, also consider Dyson Sphere Program: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366540/Dyson_Sphere_Prog...

Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. The difficulty creep that was demanded by vocal experienced players has made Factorio much harder for newcomers to get into. Factorio is a brilliant Zen garden and an absolutely terrible real time strategy game. Since the beta there's been more and more biter types and a gradual ramp up in how frantic you have to be to keep up. It's tremendously off-putting and completely opposite to what makes Factorio what…

I actually liked having the biters on my first couple of playthroughs of the game. It added a sense of urgency and a feeling that this was a dangerous alien world. After that I started playing mods that in and of themselves increased the difficulty of the game, and having the biters on top of that was just way too much. Also, in a vanilla game, once you're more or less invulnerable to the biters they become just an e…

The other harsh lesson biters teach you as a new player is to restart with what you're learned so far.

Your second or third base always goes so much smoother

Re: Alt-F4 #65 – Factorio visualizer in Unreal Engine 5

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just absolutely despise the (lack of) visuals in Factorio. Satisfactory might only be 80% as deep but it being in 3D and gorgeous more than makes up for it. If Factorio looked anything like this model visualizer I’d take it seriously.

Try Dyson Sphere Program then. Not as repayable as factorio but still good fun.

Yes! I was hoping someone mentioned this already. I had soo much fun with DSP, ended up needing to track all my shipments in a spreadsheet. I really hope the upcoming combat system works out so I have an excuse to play it again.
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