Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What is interesting about Factorio

fuseki.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 312 posts

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#251

Post by Faark »

debaserab2 wrote: post #217
Faark wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Rimworld is easier to get into for many. "Survive" is a way more obvious and natural goal. But once I got more and more into the details, Rimworld was the one frustrating me. I probably just despise this kind of "Storyteller" aka Event choosen by Wealth & RNG. This ruined the fun for me and is probably the reason I played Factorio easily 10 times as long as Rimworld. The closest Factory has to that is the pollut…

Perhaps you can answer this for me then: what is the goal in a game of factorio?

The stated goal is to launch a rocket.

But doing so hardly ever gave me a feeling of closure (excluding the 8h achievement speed-run) I got after finishing some story-based game and the "you won"-screen has a "keep playing" button for a reason... I expect most player use it.

If the core game loop doesn't bring you satisfaction and you don't find motivation in setting your own goals, then this game just isn't the right one for you.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#252

Post by notthemessiah »

beesbuzz wrote: post #187
notthemessiah wrote: post #182

One thing notable about Factorio's game mechanics is that crafting is idempotent: the tech tree is a directed acyclic graph. If one is looking for a different experience in which one thinks about closing manufacturing loops, I would recommend Oxygen Not Included, where you have to sustain life amidst an asteroid colony.

> One thing notable about Factorio's game mechanics is that crafting is idempotent What do you mean by this? You craft a thing once, you have one thing. You craft it again, you now have two things. That doesn't sound idempotent to me.

Oops, was thinking about composing arrows on crafting graph, not the action of crafting and the consequent inventory, and that was needlessly confusing. I should have simply said that it's non-invertible.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#253

Post by proc0 »

Factorio is the DOOM of factory games. It has spawned a new Genre that is a blend of RTS like StarCraft, and city builders like City Skylines, HOWEVER it adds a crucial element to distinguish it from a simple mashup of genres - automation. Only after Factorio are we seeing automation factory games, like Satisfactory, recently Industries of Titan.

Automation is truly a genre on its own. It's just about growing your economy by removing yourself from the equation. It's about how efficient and scaleable your base is, both which revolve around automation. Unlike RTS or 4X city builders, the quality of your automation will determine how fast your grow and how long you survive.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#254

Post by pmoriarty »

Melting_Harps wrote: post #167
AQuantized wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea of "seeing the ending" of Factorio undermining its appeal seems disconnected from my own experience. I'm not sure how giving up a game with no micro transactions helps that issue with the gaming industry either.

> The idea of "seeing the ending" of Factorio undermining its appeal seems disconnected from my own experience. I'm not sure how giving up a game with no micro transactions helps that issue with the gaming industry either. I guess it was the stark realization that the Industry was in the midst of shifting to this predatory business model and that I (seemingly) was also prone to the pitfalls of its optimization that d…

"Factorio was mildly amusing at best, it reminded me of a more intricate look at what the building up resources portion of RTS games could be; by contrast I'm looking forward and prepared to sinking tons of hours on Cyberpunk 2077 and AoE 4, but that's mainly because they've been in development for so long and I've followed them closely since the beginning."

These aren't criticisms of Factorio so much as statements about your own taste in games. You just seem to like other types of games, which is fine, but it's not a slight on Factorio.

I personally hate FPS games and almost every 3D game out there... does that mean these games suck? No, they're just not for me, but plenty of other people love them, and in fact they are the most popular type of games out there. I think that's sad, but the people who love those games don't care a bit about what I think, and the games industry isn't going to change direction for me.

I'm personally overjoyed that a game like Factorio exists, and consider it a near miracle that the developers put so much love and effort in to this game in an ocean of trashy, super buggy, low effort, generic games out there. They really carved out a very special niche for themselves, and I couldn't be more grateful.

I just hope they open source it eventually, so it can never die.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#255

Post by notthemessiah »

timwaagh wrote: post #224
notthemessiah wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Factorio is a polished experience, with devs committed to bringing it not just to completion, but to perfection (with performance, aesthetics, and balanced gameplay). In contrast, most AAA games are bland experiences built under sweatshops, and most Early Access games wind up half-assed or as abandonware. If there's any game worth your money, it's Factorio.

I don't doubt that it's worth the money. I just dislike their attitude. If it was a perfect fit for me, I'd swallow it and get it, sure. But thruth is I'm only a very occasional puzzle gamer. So i'd probably not play it much or at all. Also, let's not overgeneralize. I'm pretty sure a lot of indie devs are effectively sweatshops too. They face much less regulatory scrutiny and people tend to forgive them easily. Exam…

> But thruth is I'm only a very occasional puzzle gamer. So i'd probably not play it much or at all.

Then why should you care about what the makers of Factorio do?

> Examples like Telltale and Riot tell us how ugly things can get if they grow too quickly and continue operating that way.

Do Factorio developers show any sign that they're "growing too quickly"? Telltale took on dozens of contracts for games that showed no sign of selling well, and Riot went public and were acquired and became Tencent's bitch. How is any of that relevant to Factorio not going on sale?

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#256

Post by pmoriarty »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #233
lonelappde wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basic dell computers with any video card play games fine. The hardware scene is a benchmarks "game" hobby on its own, separate from the video games.

Yup; I've played factorio on a 2016 laptop and a 2011 desktop, the latter of which is also my "Steam machine". Bad enough hardware eventually limits what you can play, but the barrier to entry is low .

I still play Factorio on a clunky, old, el-cheapo laptop I got in 2013, and it still plays fine in single player (except on really busy screens when zoomed way out, when it crawls). Playing multiplayer over a network can also get really painful, with massive slowdowns in busy areas and in combat, despite only being a few milliseconds away from the server.

I really need to get a new machine.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#257

Post by pmoriarty »

monk_e_boy wrote: post #177
krallja wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Factorio scripts are called blueprints.

why do they take up slots in your inventory? It's weird. And the blueprint book seems useless -- and I can't google because there are too many "spoilers" associated with blueprints .... I wish there was more help in game

"why do they take up slots in your inventory?"

The blueprints you make go in your inventory by default because that's the temporary storage area for them. (Incidentally, to get rid of a blueprint in your inventory, right click it and then click on the trashcan icon in the blueprint dialog which appears).

If you want your blueprints to be more permanent and persist between games you can put them in to the "My Blueprints" section of the blueprints screen.

There you can also organize your blueprints in to books of related blueprints.

For more detailed tutorials on how to use blueprints, try searching on youtube for: factorio blueprints

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#258

Post by pixl97 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #210
ashtonkem wrote: post #201

Factorio is probably one of the best $$/hr values outside of Dwarf Fortress, which is free. It’s also basically engineering catnip, consider yourself warned. For those who are interested, it’s the stated goal of the devs to never put the game on sale. They think it’s worth $30, and they intend to sell it for $30. So if you’re interested, don’t wait for a sale, buy it now!

I'd be interested in reading their analysis on price setting. $30 is much more than it was 3 years ago. I've been waiting for a discount on factorio. I guess I'll take it off my wishlist.

>I've been waiting for a discount on factorio.

Don't unless the company is bought out. They will never discount the sale price as it leads to the behaviour you just listed, people will only buy the game when it goes on sale leading to low sales when said game is not on sale.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#259

Post by 013a »

GrumpyYoungMan wrote: post #168
013a wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Satisfactory is interesting in its own way. It'd be easy to initially think that its the better/easier game to get into for someone who hasn't played a game like this before, but I'd argue the opposite. The three-dimensionality introduces logistical insanity that is startlingly difficult to wrangle, and the first person viewpoint makes planning the factory floor very difficult. The terrain is also a constant challeng…

> " The three-dimensionality introduces logistical insanity that is startlingly difficult to wrangle, and the first person viewpoint makes planning the factory floor very difficult. " As a former player of the Tekkit mod for Minecraft, the three-dimensionality is what I miss. As good as it is, Factorio is so disappointingly planar , despite the tools they give you to manage belt intersection and materiel transfer.

One of the big advantages Minecraft, and Factorio, have is their strict global grid system. Factorio's is two-dimensional, Minecraft's is three-dimensional, but they both have one.

Satisfactory does not have this global grid. It does have very limited local grids, when you lay down foundations, but even these are less powerful than the grids on Minecraft/Factorio.

This makes every stage of logistical planning more difficult, which is both good and bad. Highly organized Satisfactory factories are, visually, more chaotic than highly organized Factorio factories. But, they can also be more satisfying to look at; from chaos emerges beauty, against all odds.

Re: What is interesting about Factorio

#260

Post by pmoriarty »

Mengkudulangsat wrote: post #18

This game made me empathize less and less with environmentalists. Forests are an impediment to a transport network. Wildlife are pests. Renewable energy has extremely low ROI.

" This game made me empathize less and less with environmentalists. Forests are an impediment to a transport network. Wildlife are pests. Renewable energy has extremely low ROI."

It's funny you should say that. I noticed that nuclear energy in Factorio is waste-free, and (at least without mods) there's no risk of a nuclear reactor suffering a meltdown and massively damaging large areas of your base.

Also, it was interesting to see just how massive a solar panel array you'd have to have in order to match even a coal power plant, never mind a small nuclear power plant.

On the other hand, Factorio's factories pollute, and fighting hard to reduce pollution is a major part of the game.

Post reply on HN