TLDR: ENDGAME: instead of mining for colonization, to get rich, or to simply escape, I'm going to where the game started. Mining and production. Mining to do more production to do more mining to do more production to do more mining. Factorio is the name of the game, so, where better to continue than build a giant, customizable, modular space factory?
Ok, I'm going to try to sum this up as discreetly as I can. I've read that the Dev's had a spaceship as part of their plan for endgame. Something "fitting" of an ending for what Factorio is. Rocket defense is an anti-climactic ending, and to some degree, the suggested "get rich or die trying". I'm sort of basing this off of the latter.
Right before I was on this stint of Factorio, I was playing some Dead Space 2, which, if you're unaware, contains massive superships that are mostly self-sufficient and mine the heck out of planets.
I had imagined something modular - it isn't just a 3x3 plop-down spaceship that you send off into space. You build it. However you want - just like your factory. Some ships are efficient, some are dangerous, some will kill off every living thing in sight - whatever is at the whim - or limit - of the creative disposal of the player.
Now, they would have to contain some particular things. Engine rooms, control decks, a bridge, hallways - all to support auxiliary rooms for production. All of these cost a great amount of resources, because you're basically containing your factory inside instead of out on the grass where the sky is the limit.
Something along the lines of a pre-determined set of rooms
Here is a rendering of what I mean
If you've read this far, you'll be able to tell this will be very heavy on resources. But I think it's a very good incentive to find resources. It's exactly what was being done before, except now with that little bit of flair.
Particular rooms I can think of adding
Defense will be an issue, about as much as it is in the regular game. It might not be biters, but other entrepreneurial space tycoons like yourself might come a-knockin'. Swarms of ships and small outposts, minor planets will have their own offensive capabilities. If they see you're running around, by yourself, with the infrastructure to support an entire planet, they're going to want your ship. Pollution is still likely to give you away, even without an atmosphere. I don't think the Factory Ship should be static, either. If it's possible to code, it should travel through a randomly generated space. Nothing too fancy. Within the world of Factorio, I find myself never really venturing that far. Biter nests get destroyed close by and then they aren't that much of a problem if you don't go out and bother them. This will be different, though. The Bridge is where you will control your path. Where you'll be able to use radar to find other entities and avoid or attack them.
Multiplayer would probably be too complex to have multiple enormous ships. I think a multiplayer game would be just fine with one ship for all players, having to work together. I don't know, I'm not a big player of multiplayer anyhow. But, attacking other's ships would be cool, too. There are very finite resources in space, and stealing from another player might just mean you have enough to get back home.....
I think that just about covers it. If I forgot anything, I'll come in and add it as I remember. Oh, and yes, this is my first post. I've been playing this since about version .7 or something, over a year. I'm not new to the game, just new to the forum.
The best I stop it now. 