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Well then, since I don't usually start over all that often, but decided to do so with 12.07, I've had a bit of trouble with starting locations. And by trouble, I mean, either the starting ores are too far from each other, making a start too much of a hassle. One other issue I've just run into:

http://i.imgur.com/RsqLd0V.png

I only found out I was on an island when I set out to do a bit of exploring after getting basic automation going. So there goes 30 minutes of gametime that wouldn't have gotten anywhere

My point is - please have a look at starting conditions in the future. Like, whatever your map settings, make sure your starting location is connected to a landmass of at least X tiles, has a field of each ore available nearby, et cetera

This is a quite old problem, but not easy to fix.

You may have a look at https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 80&t=13022

That was a nice read, thanks for the link! And glad I'm not the only one suffering from this stupid issue.

In the past, I did make a few custom maps based on the idea of "pre-constructed" segments. Like, your starting location was dotted with debris from your crashed spaceship, which contained all kinds of basic materials (A few dozen of each ore, some random tools like repair packs, burner-level items and a basic rifle/ammo), whatever would have survived a classic crashed spaceship scenario, really. Added bonus was that I could somewhat determine my starting location and edit the ores a bit (I don't wanna walk 2 screens over to keep my various burner drillers going, that just sucks the fun right out of the game == bad design!) As a practical/fun element, I also dotted closely placed fields of various ores on distant places of the map, so that I'd have something to send trains to or build outposts at.

Unfortunately, that also kind of spoils the randomness of the game - you know you've got a good start, you've seen the surrounding environment, you know where to go, et cetera. So this time, I really wanted to start a random playthrough. But I've been trying various map-generations, and it's either a bad location (middle of a desert with no trees or an island) or a lack of nearby resources (with a HUGE field of a certain ore a few screens away) or a combination of the 2.

I think it would be nice to have only the land around you revealed after spawn, so you can make sure you aren't on a large island before you start building, but that is pretty rare. When it comes to random spawns on a tiny island i don't think its too much of an issue to the players or the devs because you know immediately and you can just quit and make a new map.

For that reason I started a new MP scenario with my brother having the landfill mod installed. That way we can build a bridge to other islands, which completely solved the island problem. Ours was a lot bigger, but still an island.

About fields being too far apart, within 30 minutes you can have enough belts to fix this, so I don't think it needs fixing. It's just the hassle of having no automation at all, and I didn't mind the running around for the very first moments in play. When playing MP it's even less of an hassle, since you can split the tasks.

The problem isn't so much with a continental start, but rather with water being completely impassible.

It would be great to have some materials that can cross water. Such as rail bridges or boats.

bobucles wrote:The problem isn't so much with a continental start, but rather with water being completely impassible.

It would be great to have some materials that can cross water. Such as rail bridges or boats.

https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =80&t=4806 FREQUENTLY SUGGESTED IDEAS