Friday Facts #373 - Factorio: Space Age

[Ziomek24]

Hi. Since you're asking what the impression is, I'd like to say that I love to play with the enemy. I love to feel the power of the enemy, that he is not stupid, but he can bypass heavily guarded defenses and sneak into less fortified strongholds. An enemy who can think tactically. This is what I miss in factorio. Is there a chance for a better enemy? I'm not talking about hp and dmg, but about his thinking not to be stupid who goes straight to the wall.

What do you think?

[maniak1349]

Thanks for the update on expansion status.

Yet 50+ FFF's worth of spoilers. Isn't it a bit too much for impatient players without an actual ability to touch things? Wouldn't open beta be more beneficial for both parties involved? At least sometime halfway through when most of the content is stabilized.

[POPISowyNumer]

So what comes next, Factorio 3.0 Bobangels Boogaloo?

[Shuisman]

Are those ice cubes being moved by the red long-handed inserter?
And then the chemical plants melts them to make water? Very inventive!

[Mifczu]

I can't wait to put up a server even in beta

[Catari64]

Counting down the minutes to next Friday!!!!!! Can't wait this already looks amazing I'd buy it right now if I could!

[blastinburn]

Has anything been said about joining a multiplayer game with the expansion? They mentioned in a previous FF that you can join non-expansion multiplayer by disabling the expansion, but can other players who don't have the expansion join you?

Given that they've said it requires a different executable to use the expansion and how mods need to be downloaded currently to play multiplayer with mods, I'm worried I won't be able to buy the expansion and have friends join me unless they also buy it. I'd much rather a paradox model where host determines DLC for everyone.

[Zaflis]

but the player is quite omnipotent at the end of the vanila playthrough so we had to make some tough decisions

I do hope the expansion will give better things to play with though, maybe productivity 4 modules, power armor mk3, better spidertron or higher tier equipment. In vanilla player is very far from omnipotent when it's about megabase building, one has to rely on mods to be efficient. I don't think i could bear to play a MP server that is only vanilla. Can't fit enough exoskeletons to get decent movement speed, not enough roboports, having to swap armor if you want all functionality etc etc, vanilla has tons of room to add tools for player.

If you consider some sort of PvP balance, leave that out of it. Those scenarios can make their own rules and balance, what builders like is fun building. In combat side many more enemies can also be introduced to give more reason for the better tools. It has stagnated to the behemoth phase, people seriously don't even consider them a threat anymore.

[BlueTemplar]

[...]
But seeing now that SA (can we call it that?)
[...]

Nah, let's call it SE too (for Space Expansion (pack)), that way there definitely won't be any confusion with Space Exploration and Space Extension !

[winkbrace]

Whoop so hyped! Exactly what I was hoping for. SE just is too grindy for me and this expansion looks to be designed exactly right.

If you need any more play testers, please consider me a volunteer!

[AileTheAlien]

Space Age has a lot of different challenges but they never get too extreme and the usage of combinators is quite lightweight

IMO the game doesn't really encourage players enough to use combinators, so I'd actually prefer at least one recipe per planet that needs combinators for efficient automation. (Like oil, you can do it without combinators, but it wastes resources, power, or space.) The game also doesn't really push the player to use trains either, because of how close and rich all the resource patches are. If those were spread out and thinned a bit, or if one planet had more or longer cliffs, or a planet had different shapes of water, it could help. It would also encourage trains if there were a couple really big or oddly-shaped buildings. Like, maybe the later assemblers could be bigger than 3x3, or they're an T-shaped or U-shaped building. (I think the nuclear facilities could have different shapes too; The optimal strategy is just a 2-by-X boring line.) Or there's a large warehouse building that can replace/simplify many chests, but it's a fat L shape. W is main warehouse part, ^ is outputs and < is inputs for inserters.

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[Greycloak]

I'm really looking forward to It!
Also to have the Friday Facts back, It's awesome to read about your progress!

[leandroalb]

Very excited about this! WUBE

[BlueTemplar]

Space Age has a lot of different challenges but they never get too extreme and the usage of combinators is quite lightweight

IMO the game doesn't really encourage players enough to use combinators, so I'd actually prefer at least one recipe per planet that needs combinators for efficient automation. (Like oil, you can do it without combinators, but it wastes resources, power, or space.) The game also doesn't really push the player to use trains either, because of how close and rich all the resource patches are. If those were spread out and thinned a bit, or if one planet had more or longer cliffs, or a planet had different shapes of water, it could help. It would also encourage trains if there were a couple really big or oddly-shaped buildings. Like, maybe the later assemblers could be bigger than 3x3, or they're an T-shaped or U-shaped building. (I think the nuclear facilities could have different shapes too; The optimal strategy is just a 2-by-X boring line.) Or there's a large warehouse building that can replace/simplify many chests, but it's a fat L shape. W is main warehouse part, ^ is outputs and < is inputs for inserters.

Code: Select all

^^^
WWW
WWW
WWWWW<
WWWWW<
WWWWW<

Yes, this, I would expect that Factorio would really gain from some Tetris (also for beacon coverage), at least as a modding option ! (Also think about mods to randomize these shapes on each new game.)

(Also I would love to see more mods use the still existing for mods number of ingredients limitation for assemblers.)

[Gemma]

I am just praying that Wube doesn't repeat the mistakes Klei made with Spaced Out.

[Xuerian]

It looks fantastic! Can't wait to buy it.

Happy that you all can finally talk about it publicly!

Every factory game I go to, I find myself missing the polish and playability that Factorio offers.

[p03t13]

I'm a little concerned that it looks like a dumbed down version of space exploration. Will it be compatible with the space ex mod, for those of us who want a harder/longer playthrough? Or will you be continuing the space ex mod to keep it compatible with space age?

[Skjoldr]

Yeah, I also wonder, given the aims of SE and SA are so different, will SE go on with the engine changes, or will it be replaced by SA.

[pointa2b]

I'm a little concerned that it looks like a dumbed down version of space exploration. Will it be compatible with the space ex mod, for those of us who want a harder/longer playthrough? Or will you be continuing the space ex mod to keep it compatible with space age?

This is what I came to say as well, hopefully SE (and K2 for that matter) will cleanly integrate with the expansion. Coming from someone who prefers multi-month playthroughs, this would be the holy grail of content fusion!

This looks awesome Wube, I'll be religiously following along every Friday.

[xtmq]

The same question here - will SE be updated to use all fantastic features of the new engine? And probably to reuse some of expansion content to be more consistent with it.