thoughts by a newbie

[ebenezer]

Hi everyone,
I have started with factorio 2 weeks ago and I am enjoying it greatly. I mean,I feel like the game has been designed with me in mind, I can't thank the developers enough. Just take my money.

However there is something that bugs me, and I can't help it: It's the way research is done. I am a scientist with 10+ years of experience, and I find not very plausible that one has to feed abstract things, these science packs, into labs. What is going on in the labs actually? This works very well with the game mechanics, but in a game where you produce items, you include these abstract packs. I mean, this guy belongs to a civilization that travels into space and he needs to discover how to make steel? By himself? I am trying to find an alternative, maybe rebranding the labs into communication centres that need constantly energy and materials (the packs) to keep running. Rather than discovering new technologies, the player receives the relevant information from home. Just an idea, but sounds more coherent. Any thoughts? Sorry if this has been discussed already.

Again, the game is awesome, I'll be happy to play it for the years to come.
Cheers,

Eb

[quinor]

I've seen similar discussion in last week somewhere. The thing is, that does not have lore explanation. Kovarex posted inspiration he had, but it has got no logical in-game reasoning behind.

[ssilk]

Was in this thread: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =5&t=10069

[Koub]

D'oh I was beaten by Ssilkbot

[ebenezer]

I've seen similar discussion in last week somewhere. The thing is, that does not have lore explanation. Kovarex posted inspiration he had, but it has got no logical in-game reasoning behind.

Here it is:

The original idea was, that you need to make these machines and experiment with these to research new methods and technologies.

So the basic idea is that the science "packs" are sort of "lab consumables", which makes sense.
The only thing left in need of a better justification is who/what is carrying out the actual research work. However I can imagine it is the main character himself, he is already crafting complex and bulky items on the fly without a workshop of sort! He must be very good at multitasking

Again, congratulations to the developers for this awesome game!

Eb

[cube]

<imho>
The labs are not researching how to make steel. You know that, obviously. They are just designing plans for the machines that will make steel.
</imho>

[ssilk]

Good point. They are designing the "micro-blueprint" for your "crafting suite".

[ebenezer]

<imho>
The labs are not researching how to make steel. You know that, obviously. They are just designing plans for the machines that will make steel.
</imho>

Makes sense, technology is not researched but rather developed/implemented.