Preserving Factorio 1.0

[SkerrittT]

It is exciting to hear about Factorio: Space Age. The Friday Facts have been great to read.
I am wondering if I need to consider preserving my current installation of Factorio. I enjoy and know the game well in it current form. While I am looking forward to the new expansion I am mildly concerned that I will want to be able to play the current form of the game after the expansion comes out too.
I noted your comment in FF #373 "This implies that technically, you could just take your vanilla base, activate the expansion, and continue playing. But the best way to experience it will be to play with Space Age from start to finish" so I dont know if preserving "1.0" is necessary (or 1.187 in my case) nor how I could do that. Could I purchase a second copy of the game with the Expansion? Could I set it so that the Expansion can be added or removed (like a game profile)? Do I need to?
Thanks again for a great game. It has given me many many hours of enjoyment.

[Loewchen]

I'm not sure what you are trying to preserve, your save files or the ability to install older versions. If the latter you can download all major releases down to 0.6 here: https://factorio.com/download/archive/.

[SkerrittT]

What I think I want to do is keep a copy of the game in its current state so I can continue to play as it is with saved games and blueprints as they are.

Steam will automatically update the game. Steam says "f you'd like to stop Steam from automatically updating a game, select "Only update this game when I launch it" from the game's Library page > Properties > Updates" which is fine right up until when I launch the game at which point it updates anyway.

I do want to experience Factorio: Space Age when it comes out so I expect that I will need to purchase a second copy of the game (which I am happy to do)

Given my existing version is a Steam copy do I just purchase a key from the Factorio Website and download the .exe from Factorio (in order to have a separate copy of the Game) which I can keep to the revision I want (1.187 at the moment in my case) and move my saved games etc to that copy.

Then I let Steam go ahead and do the automatic updates on my existing copy and thus it will have Factorio: Space Age when its released?

As an aside, am I correct is presuming that I could not set my existing Steam game so that the Expansion can be enabled or disabled (like a game profile)?

[Serenity]

The expansion will basically be a mod. Just like there is a "Base mod" now for the base game

[Silari]

Given my existing version is a Steam copy do I just purchase a key from the Factorio Website and download the .exe from Factorio (in order to have a separate copy of the Game) which I can keep to the revision I want (1.187 at the moment in my case) and move my saved games etc to that copy.

You don't need to purchase another copy. You just link your steam account and your factorio account and you can download the game from the website.

[SkerrittT]

@Serenity, @Silari, thank you for your replies. Most appreciated.

[FuryoftheStars]

You don't need to purchase a second copy. All you need to do to download the game from the website is link your Steam and Factorio accounts.

This was already said almost verbatim just a couple posts up:

You don't need to purchase another copy. You just link your steam account and your factorio account and you can download the game from the website.

[Qon]

I don't think you understand what 2.0 is. V1.1 and 2.0 will have the same gameplay. V2.0 is not the same thing as the space age mod. Just update the game and continue playing.

Rail curve size change will mean blueprints need to be updated. But other than that 2.0 is just bug fixes, performance updates and QoL changes that you do want. There's no reason to stay on 1.0 instead of going to 1.1, right?

Buy the SA mod if you want, and you can disable it and play without it like any other mod.