Game theory: Factorio takes place on Earth

[thereaverofdarkness]

I am suspicious that this alien world is actually none other than Earth.


Possibly what happened:
While the Engineer was away, the bugs attacked Earth and won a war, eliminating all large animal life from the planet. They demolished all of the major structures across the face of the planet. Plants began to grow uninhibited. Thousands of years passed, the Engineer's ship had a malfunction and the Engineer remained in stasis. The planet grew over the crumbled remains of human civilization and the bugs tended the plants, thriving on them.

The engineer's spacecraft eventually repaired itself enough to navigate home, and the engineer was awoken upon landing. It was a crash landing because the bugs shot it down. The main computer was destroyed in the crash, so the engineer is unable to check it and find out navigational details.

Alternate possibility: humans caused the extinction of most of the larger animals, and the bugs would have taken care of them but it was too late.



Supporting evidence:
1.) The engineer requires no special supports to live in this planet's environment. Now (s)he is wearing a protective suit, but I figure there's a limit to how far that will go. The environment could be significantly different from what humans need, but it must have enough oxygen and be within a certain pressure range. At no point does the Engineer require oxygen supplements or any other suit maintenance. The planet clearly has liquid water on the surface. So we can tell that the planet is at least very similar to Earth.

2.) The trees look like Earth trees. Keep in mind that Earth has had plenty of different kinds of trees over its long history of multicellular life.
Trees in the Carboniferous Period would have looked something like this: http://forces.si.edu/atmosphere/images/ ... 007_lg.jpg
Trees in the Jurassic Period may have looked something like this: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/wp-c ... 12.23A.jpg
But the trees on this alien planet appear to be not just Earth trees, but specifically angiosperm trees. That would be quite a coincidence for trees so similar to that to appear on another planet.

Now I recognize that Earth trees could have been transplanted onto another world, if other humans had been here before the Engineer. But I have more evidence it's Earth:

3.) The ratio of U-235 to U-238 is the same as Earth as far as we can easily measure. (The exact value is a bit less, like Earth a few million years from today. But it's also just a nice round number.) This ratio is a factor not only of the amount of U-235 and U-238 present when the Earth was formed, but also of its age, and it bears a stamp of both this planet's composition and its age.

[quineotio]

I assume you're making this argument because you're a flat earther too?

[thereaverofdarkness]

I assume you're making this argument because you're a flat earther too?

How does that make sense? Don't flat-Earthers believe that other planets, and space in general, doesn't exist?

[quineotio]

I assume you're making this argument because you're a flat earther too?

How does that make sense? Don't flat-Earthers believe that other planets, and space in general, doesn't exist?

Firstly, it's a strange, unlikely theory. Secondly, Factorio is flat.

[NoQ]

I had the same problem once. Alien biome mod helps quite a bit. Also it made me do this.

[aober93]

How does that make sense? Don't flat-Earthers believe that other planets discs, and space plane in general, doesn't exist?

fixed. np

[Rakshasa]

Obviously factorio takes place in a simulated universe with infinitely expanding 2d planets.

[FactorioParadox]

Obviously factorio takes place in a simulated universe with infinitely expanding 2d planets.

Infinitely expanding planets 2d that eventually turn into the ending of Solitaire if you go far enough.

[Daid]

Or, failed terraforming/colonization attempt? Humans improved the air, brought the trees. But didn't account for the bitters?

Earth would have longer day/night cycles

[thereaverofdarkness]

Or, failed terraforming/colonization attempt? Humans improved the air, brought the trees. But didn't account for the bitters?

Earth would have longer day/night cycles

That would explain the environment and trees, but not the uranium ratio. Still, that could be a coincidence.

Factorio's day/night cycles are so absurdly fast that the surface gravity should be negative; everything should be flung out into space. I'm not sure we can use its timing to assert whether it's Earth or not, it's obviously time-dilated for gameplay reasons. (Devs: please increase day/night length!!)

[JimBarracus]

Factorio's day/night cycles are so absurdly fast that the surface gravity should be negative; everything should be flung out into space. I'm not sure we can use its timing to assert whether it's Earth or not, it's obviously time-dilated for gameplay reasons. (Devs: please increase day/night length!!)

Maybe the planet is as large as our planet but spins much faster.
Gravity would be the same but the day/night cycle would be faster.

[olafthecat]

Surely the planet could be an infinite sphere?

[Ranakastrasz]

Ringworld? Given the inner segmented ring for simulating day/night cycle you can get any ratio you want

[TerribleEngineer001]

The Technological explosion of the last 2 centuries and earlier development have already dried out all easily accessible resources like the surface ones available from Factorio, so I would venture : no ?

[Baughn]

Surely the planet could be an infinite sphere?

Is there any difference between an infinite sphere and an infinite plane?

[Ranakastrasz]

Naturally I cant ever think of factorio of not being like the "Factory Isolation" fanfic. In which you have a DMA (Dimentional miners assistant) bound to your soul and are supposed to use it to strip-mine a planet.
Or something like that.

Also ever since I read it i started actively killing forests because the trees are also part of the biter ecosystem.

[Rage]

Surely the planet could be an infinite sphere?

Is there any difference between an infinite sphere and an infinite plane?

On an infinite sphere, if you walked in a straight line for an infinite amount of time you would get back to where you started.
On an infinite plane you would just keep going forever.
That being said, if you went far enough you would theoretically start running into some repetition, regardless of which one you're on, and long before you got back to where you started on the sphere.
Note: Not a physicist or a mathematician so I may be wrong.

[Koub]

I'd say that for a sphere, you need a center, and a radius. Thus, there is no such thing as an infinite sphere.

[Jap2.0]

I'd say that for a sphere, you need a center, and a radius. Thus, there is no such thing as an infinite sphere.

The radius is infinity, the center is, well, wherever you want it - although technically infinity is a concept, not a number (although that's how it's often used).

[Zavian]

I'd say that for a sphere, you need a center, and a radius. Thus, there is no such thing as an infinite sphere.

The radius is infinity, the center is, well, wherever you want it - although technically infinity is a concept, not a number (although that's how it's often used).

Well the center has to be infinitely far away from the surface of the sphere, so it's not as unrestricted as "wherever you want it".