Factorio Forums

Ive been using Factorio in afterschool and holiday courses for 2-3 years now.
Our company Invent the World was briefly mentioned in the FFF a while ago.

Current content was demoed at the Factorio 1mil party. Some people
where interested in testing and trying out the content from home so I
decided to set up a DO droplet with a "public" server.

I wanted to invite everyone on the forum to try this out. If you want to REALLY help
then have your non-factorio playing spouse/child/friend play the level instead.

Our expectation is that 'some' students (8-12 yrs old) will be able to automate
Red Science by the end of one day (2x3 hour sessions). For Factorio vets
that does not sound like much, but I assure you its not so easy for kids.

My partner and I are researching Computer Based Assessment so I will also
be recording the game for us to run some analysis on. If anything valuable
comes from that analysis I will post the results here on the forum.

If anybody wants to organise a larger test with more people joining at the same
time, please do let me know.

If you want to try it singleplayer from home, then just install the mod list and start a
new local game. Id love to receive any save games of a finished factory.

I will restart the server if anything breaks, and I will endeavour to check this post daily for questions.

address: norvis.inventtheworld.com.au
location: Singapore
version: 0.15.23
mods:
Game Owner only Research
ITW- Autozone
ITW- Electric Start
No Hand Intermediates
No Hand Military
No Hand Science
No Walls or Gates
No Wood
Small Chests
Smaller Player Inventory
Spacebook
Trunked Tech Tree
Water Fix

What we suggest the students do:
* Build a Pistol (every child wants to build guns immediately)
* Build some more ammunition
* Build a steam engine and coal mine system to keep power coming in
* Automate Cogs
* Automate Electronic Circuits
* Automate Red packs

The "Rules" we lay down at the start of our class
* "Dont do it for them". If someone asks you a question then help them to do it themselves.
* What is in your zone is yours
* Dont steal from others
* Talk to someone before you connect to their zone (its ok to use landfill to get more space)
* Instructors control the researh
* Leading aliens to the base will end in tragedy
* Place your turrets and keep them loaded

Features in the works
* An English for Kids localization (thanks Tomas for the idea)
* Spreading the starting zones out around the edge of the lake so nobody gets boxed in
* Adding an option to change the number of starting zones via Mod Settings

What to expect from the Scenario:
* You will spawn on an island that nobody else has used yet
* You will have a bunch of items to start with
* Your island should have some of each basic resource
* You cannot change the research
* Many items cannot be hand crafted
* Your maximum inventory size is reduced
* If you are the 26th or greater player, you will probably spawn in the centre island, or the server will crash... lets see

If any of these things seem incorrect, then you have found a BUG! Let me know what is missing.

I haven't played the server yet (I'm just about to get on) but I am insulted at the fact that you think it will take 6 hours for 8-12 year olds to build red science. I got the game when I was 12, and I built red science much quicker than that. Then again, I may have watched a few a lot of youtube videos before I convinced my parents to buy me the game .
So maybe it isn't such a low expectation.

I'm trying to get the mods, but Trunked Tech Tree is version 0.0.3 on the server, however I can only find 0.0.1,0.0.2 and 0.0.4 on the mods portal.

Maybe it would be awesome if anyone or the Thread Opener could upload an Modpack for the Server ?

Cheers

Sjitty wrote:I'm trying to get the mods, but Trunked Tech Tree is version 0.0.3 on the server, however I can only find 0.0.1,0.0.2 and 0.0.4 on the mods portal.

Thanks I will fix that up now.

Jap2.0 wrote: I am insulted at the fact that you think it will take 6 hours for 8-12 year olds to build red science.

Most of the players are playing Factorio for the first time, and most of them are 8-9. We have a group of regulars who can complete everything much faster. One even managed to squeeze Red, Green and a bunch of Mall construction into one island without expanding it.

We get a few that complete Red Pack automation, and maybe even 1 or 2 that end up with Green packs. If you have any tips on what helped you learn in game I would love to hear them!

All fixed. The server is now running the proper version of Trunked Tech.

subzeros wrote:Maybe it would be awesome if anyone or the Thread Opener could upload an Modpack for the Server ?
Cheers

I would have done this if all the mods were of my making.

When we run the classes we use LiveUSB (Bootable Linux Distros) with factorio and the mods pre-installed. Pretty silly mistake to include the wrong version of a mod. Thanks for finding that!

I'm testing the server now but there are zero instructions. I'm guessing everything will be taught personally? Without an idea of what you will tell them, its difficult to evaluate if it'll be enough or not.

Also, how would you build a pistol and ammo, if you only build the steam setup afterwards. You can't handcraft military... In contrast to a normal playthrough, here the first objective is power.

Sjitty wrote:Also, how would you build a pistol and ammo, if you only build the steam setup afterwards. You can't handcraft military... In contrast to a normal playthrough, here the first objective is power.

Yes indeed you cannot. We don't give the students strict instructions at the beginning and let them play on their own for the first hour. Of course you need power, and that is the first Ah Ha! Moment. We find that people learn better when they find those connections for themselves rather than following a list of instructions which may or may not be the only combination.

I use the goal of "build a pistol" here for regular Factorio players, so maybe they act/think a little more like a newbie player

After the first break, we start offering missions to individuals and finding student helpers for those who are still learning.

Thanks for the feedback

I agree that you shouldn't give step by step instructions, but I think the intermediate goals should be in chronological order, just to avoid confusion. There is already a lot to think about besides having to figure out power should have been there 3 goals earlier. Regardless, I like the initiative and it sounds like a great way to teach kids problem solving!