Factorio Forums

Currently, it looks as if the terrain types are only water and land. On land there are different colors/textures but you can build everything everywhere.

Why:

When you have no constraints (as in infinite resources, infinite space), you eventually end up with one model of an ideal factory. This changes when some things become scarce. One such thing is building space. When your terrain looks like a swiss cheese you cannot simply copy&paste a blueprint from the forum because you have to take care of the holes in the terrain.

This enables another venue for increasing the difficulty which is based in reality. Building in sandy or swampy lands has never been very easy in the real world and workarounds must be used for some things.

Another reason is that, currently, you don't need some items of the game after you have researched the better version. Such as the furnaces for ore smelting. Despite their disadvantages, such items could have lower demands on the ground you place them on. E.g. you can place a furnace on swampy lands but not an electric furnace. Or the small electric pole. Maybe fast inserters need a better foundation than their slower counterparts due to the centrifugal forces.

How:


This could be changed for example in the following ways:

• Solid land:
  Build everything as it is now.
• Sand/Swamp:
  Only build light items such as inserters, chests, small ovens and belts but consume some cement for each item.
  No assemblers or chemical factories can be placed here.
• Deep water:
  Nothing can be built here, keep as is.
  Maybe bridges are possible with the new rail build tool.
• Shallow water:
  Build rails but consume lots of cement for support.

Thank you. I added this suggestion to
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/viewtop ... 80&t=13022 World Generation / Map Generator / Game Modes

Hi there
I just registered to open up the same topic. Good thing I found this thread.

I wanted bit more restriction concerning building space, because as of now, I just build wherever I please. I was thinking of something similar as to what Dune2000 has been.
There shouldn't be a restriction on solid ground like stone. When it comes to grass, very heavy buildings (e.g. Oil factory) would need a foundation or risk degrading of structural integrity (read this as health of the building). When it comes to sand, only the lightest of buildings should be possible to be built without a solid foundation. Very heavy object shouldn't be possible to be built (no Oil cracking in the desert ... or risk destruction of the building). This could also mean, that you have to bring asphalt in order to build several fluid tanks in the desert.

If this doesnt make it in the final game, at least provide sufficient modding API so I can do it myself.

The thing about "solid foundations" needs some good thought. In my opinion requiring a "solid foundation" is something wholly different from being not able to build in a place when resources and time are unlimited. Because then, the cost of the foundation building will only be felt in the beginning of the game. Later on you just plaster everything with concrete like some players are doing it now already.

Therefore I think that the "solid foundation" material needs to be severely limited. Maybe not so much in the beginning of the game but later on it should always be in short supply. This way the player can build some buildings in hard places but still has to put thought into the game.

Players who do not like this idea can just choose a map with easier terrain.