Atmospheric Addiotions, People, Outposts and Travelling

[SamAmano]

I have a lot to tell about changes and additions for factorio that would make the game one of the best games for me.
I will especially focus the atmosphere aspects of the game that made me love the game before i even build my first circuit factories.

Every time is start Factorio i love diving in an atmosphere of dark, isolated but also hard defended and with love build bases. I love to think about the dark valleys of my South Walls in the night, where (maybe) Aliens crawl and observe my factorie while im working or micromanaging my factories in the north.
By virtue of this "feelings" i wanna talk about the first thing that comes in mind when i play Factorio:

Where are the searchlights on my guns, on my walls searching for aliens between the trees in the night.
The night and the lack of sight is an important atmospheric tool that gives factorio the survival feeling that this game makes it what it seems to be.
I think about blinking broken lantern beneath an isolated but still working assembly plant far in the north of my factory.
The only light i can build is so bright that it is enough to build just a few of them to lighten up my hole base. Thats really effective and helpful in the night but it kinda destroys the feeling of beeing in an hostile location, trying to survive the horros of the night and the aggressive native bioforms on this world.

There should be more different kinds of light. small lights, lanterns, medium light, big headlights, floodlights etc.

The second part i wanna talk about is the most important part imao. Its the "travelling".

As i first build a car with a friend in multiplayer i was so excitied about driving around and explore the world with my friend in multiplayer that i was really disappointed when i realised i cant get in ONE car together wir a friend. One driving, one shooting. Or just as a passenger.
That should be fixed. There is nothing better than driving around with a friend, exploring the world near your base.

When i first realised that there is the possibility to build trains and drive with them from mainbase to outpost and even further i was really excited.
This part of factorio is why this game is one of the best in 2016. Its like travelling between different cities while feeling the threat of the enemys. While driving through the night.
Through a hostile area... through a forest, only seeing the searchlight of the train....its a great feeling when you see the lights of your outpost that brings you the iron you need to keep your base running and that promises safety, light, warmth, security...far away from your mainbase...thats just fucking awesome!!!

Beeing able to travel to even more far places would be my suggestion in one sentence. It would be just epic awesome to travel and drive about 5 minutes in the train. i know some people gonna say that the travelling time you wait would be borimng but in my and my friends opinion this would give an epic amount of quality atmosphere. The world you "travel through" is random so there is always something to explore. Its hostile so you really need to defend against it and thats makes the rare secure locations nice and comfy. you would think twice about
taking the train to an outpost you need 5 mins to get there. You would think twice about what you take with you and what you need out there, in this dark isolated place.

When i think about this i automaticly think about the idea of integrating other npcs or people, outlaws , survivors, in the game that can come and ask to get acces to your base. Imagine an Outpost far away, where a building that provides sleeping places and food for people,
Makes them defend an area like the dronehall, without the use of turrets. Build this "shelter" and get people and food there (by train) and they will automaticly get to walls in a defined area and shoots enemys. It could be like a fast and nice "lock down" option for far away outposts. Sure they can travel by train between bases like resources that acts on there own.
MAybe there is building called "station" that can be build near tracks that gives people the possibility to travel between the stations and between the "shelter" (or whatever they are called)

Maybe you can integrate those people to the "end game fantasy" where you can either leave the planet with your rocket OR STAY on the planet building a city and a chance for survivors to live on this hostile world for years.
This could be an option like a second ending that leads into a "sandbox" mode.

I love thinking and dreaming about how i would change and improve this game. Thank you for this masterpiece and i hope there will be alot atmospheric content in the near future.

Sry for my bad english.

greeting Sam

[Joe78man]

I love the idea, but if you think about it, the main goal is to get the hell out of that world, so bringing people to it would make no sense.

On the other hand, I like the idea of food, actually, I looked for it before posting anything. Let me tell you my idea.

Player would have water and food consumption. I don't want this to become the sims, so my idea is that the player would consume water and food from inventory (two separate slots as weapons/ammo are displayed). You fill it with food and water and there you go.

Now, to havest food one would have to make a farm, slow growing, forcing you to build in the long term a rotating harvest. Fish being the fast way to get food right away, but not sutainable in the long run. Water purification to obtain clean drinkable water. This game is all about automating, so let's try to stay in the same page. Farms would be affected negatively by pollution, forcing the player to have a far away farm, which would attract the local biters who would aim to eat the crops.

[ssilk]

@SamAmano: It's a pity, that you put all those ideas in one thread... See viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3394

And to the farming idea of Joe78man: Yes, the pollution is exactly the reason, why I would like the need to farm. To see, that pollution destroys also your food.

You don't need much, just a bit for personal consumption, five items of water and food per day only, the stack can hold 50 or so, but if it goes out you will just die. And the biter suddenly have a reason to fight you: Not because they don't like you, but because they like, what you carry! They can smell the food in your inventory (the older the better and the wind direction plays a role). So if you don't care they steal first your food... you have hopefully digged some food nearby, or not?