Factorio Forums

TL;DR

Allow technology to require specific achievements to be reached and enable achievements to be set up to have recipe unlocks/similar effect abilities as technologies can have.

What ?

Currently Achievements have no in-game impact what-so-ever. Modders are limited to item recipes being tied to technology completion. But if the prototype were improved slightly to both enable it to have effects tied to it as well as be declared as a technology prerequisite, it could enable locking high-value, end-game items behind the achievement system rather than just the technology system. Perhaps a modder wants to add a gun that shoots a bullet with 5,000 damage, but the technology to unlock it's recipe isn't unlocked until the player has beaten the game in under 8 hours.

Why ?

Flexibility, replayability. Incentive for modders to add achievements. A method modders can use to further lock what would be considered Over-powered items behind achievements as well as technology.

A few implementations by modders (or the devs for future campaigns) could include
1) checking the status of an achievement to unlock a campaign type,
2) unlocking a recipe from the start of a game if a specific achievement has been reached
3) locking a high-value or arguably-over-powered item behind difficult achievement[s] and technology. (set technology to check the status of achievement in oder to be researched or not)
4) an ability, in scripting, to have the unlock of an achievement trigger some other effect or event, such as a wave of biter attacks, etc.
5) Achievement unlocks already have timers that can be associated with them. this can further improve the complexity and modding ability for certain things.
A modder could set an recipe unlock to a technology that requires an achievement be met within 5 hours of the game's start. In order to get said item, the player must do things in a specific fashion to get that item. This could create a whole new campaign type just by using this methodology in writing a mod.