Biters and Railworld

[currst2620]

Hi all,

I've advanced a fair way through the railworld map, but now find I'm being overrun by biters and spending more and more of my time dealing clearing hives than actual base building. The constant base clearing is becoming rather tedious, to the point where I'm now considering either abandoning the game. I know that I could issue a console command to prevent respawning, but I'd rather play with achievements. I'm also continuously re-building trains as described in another post here.

Anyway, the point of the post is ask about map generation. I generated a railworld map that was, in part, described as:

Biters won't create any new bases or re-expand into cleared territory

But they most definitely do create new bases and they most definitely do re-expand into cleared territory. Can anyone clarify what is meant by "cleared territory"? Is this a glitch in the game? Should I start again?

Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

[AileTheAlien]

That sounds like a glitch. I've spent 60 hours on my rail-world-settings game, and the biters definitely aren't making new hives. Maybe just forego the achievements? The game should be fun without them, anyways. :)

[currst2620]

Yeah, I'm forever going back to clearing the same areas. Would love to know what exactly constitutes "cleared territory".

[Factorie]

You could run the command and try following this thread to re-enable achievements if you're up for it viewtopic.php?f=5&t=29709

[Factorie]

This post specifically:

These are the steps to fix a save that has achievements disabled because of console commands, make sure you understand them before attempting them:

1. Get a Hex editor if you don't have one yet (I recommend HxD, also has portable versions)
2. Make a backup of the save file (.zip) somewhere else
3. Extract the save (.zip-File) and delete the .zip file afterwards so only the extracted folder stays
4. Open the level.dat file in the Hex editor
5. Search for the hex string 6A D8 40 (in HxD go to Search --> Find, enter the string and select Hex-values as datatype)
6. Starting from 6A select all hex bytes until the Length counter at the bottom says 81 (Note: this is a hexadecimal number, in decimal the length would be 129)
   factorio-hex.png
7. The last byte you selected (circled red in the picture) is the byte for "achievements disabled because of console commands" and is set to 01, select it and overwrite it with 00
8. Save the file and close the Hex editor
9. Open Factorio and load the save
10. Make sure achievements are actually enabled (click on the achievements icon on the top right, disabled achievements are marked red and you can't track them)
11. Save the game under a new name

Disclaimer: I have tested this on 6 different savegames and successfully enabled achievements again on all of them, but due to the way save data is stored there are probably some edge cases this method won't work on.
Make sure you understand the instructions above before attempting them and always make a backup. I am not responsible for any savegame corruption / data loss that may result from these instructions.

[currst2620]

Great, thanks for the advice. I'll give that a go. I loaded the map exchange string in the map editor as suggested by Gepwin on youtube. The resulting screen shot is attached. Perhaps I choose the wrong settings though I'm sure I choose the railworld option, but perhaps I am mistaken.

Terrific game by the way.

[Factorie]

No problem!
That would make sense haha
I know! I can't get enough of this game!

[AileTheAlien]

The check-box for "enabled" under "enemy expansion" should not have an X in it, if you don't want aliens to make new hives. The default rail-world settings should look like this (note the check-box)

railworld-default-settings.png (315.09 KiB) Viewed 27270 times

It looks like the screenshot you provided are the advanced settings for either the "Default" or "Rich Resources" presets for game settings, and not "Rail World". Maybe you picked the wrong game-settings by mistake, from playing the game late at night / tired? Either way, those are the wrong settings for a train-oriented game. : )

[currst2620]

Yeah, that is the most likely explanation for sure. I don't suppose it can be changed after the map has been generated can it can it. Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it.

[orzelek]

Actually biters expansion is a map setting writable during game but changing it would disable achievements.
You could try to find a mod that changes the setting - that would switch the game to separate achievements.

Command would be: (untested)

Code: Select all

/c game.map_settings.enemy_expansion.enabled = false