What comes next in this sequence?

[YLLYXZMZ]

What comes next in this sequence?

Vanilla -> All of Bob's Mods -> All of Bob's Mods + All of Angel's -> ???

Thinking about starting a new heavily modded map. Obviously with the direction I'm going, I'm probably signing up for a long haul campaign, and a lot of it I won't know whether it was a good idea until way down the road, so I'm asking for suggestions. I have completed a run through with all of Bob's previously (in 0.13, I think?), and I'm aware of the added complexity of Angel's, I've watched a little of the Bob's+Angel's Arumba series, etc. I have a clue as to the mess I'm signing up for with All of Bob's and All of Angel's alone. I know there's no "right" answer to this question, but perhaps there are some reasonable recommendations within the constraints I prefer.

- I don't want to change mods mid-stream, so I'd like to commit to whatever I'm choosing upfront
- I like larger modsets like Bob's in that there's been a lot of effort into making sure that combination of mods creates an interesting experience and has some semblance of balance
- If adding additional mods, I'd like to add other large modsets that explicitly take the other ones into consideration (therefore Bob's + Angels), which helps keep the semblance of balance
- I prefer defaults, for the same reason, so while I'll take ALL of Bob's, I'll prefer to leave all the settings at default (i.e. I think this means no God modules, and steel takes however many plates to smelt as Bob's requires these days)
- I will take a QoL mod if included in one of those modsets (i.e. Bob's inserters), but I don't want to randomly cherry pick QoL mods (i.e. long reach), since I'm going to go with the idea that Bob's didn't add long reach for a reason (same reason the Factorio developers did, to create limitations that force you to solve problems)
- I'm patient and/or masochistic, however you want to put it
- I like megabases, so I don't think Seablock is the answer

Maybe another way of putting it is -- how much content / complexity / endgame can I add with the fewest mods that interact well with each other? I count "all of Bob's" as a single entity, as it was put together by a single developer who carefully pieced them together, and only split them out for the convenience of the player. Arumba's modset, for example, is great, but it's more of a bunch of cool looking mods plopped together than a carefully designed/developed set.

Perhaps the answer is "All of Bobs + All of Angels + SpaceX"? I see a lot of people playing Bob's+Angel's, with a seemingly logical path from vanilla -> bobs -> angelbob. But I can't seem to find a consensus on the next logical step down that path. Maybe there isn't an obvious one?

And if it is "All of Bobs + All of Angels + SpaceX", then what comes after THAT?

[steinio]

Add py Mods (will need the py touched by an angelmod) or Omni mods...

Playing Mining space industry... it distracts continously from straight building

[bobucles]

- I like megabases, so I don't think Seablock is the answer

I think it is. You can not mine ore, and instead have to process everything from sea water. A huge part of the pack involves developing new production chains to unlock resources that are given for free on a normal map. If you intend to burn fuel it takes a large fuel processing facility that burns some of the very fuel it makes. This combines with the SpaceX mod to force you to build bigger and better for the endgame.

Even if you played angelbobs to the limit, seablock will hit you with new factory challenges that the ordinary packs won't have. The downside is that it's BRUTALLY slow to start, and the lack of enemies may turn you off.

[YLLYXZMZ]

- I like megabases, so I don't think Seablock is the answer

I think it is. You can not mine ore, and instead have to process everything from sea water. A huge part of the pack involves developing new production chains to unlock resources that are given for free on a normal map. If you intend to burn fuel it takes a large fuel processing facility that burns some of the very fuel it makes. This combines with the SpaceX mod to force you to build bigger and better for the endgame.

Even if you played angelbobs to the limit, seablock will hit you with new factory challenges that the ordinary packs won't have. The downside is that it's BRUTALLY slow to start, and the lack of enemies may turn you off.

I appreciate this response. Your confidence that Seablock is for me even though I specifically said I didn't think it was, causes me to want to give it a second look. I've generally not been into the space constrained or strip/ribbon type scenarios and I generally like biters, but I'll check it out. I didn't realize until now that you could even expand your seablock island, I thought you started with some 100x100 block or something and that was it. I thought it was permanently space constrained.

Interestingly, I think this may answer my other question as well, as IIRC Seablock contains Bob's, Angel's, and SpaceX. Perhaps the Vanilla++ sequence is this --

Vanilla -> All of Bob's -> All of Bob's + All of Angel's -> Bob's+Angel's+SpaceX -> Seablock

... though Seablock is a greater departure from the Vanilla++ concept with the loss of biters and mining.

Interested in others' thoughts as well.

[HurkWurk]

i use bobs without ores or the new electronics circuits as they make the game more complex than i want to play.

also consider adding factorissimo to tamp down on all the space a proper bobs setup needs.

[Cleany]

New PC?

[thelordodin]

By the way, I wonder why noone thought about hardcore Seablock:
- Remove all ores
- Instead of removing all the land, dig out very many small lakes and walkable water
- Place a lot of biters, but without big bases, so even when you destroy a base you can't just build base there

This would result in removing "no biters" problem from Seablock.

- Is that possible to make biters swim by the way?
... than just very-small islands full of biters

[Termak]

SpaceX and marathon settings, Omni if you are just weird (everything same ore just wasnt for me).
I need to check pY and this space industries someday.

[live22morrow]

The Seablock pack has SpaceX and with the science overhaul mod, the final research takes 1 million of each pack to complete. That scale pretty much necessitates a very large megabase. The land constraint is really something that mainly affects the early game. By the time you get to blue science, sand will be so plentiful that it becomes more of a planning game than anything. The big distinction from base angel's mods is the resource acquisition. Instead of going out to find more resource patches, you just copy paste more of your existing production lines. This does make things more compact, though considering the necessary scale, you still end up needing a pretty huge base.

[Gergely]

What comes next in this sequence?

Vanilla -> All of Bob's Mods -> All of Bob's Mods + All of Angel's -> ???

All of Angel's

[steinio]

What comes next in this sequence?

Vanilla -> All of Bob's Mods -> All of Bob's Mods + All of Angel's -> ???

All of Angel's

LOL you are so right

[YLLYXZMZ]

What comes next in this sequence?

Vanilla -> All of Bob's Mods -> All of Bob's Mods + All of Angel's -> ???

All of Angel's

LOL you are so right

Having played All of Bob's, I'm assuming you mean Angel's is much harder without Bob's modules (and perhaps logistics)?

[steinio]

No it's a child riddle.
See the sequence?

[YLLYXZMZ]

- I like megabases, so I don't think Seablock is the answer

I think it is. You can not mine ore, and instead have to process everything from sea water. A huge part of the pack involves developing new production chains to unlock resources that are given for free on a normal map. If you intend to burn fuel it takes a large fuel processing facility that burns some of the very fuel it makes. This combines with the SpaceX mod to force you to build bigger and better for the endgame.

Even if you played angelbobs to the limit, seablock will hit you with new factory challenges that the ordinary packs won't have. The downside is that it's BRUTALLY slow to start, and the lack of enemies may turn you off.

Just reporting back, you were completely right about Seablock. 3 hours in, and I just automated Red science. I actually LOVE the slow start. Would be totally unplayable without FNEI, so I'm glad they included it, because I was looking for a preconfigured mod set without making my own additions/modifications (because I'm assuming the pack author put more time and thought into game balance than I did, especially late game balance/imbalance I wouldn't find out about until after committing a ton of hours to the map). Takes me back to my first days trying to figure out Factorio the first time.

I actually skipped straight from Bob's to Seablock, having never played Angel's, so that's all new to me too. Very cool. Playing the latest Seablock beta for 0.16 now that it's somewhat close to being finished.

[YLLYXZMZ]

This thread is so old, I was about to apologize for necroing it but that OP's mindset about modpacks was so similar to mine (especially re: well thought out balanced packs, high complexity, staying with defaults within the modpack, etc.) that I wanted to hijack this thread to get a 2022 answer to the same question. Then I realized that's because *I* was OP.

Anyway, does this sequence still make sense?

Vanilla -> All of Bob's -> All of Bob's + All of Angel's -> Bob's+Angel's+SpaceX -> Seablock

I've been away from the game for a bit. Is there anything new? Are py mods even more complex?

[astroshak]

IIRC people used to add Py to the AngelBob pair, but that’s no longer possible.

I’d say that Vanilla -> Krastorio 2 + Space Exploration -> Angel + Bob -> Py…

There’s also Nullius to stick in there somewhere, but IDK where it belongs. BZ mods, as well. Personally, I’ve barely dbbled with Krastorio and I don’t care for AAI so I’m not even going to bother with Space Exploration (it has AAI Industry as a dependency, so mess with AAI without the vehicles to see what that start is like).

[Xorimuth]

IIRC people used to add Py to the AngelBob pair, but that’s no longer possible.

I’d say that Vanilla -> Krastorio 2 + Space Exploration -> Angel + Bob -> Py…

There’s also Nullius to stick in there somewhere, but IDK where it belongs. BZ mods, as well. Personally, I’ve barely dbbled with Krastorio and I don’t care for AAI so I’m not even going to bother with Space Exploration (it has AAI Industry as a dependency, so mess with AAI without the vehicles to see what that start is like).

Nullius would probably go just after AngelBob.

AAI Industry really has nothing to do with the other AAI mods, and it is a very small part of the overall Space Exploration gameplay, it just affects the first few hours by extending the burner phase a bit, and changing some vanilla recipes.

[YLLYXZMZ]

Is Py more complicated than Seablock, or less, or just different?

I've started a new Seablock run for now to get back into things, and I never did finish Seablock last time around. But I'd be open to an even crazier mod. Not necessarily masochism for masochism's sake (you could always just have a mod that just made everything take a trillion science packs), but something long and complex and well thought out is appealing to me.

[Xorimuth]

Is Py more complicated than Seablock, or less, or just different?

I've started a new Seablock run for now to get back into things, and I never did finish Seablock last time around. But I'd be open to an even crazier mod. Not necessarily masochism for masochism's sake (you could always just have a mod that just made everything take a trillion science packs), but something long and complex and well thought out is appealing to me.

Py is the most complicated by far. If you're trying it, get the PyBeta downloads from the Py mod portal, which overhauls the mod and is a big improvement.

[YLLYXZMZ]

Is Py more complicated than Seablock, or less, or just different?

I've started a new Seablock run for now to get back into things, and I never did finish Seablock last time around. But I'd be open to an even crazier mod. Not necessarily masochism for masochism's sake (you could always just have a mod that just made everything take a trillion science packs), but something long and complex and well thought out is appealing to me.

Py is the most complicated by far. If you're trying it, get the PyBeta downloads from the Py mod portal, which overhauls the mod and is a big improvement.

So you just use Py by itself? Or in combo with Angel/Bob/Seablock/something else? Does it come with a reasonable minimum of QoL mods (i.e. surely Seablock is unplayable w/o FNEI)?