Friday Facts #386 - Vulcanus

[NotRexButCaesar]

as far as I know only desert has different resource rules? and other biomes just differ in how much vegetation they have

I was not aware of any differences in resource generation for deserts. What is the difference?

[Gemma]

A name that instantly tells me everything I need to know about the planet?

[mcdjfp]

I am going to issue this warning again. If you insist on delaying cliff explosives from where they are, unless the cliffs are turned down to about 1/10 of the current setting (at least for a majority of the biomes, special biomes can have them as a feature), I am going to turn them down myself (or off) and/or find a mod that restores early access to cliff explosives. I have tried to play around them, and it simply wasn't fun. I spent more time turning my busses than building a factory.

[FuryoftheStars]

Hey, this looks pretty good to me! Like the overall looks and feel. Like the fact that there are random fires in the lava and even the "trees" in the ashlands. Animated resources? Wow! And the fact now that you have biome specific resource generation is great! And there appears to be no water here, or if there is, it it'd have to be drilled for and come up as steam. Oh, and the use of the cliffs around the "mountains" to give the illusion of height like contour lines on a map seems great. Too bad you all didn't have actual height representation in the game, though. Because of that, I will say that your "big craters" don't really feel like craters to me (more like a ring of tall rocks), but that may just be me. But the idea of using these as "forts" against a secret enemy is exciting! As for cliffs and cliff explosives, ok, I can now understand why you've made cliff explosives later, but it still feels wrong. Couldn't you just create a version of cliffs that can't be removed, and/or require some augmenting of the cliff explosives to make them work on the new cliffs?

Oh, a thought and suggestion for here, though... large cracks/chasms that are, for the player, a void of sorts that they won't be able to build on, traverse over (unless narrow enough for elevated rails with stanchions on either side of the chasm), or fill in.

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The pretty new graphics raise a question: will the new planets look nicer than Nauvis? Just because you have more experience and more time to develop? In many games, areas and buildings and features added by expansions are more detailed and more fleshed out than in the original game. I wish you revisit the existing graphics as well and check if they could be improved and make it as detailed and sophisticated as the new graphics.

Hopefully they are already ahead of us on that, but nonetheless, there's still time for that.

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Would have wished a different graphic for the tree like things or absent all together.

Maybe different graphics/looks, but I do find it believable that something for life would exist (though I suppose that could just be the sci-fi side of me speaking ).

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wonder if i can still disable cliffs like i can atm in the map creation area before i start the game,
cause i dont like em personally.

It does feel as though many of these cliffs, especially the ones for the mountains, should not be disableable.

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Finding the right spots is also made easier by these resource nodes having yellow smoke (yes, we can have animated resources now). Jerzy has made the acid puddles of this section in a couple of ways, earlier on we had puddles filled with liquid acid, but we moved to dried up puddles to keep the planet feeling drier (also building on shallow liquid acid puddles didn't look right).

It'd be neat if Nauvis crude oil patches got new artwork with these principles and capabilities, so that they looked like liquid oozing out of stone and flowing, instead of blobs of tar lying on top of the ground.

That sounds like an awesome idea!

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I like how it seemingly gets darker when you drive into the lava area, as if entering a cavern.

This also could have just been them manipulating the daytime to show off what it all looked like at night. That was my initial thought/impression, anyway.

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I think one of the bigger annoyances with current cliffs is there's no density difference depending on where you go. You either have few enough cliffs that they aren't a pain or you bump into them everywhere. Being able to go to a mostly flat area to avoid them should go a long way towards making the areas dense with them more bearable.

I feel the same way on this.

[BrainlessTeddy]

That has me incredibly hyped up! I never imagined Factorio to look so... 3D, i guess. Looks awesome and can't wait what you did for the other planets.

[Neutronium]

This looks awesome. It looks incredibly well made and will serve as an awesome backdrop to whatever crazy factories that will be made there. Can't wait to see the rest of the planets as their assets get completed!

[Miss Demeanor]

Please extend my congratulations to the art team! This looks incredible...I used to take art for granted as I was spoiled by so many wonderful musicians, architects, designers, etc. But no more! I have some inkling how much time & tinkering this must have taken, and it's a testament to your dedication & passion. The fact that this planet looks this good already is already is fantastic. I'd have bought this planet alone simply as a change of scenery, but you're also adding new mechanics, enemies, resources, and y'know...3 other planets! There are rare few developers with the time, patience, and passion necessary to deliver such a great addition to an already amazing game. And only $30, what a steal...

Incredible design work on the art direction, I cannot wait to see the other planets. Will patiently wait for more FFF, and ofc the release itself. Please keep the amazing work; those long hours are going to be so worth it~

Much love from the states

[iamgod77]

How does the seed generation for this planets gonna work?. Will it be possible to choose and preview a map like at the start of a new game before landing on every new planet? Will it be possible to choose generation settings just before landing?

[Rebmes]

The new lava looks great. The landscape amazing. Yep, guessing we're getting a blast furnace for that there tungsten (or something). Cool stuff! Hot .. stuff ?

You even used one of my fav words (circuitous - I had to explain that one to someone just the other day!)

But I'm not entirely sure about the name. Doesn't exactly fly off the tongue. I can't really tell anyone about Volcanus unless I want them to roll on the floor laughing irl.

[Joe Black]

Wunderbar die Einsicht in den Altag. Sehr wertvoll!

[computeraddict]

But I'm not entirely sure about the name. Doesn't exactly fly off the tongue. I can't really tell anyone about Volcanus unless I want them to roll on the floor laughing irl.

Vul-can-us. Don't let the A be long or let the c get grouped with the first syllable

[Dmytrozern]

*Mostly vanilla player. Never played SE.

It's awesome to see more atmospheric effects! Yellow haze, acid geysers, random plumes - yummy! Biome specific recourses? Wow!

Can we have more atmospheric effects on Nauvis too? Like bringing haze up if you are in highly polluted chunks?

I’m so hyped about different areas of the planet - love the limitations, as doing everything the same is boring after a while. I was hoping you can’t destroy cliffs on this world with cliff explosives (at least till some local tech is researched). Sometimes, I really enjoy bringing the cliff modifier up and building around cliffs and trees — it makes a pretty interesting look and forces you to think about a new design for a change. A couple of screenshots of such instances:

Examples

Also, I am unsure how I feel about the starting area on Vulcanus. Can we get an option not to generate a starting area on a new planet? I feel like having a starting area forces you to build everything in one spot and then just bring in resources from mining outposts…just like back at Nauvis. I would rather have the need to explore the planet to find the patches in different places and have the need to establish logistics between several local systems. (It’s not like we are running “naked” at this point, right?).

Love the big crater idea! What about an even bigger one(one or several chunks in diameter?) that can host a small base? Like a small vertically-inverted mountain biome, but with one ring of those special cliffs at the edge. Just for the sake of biome variety.

Not buying trees and bushes on this world on the other side…It just indeed gives a feeling of an “extreme Earth” instead of a different planet. I understand that you want to have them for some recipes or pollution control maybe(should we even think about pollution on a molten world?), but it just makes it the same. Why not embrace the difference, let the player adapt to the limitations, and pay the price for having prod and speed mods on this planet if he does not have sufficient defense? Because as far as I see, you may source all basic resources from the surface of this planet, which removes the need for thoughtful logistics(as far as I see, of course). I don’t need trees to on Vulcanus to craft power poles - I should have thought to bring some extra when packing my space trunk for a trip to another planet! Fungi? Nice idea, but it still looks like trees… I also hope we won’t be able to build elevated rail towers on the lava itself like we will on water…

So overall, I’m super pumped about the planet. Love the design and the feeling, and I’m sure SFX will be top-notch as well. I’m ready to ride and build between those beautiful cliffs and lava basins. The only thing I’m concerned about is the fear that this planet will have too many similarities with Nauvis regarding gameplay and end up just another outpost that I will plug from the same BP book but with an extra smelting step.

[Neutronium]

Also, I am unsure how I feel about the starting area on Vulcanus. Can we get an option not to generate a starting area on a new planet? I feel like having a starting area forces you to build everything in one spot and then just bring in resources from mining outposts…just like back at Nauvis. I would rather have the need to explore the planet to find the patches in different places and have the need to establish logistics between several local systems. (It’s not like we are running “naked” at this point, right?).

I second this. For very new/casual players, it makes sense and I understand why. But beyond that, it seems like unnecessary training wheels. I think it would be much more impactful if the player has to venture out and explore the surrounding area, and through that form associations that w resource is generally in x biome, y resource is in z biome, etc. It'll make the initial experience feel more "real."

[JohnyDarecek]

Nice! I really feel effort you made. It's looks natural. Which is weird ;oD

[FuryoftheStars]

Also, I am unsure how I feel about the starting area on Vulcanus. Can we get an option not to generate a starting area on a new planet? I feel like having a starting area forces you to build everything in one spot and then just bring in resources from mining outposts…just like back at Nauvis. I would rather have the need to explore the planet to find the patches in different places and have the need to establish logistics between several local systems. (It’s not like we are running “naked” at this point, right?).

I second this. For very new/casual players, it makes sense and I understand why. But beyond that, it seems like unnecessary training wheels. I think it would be much more impactful if the player has to venture out and explore the surrounding area, and through that form associations that w resource is generally in x biome, y resource is in z biome, etc. It'll make the initial experience feel more "real."

I had gotten the impression that the "starting" area was more so for biome location than either starting resources or clear area of enemies, though I could be wrong. Either way, if you think about it, if you're able to take the time to survey a planet from above before landing, you're obviously not going to just throw a dart at the board to choose your landing spot....

[Neutronium]

I had gotten the impression that the "starting" area was more so for biome location than either starting resources or clear area of enemies, though I could be wrong. Either way, if you think about it, if you're able to take the time to survey a planet from above before landing, you're obviously not going to just throw a dart at the board to choose your landing spot....

This is a missing puzzle piece that will likely be a future FFF episode, how planet generation with the new planets work. We have so little to work with here, all we can do is speculate, and speculate on our speculations. Nonetheless, I hope there is some control that removes guaranteed zones around you. Provided you don't have extreme generation options, a given resource wouldn't be terribly far away, and if you do, well thats the challenge you accepted.

[Upserter]

But I'm not entirely sure about the name. Doesn't exactly fly off the tongue. I can't really tell anyone about Volcanus unless I want them to roll on the floor laughing irl.

Vul-can-us. Don't let the A be long or let the c get grouped with the first syllable

It’s not too late to change it to Vulcanos or Vulcanis!

[solidzaku]

I'm also in the 'this looks absolutely awesome, get it on the store page right this instant!' and also 'why is a German person telling me about the people's bums?' camp. A minor change to the name, even swapping a vowel, would do wonders.

[RocketManChronicles]

If you read ALL of the post, you CANNOT landfill lava. Lava is permanent. Which is good.

Wrong.

Ahem. Please read that first line, near the end.

[Icedbird]

Great update, looks beautiful, so many possibilities! I want to add some of my own thoughts maybe they are cool to add (I know its easy to say for me and hard for you to do):

- advanced tech where you can convert lava to energy and maybe even export fuel or batteries, energy may be more scarce and therefore more valuable on other planets
- necessity to import water (from another planet asteroid), maybe convert a bit from biomass for start
- hot zones around lava where buildings must be repaired frequently or built by a special material, player has to use a suit for permanent access
- eruptions: regional reduced visibility and maybe even fluctuating lava levels, special lava resistant mines and belts
- low level of (glowing) worm activity (scarce) linked to local existence of biomass