Friday Facts #424 - Gleba Pentapod Enemies

[Phauxstus]

These are cool, these will interact really well with the nuclear artillery mod


I didn't expect WUBE to be brave enough to add aliens that moon you...

[cpw]

My thoughts on the phobias. I've enjoyed factorio for close to 11 years now. If I have to visually deal with these mobs as part of a space age play through, it's very simple, I won't be playing it. I _hope_ the factorio devs are cognisant of the phobia problems and wish to address them, but as plenty have said, it's their right to ignore my opinions. It is also my right to walk away from this game and never come back. I would be sad but it's not the first time I've had to do that.

[Noah235]

My thoughts on the phobias. I've enjoyed factorio for close to 11 years now. If I have to visually deal with these mobs as part of a space age play through, it's very simple, I won't be playing it. I _hope_ the factorio devs are cognisant of the phobia problems and wish to address them, but as plenty have said, it's their right to ignore my opinions. It is also my right to walk away from this game and never come back. I would be sad but it's not the first time I've had to do that.

I think this problem can be solved through mods that replace the graphics. In general mod support in Factorio is really good, and allows everyone to play the game however they like.

[mmmPI]

I think you need a new friend group to play with

No but i said that as an example of a situation where it's impossible to please everyone , i don't have any friend i keep offending everyone when i try a joke.

If I have to visually deal with these mobs as part of a space age play through

If i was someone who bet things, i would bet you won't have to deal with the visual that you dislike thanks to mods like this one :
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/arachnophobia
I hope ^^ because if i have to try to make one myself to not lose a dumb bet it's not going to look as good.

[hojava]

I don't really want to join the discussion, but I want to mention a few things.

"Just don't render legs." - I somehow think that not rendering legs might cause some gameplay problems for an enemy whose primary mode of damage is stepping on you and is literally named Stomper.

"1-5 minutes' work" - FFFs make it quite obvious that nothing takes 1-5 minutes with the level of attention any minor aspect of the game gets. Even if the implementation is that quick (which I doubt), there would be discussions, showcases, and a whole lot of testing. This is the case for a base game, mods, even if created by devs, might do with less rigorous standards.

"No eyes" - Any graphics change would require alternative, fresh graphics. Easier than doing it from the scratch, but still needs to be done. Plus I have no idea what impact it would have on sprite atlases, memory handling and who knows what.

I would also like to point out that official Factorio never did anything with red and green cables, despite many requests from colour-blind people. Of course, there's a mod for that, but still. Let this set your expectations.

[UristMcFarmer]

I am so very disappointment that the strafer is just a reskin of a spider-tron.

[GregoriusT]

I am so very disappointment that the strafer is just a reskin of a spider-tron.

think of it this way, in retcon world, Spidertron is inspired by the Strafer instead! Now who is the reskin of who!

I'm still disappointed by the lame name that Worms got compared to all the other enemies honestly...

from my current signature

Biters bite, Spitters spit, Spawners spawn and Worms... worm? - No, they throw their vomit! They even wind up to directly hurl it at you! friggin Hurlers...

[mmmPI]

I would also like to point out that official Factorio never did anything with red and green cables, despite many requests from colour-blind people. Of course, there's a mod for that, but still. Let this set your expectations.

There's indeed a mod for that, but also an attempt by Wube regarding colors :

08-18-2024, 00-51-00.png (41.93 KiB) Viewed 1622 times

[picklock]

The new enemies on Gleba look good. But the stompers seem to have a lot of hitpoints. I'm curious how you'll manage the balancing. There is a difference in the game progress when you expand to Gleba.

[Straugh]

StarCraft Ii type aliens that are also able to build their own defenses would be fun.

[gGeorg]

Personal laser defence looks still OP.
All kinds of lasers should get dmg reduced by range. Then dmg at max range is 10% of laser max dmg. Min range has 100% dmg of course.

[GregoriusT]

It would be neat if some Enemies had stronger resistances against things like Lasers, so you would need to at least try other weapons against them.

[bobucles]

Personal laser defence looks still OP.
All kinds of lasers should get dmg reduced by range. Then dmg at max range is 10% of laser max dmg. Min range has 100% dmg of course.

I think rule of cool applies. Running around zapping everything like an R-type is kinda silly. Remote commanding an army of spider gods to lay waste to the land looks good.

[kitters]

I'd say Wringlers' animation needs to be fixed. Tentacles' movements don't match speed of a creature itself.
By the way, I love how strafers are basically spidertrons considering animation

[quineotio]

I _hope_ the factorio devs are cognisant of the phobia problems and wish to address them

Have some sympathy for people who have a phobia of factory building games. The devs have done nothing at all to address this.

Seriously though, have you considered that your fear of spiders might be a YOU problem, and something YOU should address?

[quineotio]

I am so very disappointment that the strafer is just a reskin of a spider-tron.

It's not a reskin - they had to draw new graphics, and spiders have 8 legs. I think it's cool to see how they've re-used existing tech.

[IG2]

As others already pointed out, getting rid of peaceful mode does sound annoying and feels a little like a step back to old alien drops. Other than that I like the design.
The Stomper should definitely feel more "heavy" that it looks like now. Something like slower leg acceleration and impact when when stomping. Especially in the video where the Wriggler moves below the Stomper, it look more agile that that little thing, which feels very wrong.
Maybe even slightly slower movement all together and balance it by giving them some more HP.
They could also do some basic AOE damage just by walking.

[Saphira123456]

I too, play with biters disabled. Since these aliens and their eggs are now an absolutely vital part of the Space Age process on Gleba, and they seem to be mandatory to progress, this is most disturbing news.

Keep in mind only the spawners drop eggs, not the enemies themselves. So with enemies off, the devs could simply make spawners appear on the planet but not create any enemies. Basically turn them into a tree/rock that drops a resource. It’s such a simple and obvious solution, I think it’s very likely they will just do this.

I hope they do something like this but given their previous history with things like colorblindness filters, and plans for things like not giving us refrigeration, I highly doubt they will.

Gleba is the planet of removing player agency. "You'll play the way WE want you to, and LIKE IT!"

[Saphira123456]

As others already pointed out, getting rid of peaceful mode does sound annoying and feels a little like a step back to old alien drops. Other than that I like the design.

Not being able to play with enemies off entirely is a strict no-buy criteria for me.

And "Peaceful mode" in this game still has enemies, but they don't attack you until you attack them. Just like on Gleba.

Therefore, peaceful mode is not a solution to this problem.

[adam_bise]

It makes sense. But I have to say I hope it is not the case. Killing the locals in a battle is one thing, but indefinitely constraining one and torturing it to produce eggs so I can exploit it's potential offspring is a completely different level of wrongness. I really hope the eggs are produced by cloning or something.

Yep, sounds pretty bad. Anyways, back to my chicken nuggets.

I literally lol'd