Well, Fulgora sucks [Spoilers]

[adam_bise]

Immense disappointment finding out that there are no threats. I realize there are technically planets with no life forms, but from a video game perspective this is boring. 10/10 on the yawn scale.

[BraveCaperCat]

Lightning is the enemy.

[BlueTemplar]

And terrain that requires elevated rail (locked behind purple research) for automated transportation to cross, as I found to my expense...

And frankly, the

scrap handling

challenge is hairy enough that I'm glad to not have any distractions.

BTW, it also kind of goes for Vulcanus :

Don't build in demolisher territory (or close enough that they might go through yours), and they will completely ignore you.

[mmmPI]

Immense disappointment finding out that there are no threats. I realize there are technically planets with no life forms, but from a video game perspective this is boring. 10/10 on the yawn scale.

I was also expecting ennemies in Fulgora at first, i thought worms would be the perfect ennemy in a desert, where there are remnants of ancient technological civilization. This or some forms of robots maybe reacting to electricity, like Fulgorans fighting back for their scrap.

Apparently gigantic sandworm was something too close to existing IP hum Dune hum ....

I find it weird that you get such original weapons, but nothing to test them on, so i exported them a bit everywhere and was not disapoinnted =)

If there was ennemy on Fulgora, after playing the space age, for a mod maybe ,i could see some flying creature swarming every 10 nights or so trying to destroy accumulators. Coming out from revealed "vault" not yet mined. or something

[BlueTemplar]

And gigantic worm would be too close to what

Vulcanus has.
Without changing that one (and considering I haven't seen other planets yet), and using the unique terrain to the fullest, maybe still some kind of oil "sea" creature ??

[MeduSalem]

Lightning is the enemy.

Yea, for like for a couple minutes. When you have lightning rod production up you stamp them all over the islands as part of your regular "grid-setup" and the issue is solved forever. I didn't even feel the need to replace them with the bigger/advanced rod yet. ^^

And terrain that requires elevated rail (locked behind purple research) for automated transportation to cross, as I found to my expense...

That I agree more with. The oil terrain and elevated rail requirement is a big part of the environmental problem.

What threw me back a little was when I got there first I didn't have the Rail Support Foundation tech so I could not build any rail supports on the oil... well why? Because I have not been to Vulcanus first. That can hamper your progress somewhat depending on the order you visit planets.

Even if you can build on the more shallower stuff I found it difficult to get to any of the other nearby islands without the rail support foundation. So I decided to do with all the scrap on my initial bigger island, which also initially limited my building space and why I made some horrendous inefficient crafting chains for recycling & to get some quality stuff because I had no space for a better setup. ^^

I went to Vulcanus shortly after anyway and solved the issue, but it still was an "aha"-moment for sure.

i could see some flying creature swarming every 10 nights or so trying to destroy accumulators. Coming out from revealed "vault" not yet mined. or something

That I would find awesome. Because I totally thought there would be some flying enemies on Fulgora. It only would make sense because they cannot traverse the terrain otherwise.

Pitch Black

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Would sure give some Pitch Black vibes. Definitely going to use a mod for that when someone makes one if the devs don't get the idea to do it themselves as a late addition. ^^

[BlueTemplar]

Yea, for like for a couple minutes. When you have lightning rod production up you stamp them all over the islands as part of your regular "grid-setup" and the issue is solved forever. I didn't even feel the need to replace them with the bigger/advanced rod yet. ^^

Hmm, you might still need to expand them for power purposes... (is it too easy right now as long as you have enough accumulators ?)

But yeah, more advanced players might want a requirement of more closely placed rods, think Diggy ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR6LuprnrCM
(especially from 1:56 on)

Even if you can build on the more shallower stuff I found it difficult to get to any of the other nearby islands without the rail support foundation.

This sounds extremely unlucky on your part (or a consequence of changed game settings ?), rather than an actual issue.
I can only see a couple islands out of ~20 I don't seem to be able to get to using regular elevated rail supports, and even these seem to be about the rail planner being less than completely truthful when considering far away places under the fog of war...
EDIT : actually not even these, it just takes a couple seconds for the planner to calculate a solution for those two islands...

Regular physical flying enemies would be weird with all the lightning,
(unless, in the opposite of Pitch Black - only coming out by day ??),
but could be some «electric ghost» enemy ??

[adam_bise]

After figuring out space platforms and landing pads and how that all works, I unlocked Fulgora not having read any spoilers and not knowing what awaits me there. I spent a good bit of time and resources launching supplies, weapons, and ammo into orbit. Upon arrival, I began dropping off supplies and establishing a perimeter. I already had a few energy shields, so the lightning was unnoticable.

With great anticipation, I set off in one direction to see what awaits me, and kept walking, and walking.. It had never even occured to me that there might be zero threats at all. I felt like I downloaded some guys unfinished scenario and was standing in an endless empty map. I was SO hoping for rogue robot enemies on Fulgora. But nothing? Boring!

[BlueTemplar]

Avoiding spoilers here too, my first impression was great : that of a mysterious long forgotten ruin planet, very lonely.
The art direction really did a great job on this one !
If enemies are ever added here, it would need to be done very carefully, so as to not ruin that mood...

[MeduSalem]

Hmm, you might still need to expand them for power purposes... (is it too easy right now as long as you have enough accumulators ?)

Yea, currently I have a huge array of Q3 accumulators that happened naturally as side product of the EM science production.

Haven't been facing any energy issues for a while. Initially I had some issues with that where I had to stamp most of the island I settled on with Q1 accumulators. But I think that is part of the buildup there and nothing I find bad. The crossover was for Q2 accumulators already and with Q3 I am like "meh" about energy because I have so much and even reduced the size of the accumulator arrays somewhat to get back some building space.

At least the bottleneck for me was kinda never the lightning rods. For most part of my Fulgora experience it rather was the stored amount of energy to have enough energy for the phases without a lightning storm. ^^

This sounds extremely unlucky on your part (or a consequence of changed game settings ?), rather than an actual issue.
I can only see a couple islands out of ~20 I don't seem to be able to get to using regular elevated rail supports, and even these seem to be about the rail planner being less than completely truthful when considering far away places under the fog of war...
EDIT : actually not even these, it just takes a couple seconds for the planner to calculate a solution for those two islands...

May be so that I am kinda somewhat unlucky with the starting area of the map too in regards of Fulgora.

I haven't changed the terrain generation from the standard values for any of the planets because I wanted the "standard" experience. ^^

But I also don't want to complain about it however because on the other Planets I consider myself extremely lucky. The starting plateaus for Vulcanus & Gleba on my map are simply huge (and I have seen other people complain that they had issues with building space exactly with those instead so experiences defintiely differ depending on the map). I will likely never need to place any landfills for my main factory on either Vulcanus or Gleba (ok on Gleba one needs to make some more space for more (closer) plantations eventually but that is different story). ^^


Anyway, sure, the rail planner totally found a few ways for Fulgora where it would have been valid to get to some of the other islands; but not very efficiently or in the way I would have liked it. Kinda snaked around in some long-route circles to get to some of them because it can only go through shallow areas without the tech. Doesn't seem like an issue in short term but I was also thinking long-term that I would eventually go out there and tear the mess down again after a while to slip stream the rail routes into a better network. So after a couple minutes of fidgeting for different routes I eventually felt like "screw this", completed to built up the barebone outpost for Fulgora self-sufficiently enough so I could leave the planet work on its own and then made the decision to go to Vulcanus to unlock the foundation tech. ^^

[Mango]

I have to agree that lightning is not a problem is you have 2 MK2 energy shields or after you build first furnace to smelt stone for lightning rods.
It's actually the time without lightning that felt lake a nuance before having enough accumulators.

I think an enemy hidden in vaults or some territory defending

(like the Vulcanus worm)

monster living in deep oil parts would be nice.

[Flame1869]

Just to add my 2ct here too. I did feel a bit the same way. After vulcanus you finally have your artillery. Wouldn't it to great to have some kind of EMP shells to turn off some ancient robo civilization that is still defending the remainders of a once very successful civilization?
Beside settling on the first big island and solve the recycler belt puzzle, it did fell a bit empty on the planet. No reason to really venture out more than the first 2 or 3 islands really.

So I would love to see some kind of challenging enemies on the planet too.

[SirSmuggler]

For what it's worth, I like that we have a planet with no enemies. Not every planet needs to be a combat challenge.

And as others have stated, the desolate lonley feel of Fulgora is kind of nice and would be a bit ruined by any "active presence" if you will.

[J-H]

I like it, except stuff keeps getting backed up and I didn't make a provider/requester chest factory before leaving so it's hard to set up new stuff.

I think my new strategy to try is going to be to dump all the excess plastic and gears in requester chests beyond the range of lightning protection, and get them smashed by the nightly storm.

[BlueTemplar]

Dealing with stuff backing up is most of the challenge.
Have you considered

recycling them into higher quality items instead ?

and I didn't make a provider/requester chest factory before leaving

Yeah, my 2nd planet definitely taught me the importance of that !

----

After vulcanus you finally have your artillery.

Well, remember that there's not necessarily an order to the 3 nearest planets...
Also, arty research is very expensive, I think I'll go to the last remaining in the close planets Gleba soon, and probably still won't have it once I set up a minimum viable base with a rocket silo. (OtoH, I am playing DeathWorld Marathon.., so x4 science costs.)

[BlueTemplar]

I was also expecting ennemies in Fulgora at first, i thought worms would be the perfect ennemy in a desert, where there are remnants of ancient technological civilization. This or some forms of robots maybe reacting to electricity, like Fulgorans fighting back for their scrap.

Apparently gigantic sandworm was something too close to existing IP hum Dune hum ....
[...]

And gigantic worm would be too close to what

Vulcanus has.
Without changing that one (and considering I haven't seen other planets yet), and using the unique terrain to the fullest, maybe still some kind of oil "sea" creature ??

Heh, we guessed right :
( Vulcanus spoilers : )
https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-429

Fulgora and Vulcanus development story

For a while the segmented enemy was going to go on Fulgora. This was because we knew the Fulgora landscape would have islands, so it made sense for a segmented enemy to be able to cruise the spaces between islands and give it an unbroken range. This would be another reason not to build in the quicksand.

One of the problems with this is the Dune franchise. We ended up in the segmented-enemy-on-sand direction by following the natural progression of constraints, but most people wouldn't see that and assume it's based on Dune anyway. Also, it doesn't have that unique and exciting feeling if it's too close to something you've seen before, so we decided to move segmented enemies "anywhere else".

[BraveCaperCat]

I'm addressing the multiple issues described above with this one single reply. The basis for an idea which could shake the foundation of Fulgora itself.
Each solution contains an appropriate quote to the original problem.
1. Lack of enemies.

Immense disappointment finding out that there are no threats.

I propose that a mechanical scrap "creature" is added. They would use scrap from the ground to build up "defensive" structures, they'd throw scrap at you as a more offensive ability and they'd be able to "automate" stuff. Using crude structures, the scrap creatures can create better structures - a form of evolution, which might even get to the point where they can attack other planets. How evolved these creatures can get would be controlled by a difficulty setting.
2. Terrain Challenges.

And terrain that requires elevated rail (locked behind purple research) for automated transportation to cross, as I found to my expense.

Elevated rails would be unlocked on Fulgora as a trigger technology.
3. Lightning Rods

When you have lightning rod production up you stamp them all over the islands as part of your regular "grid-setup" and the issue is solved forever.

Lightning rods would have decreased range if placed in a grid pattern, they would be harder to make and regular lightning rods would consume power.
In the early stage of Fulgora expansion, you would have to use solar panels to generate electricity.
4. Too Many Accumulators

currently I have a huge array of Q3 accumulators that happened naturally as side product of the EM science production.

Accumulators would not be able to be placed on Fulgora, due to the extreme magnetic field. Instead, you have to make accumulators with EM insulation. This EM insulation would be quite expensive, stopping you from spamming accumulators everywhere. It can also only be made on Fulgora. This also encourages you to use accumulators of higher quality, as it would be less expensive than an equivalent amount of lower quality accumulators.

More problems and my solutions for them will be put here when posted.

[Mango]

1. Lack of enemies.

I propose that a mechanical scrap "creature" is added. They would use scrap from the ground to build up "defensive" structures, they'd throw scrap at you as a more offensive ability and they'd be able to "automate" stuff. Using crude structures, the scrap creatures can create better structures - a form of evolution, which might even get to the point where they can attack other planets. How evolved these creatures can get would be controlled by a difficulty setting.

New faction that is able to build, automate and expand to other planets is a suggestion for a whole new DLC.

2. Terrain Challenges.

The player would be able to walk on the oil "oceans", but automated transport would be barred from crossing these oceans by a technology unlocked on fulgora - the new elevated rails research. It would be a trigger technology.

The player is already able to walk on oil oceans and automated transport is already locked behind Fulgora science (+ Vulcanus)

3. Lightning Rods

Lightning rods would have decreased range if placed in a grid pattern, they would be harder to make and regular lightning rods would consume power.

The Lightning rod (or collector later) is the only way to make power on Fulgora (Other than importing ice/uranium/fluoroketone from space). Making them consume power would make Fulgora unable to produce power on its own.
Also what exactly is a grid pattern so you can control it is not used?

4. Too Many Accumulators

Accumulators would not be able to be placed on Fulgora, due to the extreme magnetic field. Instead, you have to make accumulators with EM insulation. This EM insulation would be quite expensive, stopping you from spamming accumulators everywhere. This also encourages you to use accumulators of higher quality, as it would be less expensive than an equivalent amount of lower quality accumulators.

If you make something more expensive in Factorio, you just build more miners/chemical plants/assembling machines or anything else to produce more of it. Making accumulators (the only way to function on Fulgora during day without import) more expensive is just making the game more tedious .

More problems and my solutions for them will be put here when posted.

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...

[angramania]

The Lightning rod (or collector later) is the only way to make power on Fulgora (Other than importing ice/uranium/fluoroketone from space).

Scrap provides both ice and solid fuel. Solar panels provide starting electricity. Boilers are quite useful to solve energy problem before getting uncommon/rare accumulators. But of course it would be boring to have them as main source of power on Fulgora.

[kpreid]

I don't personally think Fulgora needs to change, but I do find it a bit monotonous. Here's an idea: Instead of having any kind of mobile/expanding enemy (like Nauvis and Gleba), what if certain islands had ancient emplacements of tesla turrets and other defenses? These would be challenges that you have to find ways to defeat in order to claim their resources. (Maybe they could be guarding a second variety of scrap with a different mix of outputs.) You’d be able to collect a few tesla turrets and maybe other advanced items before you researched them (if you manage to cut off their power instead of destroying them), and it would provide the experience of attacking a base that’s built of separate buildings like you build, which doesn’t otherwise happen in single-player games.