Full Details for Map Generation Settings?

[wizcreations]

Is there a guide with more details for what the numbers mean on the Enemy and Advanced tabs of the Map Generator? The wiki page doesn't seem to give any more details than the Map Generator tool tips.

For instance, with the Evolution settings Time, Destroy, and Pollution factors, it is unclear to me how I should change the numbers to make the biters more or less powerful. Same with Pollution settings, I am unsure how changing the modifiers will affect the spread and absorption of pollution.

[mmmPI]

You may find complementary information at the bottom of the the ennemy pages of the wiki : https://wiki.factorio.com/Enemies

Things like time "Evolution settings Time, Destroy, and Pollution factors" are part of the formula and there's some graph too which may help.

It shows that with normal settings, time passing , pollution and destroyed spawner all contribute to the evolution. Which in turns determine the composition of the attacking biters. But those are generated when nests absorb pollution.

If the trees or the ground absorb more pollution, less biter will spawn, and the evolution from "pollution" will be slower.

It also shows a example of how much the time factor of the default settings represent in "pollution per minute" equivalent.

That's the general idea because if you want to go in details there is quite a lot.

[wizcreations]

Thanks, that is somewhat helpful, though still unclear how the numbers really affect the result. It'd be nice if there were a few more words with the tooltips to say "a higher number means ____" similar to the moisture and terrain type tooltips.

[Tertius]

About evolution settings: The higher the evolution, the higher the enemy category if an enemy spawns and the higher the health of an enemy.

Evolution itself increases steadily, with 3 things contributing to the evolution increase: time (for every minute elapsed the evolution is increases a little bit), destroy (every destroyed nest increases evolution a little bit) and pollution (every pollution absorbed by a nest used to send an enemy on an attack patrol increases evolution a little bit).
The factors in the map gen settings define how much the corresponding parts contribute. For example, if you decrease the time factor from 200 to 100, evolution will not increase that much because of time elapsed, so you're able to idle more with no evolution increase just because of idling.

Pollution spread and speed isn't defined by the map settings. Pollution is created by running machines, so it's under the player's control. If they stop, no more pollution is created but the existing pollution stays and dissipates according to absorption by various mechanics. See the pollution wiki article. Pollution spreads from chunk to chunk according to predefined rules - these cannot be configured.

Pollution spread can be indirectly influenced by the map generation. If you generate a map with mostly desert or water, pollution will stay and spread very far, because desert and water has a very low pollution absorption. This way enemies from far away will get pollution and you will get vastly more attacks. On the other hand, if your base is on forest ground, the trees will absorb much pollution, so pollution will dissipate before it spreads very far, so you will get vastly less attacks - with the same enemy settings.

[wizcreations]

It's been 5 years since I last played Factorio, but I do have over 200 hours of play time. I remember a lot of how the game works but also have forgotten a lot. I remembered that trees and grass absorb pollution, for instance, and I always like generating forested grassland for that reason. (Plus I like to grenade the forests when I'm ready for biters.)

if you decrease the time factor from 200 to 100, evolution will not increase that much because of time elapsed

That's the kind of information I was hoping to learn with this thread. Thanks! Short of seeing how each adjustable setting affects the pollution and evolution formulas, knowing which direction to adjust numbers for a desired result is a good compromise.

I guess I should say for reference what I am specifically trying to achieve, aside from learning about the settings in general:
I want to create a map with biters a bit farther away, less spread of pollution, slower time evolution, but mostly regular attacks from biters once they do start attacking. I need time to relearn how to make a factory, but I didn't want to completely remove the biters.

[mmmPI]

I think all the settings in the pollution tab also affect the late game. The time factor in the ennmy settings may be the only one that has small influence late game, because it is overtaken by the others. So it would seem the most recommended to change for you use case.

If you make the ground absorb more pollution, or a higher number in the first settings in advanced=> pollution that will also affect the late game in that it will make the pollution cloud of the factory smaller on the map.

The second setting the "attack cost modifier" is probably the worst i think for your use case because it will permanently lower the number of biter generated per pollution, halving this setup means halving the biter spawning and sending attacking wave from what i understand and some idea of generic late game style.

The 2 settings for trees won't have much of an impact if you are planning to destroy them at some point anyway. And in general i think is not really very impactul late game, unless you plan to play the ecologist. Increasing the value means forest are better are absorbing pollution.

I can't say for the diffusion factor i haven't really played much with it, i imagine it's going to make things worse quite quickly if increased, because to me it can only mean more biter nests will be touched by pollution, start absorbing it and converting it into biters for the next attack wave, but maybe it means the same amount of pollution also spread on more surface faster, and as such can be absorbed faster.

[nethus]

Evolution itself increases steadily, with 3 things contributing to the evolution increase: time (for every minute elapsed the evolution is increases a little bit), destroy (every destroyed nest increases evolution a little bit) and pollution (every pollution absorbed by a nest used to send an enemy on an attack patrol increases evolution a little bit).

Well not exactly, it's not the pollution absorbed by spawners, but the pollution produced overall. So Regardless of the spread, absorbed by spawners, or absorbed by trees/terrain.

see also the the Wiki:

Methods of increasing

The evolution factor is increased by three kinds of events:

• The passage of time very slightly increases the evolution factor.
• The global pollution production increases the evolution factor.
• Destroying nests significantly increases the evolution factor.

...
Pollution production is the total pollution produced by buildings, not the pollution spreading on the map, so it is not reduced by trees or other absorbers. e.g. : 10 boilers produce 300 pollution in one minute, raising the evolution factor by around 0.00027 in that minute.

Better terrain absorption is only indirectly helping with lower evolution: you'll sink less resources (power/ammo/oil/...) into your defense, so you are producing less pollution that will increment the evolution.