TL;DR
My opinion is that the reason Gleba doesn't feel very satisfying and like a drag is that it doesn't sufficiently lean into the unique mechanics that Gleba introduces to the game.Why?
In my opinion, the key mechanic/challenge that Gleba is pushing, just as Vulcanus pushed more fluid based high-quantity manufacturing and Fulgora pushed recycling, sushi belts and belt-sorting, is efficient burner based bases. The reason that I think it feels unsatisfying and frustrating is that the broader in-game mechanics don't actually support this paradigm well, thereby preventing Gleba from leaning harder into this and preventing the player from solving this riddle properly. Basically, Gleba fails to invoke a feeling of "Man, I really wish I could do this outside of Gleba!"What?
2 changes are necessary:- an instant feeling of "Wow! I want that now!" as early after landing on Gleba as possible to motivate players to put up with Gleba (think Vulcanus and the realization of lava-based productivity)
- better handling of the combination of spoilage with burner fuel (nutrients) in order to make that puzzle less punishing/grindy and more interesting.
I included some examples of what could be done in my OG post but don't want to make them the focus, so I'm hiding them behind a spoiler tag:
As an example of what could be done in terms of game mechanics to ease this, I suggest allowing players to easily control the buffer sizes for burnable fuels. I don't want a building that I loaded up with efficiency modules so it only consumes 100 kW of power to then stock up on 10 x nutrients all the time! Similarly, if I'm pushing a buliding's power consumption up to insane levels, I would maybe want it to stock up on perhaps an entire stack of nutrients. This would have the most impact for players who freshly landed on Gleba and still haven't set up agri science exports.
As an example of not pushing things hard enough in this direction, I suggest that similar to how bot and solar panel power efficiency is down to 50% on Gleba, all electric powered devices should suffer from a similar efficiency drop. Moreover, there should be early access to nutrient powered inserters (a suggestion was already made here) and assemblers to truly lean deep into the burner economy (I'm drawn to the early game of exotic industries for reference here). For me, personally, power generation was really not an issue by the time I reached Gleba, so this doesn't even feel like it'd be a big challenge - but I also have enough gameplay time in Factorio to qualify as having a lot of bias. Perhaps an even more hardcore version of this would involve electric structure suffering small amounts of electric damage every now and then if they operate on Gleba?
The ultimate reward for pushing through all this should be that the everything that burns nutrients to function is massively more power efficient than anything electricity based, but that will feel rewarding and useful if and only if the tools are available to make it as scalable as electric energy distribution once a player has created an appropriate design.
Edit: As an alternative to and extension of the above, perhaps we can take inspiration from steam power in Exotic Industries as a possible solution to the frustration of nutrients and fuel stack sizes, in that it should become possible fairly early to turn nutrients into a fluid that doesn't spoil.
Edit 2: Another idea I just had w.r.t. Gleba's fuel economy was to eventually replace burnable nutrients and nutrient fluid with an energy distribution tile that powers nutrient powered buildings. Effectively, lining up the entire surface of Gleba with artificial tissue for power distribution instead of power poles!Zerg structures may only be built on creep
Edit 3: As opposed to new types of bio-fueled inserters and assemblers, perhaps it would make more sense to unlock a toggle, like a module, that switches power sources.
As an example of not pushing things hard enough in this direction, I suggest that similar to how bot and solar panel power efficiency is down to 50% on Gleba, all electric powered devices should suffer from a similar efficiency drop. Moreover, there should be early access to nutrient powered inserters (a suggestion was already made here) and assemblers to truly lean deep into the burner economy (I'm drawn to the early game of exotic industries for reference here). For me, personally, power generation was really not an issue by the time I reached Gleba, so this doesn't even feel like it'd be a big challenge - but I also have enough gameplay time in Factorio to qualify as having a lot of bias. Perhaps an even more hardcore version of this would involve electric structure suffering small amounts of electric damage every now and then if they operate on Gleba?
The ultimate reward for pushing through all this should be that the everything that burns nutrients to function is massively more power efficient than anything electricity based, but that will feel rewarding and useful if and only if the tools are available to make it as scalable as electric energy distribution once a player has created an appropriate design.
Edit: As an alternative to and extension of the above, perhaps we can take inspiration from steam power in Exotic Industries as a possible solution to the frustration of nutrients and fuel stack sizes, in that it should become possible fairly early to turn nutrients into a fluid that doesn't spoil.
Edit 2: Another idea I just had w.r.t. Gleba's fuel economy was to eventually replace burnable nutrients and nutrient fluid with an energy distribution tile that powers nutrient powered buildings. Effectively, lining up the entire surface of Gleba with artificial tissue for power distribution instead of power poles!
Edit 3: As opposed to new types of bio-fueled inserters and assemblers, perhaps it would make more sense to unlock a toggle, like a module, that switches power sources.
