Randomness

[Nagshell]

So at current stage there is not a lot of randomness in-game.
It could be said that it's development choice, and I'm not saying it's wrong idea.
I'm looking forward to new rockets system (*_* )

My opinion about game:
But the problem is, that Factorio does not have a great replay value.
(Mods are big help fighting this problem, thumbs up for modders)
And why is that? The game is very repetetive. Let's say that game looks like this:
Generate new world - Run around, find ore deposits - Start mining, processing, researching - Do same thing over and over -
If deposits are running low, find new ones - Fight some aliens. And that's it.
So, in that whole process there are two sources of randomness - world generation and enemy generation.
World generetion is set up at start of game, so player decides what he will encounter durning game.

So the only thing that really can change course of game is aliens deciding to expand, choosing where they expand etc.
And that it's in my opinion a little to little. So my idea for possible new game feature would be - Any sorts of randomness
\\('_' )//
From what I read rockets will put some fresh-air to end-game, but mid-game should not be forgotten also.
There are many possible things that could make game more random, like
-special items/technologies that needs to be found in world
-natural changes in terrain happening slowly over time
-many more, look ssilk post below

Main reason of this post is not to suggest feature I'd like to see, but more about showing what game element could be done differently to make game a little more interesting across many playthroughs

Thank you for your time reading this.

[Natha]

I like the idea with natural changes... maybe the seas can grow slowly (so you have to care at start of game, that you dont build right next to the water )

[ssilk]

ssilkbot says: Have a look at this threads


Especially the whole map-generation threads:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=4692 Map generation changes
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =18&t=8016 Random Map Generator
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=6709 Map preset proposal
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=8185 Change to Biters, Biter Bases, Pollution, Resources
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 0&start=10 Multithreaded game update loop (Cause I like the pic)
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=7924 More precise map generation options
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=6564 Changes to map generation and "world type" setting
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=9870 Add chooseable difficulty level

The idea is in short, that maps are not completely random, they are created by a modder. A mod can do everything. Think to Rollercoaster Tycoon, where they had really many different game levels with totally different winning-conditions. In Factorio that could be made just by mods.

Make energy more random:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=6181 Eclipses ---> especially at the end, are also other ideas.
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =16&t=6169 Some items becoming "useless" in lategame & changing recipes
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=5&t=4356 Solar Panel return on investment
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=1277 Moons

This is in general having more random events during the game. Some mods implemented for example an asteroid crash.

Early game and research
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=3618 Rethinking the (very) early game
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=3034 Making Research more difficult / rewarding

[Nagshell]

TY ssilk, those are good suggestions. But as I said, reason of this post is not to suggest features, but general element of game that I think is not used much. That was the reason I wanted to make another post about it.

[ssilk]

Yeah, understood, I try to see that in context, which is in this case complex, cause there are many possibilities to make the game more interesting.

And randomness - see the threads about generating maps (cause maps are pure random in Factorio and that is the problem with them) - doesn't guarantee a good game-play, sometimes the opposite is the case!

[Nagshell]

And randomness - see the threads about generating maps (cause maps are pure random in Factorio and that is the problem with them) - doesn't guarantee a good game-play, sometimes the opposite is the case!

I played on like 6 different generation settings and another 6 times with like resource spawner overhaul. I don't have anything against map generation and I think that current system is ok. But map generation randomness is only affecting gameplay in very early stage, when you start new world, scout for resources and decide to settle or generate world again. And after that there is almost nothing random in game, right?

I just thought about another thing that could put more randomness into mid-game. How about... looking at ore deposits as veins. We see on surface how good it is, but in reality deposit could be much smaller (chance of faster depletion rate ) or sometimes you could find more ore below current deposit (small chance of huge increase in available ore in some tiles of deposit)

Idea is to make more random durning "gameplay" stage.