Factorio Forums

TL;DR

As a new, casual, player, I'd enjoy having a few more scenarios in the base campaign. It feels like the campaign is incomplete.

What ?

There could be more to the storyline after making the plane and flying off in it. A lot more can be done with the aliens, rockets, colony ships, etc. Not to mention there's a large part of the tech tree that hasn't been demonstrated in the campaign.

For example:

• Between beta/level-2 and 3, force the player to make a train & research the combat shotgun & flamethrowers (I didn't get to make any trains in level 2).
• One of the scenarios should have the player start a base from scratch (possibly with some free materials in the plane), to get a taste of what free play mode is like, and allay any fears that the aliens will wreck your base. After refueling the plane with more oil, a transmission could come in: there's more survivors. The plane conveniently has a working radio, player flies off and joins the survivors.
• Next scenario, the player helps them get some automation level 3 stuff researched & working.
• After that, the player gets a large-ish factory set up already for them from the start... and oh no, a large wave of aliens has been detected by radar! Defend the base for 30 minutes.
• Next & final scenario could have the player building a rocket & launching it (I see you, graphics\entity\rocket-silo!)... because the aliens are all over the planet and they're going to overrun the colony. And they win. Be sure to give em' a "keep playing" button that disables the victory triggers, like in StarCraft.

Why ?

• It takes about 14 hours to finish the First Steps & New Hope campaigns on easy.
• There are 0 mods that add additional campaigns (and even if there were, new players aren't going to look for them for very long..)
• I was spoiled by having pre-built bases, even semi-demolished ones. I liked that, a lot more than starting from scratch.
• Having an objective keeps the player playing. The longer that goes on, the more likely their friends'll notice & buy the game too.
• Your game's mechanics are fine!

I wouldn't be surprised if something like this was in the works already. I'm actually more surprised that this hasn't been suggested very often.

A major rework of the campaign is expected before the game goes 1.0.
Plans might change until then, but that's the plan today .

Quote from this post by Factorio Developer Klonan:

Klonan wrote:

Drury wrote:The campaign is a dead branch. I hope it either gets expanded or removed. It just sticks out like a sore thumb.

I am planning to write a completely new campaign, which will replace both current campaigns, have a proper story, and be co-op compatible and fun

I'm happy to hear that.