Non-Player Characters

[ozfoxaroo]

I very much enjoyed Factorio's introductory campaign. Not only did it work well as a tutorial, but the story was engaging as well and made you feel in touch with the world of the player.

Something I expected, that never materialised, were Non-Player Characters. Partway into the early campaign stages the player receives a radio distress call, but arrives too late to save anyone. Later stages also show remnant infrastructure from other survivors, of whom none are around any more. I figured at one point there would be rescue and escort quests, and that upon meeting specific NPCs these would be in possession of resources needed to win the campaign, grant technology advances, reveal distant areas of the map (that they had explored in their backstory), grant other such bonuses, and might or might not be able to defend themselves adequately from the aliens.

On meeting these NPCs I was wondering if some would refuse to aid the player until certain conditions were met (Eg: an NPC might offer a cache of logistics robots in return for the player building some defensive structures, or the NPC might be guarding the only oil wells in the entire map and will only grant the player access in return for some armor and weapons).

Is this something you guys have planned for a future point?