Factorio Forums

TlDr
Provide the ability to make the map symmetrical so that players in PvP have exactly the same resource patches at the same distance (not just within their start areas by checking duplicate start entities).

Detailed explanation

Having played a lot of factorio PvP, the one thing that can make a huge difference to who wins the game is what resource patches players have close to them and the yield you can get from them. For example I have played games where in order to get oil I had to construct a very large transport network (It was a long way away) whereas my opponents literally had it outside their start area, and twice as much!

By making the map symmetrical (from corner to corner of the map with the line of symmetry running through the center, perpendicular to the vector connecting the players start area, see diagram the dashed line represents line of symmetry), this particular imbalance is resolved. I have not seen anyone else suggest this, nor have I found an appropriate mod for this.

Thank you for taking your time to read this and I welcome any feedback,

kind regards

EvilxFish

According to Factorio Friday Facts #215, something very similar is already being planned (or maybe even implemented for 0.17).

Having read that, it appears that was more focused on generating starting areas rather than the state of the entire map, correct me if I am wrong. Note in the picture provided some teams have oil much close than others for example.