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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2056 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 25, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Factorio 2.0 and Space Age dropped on Monday. A new batch of puzzles & logistics to solve & optimize are here. Since I discovered the game back in 2016ish, it's good to see new challenges outside the mod scene.

So far, I've put in enough time to launch a rocket (formerly endgame research, now mid-game) and research bot logistics.

I'll need to make notes of an actual bare-bones build for the new space station mechanics. Other people who can put in more time than I have are already handling exploring other planets. I'll get to that in due time.

Please no strategy spoilers. I haven't had a chance to get it wrong in a while - going from "suboptimal" to "good enough" to "pretty sharp" is going to be the most fulfilling piece of the game.

How is it for bugs (not the biters)? The early access guys were finding big ones the week before release.

I don't have nearly enough time to play right now, maybe this winter. Am listening to Nefrums try to speed run it right now: 5.5hrs in and he's finally on a new planet with everything exploding and his Nauvis(?) base being overrun by biters.
(Checked back: 13 hours and he's flailing around getting ready for the end)

I'm actually almost more interested in how they added all these new features without a massive performance hit. How do you optimize thousands of items on belts all decaying at different rates?

I LOOOOVE Vulcanus, it's an awesome planet with a lovely aesthetic and the most interesting 'threat' I've ever seen in this type of game. The first time I visited it, I remember wondering "Can I build a base here? Is it missing any critical resources?" In hindsight, it really is an awesome place for a main hub. I guess I shouldn't be any more specific than that because of spoilers.

I'm on Fulgora right now and this one is not quite as fun. It's essentially an empty graveyard wracked by almost constant storms. I'm embarrassed to admit it took me 5 actual real-life hours to figure out why I couldn't use a pumpjack on the oceans of oil the planet is covered in. The logistics are an especially horrid nightmare here, I suggest not messing around with the quality modules, even though the planet seems to be built for them. The whole thing turns into a spaghetti mess in no time at all and the islands make it impossible to build a true mega-base where everything can be carted off to a specific spot.

The space stations probably deserve a word too. I'm positively enamored with them. They are fun to design, fun to pilot, challenging, rewarding and interesting all at the same time. I'm really glad the developers pressed hard on the 'difficulty' slider, it would have been very easy and lazy to just throw 1-2 asteroids per minute at the player. But no, you do need an actual serious defensive strategy, the space rocks are no joke.

Would anyone like to join a group play through?

Right now its me @xablor and @Southkraut

Add me on Steam cjet799

I'm so excited to get into this, but I already blew my wad on Mechwarrior 5: Clans this month. I know some people can play these automation games over and over and over again. But I tend to play to the endgame once, "win" in so far as a win condition exist, and then kind of lose interest in doing that grind again or faffing about in a post game grind. I want to believe this expansion is enough of a remix on that puzzle to make the journey interesting again for me, but it's no sure thing.

The cool part is it seems like there's a high end goal to beat the game now. It's not "win in 4 hours then fuck around with the post-game content for no reason" now. Although I can see massive opportunity for that with the new quality system.

From everything they said about the expansion in the dev diaries, it should mix things up enough to make things interesting for you. They added multiple new mechanics that straight up didn't exist before, and each of the planets has a design where they try to put a twist on the way you are used to building a factory.

I hear you about blowing your wad though. I have Factorio: Space Age, MW5: Clans, Metaphor: ReFantazio and the new Zelda all clamoring for my ducats. Only so much money to go around though.

have you been keeping up with the friday factorio facts stuff they've been posting? Space age is adding an absolutely absurd amount of new mechanics, shifting mechanics around, rebalancing existing stuff, adding new enemies... it's nuts. There's a planet where you generate power by tapping lightning strikes from a never-ending storm, and run the manufacturing gameplay backwards by digging up alien ruins and sifting the wreckage for random refined products that can be further broken down for raw materials. There's a planet with giant lava worms that steamroll your defenses if you tresspass on their territory. There's a jungle/swamp planet where you need to grow and harvest produce, and get what you need from it before it rots on the belt. You can build space platforms and fly them between planets. You can build fusion reactors. Plus a million improvements to existing mechanics: reworked recipes, reworked research, elevated train tracks, beacons and modules redesigned, and on, and on, and on... I've got near two thousand hours in factorio, and the amount they've changed with this patch is staggering. It's pretty close to a whole new game.

I read a few when Space Age was first announced, which is why I'm hopeful it will be different enough to appeal to me. But I haven't kept up. I kind of want most of it to be a surprise. I've never been the sort to have a wiki in one window and the game in the other, you know?

then take it from me: they have increased the amount of gameplay/content/complexity by ~300% at least. it's pretty close to a full sequel at this point.

You son of a bitch, I'm in.

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