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From what I can tell, Factorio is just top-down modded Minecraft, with less of a community. So I'd go for MC over FIO. But I haven't played FIO, so maybe I'm n

From what I can tell, Factorio is just top-down modded Minecraft, with less of a community. So I'd go for MC over FIO. But I haven't played FIO, so maybe I'm nuts. Anyways, if you like either game, try literally every game Zachtronics has ever made.

wyager 10y ago
The entirety of factorio is centered around automated combat and production. Even with all automation mods I'm aware of, minecraft pales in comparison. I don't think minecraft's engine could even handle the number of concurrent actors that factorio does. When I used to play minecraft, you couldn't make complicated redstone devices on big multiplayer servers because the engine couldn't afford to simulate chunks that weren't occupied by players. Factorio simulates the entire map, all the time. It's heavily optimized for thousands of concurrent actors.
- scrollaway 10y ago
  Oh my god and the optimization in Factorio is seriously impressive. They have an excellent blog and often post technical details, it's a real treat to read.
  - jcranmer 10y ago
    It's worth adding that they successfully had a multiplayer session... with 400 concurrent users that was actually playable. There's not many games that can run 400-player sessions on a desktop computer (albeit a powerful gaming desktop).
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  World Anchors have long been a feature of many mods, which let you keep map segments loaded while you're away. Mind, you still can't simulate the entire map, and it's generally rough around the edges, but it mostly works.
  - scrollaway 10y ago
    Speaking as someone who managed plenty of Minecraft servers back in the days, it really doesn't compare. Factorio is able to handle several orders of magnitudes more circuitry than Minecraft ever could, on far weaker hardware at that.
    - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
      That's totally fair, and I would expect it. So there's a major benefit for server owners...
- jackmott 10y ago
  the map in factorio isn't very big.... or does it grow or something?
  - Namrog84 10y ago
    It is quite big. And even that might be an understatement. And I believe there might even be unlimited modes. You probably played a forced small campaign mission if you think otherwise.
  - scrollaway 10y ago
    The Factorio map is unlimited (ish, maxint and all that). However the map matters a lot less in Factorio than it does in Minecraft, as the latter relies a lot more on the preexisting world than the former.
  - MaulingMonkey 10y ago
    Non-campaign maps are 'unlimited' in size unless you configure them otherwise. You may be playing the campaign/tutorial, or may be confusing the visible map (which will indeed expand/reveal as you get near it) for the entire map.
jfoutz 10y ago
It's close, the automation is a bit more straightforward in Factorio. Factorio also has a tower defense aspect i think is missing in modded minecraft. Perhaps closer to fortresscraft evolved.
scrollaway 10y ago
Minecraft focuses on world building, Factorio focuses on automation of world building. They sound similar on paper but they aren't. It's like Redstone, but it really isn't, it's so much more. Seriously, buy Factorio, statistically speaking I can safely say if you are reading this post you will not regret that purchase.
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  Have you played modded Minecraft? The automation systems there are extremely elaborate, leaving redstone in the dust, and it's been like that for a very long time now. We've got lua-scriptable actors, we've got elaborate Redstone circuitry, we're got about six different item transit systems, and several power systems to choose from (I believe RF is the most common one now). We've got machines for automating just about everything, and IIRC, we can finally build moving structures again. We've got at least two magic systems, if not more, endgames of your choice, and many dimensions to pick from. And all of it plugs together, and you can pick and choose exactly what you want and customize it to your specification.
  - scrollaway 10y ago
    I have played modded Minecraft. They are different games, even though there's definitely inspiration and similarities. There's no real point holding them against each other. I will say that Factorio is far more moddable than Minecraft as well, and actually has a built-in mod browser. Mods are first class citizens and the community has done great stuff with it just like it has in Minecraft.
    - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
      Okay. Your comment made me think otherwise. Sorry...
  - khedoros1 10y ago
    Which set of Minecraft mods would you recommend? I've played a lot of vanilla, but haven't ever done much with mods. I've always enjoyed building redstone mechanisms like secret doors, automated mob harvesters (when those worked well), and Factorio definitely scratches my automation design itch, but I think it would be a fun addition to MC, too.
Manishearth 10y ago
Nah, factorio is much different. It's more about building factories, and optimizing them to maximize throughput. It's more engineeringy than artsy. In minecraft my goal is to explore or make things that look cool. In factorio my goal is to make the mostest efficientest factory. I think the best part of Factorio is that usually you'll set yourself a goal. Say, getting production of something like modules set up. You'll start building the section of the factory. Partway through you'll realize you need to up production of some material it depends on. So you'll go figure out why that line isn't efficient -- sometimes it's just due to how you've structured it, but other times it's due to lack of resources. You go to connect more resources to your network; maybe by finding an ore deposit and running a train to it. Wait, no, now you have a lot of trains in the system and not enough stops for them to drop stuff off without causing jams. You redo critical areas of your train network. By which point you discover that you're being attacked on yet another front by the aliens and you go to set up defenses. Much like Civ, there's usually so much going on in Factorio that you'll always be in a "okay, let me just finish this and I'll stop" situation which never finishes. Of course, that's horrible if you have other things that you should be doing, but it makes for a really enjoyable game.
- jackmott 10y ago
  minecraft is about building factories too, if you want, with mods like buildcraft and so on. its rather amazing, you can even eventually end up building star trek level tech where you order items out of a computer that are stored digitally. if you haven't tried it, check out one of the modpacks like Feed The Beast, or similar, set up a server play with a few friends. best gaming experience I've ever had. I programmed an in game robot with LUA to build hedge mazes, and 3d mazes http://i.imgur.com/M6QcpKU.png http://i.imgur.com/M6QcpKU.png http://i.imgur.com/9VSlLxc.png http://i.imgur.com/9VSlLxc.png a messy factory: http://i.imgur.com/VUi07P7.png http://i.imgur.com/VUi07P7.png
  - Manishearth 10y ago
    Cool, might try it out. Factorio is really designed for this so it's much easier to build things than I'd expect in a modded minecraft, but will try it out.
Macha 10y ago
So if you ever played Crazy Gregtech from 1.4/1.5 where it rewrote a bunch of mods and made everything hideously expensive and tried to force you into automation. Now imagine they removed the forced manual crafts like plates etc. were for a while. Now they put in a smooth curve for the automation so you get your first automated thing pretty early and the answer is never "go grind manual mining for 2 hours" or "quarry half the world and come back in 2 hours when it finishes", but instead is "build more automated lines" or "find the weak link in your current chain and optimise/expand it more". Modded minecraft certainly feels like an inspiration, but this takes that plumbing/building/optimisation aspect of it and boils the game down to most of that. And since there's a single designer and no mod arms race, everything feels like it fits together, and has a balanced progression. I like it more, especially since so much of modern modded minecraft consists of building a single pipe and attaching appropriate outlets to it (AE2 being one of the worst offenders). Also another suggestion for people who like the automation/optimisation aspects of games, OpenTTD is pretty good for scratching that itch once your networks get bigger.
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  Thanks for the comprehensive answer! As a fan of Zachtronics games, This definitely sounds like something I might like. >so much of modern modded minecraft consists of building a single pipe and attaching appropriate outlets to it (AE2 being one of the worst offenders). That is one of the things I really hate about AE. It just sucks all the fun out of things, as does any other mod that makes things too easy (cough cough EE2 cough cough). I miss being able to leak items, screwing up your machines because you needed a stepup/stepdown on your power supply, and blowing your reactor core. AE is like liquid anti-fun. And I really miss RP2...

wyager 10y ago

The entirety of factorio is centered around automated combat and production. Even with all automation mods I'm aware of, minecraft pales in comparison. I don't think minecraft's engine could even handle the number of concurrent actors that factorio does. When I used to play minecraft, you couldn't make complicated redstone devices on big multiplayer servers because the engine couldn't afford to simulate chunks that weren't occupied by players. Factorio simulates the entire map, all the time. It's heavily optimized for thousands of concurrent actors.

scrollaway 10y ago
Oh my god and the optimization in Factorio is seriously impressive. They have an excellent blog and often post technical details, it's a real treat to read.
- jcranmer 10y ago
  It's worth adding that they successfully had a multiplayer session... with 400 concurrent users that was actually playable. There's not many games that can run 400-player sessions on a desktop computer (albeit a powerful gaming desktop).
qwertyuiop924 10y ago
World Anchors have long been a feature of many mods, which let you keep map segments loaded while you're away. Mind, you still can't simulate the entire map, and it's generally rough around the edges, but it mostly works.
- scrollaway 10y ago
  Speaking as someone who managed plenty of Minecraft servers back in the days, it really doesn't compare. Factorio is able to handle several orders of magnitudes more circuitry than Minecraft ever could, on far weaker hardware at that.
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    That's totally fair, and I would expect it. So there's a major benefit for server owners...
jackmott 10y ago
the map in factorio isn't very big.... or does it grow or something?
- Namrog84 10y ago
  It is quite big. And even that might be an understatement. And I believe there might even be unlimited modes. You probably played a forced small campaign mission if you think otherwise.
- scrollaway 10y ago
  The Factorio map is unlimited (ish, maxint and all that). However the map matters a lot less in Factorio than it does in Minecraft, as the latter relies a lot more on the preexisting world than the former.
- MaulingMonkey 10y ago
  Non-campaign maps are 'unlimited' in size unless you configure them otherwise. You may be playing the campaign/tutorial, or may be confusing the visible map (which will indeed expand/reveal as you get near it) for the entire map.

jfoutz 10y ago

It's close, the automation is a bit more straightforward in Factorio. Factorio also has a tower defense aspect i think is missing in modded minecraft. Perhaps closer to fortresscraft evolved.

scrollaway 10y ago

Minecraft focuses on world building, Factorio focuses on automation of world building. They sound similar on paper but they aren't. It's like Redstone, but it really isn't, it's so much more. Seriously, buy Factorio, statistically speaking I can safely say if you are reading this post you will not regret that purchase.

qwertyuiop924 10y ago
Have you played modded Minecraft? The automation systems there are extremely elaborate, leaving redstone in the dust, and it's been like that for a very long time now. We've got lua-scriptable actors, we've got elaborate Redstone circuitry, we're got about six different item transit systems, and several power systems to choose from (I believe RF is the most common one now). We've got machines for automating just about everything, and IIRC, we can finally build moving structures again. We've got at least two magic systems, if not more, endgames of your choice, and many dimensions to pick from. And all of it plugs together, and you can pick and choose exactly what you want and customize it to your specification.
- scrollaway 10y ago
  I have played modded Minecraft. They are different games, even though there's definitely inspiration and similarities. There's no real point holding them against each other. I will say that Factorio is far more moddable than Minecraft as well, and actually has a built-in mod browser. Mods are first class citizens and the community has done great stuff with it just like it has in Minecraft.
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    Okay. Your comment made me think otherwise. Sorry...
- khedoros1 10y ago
  Which set of Minecraft mods would you recommend? I've played a lot of vanilla, but haven't ever done much with mods. I've always enjoyed building redstone mechanisms like secret doors, automated mob harvesters (when those worked well), and Factorio definitely scratches my automation design itch, but I think it would be a fun addition to MC, too.

Manishearth 10y ago

Nah, factorio is much different. It's more about building factories, and optimizing them to maximize throughput. It's more engineeringy than artsy. In minecraft my goal is to explore or make things that look cool. In factorio my goal is to make the mostest efficientest factory. I think the best part of Factorio is that usually you'll set yourself a goal. Say, getting production of something like modules set up. You'll start building the section of the factory. Partway through you'll realize you need to up production of some material it depends on. So you'll go figure out why that line isn't efficient -- sometimes it's just due to how you've structured it, but other times it's due to lack of resources. You go to connect more resources to your network; maybe by finding an ore deposit and running a train to it. Wait, no, now you have a lot of trains in the system and not enough stops for them to drop stuff off without causing jams. You redo critical areas of your train network. By which point you discover that you're being attacked on yet another front by the aliens and you go to set up defenses. Much like Civ, there's usually so much going on in Factorio that you'll always be in a "okay, let me just finish this and I'll stop" situation which never finishes. Of course, that's horrible if you have other things that you should be doing, but it makes for a really enjoyable game.

jackmott 10y ago
minecraft is about building factories too, if you want, with mods like buildcraft and so on. its rather amazing, you can even eventually end up building star trek level tech where you order items out of a computer that are stored digitally. if you haven't tried it, check out one of the modpacks like Feed The Beast, or similar, set up a server play with a few friends. best gaming experience I've ever had. I programmed an in game robot with LUA to build hedge mazes, and 3d mazes http://i.imgur.com/M6QcpKU.png http://i.imgur.com/M6QcpKU.png http://i.imgur.com/9VSlLxc.png http://i.imgur.com/9VSlLxc.png a messy factory: http://i.imgur.com/VUi07P7.png http://i.imgur.com/VUi07P7.png
- Manishearth 10y ago
  Cool, might try it out. Factorio is really designed for this so it's much easier to build things than I'd expect in a modded minecraft, but will try it out.

Macha 10y ago

So if you ever played Crazy Gregtech from 1.4/1.5 where it rewrote a bunch of mods and made everything hideously expensive and tried to force you into automation. Now imagine they removed the forced manual crafts like plates etc. were for a while. Now they put in a smooth curve for the automation so you get your first automated thing pretty early and the answer is never "go grind manual mining for 2 hours" or "quarry half the world and come back in 2 hours when it finishes", but instead is "build more automated lines" or "find the weak link in your current chain and optimise/expand it more". Modded minecraft certainly feels like an inspiration, but this takes that plumbing/building/optimisation aspect of it and boils the game down to most of that. And since there's a single designer and no mod arms race, everything feels like it fits together, and has a balanced progression. I like it more, especially since so much of modern modded minecraft consists of building a single pipe and attaching appropriate outlets to it (AE2 being one of the worst offenders). Also another suggestion for people who like the automation/optimisation aspects of games, OpenTTD is pretty good for scratching that itch once your networks get bigger.

qwertyuiop924 10y ago
Thanks for the comprehensive answer! As a fan of Zachtronics games, This definitely sounds like something I might like. >so much of modern modded minecraft consists of building a single pipe and attaching appropriate outlets to it (AE2 being one of the worst offenders). That is one of the things I really hate about AE. It just sucks all the fun out of things, as does any other mod that makes things too easy (cough cough EE2 cough cough). I miss being able to leak items, screwing up your machines because you needed a stepup/stepdown on your power supply, and blowing your reactor core. AE is like liquid anti-fun. And I really miss RP2...