3 ms·

I go through a cycle like that every so often. I start a new game of factorio after a long break, get super addicted for a week or two, and then get a feeling t

I go through a cycle like that every so often. I start a new game of factorio after a long break, get super addicted for a week or two, and then get a feeling that its just work, and I'd rather be working on some python project because I don't have to deal with biters attacking me in VS code. Late game factorio feels exactly like coding, except you can't copy paste as well and make loops and other time saving abstractions.

pmoriarty 7y ago
"Late game factorio feels exactly like coding, except you can't copy paste as well and make loops and other time saving abstractions." I'm not sure what you mean by "as well", but Factorio does have various rather sophisticated methods of copying and pasting. For instance, there's the regular Control-C sort of copy, which allows you to rotate the entities before pasting, should you prefer. Then there are blueprints, which let you select which entities in a copied blueprint to store, what icon(s) to assign them, and let you have a library of blueprints and folders of blueprints even. That's more sophisticated than some text editors' copy/paste features. As far as loops go, you can actually create loops in Factorio. First, there's the simple belt loop. Those can be pretty useful (like with Koravex enrichment process, and coal-powered coal miners powering themselves or each other are also pretty popular). Inserters can also be used in loops (from box to box, for instance). Then there are more sophisticated loops involving trains and entire factory groupings. Then there's the circuit network and combinators, which provide a visual programming language in which loops are possible. Some mods provide combinators will expose the full power of Lua programming to you in-game. This is not to mention the possibility of writing your own Factorio modules in Lua, which literally is programming in text in a traditional language, and where you can write loops to your heart's content. As for "time saving abstractions", with the Factorissimo2 mod, you can even abstract away parts of your factory and reuse those parts as modules. These modular parts can themselves be abstracted or nested as submodules of other modules, etc.
- tryptophan 7y ago
  I dont mean like a literal loop, but gameplay loops that you cant automate. This includes things like plopping down yet another mining base, plopping down yet more production, etc... You can make blueprints for all theses things, but you can't automate the blueprint placing. Sometimes you need to reconfigure circuit stuff for special train stops, so they get the right products, and as far as I know this can't be done via blueprint. It just gets tedious after a while, especially because it doesn't take all that much to build a rocket, making it unnecessary if you just want to beat the game.
  - pmoriarty 7y ago
    "You can make blueprints for all theses things, but you can't automate the blueprint placing" You can, actually. Check out the "recursive blueprints" mod.
    - Filligree 7y ago
      And yes, someone made an automatically self-expanding base using said mod. It's impressive.

pmoriarty 7y ago

"Late game factorio feels exactly like coding, except you can't copy paste as well and make loops and other time saving abstractions." I'm not sure what you mean by "as well", but Factorio does have various rather sophisticated methods of copying and pasting. For instance, there's the regular Control-C sort of copy, which allows you to rotate the entities before pasting, should you prefer. Then there are blueprints, which let you select which entities in a copied blueprint to store, what icon(s) to assign them, and let you have a library of blueprints and folders of blueprints even. That's more sophisticated than some text editors' copy/paste features. As far as loops go, you can actually create loops in Factorio. First, there's the simple belt loop. Those can be pretty useful (like with Koravex enrichment process, and coal-powered coal miners powering themselves or each other are also pretty popular). Inserters can also be used in loops (from box to box, for instance). Then there are more sophisticated loops involving trains and entire factory groupings. Then there's the circuit network and combinators, which provide a visual programming language in which loops are possible. Some mods provide combinators will expose the full power of Lua programming to you in-game. This is not to mention the possibility of writing your own Factorio modules in Lua, which literally is programming in text in a traditional language, and where you can write loops to your heart's content. As for "time saving abstractions", with the Factorissimo2 mod, you can even abstract away parts of your factory and reuse those parts as modules. These modular parts can themselves be abstracted or nested as submodules of other modules, etc.

tryptophan 7y ago
I dont mean like a literal loop, but gameplay loops that you cant automate. This includes things like plopping down yet another mining base, plopping down yet more production, etc... You can make blueprints for all theses things, but you can't automate the blueprint placing. Sometimes you need to reconfigure circuit stuff for special train stops, so they get the right products, and as far as I know this can't be done via blueprint. It just gets tedious after a while, especially because it doesn't take all that much to build a rocket, making it unnecessary if you just want to beat the game.
- pmoriarty 7y ago
  "You can make blueprints for all theses things, but you can't automate the blueprint placing" You can, actually. Check out the "recursive blueprints" mod.
  - Filligree 7y ago
    And yes, someone made an automatically self-expanding base using said mod. It's impressive.