5 ms·

"I would be really interested in playing an RTS that focused much less heavily on variety of combat, and much more heavily on variety of logistics." You've bas

"I would be really interested in playing an RTS that focused much less heavily on variety of combat, and much more heavily on variety of logistics." You've basically just described Factorio, which is all about logistics. I strongly encourage you to give it a try, not only because of this, but because it is one of the greatest games ever made -- especially when played with mods, which make it 100 times better than the vanilla game (which by itself is fantastic). You have sooo many options on what to do and how to do it in Factorio, it puts most other games to shame just by that alone. I could go on about how great Factorio is.. for hours.. but I won't because there are plenty of other Factorio threads on HN that do just that.. so don't take my word for it, but read some of those threads instead.. or just do yourself a favor and play it already! If you're interested in logistics I don't see how you couldn't love Factorio.

Lammy 6y ago
OpenTTD has something like this, but it’s off by default: https://wiki.openttd.org/en/Manual/Passenger%20and%20cargo%20distribution https://wiki.openttd.org/en/Manual/Passenger%20and%20cargo%2...
AlphaSite 6y ago
Also there is an RTS which all about economics, Offworld Trading Company.
- rcxdude 6y ago
  True, though logistics is not a particularly deep part of it (basically the only logistics part is the further you're transporting stuff the more you'll use of a particular resource, and there's one technology which just removes that cost).
  - ryandrake 6y ago
    I almost really liked Offworld Trading Company, but I feel 1. there aren't enough ways to win as an underdog, and 2. the devs punted on the end-game. The outcome is too momentum-based. Once a player builds a solid early game lead, there is pretty much no way to stop them. There aren't really any offense tactics besides monopolizing resources, which pretty much has to happen early on. The various "black market" sabotages are pretty weak and expensive. None of them will stop a late game player with momentum. It feels like your starting position and the decisions you make in the first 1-2 minutes of the game pre-determine the outcome 30 minutes later--which is boring. The stock trading system (which is ultimately the only way to win) is simplistic and just not a satisfying way to end the game. You're sitting there trading, making tons of money, doing everything right, then suddenly Game Over--someone had more money and decided to buy you out, which you can't defend against, even if you pre-buy all your own stock. You get a warning a few seconds before it happens (the red percentage number next to your opponent) but there's literally nothing you can do to stop them.
jiggawatts 6y ago
What mods do you recommend for Factorio?
- Zandikar 6y ago
  I'm 4000 hours deep into factorio, been playing since I think v0.13? Whenever it first hit steam in 2015. QoL mods: - Long Reach: Highly recommended if playing on >1080p res display - Squeak through: Once you start laying pipes for fluids this becomes an essential mod for moving about your base - Even Distribution: Evenly distributes items when you click drag to fill multiple entites with items, eg furnaces with fuel - EvoGUI: Simple display overview for keeping track of biter evolution and basic environment info. - Vehicle Snap: Makes it easier to align to a given cardinal direction - Blueprint Extensions mod (Continued): Get the Continued flavor for version >1.0 compatibility. This mod gives some basic tools such as mirroring or rotating blueprints, very useful. - Bottleneck: shows a simple colored dot over some entities to show if it's input starved, output limited (overfull), or running normally. Makes it easy to see at a glance what is backing up in sections of your base. - FNEI: Want to know how to make something, or what use a certain item has? this simple mod shows how anything inthe game is made, or everything it can be used in. Also has great mod support, even full conversion mods. Conversion/Gameplay Changing mods: - Bobs And Angels modsets: Think you've figured out factorio? Want more factorio? More logistics? More recipes and items to make More things? Step into Bobs w/ Angels modset to ratchet up the complexity by an order of magnitude or two (in a good way). Want an extra challenge? Get the Sandblock mod, which is Bobs + Angels but starting on a tiny island, and you have to harvest resources to build your factory - including the land you build it on - from the sea. - Krastorio: I actually haven't gotten around to this, but it's another full conversion mod that is highly recommended by many members of the community. Definitely on my to-play list - Rampant Arsenal + Pitch Black: Want more of a RTS-esque combat challenge? Biters too boring/easy now that you've come to grips with Factorio's core mechanics? Deathworld too easy? Give this ago. It greatly expands the arsenal available to you should you choose to build them, but also greatly ramps up biter aggression, difficulty, and variety, especially at night. There are many many more mods to choose from, and the modding community is very vibrant, and well supported from the devs themselves, with an excellent mod portal and mod loading system integrated into the game. It's by far the best mod community and integration in a game I've ever seen, and people are still churning out all manner of new and interesting stuff, as well as improving upon the classics listed above. There are also many I've not specified (eg FARL, LTN, etc) that many would consider essential, but this is already a long list. EDIT: Also just realized this is a 9 day old thread. Came back from the holidays to my desktop and this tab was still open, apologies for the necro.
unixhero 6y ago
This might seem silly, but even as a grown man, Factorio scares me. It seems line it could be a trigger to fall into a deep chasm of aspberger like focus for weeks.
- m463 6y ago
  This is a valid concern. I'm glad that when I launched a rocket, and upgrades became n->∞ that I unwound from the game.
- Aeolun 6y ago
  Probably not weeks, but a week for certain.
- Tade0 6y ago
  I haven't bought it yet for this exact reason.
- maccam94 6y ago
  I've found that it engages the same parts of my brain as writing software, and I only have a limited amount of time each day that I'm able to focus on either activity. So to some degree it is self-balancing, but it's also possible to lose 4-6 hours while playing it if you get in the zone.
  - hombre_fatal 6y ago
    This is why I could never get into it nor Zachtronics games. Just feels like work.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
      Honestly I think Zachtronics games are much better for this because they have discrete levels. You have many places you can just stop, and each level has a pretty solid definition of "optimal" (for whichever metric you're optimizing for), so you can actually be done with it. Factorio presents a significantly more complex problem at a vastly increased scale.
billfruit 6y ago
More than Factrio, the logistics of combat I think is better handled in "Foxhole", but I am hearing that the community around it is slowly getting smaller.

Lammy 6y ago

OpenTTD has something like this, but it’s off by default: https://wiki.openttd.org/en/Manual/Passenger%20and%20cargo%20distribution https://wiki.openttd.org/en/Manual/Passenger%20and%20cargo%2...

AlphaSite 6y ago

Also there is an RTS which all about economics, Offworld Trading Company.

rcxdude 6y ago
True, though logistics is not a particularly deep part of it (basically the only logistics part is the further you're transporting stuff the more you'll use of a particular resource, and there's one technology which just removes that cost).
- ryandrake 6y ago
  I almost really liked Offworld Trading Company, but I feel 1. there aren't enough ways to win as an underdog, and 2. the devs punted on the end-game. The outcome is too momentum-based. Once a player builds a solid early game lead, there is pretty much no way to stop them. There aren't really any offense tactics besides monopolizing resources, which pretty much has to happen early on. The various "black market" sabotages are pretty weak and expensive. None of them will stop a late game player with momentum. It feels like your starting position and the decisions you make in the first 1-2 minutes of the game pre-determine the outcome 30 minutes later--which is boring. The stock trading system (which is ultimately the only way to win) is simplistic and just not a satisfying way to end the game. You're sitting there trading, making tons of money, doing everything right, then suddenly Game Over--someone had more money and decided to buy you out, which you can't defend against, even if you pre-buy all your own stock. You get a warning a few seconds before it happens (the red percentage number next to your opponent) but there's literally nothing you can do to stop them.

jiggawatts 6y ago

What mods do you recommend for Factorio?

Zandikar 6y ago
I'm 4000 hours deep into factorio, been playing since I think v0.13? Whenever it first hit steam in 2015. QoL mods: - Long Reach: Highly recommended if playing on >1080p res display - Squeak through: Once you start laying pipes for fluids this becomes an essential mod for moving about your base - Even Distribution: Evenly distributes items when you click drag to fill multiple entites with items, eg furnaces with fuel - EvoGUI: Simple display overview for keeping track of biter evolution and basic environment info. - Vehicle Snap: Makes it easier to align to a given cardinal direction - Blueprint Extensions mod (Continued): Get the Continued flavor for version >1.0 compatibility. This mod gives some basic tools such as mirroring or rotating blueprints, very useful. - Bottleneck: shows a simple colored dot over some entities to show if it's input starved, output limited (overfull), or running normally. Makes it easy to see at a glance what is backing up in sections of your base. - FNEI: Want to know how to make something, or what use a certain item has? this simple mod shows how anything inthe game is made, or everything it can be used in. Also has great mod support, even full conversion mods. Conversion/Gameplay Changing mods: - Bobs And Angels modsets: Think you've figured out factorio? Want more factorio? More logistics? More recipes and items to make More things? Step into Bobs w/ Angels modset to ratchet up the complexity by an order of magnitude or two (in a good way). Want an extra challenge? Get the Sandblock mod, which is Bobs + Angels but starting on a tiny island, and you have to harvest resources to build your factory - including the land you build it on - from the sea. - Krastorio: I actually haven't gotten around to this, but it's another full conversion mod that is highly recommended by many members of the community. Definitely on my to-play list - Rampant Arsenal + Pitch Black: Want more of a RTS-esque combat challenge? Biters too boring/easy now that you've come to grips with Factorio's core mechanics? Deathworld too easy? Give this ago. It greatly expands the arsenal available to you should you choose to build them, but also greatly ramps up biter aggression, difficulty, and variety, especially at night. There are many many more mods to choose from, and the modding community is very vibrant, and well supported from the devs themselves, with an excellent mod portal and mod loading system integrated into the game. It's by far the best mod community and integration in a game I've ever seen, and people are still churning out all manner of new and interesting stuff, as well as improving upon the classics listed above. There are also many I've not specified (eg FARL, LTN, etc) that many would consider essential, but this is already a long list. EDIT: Also just realized this is a 9 day old thread. Came back from the holidays to my desktop and this tab was still open, apologies for the necro.

unixhero 6y ago

This might seem silly, but even as a grown man, Factorio scares me. It seems line it could be a trigger to fall into a deep chasm of aspberger like focus for weeks.

m463 6y ago
This is a valid concern. I'm glad that when I launched a rocket, and upgrades became n->∞ that I unwound from the game.
Aeolun 6y ago
Probably not weeks, but a week for certain.
Tade0 6y ago
I haven't bought it yet for this exact reason.
maccam94 6y ago
I've found that it engages the same parts of my brain as writing software, and I only have a limited amount of time each day that I'm able to focus on either activity. So to some degree it is self-balancing, but it's also possible to lose 4-6 hours while playing it if you get in the zone.
- hombre_fatal 6y ago
  This is why I could never get into it nor Zachtronics games. Just feels like work.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
    Honestly I think Zachtronics games are much better for this because they have discrete levels. You have many places you can just stop, and each level has a pretty solid definition of "optimal" (for whichever metric you're optimizing for), so you can actually be done with it. Factorio presents a significantly more complex problem at a vastly increased scale.

billfruit 6y ago

More than Factrio, the logistics of combat I think is better handled in "Foxhole", but I am hearing that the community around it is slowly getting smaller.