6 ms·

Recently discovered a less complex, open source alternative called Mindustry. Highly recommend it.

bregma 6y ago
Many of the more popular mods add complexity to Factorio. I guess there might be an audience that swings the other way, but I don't imagine the lack of the dopamine surge from solving the next problem is going to have Mindustry players putting in the same insane hours.
- willis936 6y ago
  This is one of those cases where it is best to not judge it before you try it. Mindustry has a bespoke assembly language that lets you control the behavior of drones and buildings. The complexity cap is far above factorio.
- user-the-name 6y ago
  Not putting in insane hours is a feature for many.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  While I completed it, I personally did not enjoy my time with Factorio. In my review I specifically used the term "complexity fetishist" to describe the kind of player who might enjoy the game too much. Which isn't to say there's anything wrong with the game. It actually felt kind of weird to not recommend it since it was a pretty darned good execution of what it set out to be, I just couldn't ever actually suggest to someone that they play it. Either they wouldn't like dealing with the needlessly ever increasing in complexity goldbergian monstrosity, or worse they actually would. I think the game's popularity among developers highlights a core problem with our industry. Look at Factorio, then look at all of the over engineering, the layers upon layers of abstraction, the obsessive need to keep making software larger and more complicated only to eventually tear it down and rebuild the exact same thing with the new-hotness widgets...
  - willis936 6y ago
    Factorio was inspired by minecraft tech mods. My favorite minecraft mod is gregtech. It adds the most complexity of any mod I know of, but it’s balanced in a rewarding way. Higher tier setups need more factory to produce, but also produce squared gains (each power tier goes up by a factor of 4). The endgame is fusion for both power and alchemy. It’s great stuff, but eventually one has seen it all. If you really want to see an offender of complexity for complexity’s sake: check out gregtech new horizons. They maintain a minecraft modpack based around needing gregtech recipes for all other mods. On paper that’s great. Hell, even I made a pack like that for personal play. They go pretty far with it though, to the point that the maintainers seem to have an expectation of grinding endlessly and never reaching the highest tiers. An outsider might dismiss it as chasing a dragon.
    - tialaramex 6y ago
      It's tough to get the curve right. I actually haven't completed all that many of the packs I play, e.g. I finished Age of Engineering (even meticulously upgrading all my storage to infinity though I knew I'd probably never use it) but I didn't technically finish Agrarian Skies (I had a few of those stretch goal quests left) or Project Ozone 2 (got bored during the last of my singularities) or even Compact Claustrophobia (I've run it twice, I escape, and then I tend to lose interest before getting to the Moon) I recently finished Star Factory and I realised that on the one hand it was nice to be able to look at it and say yup, I have ticked every box, almost anything you could want my setup now produces in unlimited quantities -- but on the other hand of course because it's so small it also felt cramped. I had to use very obviously bad solutions because the better options just weren't available in the pack. One problem I had in Factorio was that it seemed like it was just doing one thing over and over, with different dress up - whereas I like how Minecraft packs teach me both new things I need to do, and entirely new ways to solve problems. Writing a Predicate that automatically processes my Astral Sorcery crystals goes from an idea that I'm obviously not the first to have, to something I can do almost by reflex... and then a pack says too bad, no Integrated Dynamics so figure out a different way. The other problem I had is that I like to ignore our universe's rules, I like infinitely renewable everything, sure that's unrealistic but it's a video game. My Minecraft wins are generally powered by something ludicrous, like a single inexplicably efficient solar panel beaming energy from a world of eternal daylight, or a closed box which is somehow producing and burning unlimited amounts of Ethylene made from nothing. Factorio clearly doesn't want such shenanigans.
dubcanada 6y ago
That looks very similar (in gameplay) to https://www.puppygames.net/revenge-of-the-titans/ https://www.puppygames.net/revenge-of-the-titans/ which is another great game.
bavell 6y ago
A very similar game called Dyson Sphere Program came out in the last week, I've been having a great time with it! Basically Factorio with planets and solar systems you can fly to. Early access but tons of content.
- gnud 6y ago
  Dyson Sphere Program looks interesting. There's also Satisfactory, which is a 3d first-person-perspective factory builder.
  - cwkoss 6y ago
    DSP is quite good. I think it's worth the ~$20 currently. Definitely a few QOL rough edges and some balance issues still, but certainly playable and haven't seen any critical bugs or crashes. I think building systems in DSP feels a lot more like Satisfactory, but it's much easier to get a good view of whats going on. Loved Satisfactory but found FPS perspective frustrating frequently.
- notamy 6y ago
  I just heard about this game earlier today! It's looked super cool from what I've seen, I might have to get it soon...
- Vespasian 6y ago
  Great game. For me, it scratches all the right factorio itches and adds some Sci-Fi and Space(TM).
Jaygles 6y ago
Another game I like to recommend that is in the same vein is Big Pharma. I particularly like the aesthetics.
- NortySpock 6y ago
  Megaquarium is by the same team as Big Pharma It's a aquarium business management simulator (think RollerCoaster Tycoon but indoors and with aquatic life.) Really enjoyed it as a relaxing casual game. Looking forward to trying out Big Pharma.
louwrentius 6y ago
Mindustry is absolutely fantastic, especially the recent 6.0 update. As addictive as factorio and I think that the whole combat aspect is much more fun. Combat in factorio is an aside, almost a nuisance, but factorio could be better if it would copy some things from mindustry on that front.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
lostmsu 6y ago
Hm, I tried Mindustry multiple times after enjoying a few runs of Factorio, and did not get hooked. I think my gripes are: - all buildings look the same, so it is hard to make out the layout of the factory from an overview - (at least initial) levels are very small, and when you move on, you have to build from scratch. I love infinite worlds since Minecraft. It would also be ok, if levels preserved my previous setup when reentered. - the pace is too high (maybe it is controllable, I haven't looked) to plan far ahead, which is exactly the most interesting problem in Factorio (and Satisfactory BTW)
chapium 6y ago
Shapez.io is very much in the same spirit.

Many of the more popular mods add complexity to Factorio. I guess there might be an audience that swings the other way, but I don't imagine the lack of the dopamine surge from solving the next problem is going to have Mindustry players putting in the same insane hours.

willis936 6y ago
This is one of those cases where it is best to not judge it before you try it. Mindustry has a bespoke assembly language that lets you control the behavior of drones and buildings. The complexity cap is far above factorio.
user-the-name 6y ago
Not putting in insane hours is a feature for many.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
While I completed it, I personally did not enjoy my time with Factorio. In my review I specifically used the term "complexity fetishist" to describe the kind of player who might enjoy the game too much. Which isn't to say there's anything wrong with the game. It actually felt kind of weird to not recommend it since it was a pretty darned good execution of what it set out to be, I just couldn't ever actually suggest to someone that they play it. Either they wouldn't like dealing with the needlessly ever increasing in complexity goldbergian monstrosity, or worse they actually would. I think the game's popularity among developers highlights a core problem with our industry. Look at Factorio, then look at all of the over engineering, the layers upon layers of abstraction, the obsessive need to keep making software larger and more complicated only to eventually tear it down and rebuild the exact same thing with the new-hotness widgets...
- willis936 6y ago
  Factorio was inspired by minecraft tech mods. My favorite minecraft mod is gregtech. It adds the most complexity of any mod I know of, but it’s balanced in a rewarding way. Higher tier setups need more factory to produce, but also produce squared gains (each power tier goes up by a factor of 4). The endgame is fusion for both power and alchemy. It’s great stuff, but eventually one has seen it all. If you really want to see an offender of complexity for complexity’s sake: check out gregtech new horizons. They maintain a minecraft modpack based around needing gregtech recipes for all other mods. On paper that’s great. Hell, even I made a pack like that for personal play. They go pretty far with it though, to the point that the maintainers seem to have an expectation of grinding endlessly and never reaching the highest tiers. An outsider might dismiss it as chasing a dragon.
  - tialaramex 6y ago
    It's tough to get the curve right. I actually haven't completed all that many of the packs I play, e.g. I finished Age of Engineering (even meticulously upgrading all my storage to infinity though I knew I'd probably never use it) but I didn't technically finish Agrarian Skies (I had a few of those stretch goal quests left) or Project Ozone 2 (got bored during the last of my singularities) or even Compact Claustrophobia (I've run it twice, I escape, and then I tend to lose interest before getting to the Moon) I recently finished Star Factory and I realised that on the one hand it was nice to be able to look at it and say yup, I have ticked every box, almost anything you could want my setup now produces in unlimited quantities -- but on the other hand of course because it's so small it also felt cramped. I had to use very obviously bad solutions because the better options just weren't available in the pack. One problem I had in Factorio was that it seemed like it was just doing one thing over and over, with different dress up - whereas I like how Minecraft packs teach me both new things I need to do, and entirely new ways to solve problems. Writing a Predicate that automatically processes my Astral Sorcery crystals goes from an idea that I'm obviously not the first to have, to something I can do almost by reflex... and then a pack says too bad, no Integrated Dynamics so figure out a different way. The other problem I had is that I like to ignore our universe's rules, I like infinitely renewable everything, sure that's unrealistic but it's a video game. My Minecraft wins are generally powered by something ludicrous, like a single inexplicably efficient solar panel beaming energy from a world of eternal daylight, or a closed box which is somehow producing and burning unlimited amounts of Ethylene made from nothing. Factorio clearly doesn't want such shenanigans.

dubcanada 6y ago

That looks very similar (in gameplay) to https://www.puppygames.net/revenge-of-the-titans/ https://www.puppygames.net/revenge-of-the-titans/ which is another great game.

bavell 6y ago

A very similar game called Dyson Sphere Program came out in the last week, I've been having a great time with it! Basically Factorio with planets and solar systems you can fly to. Early access but tons of content.

gnud 6y ago
Dyson Sphere Program looks interesting. There's also Satisfactory, which is a 3d first-person-perspective factory builder.
- cwkoss 6y ago
  DSP is quite good. I think it's worth the ~$20 currently. Definitely a few QOL rough edges and some balance issues still, but certainly playable and haven't seen any critical bugs or crashes. I think building systems in DSP feels a lot more like Satisfactory, but it's much easier to get a good view of whats going on. Loved Satisfactory but found FPS perspective frustrating frequently.
notamy 6y ago
I just heard about this game earlier today! It's looked super cool from what I've seen, I might have to get it soon...
Vespasian 6y ago
Great game. For me, it scratches all the right factorio itches and adds some Sci-Fi and Space(TM).

Jaygles 6y ago

Another game I like to recommend that is in the same vein is Big Pharma. I particularly like the aesthetics.

NortySpock 6y ago
Megaquarium is by the same team as Big Pharma It's a aquarium business management simulator (think RollerCoaster Tycoon but indoors and with aquatic life.) Really enjoyed it as a relaxing casual game. Looking forward to trying out Big Pharma.

louwrentius 6y ago

Mindustry is absolutely fantastic, especially the recent 6.0 update. As addictive as factorio and I think that the whole combat aspect is much more fun. Combat in factorio is an aside, almost a nuisance, but factorio could be better if it would copy some things from mindustry on that front.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

lostmsu 6y ago

Hm, I tried Mindustry multiple times after enjoying a few runs of Factorio, and did not get hooked. I think my gripes are: - all buildings look the same, so it is hard to make out the layout of the factory from an overview - (at least initial) levels are very small, and when you move on, you have to build from scratch. I love infinite worlds since Minecraft. It would also be ok, if levels preserved my previous setup when reentered. - the pace is too high (maybe it is controllable, I haven't looked) to plan far ahead, which is exactly the most interesting problem in Factorio (and Satisfactory BTW)

chapium 6y ago

Shapez.io is very much in the same spirit.