5 ms·

Space Age release date

199 points by franknord23 2y ago

schnitzelstoat 2y ago
I can't wait. I played it years ago and it was a lot of fun. Recently I've been playing Workers & Resources which has a similar focus on logistics so it'll be fun to go back to the OG.
- franknord23 2y ago
  I am debating whether i should take time off work. Though the release date may still slip by a week or more, i guess.
moconnor 2y ago
Pushes back the timeline for AGI by a good 3 months!
- pqdbr 2y ago
  Lol. But yes, every productivity hack blog article should start with “never install Factorio”. The only worse offender is Factorio. But it was so worth it.
nebulous1 2y ago
Perhaps I'll be finished my K2SE run by then. Probably not.
- sambaumann 2y ago
  I started my K2SE run in march and I've come to accept I'm not going to finish by the time Space Age comes out.
AndrewOMartin 2y ago
If you're wondering whether to get involved in this game, and you've ever suspected you're a little vulnerable to getting addicted, then I'd suggest keeping a very cautious exclusion zone around Factorio. Alternatively, if you do get ensnared, then installing a mod which allows you to edit and experiment freely might help you "see the matrix" behind the game and dispel the enchantment somewhat. The jokes about losing days, months, sleep, relationships, and jobs are not always jokes.
- giancarlostoro 2y ago
  I mostly just leave it running in the background and tweak as things happen. I don't rush it, but the game has a tendency to try to rush itself on me, thankfully you can make settings changes.
- nmeofthestate 2y ago
  "If you think you'd really love playing this computer game, please consider avoiding it" - I'm sure Wube will be delighted to see this advice at the top of the HN comment thread!
  - seneca 2y ago
    > "If you think you'd really love playing this computer game, please consider avoiding it" Addiction isn't equal to "really lov[ing]" something, and it's childish to equate them. Video games are incredibly addictive and ruin a lot of lives. That's not to say they're not valid or good forms of entertainment. Some people just can't handle them.
    - athorax 2y ago
      100% agree. My friends and I have played WoW on and off since release, and I never thought much of it. I could easily step away from it and used it mostly as a way to keep in touch with that group. We recently found out how much of a toll it has taken on one of ours friends lives who has pretty much always played even while the rest of the group was taking breaks.
    - nmeofthestate 2y ago
      OK - call me childish, but Factorio is a one-off payment of £35. There's no danger of spending more money than that, so the only thing you'll be wasting is your own time playing it. It's an over-reaction to characterise it as posing some kind of life-threatening danger. Play a lot of Factorio and yep - you've wasted a bunch of your time (ask me how I know :-) ).
      - 2y ago
franknord23 2y ago
If you want to pass the time until October, i would recommend the Ultracube: Age of Cube mod [0]. It does not stretch out the base game with additional tedious steps, instead it gives a big twist to what you knew about factories. Here is a good let's play introduction to the early game: [1] [0]: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Ultracube https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Ultracube [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOOANJhv2MU&pp=ygUJdWx0cmFjdWJl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOOANJhv2MU&pp=ygUJdWx0cmFjd...
kelthuzad 2y ago
I always feel like "I should rather do real work instead" while playing such complex games that almost feel like work to learn. maybe that's just a byproduct of a "toxic productivity" mindset I developed
- bavell 2y ago
  Same here. I played a lot more games in my teens and 20's than I do now. I also prefer games with less of the "you need to read the guides and watch tutorials before really groking things" type of games these days.
  - atrus 2y ago
    Factorio is actually really well designed that you don't need guides or tutorials to "beat" the game imo. Sure, there's guides and tutorials if you want to reach peak efficiency, but that's true for any game.
  - db48x 2y ago
    Factorio is extremely approachable. There’s no need to refer to outside materials or guides at all. There’s nothing hidden. All the information you need is right there in the UI.
    - fabian2k 2y ago
      And it's getting improved in 2.0 further with regards to the inline documentation of all the recipes (https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-397 https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-397).
- lokar 2y ago
  I have a similar feeling playing sudoku and others where I can “see” the algo to solve it right in front of me. But I love factorio. It’s like programming something fun without all the meetings.
smithrj 2y ago
Pairing in Factorio for an hour could replace a round (or two) in an interview loop. I'm convinced it would produce much stronger signals for engineering teams on how folks approach solving problems in a collaborative/team setting.
- fragmede 2y ago
  I agree with you, but then you risk losing the whole team to Factorio.
bloqs 2y ago
I was really put off by the pricing fiasco. Was that unreasonable?
- goda90 2y ago
  What pricing fiasco?
  - arandomhuman 2y ago
    iirc the developer doesn’t do sales? idk it was never a fiasco, just bad if you like sales I guess.
    - teractiveodular 2y ago
      How is that a fiasco? Per hour played, Factorio is stupendously good value, you pay once and you can play forever.
    - Jyaif 2y ago
      The absence of sales is a big win for me. It made it a no-brainer purchase for me.
      - pixl97 2y ago
        Yep, having sales makes a fair number of people wait until there is a sale. Without sales you're pushed back to a (more) binary decision, do I want the game or not, rather than do I want the game at $X price. Also with sales you get some portion of people that buy things because they are on sale rather than knowing if they really want the game or not, which can lead to complaints on forums.
  - jwiz 2y ago
    There was approximately 1 day where the pricing in some currency was off by 1-2 orders of magnitude. I believe the conjecture was that it was politically motivated. Edit: https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=102895 https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=102895
herpdyderp 2y ago
The incoming bot, blueprint, and train updates are so good I can’t play 1.0 anymore :( I’m still not sure how I feel about the planet stuff though
- bloopernova 2y ago
  I'm a big fan of rail networks in Factorio, I am really looking forward to the new changes. They're going to improve quality of life a lot, it's very exciting! I'm also looking forward to whatever happens with the Angel's and Bob's mods, because I really enjoy the vast web of materials I can create. Pic of my previous playthrough's rail network: https://imgur.com/a/XcamKQB https://imgur.com/a/XcamKQB It kind of looks like a CPU to me.
bloopernova 2y ago
"Includes Factorio 2, which is a free upgrade for all users." Honestly, Factorio is one of those games I would pay extra to keep going. Kudos to them for making the base game upgrade free.
- lokar 2y ago
  They just put out a bug fix patch, almost 4 years after the 1.0 release. Very rare in the industry today.
teractiveodular 2y ago
If you don't want to wait, the rather stupendous Space Exploration mod to Factorio is available now: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/space-exploration https://mods.factorio.com/mod/space-exploration Warning: this is stupidly time consuming (as in, hundreds of hours just to get to orbit) and you'll need to already be proficient in Factorio to make any headway.
- delichon 2y ago
  Is it harder than Sea Block? That's the one that was finally too much for me to finish, after doing other big ones like Bobs Mods, AngelBob, Pyanodon, etc. I've got a Sea Block attempt with hundreds of hours in it, my largest base ever, before I fell off. If Space Exploration is more complex I'm a little afraid of it.
  - 12345hn6789 2y ago
    Much easier than seablock. But it's a chore. The end game is a grind instead of a challenge like sesblock
- tylervigen 2y ago
  Wube hired the creator of that mod to develop this expansion, and he says that they are nothing alike (except for the “going to space” part).[0] [0] https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-373 https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-373
- moritonal 2y ago
  Fun fact for those that didn't know. The dev's hired the author Earendel to come convert said mod into a full DLC. It's interesting seeing how the different dynamics of making a polished and widely playable DLC changes what does and doesn't make the cut from mod -> DLC. I hope some of Earendel's love of secrets do make it.
nrjames 2y ago
I always bounce off of Factorio because I want to be able to play with the default settings but I always end up getting killed by bugs/aliens not long after starting the game.
- corobo 2y ago
  I turn them off entirely. I'm playing Factorio to make trains and things to make the trains train about the place. Ain't got no time for random critter waves.
  - slowmovintarget 2y ago
    Well... When you level up a bit, your trains become an unstoppable bug-mashing barrier around the perimeter of your base. The bugs try to cross the tracks and SQUISH! No more bugs. No need for turrets or ammo, just trains. It's the Factorio equivalent of the mine cart blender room trap in Dwarf Fortress, certified to kill even clown invasions.
- franknord23 2y ago
  Starting in a forest/grassland area will give you more time until the biters come. Or just play in peaceful mode, there is still so much good gameplay left even without the challenge of biters.
- blueflow 2y ago
  - Generate new random seeds until you spawn in a forest / grassland area. Greener areas absorb more pollution so the pollution travels less across the map. - Set spawn area to largest. Earliest biter nests get generated farther away, making it more difficult for your pollution cloud to reach them This way you can play largely in peace without having achievements disabled.
mococa 2y ago
The first time I played was right at the beginning. I bought it on Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend playing. I did almost nothing else, and I must have spent over than 50 hours that weekend. After that, I kind of avoid the game, but if you are a controlled person, I highly recommend it, especially if you are familiar with Kafka or other queues. Setting up the assembly lines is basically the same thing.
db48x 2y ago
Oh, how odd. That’s exactly the day I am catching the flu!
bluelightning2k 2y ago
I really dislike the idea of "quality" in the context of Factorio.
- db48x 2y ago
  For myself I am holding off on forming an opinion. They have already said that you can play the whole game without ever using it, if you want.
- makin 2y ago
  I think quality is fine, the issue is the strings, having "Legendary Wire" in a serious factory game.
- Uristqwerty 2y ago
  It was hard to track down a source to confirm a half-remembered fact, but apparently the expansion content will be split between a number of mods so that you can independently enable/disable them, including quality: https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/16ja44x/friday_facts_376_research_and_technology/k0pibdv/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/16ja44x/friday_fa... Well, assuming they haven't changed their plans in the year since, and won't in the next few months.
franknord23 2y ago
Hmm, looks like some Hacker News mod did not like this post :/ (title was edited (OK, it was not strictly following the rules) and post moved to bottom of the front page)
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

199 points by franknord23 2y ago

I can't wait. I played it years ago and it was a lot of fun. Recently I've been playing Workers & Resources which has a similar focus on logistics so it'll be fun to go back to the OG.

franknord23 2y ago
I am debating whether i should take time off work. Though the release date may still slip by a week or more, i guess.

moconnor 2y ago

Pushes back the timeline for AGI by a good 3 months!

pqdbr 2y ago
Lol. But yes, every productivity hack blog article should start with “never install Factorio”. The only worse offender is Factorio. But it was so worth it.

nebulous1 2y ago

Perhaps I'll be finished my K2SE run by then. Probably not.

sambaumann 2y ago
I started my K2SE run in march and I've come to accept I'm not going to finish by the time Space Age comes out.

AndrewOMartin 2y ago

If you're wondering whether to get involved in this game, and you've ever suspected you're a little vulnerable to getting addicted, then I'd suggest keeping a very cautious exclusion zone around Factorio. Alternatively, if you do get ensnared, then installing a mod which allows you to edit and experiment freely might help you "see the matrix" behind the game and dispel the enchantment somewhat. The jokes about losing days, months, sleep, relationships, and jobs are not always jokes.

giancarlostoro 2y ago
I mostly just leave it running in the background and tweak as things happen. I don't rush it, but the game has a tendency to try to rush itself on me, thankfully you can make settings changes.
nmeofthestate 2y ago
"If you think you'd really love playing this computer game, please consider avoiding it" - I'm sure Wube will be delighted to see this advice at the top of the HN comment thread!
- seneca 2y ago
  > "If you think you'd really love playing this computer game, please consider avoiding it" Addiction isn't equal to "really lov[ing]" something, and it's childish to equate them. Video games are incredibly addictive and ruin a lot of lives. That's not to say they're not valid or good forms of entertainment. Some people just can't handle them.
  - athorax 2y ago
    100% agree. My friends and I have played WoW on and off since release, and I never thought much of it. I could easily step away from it and used it mostly as a way to keep in touch with that group. We recently found out how much of a toll it has taken on one of ours friends lives who has pretty much always played even while the rest of the group was taking breaks.
  - nmeofthestate 2y ago
    OK - call me childish, but Factorio is a one-off payment of £35. There's no danger of spending more money than that, so the only thing you'll be wasting is your own time playing it. It's an over-reaction to characterise it as posing some kind of life-threatening danger. Play a lot of Factorio and yep - you've wasted a bunch of your time (ask me how I know :-) ).
    - 2y ago

franknord23 2y ago

If you want to pass the time until October, i would recommend the Ultracube: Age of Cube mod [0]. It does not stretch out the base game with additional tedious steps, instead it gives a big twist to what you knew about factories. Here is a good let's play introduction to the early game: [1] [0]: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Ultracube https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Ultracube [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOOANJhv2MU&pp=ygUJdWx0cmFjdWJl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOOANJhv2MU&pp=ygUJdWx0cmFjd...

kelthuzad 2y ago

I always feel like "I should rather do real work instead" while playing such complex games that almost feel like work to learn. maybe that's just a byproduct of a "toxic productivity" mindset I developed

bavell 2y ago
Same here. I played a lot more games in my teens and 20's than I do now. I also prefer games with less of the "you need to read the guides and watch tutorials before really groking things" type of games these days.
- atrus 2y ago
  Factorio is actually really well designed that you don't need guides or tutorials to "beat" the game imo. Sure, there's guides and tutorials if you want to reach peak efficiency, but that's true for any game.
- db48x 2y ago
  Factorio is extremely approachable. There’s no need to refer to outside materials or guides at all. There’s nothing hidden. All the information you need is right there in the UI.
  - fabian2k 2y ago
    And it's getting improved in 2.0 further with regards to the inline documentation of all the recipes (https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-397 https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-397).
lokar 2y ago
I have a similar feeling playing sudoku and others where I can “see” the algo to solve it right in front of me. But I love factorio. It’s like programming something fun without all the meetings.

smithrj 2y ago

Pairing in Factorio for an hour could replace a round (or two) in an interview loop. I'm convinced it would produce much stronger signals for engineering teams on how folks approach solving problems in a collaborative/team setting.

fragmede 2y ago
I agree with you, but then you risk losing the whole team to Factorio.

bloqs 2y ago

I was really put off by the pricing fiasco. Was that unreasonable?

goda90 2y ago
What pricing fiasco?
- arandomhuman 2y ago
  iirc the developer doesn’t do sales? idk it was never a fiasco, just bad if you like sales I guess.
  - teractiveodular 2y ago
    How is that a fiasco? Per hour played, Factorio is stupendously good value, you pay once and you can play forever.
  - Jyaif 2y ago
    The absence of sales is a big win for me. It made it a no-brainer purchase for me.
    - pixl97 2y ago
      Yep, having sales makes a fair number of people wait until there is a sale. Without sales you're pushed back to a (more) binary decision, do I want the game or not, rather than do I want the game at $X price. Also with sales you get some portion of people that buy things because they are on sale rather than knowing if they really want the game or not, which can lead to complaints on forums.
- jwiz 2y ago
  There was approximately 1 day where the pricing in some currency was off by 1-2 orders of magnitude. I believe the conjecture was that it was politically motivated. Edit: https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=102895 https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=102895

herpdyderp 2y ago

The incoming bot, blueprint, and train updates are so good I can’t play 1.0 anymore :( I’m still not sure how I feel about the planet stuff though

bloopernova 2y ago
I'm a big fan of rail networks in Factorio, I am really looking forward to the new changes. They're going to improve quality of life a lot, it's very exciting! I'm also looking forward to whatever happens with the Angel's and Bob's mods, because I really enjoy the vast web of materials I can create. Pic of my previous playthrough's rail network: https://imgur.com/a/XcamKQB https://imgur.com/a/XcamKQB It kind of looks like a CPU to me.

bloopernova 2y ago

"Includes Factorio 2, which is a free upgrade for all users." Honestly, Factorio is one of those games I would pay extra to keep going. Kudos to them for making the base game upgrade free.

lokar 2y ago
They just put out a bug fix patch, almost 4 years after the 1.0 release. Very rare in the industry today.

teractiveodular 2y ago

If you don't want to wait, the rather stupendous Space Exploration mod to Factorio is available now: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/space-exploration https://mods.factorio.com/mod/space-exploration Warning: this is stupidly time consuming (as in, hundreds of hours just to get to orbit) and you'll need to already be proficient in Factorio to make any headway.

delichon 2y ago
Is it harder than Sea Block? That's the one that was finally too much for me to finish, after doing other big ones like Bobs Mods, AngelBob, Pyanodon, etc. I've got a Sea Block attempt with hundreds of hours in it, my largest base ever, before I fell off. If Space Exploration is more complex I'm a little afraid of it.
- 12345hn6789 2y ago
  Much easier than seablock. But it's a chore. The end game is a grind instead of a challenge like sesblock
tylervigen 2y ago
Wube hired the creator of that mod to develop this expansion, and he says that they are nothing alike (except for the “going to space” part).[0] [0] https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-373 https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-373
moritonal 2y ago
Fun fact for those that didn't know. The dev's hired the author Earendel to come convert said mod into a full DLC. It's interesting seeing how the different dynamics of making a polished and widely playable DLC changes what does and doesn't make the cut from mod -> DLC. I hope some of Earendel's love of secrets do make it.

nrjames 2y ago

I always bounce off of Factorio because I want to be able to play with the default settings but I always end up getting killed by bugs/aliens not long after starting the game.

corobo 2y ago
I turn them off entirely. I'm playing Factorio to make trains and things to make the trains train about the place. Ain't got no time for random critter waves.
- slowmovintarget 2y ago
  Well... When you level up a bit, your trains become an unstoppable bug-mashing barrier around the perimeter of your base. The bugs try to cross the tracks and SQUISH! No more bugs. No need for turrets or ammo, just trains. It's the Factorio equivalent of the mine cart blender room trap in Dwarf Fortress, certified to kill even clown invasions.
franknord23 2y ago
Starting in a forest/grassland area will give you more time until the biters come. Or just play in peaceful mode, there is still so much good gameplay left even without the challenge of biters.
blueflow 2y ago
- Generate new random seeds until you spawn in a forest / grassland area. Greener areas absorb more pollution so the pollution travels less across the map. - Set spawn area to largest. Earliest biter nests get generated farther away, making it more difficult for your pollution cloud to reach them This way you can play largely in peace without having achievements disabled.

mococa 2y ago

The first time I played was right at the beginning. I bought it on Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend playing. I did almost nothing else, and I must have spent over than 50 hours that weekend. After that, I kind of avoid the game, but if you are a controlled person, I highly recommend it, especially if you are familiar with Kafka or other queues. Setting up the assembly lines is basically the same thing.

db48x 2y ago

Oh, how odd. That’s exactly the day I am catching the flu!

bluelightning2k 2y ago

I really dislike the idea of "quality" in the context of Factorio.

db48x 2y ago
For myself I am holding off on forming an opinion. They have already said that you can play the whole game without ever using it, if you want.
makin 2y ago
I think quality is fine, the issue is the strings, having "Legendary Wire" in a serious factory game.
Uristqwerty 2y ago
It was hard to track down a source to confirm a half-remembered fact, but apparently the expansion content will be split between a number of mods so that you can independently enable/disable them, including quality: https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/16ja44x/friday_facts_376_research_and_technology/k0pibdv/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/16ja44x/friday_fa... Well, assuming they haven't changed their plans in the year since, and won't in the next few months.

franknord23 2y ago

Hmm, looks like some Hacker News mod did not like this post :/ (title was edited (OK, it was not strictly following the rules) and post moved to bottom of the front page)

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]