Factorio - a factory building game - Space Age expansion coming October 21st

[Saint_Proverbius]

They put the true price tag

You say this as though it's some universally agreed upon value and not the figure that the developers want.

without x9.99 decimal bullshit

So they get an extra penny per sale, minus the store's cut of that one penny. I really don't see how this makes a case either way other than some personal pet peeve you have on the subject.

not playing the stupid discounts game [...] Discounts are so ubiquitous with games that they are not discounts anymore, they are just a marketing strategy, not benefiting the consumer in the end.

If benefits the consumers that wait for the sales, particularly when you're asking for $35 for an independent title that was, when they were in early beta, $15. Even after release when they were asking for $30, they still upped the price to $35. Meanwhile, you have other extremely popular independent games like Stardew Valley which was $15 upon release, is still $15, and goes on sale. FTL was released at $10, has remained $10, and goes on sale. Terraria was released for $10, has remained $10, and goes on sale. Kenshi was released for $30, has remained $30, and goes on sale.

 

[Kruyurk]

You say this as though it's some universally agreed upon value and not the figure that the developers want.

No, I actually meant that it is the figure that the developer wants, it is the "true" price from their perspective. They don't multiply this figure by 2 just to offer -50% discounts to make is look like a good deal.
As an example, XCOM: Chimera Squad did exactly that, the game was regularly at -50% very shortly after release (and even at release if I remember correctly), probably not because of poor sales but because this pricing was part of the marketing strategy for the game.

So they get an extra penny per sale, minus the store's cut of that one penny. I really don't see how this makes a case either way other than some personal pet peeve you have on the subject.

One cent makes no difference, but it shows that they have some principles regarding pricing.

If benefits the consumers that wait for the sales, particularly when you're asking for $35 for an independent title that was, when they were in early beta, $15. Even after release when they were asking for $30, they still upped the price to $35. Meanwhile, you have other extremely popular independent games like Stardew Valley which was $15 upon release, is still $15, and goes on sale. FTL was released at $10, has remained $10, and goes on sale. Terraria was released for $10, has remained $10, and goes on sale. Kenshi was released for $30, has remained $30, and goes on sale.

It would be much better for the consumers if the price of video games were not fluctuating a lot all the time for no real reason. People would just buy games when they want to play them, instead of waiting because the full price is too high, or buying something out of FOMO because of a good discount.
Discounts because of an approaching expiration date or to make room on shelves are actual discounts, but in the case of video games it is just disguised marketing. Marketing never benefits the consumer.

 

[Demo.Graph]

and they have to make me regret it with their faggy propaganda.

Wube is incorporated in London. Czechs have about 100% GDP in incoming FDI. If one disregards manufacturing (Czechia is obviously a German cheap-labor-and-beer sweatshop), I'd say a critical share of investment comes from Britain, especially in finance.
I always thought that britbongs are forcing the current issues in their bitches' throats.
Also, Kovarik had already had that retarded shitstorm about Uncle Bob, so it's not surprising that they're playing super safe.

Even after release when they were asking for $30, they still upped the price to $35. Meanwhile, you have other extremely popular independent games like Stardew Valley which was $15 upon release, is still $15, and goes on sale.

I've clocked hundreds of hours in Factorio, so the price is good for me (especially since I bought it cheaper, I guess). Wube knows their audience - they know that they have a small but dedicated playerbase that is ready to pay more for long lasting satisfaction.
It's still a marketing strategy of course. Even "price honesty" is a marketing trick. Slitherine does the same thing, as well as others. The only difference is that Slitherine (and others) are shit peddlers, while Wube delivers quality stuff.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I've clocked hundreds of hours in Factorio, so the price is good for me (especially since I bought it cheaper, I guess).

This is why I buy every single DLC for Space Engineers. I got it in Alpha, and on sale, so I paid something like $12 for it. I've logged 1400 hours in that game, so I buy every single DLC for it that comes out. But even then, that game goes on sale. There's been a few times when it's gone on sale that I've bought a four pack to hand out copies to friends so we could play together. Space Engineers, upon release, was $30 and they've dropped the price to $20, and it goes on sale.

 

[Kruyurk]

From FFF #417:

The third iteration is happening just now. The main focus is on the vast amount of feedback we got from the last LAN party.
It is going to be focused on 2 main categories:

• Bugs, quality of life features and balancing.
• Optimisations. The factory just gets bigger in Space Age, and we need to make some programmer magic to make it smooth.

Since things are getting stable and I'm starting to be pretty happy with the state of the game now, we are ready to give a specific date of the Space Age release...
Which we will tell you next week

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-417

 

[Jaedar]

From FFF #417:

The third iteration is happening just now. The main focus is on the vast amount of feedback we got from the last LAN party.
It is going to be focused on 2 main categories:

• Bugs, quality of life features and balancing.
• Optimisations. The factory just gets bigger in Space Age, and we need to make some programmer magic to make it smooth.

Since things are getting stable and I'm starting to be pretty happy with the state of the game now, we are ready to give a specific date of the Space Age release...
Which we will tell you next week

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-417

It's a good thing I'm close to finishing space exploration.

 

[Kruyurk]

"We plan to release Factorio: Space Age expansion on October 21st 2024."

https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-418

 

[Caim]

Gonna be $35, same as the base game is now.

 

[Vic]

ehh they finally gonna charge for an expansion/update? Can't say I blame them tho

 

[Joggerino]

Can we plant trees though

 

[Jaedar]

Releasing on a monday is most uncool. Expansion looks like it has a lot of content, can't quite say I blame them for charging "full price" for it.

 

[Vic]

it looks really cool, I might not be able to go back to playing the regular Factorio map after this

 

[Kruyurk]

Can we plant trees though

Not the regular trees, but one planet has agriculture. See this blog post if you don't mind spoilers https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-414

 

[Hellraiser]

Can we plant trees though

We're not going to fall for your tricks Biter!

 

[Demo.Graph]

Can we plant trees though

We're not going to fall for your tricks Biter!

 

[Hellraiser]

Can we plant trees though

We're not going to fall for your tricks Biter!

Deidre looks on that like she's descended from Greta.

 

[Average Manatee]

Now I have a deadline for finishing the Space Exploration mod.

 

[Demo.Graph]

Now I have a deadline for finishing the Space Exploration mod.

Not exactly "finishing". Earendel had stated that he's going to seriously rework it later (probably when he's not as busy with spage), changing most of the science and planetary production chains, adding enemies, etc.

 

[Average Manatee]

A few universally neat mod recommendations:

Auto Deconstruct: Mark drills that have mined everything for removal
Auto Repair: When you hit something in your car both get automatically repaired if you have repair kits so you don't have to get out every time.
Auto Build: Gives you a short radius around you in which things are automatically built as if you had bots. Also good for deforestation.
Bottleneck Lite: Lets you see whether your buildings are working continuously or starved of resources.
Bullet Trails: pew pew
Combat Mechanics Overhaul: Main thing is that spitters can't just spit over walls, they have to go through them.
Dark Nights: Self Explanatory
Disco Science: Light show for your labs
Even Distribution: Lets you drag across multiple buildings to drop resources evenly in them. Also gives you an inventory cleanup hotkey that will clear your inventory of stuff you don't need (in excess of your logistics request limits) by distributing them in nearby chests or buildings that already contain those items. So e.g. if you picked up a bunch of wood it can go to the burners
Fill4Me: Automatically puts fuel or ammo into placed objects from your inventory.
GDIW: lets you rotate liquid which input and output liquids use on buildings.
Inventory Repair: Automatically repair stuff in your inventory with repair packs.
Inbuilt Lighting: Adds lights to your power poles.
LTN: Better train automation
Mining Patch Planner: lets you drag select a mining patch to automatically place a mining blueprint. Really handy, lets you customize how simple or optimized for throughput the blueprint is.
Nightfall: Biters ramp up attacks at night.
No Wall Repair: Walls aren't naturally repairable (so bots don't suicide rushing to them), but repair over time if not damaged for a few seconds.
Science Pack Glow: More light show for research.
Squeak Through: Lets you walk between most buildings.
Vehicle Snap: Snaps your movement to cardinal angles so you can travel neatly along paths.

Anyone have more?

 

[Jaedar]

Anyone have more?

I like
Far reach: lets you interact with stuff from further away.
Module Inserter: Automatically insert/change/remove modules with bots via drag and drop interface
Rate Calculator: Calculates how much input/output a set of buildings consume. Useful because it takes modules and beacons into account.
Picker Dollies: move stuff without picking them up. Very useful for filled chests.

I also am not sure how I will live without Jetpack, but it is also arguably too good.

 

[anvi]

Just play Captain of Industry. Much better game.

 

[Jaedar]

It is done. I started almost 2 years ago (august 2022), so it has been quite a ride although I took two really long breaks.

I had a lot of fun with space exploration, but there were also times when it felt kind of like a chore. I also needed to take some hints for some stuff (like how to make automatic supply rockets, or balance arcospheres). I don't think I can recommend it with the expansion so close, but this is a really impressive mod. It is not at all surprising to learn the author was hired by Wube, the talent on display is very impressive. I can only imagine how good it will be when he folds the expansion/2.0 content into the mod.

It will be very interesting to see how the official expansion compares to this.

 

[Vic]

decided to start a new Deathworld map, getting back into the game a bit to warm up for the DLC. My humble beginnings:

I wanted to try belting gears and copper cable for the first time. When I first started playing ~8 years ago I was told to use a main bus and never belt those. Fuck it, I'm a rebel now. Also this is actually the first time where I got the brilliant idea to build my power generators not near the water like I usually do but pipe the water to my base so I can more easily defend it, genius, I know.

Let's see how far I can get before the biters get me.

PS: I just slapped shit in there, I know the designs suck, I wanted to try and build more liberal this time instead of optimizing throughput and such. It will all get scrapped once I unlock robotics anyway, so I'm not too worried about getting the early base right, but it will turn quite messy and spaghetti-y.

PPS: Also nobody posting their bases here? The last one was from some loser trying to prove me something and before that it was me posting my base almost a year ago. Let's see those bases guise!

 

[Vic]

The Biters are coming on strong. I had to rebuild several parts of my base multiple times already due to attacks. Finished a basic defense perimeter and hopefully they won't be able to breach it for a while until I can get better production set up.

Update:
Expanded my walls now that I could work in peace and claimed more territory. I hope I have not wasted too much time building the walls because the biters are starting to send some pretty big hordes and medium biters started appearing. Going to start researching deeper into projectile speed and damage while building up my production.

 

[Average Manatee]

Should have the full fields mining (at least for iron, other resources probably aren't a bottleneck), full lanes of iron plates, at least 10 assemblers producing science (are you... hand crafting science? I don't see anything making it). I haven't really played Deathworld only Deathworld Marathon but it looks like you're way behind to me. Spending time building walls isn't really a great idea because the biters are just gonna expand around you and then you have to painstakingly push them away to gain ground, you're better off running out there and destroying their bases ASAP. Walls are more for very long term "I don't care about this area" decisions. For short term defense you're better off just placing a 2x2 or 3x3 turret setup with 2 layers of walls around them.

With regards to fighting higher tier stuff, there's a few things to do. The best is obviously flamethrowers, but that requires oil. You kind of want Damage 3 for turrets to have enough damage to beat med biters with regular ammo efficiently, below that you need the piercing ammo to have enough damage to overcome their DR.

Also having 124 mining drills in your inventory is way excessive, that's a lot of pollution/mining time wasted.