from the you-are-stuck-at-home-you-may-as-well-enjoy-it dept.
After 8.5 years and countless delays for "refinement" Factorio has finally released today.
Factorio is a very successful indie game. (A few months back, it hit 2 million sales.) It is a base builder. The premise is that your spaceship crash lands on an alien planet, you are left with next to nothing and from there you build a gigantic factory so that you can build a new spaceship and get off the planet. You start off gathering basic materials and researching the basics until you rise to the level of advanced materials and spaceship construction. Your factory will continue to grow as you advance and as it grows it will create pollution. The pollution will cause the local alien life to stir and eventually attack your base; so you will need to set up defenses while advancing.
It is very addictive. Probably the most addictive thing for me is that often you need to do multiple things, and must prioritize. As your base grows, you will need to expand your power production, at the same time you need to explore and find a source of oil so that you can unlock the next level of research, at the same time, aliens are attacking the other side of the base and need to be killed... then you need to rebuild... add defenses... clear alien hives that are too close... add more ammo production... add even more power... expand your resource harvesting before the current iron patch is completely mined... and so on. and so on...
I personally have played Factorio for 1500 hours over the last 4 years... Over that time it has gone through some major changes such as the addition of Nuclear Power, Massive Network games (over 100 people have played coop in a single game,) high definition graphic overhaul, and regular performance tuning. While the 1.0 release is here, the devs have promised continued bug fixes and already annouced that 1.1 will be coming.
Factorio supports Linux, Mac, and that microsoft os.
Related Links:
Factorio Home Page
Factorio Steam Page (though you can buy directly from their home page to give the devs a few cents more.)
Submitter's Steam Review (shameless self-promotion that provides no actual value.)
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:08AM
Oh, good! Is this like that Jango thing that Zirconia Zinnium mentioned? Or is it more like the other Soylentvertisements that alert us to things that no one is interested in or wants to know about? Like, another Windows vulnerability? Please.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:26AM (4 children)
Loads of useless loonies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @07:33AM
And what's wrong with finding one of the more attractive aliens to shack up with and raise a family instead.
-
If you are trapped at the bottom of a gravity well, the odds of escaping it are pretty slim, historically speaking.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday August 15 2020, @08:01AM (2 children)
No, that's Rimworld.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday August 15 2020, @05:43PM (1 child)
Or Rimmerworld.
(Score: 2) by gawdonblue on Sunday August 16 2020, @01:18AM
Mr Flibble says "Game over, boys!"
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:31AM (1 child)
I'm going to exploit the hell out of this planet just to rescue one ship, the Enterprise, (NCC-1701-FU).
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @07:04AM
You can play the game on peaceful mode, or use solar power to not aggravate the locals. Still requires extracting some resources for your ship, but on a planetary scale not too much.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:38AM (4 children)
Your mind will be blown when you discovver porn...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @07:10AM
Found the sex addict...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @07:18AM
And SN devolves into one of two alternatives: a Tech site (video games), or a pron site (slightly different video games). Well, after the Buck-feta, I had such high hopes, but they seem to be beaten into a pulp.
(Score: 3, Funny) by stretch611 on Saturday August 15 2020, @09:09AM
I have already discovered porn...
I am only responding to you now because I need a little time to recuperate.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2020, @03:42AM
You
r mindwill be blown when you discoverpornprostitutes. Put those stimulus checks to good use!Americans are still paying for sex in Mexico despite the pandemic [cnn.com]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday August 15 2020, @07:13AM
I wanna be the millionaire
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Interesting) by darkfeline on Saturday August 15 2020, @07:23AM (3 children)
Sounds like Oxygen Not Included. One of the great things in ONI is the physics. For example, as you industrialize, you start creating massive amounts of heat, and getting rid of that heat is a key challenge. You also manage different gasses with different densities.
Carbon dioxide is denser than oxygen, so you can let it collect at the bottom of your base and reprocess it or use it to store perishable food in an anaerobic environment. If you try to pump too much liquid into a room made with weak materials, the walls will crack and break.
Of course, the predecessor to this style of game, Dwarf Fortress, is in a class of its own.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by stretch611 on Saturday August 15 2020, @09:01AM (2 children)
I have spent quite a few hours playing Oxygen Not Included. (I admit that I was a fan up until the last minute changes that Klei made right before release.) ONI was actually announced, developed, and released all in less time than Factorio spent just in early access.
They both appeal to a similar set of people... They are both base builders and the goal (in theory) is to launch a rocket ship. I say in theory because many people just have fun regardless of whether or not they build a ship or not. While factorio essentially states that you reached your goal after launching the rocket, like ONI, there are research projects that can't even begin until after the first rocket is launched. Factorio does not have all the (in some cases) exacting science of ONI, (like matter and heat conservation,) but, Factorio's research tree is much more complex.
In ONI, your colony can die due to heat or a lack of food, or oxygen. In Factorio, there really is not a truly deadly incident. The aliens can kill you, you can walk in front of your own train and die, or you can even blow yourself up by firing a nuke and not being out the blast radius... But you just respawn with no penalty past losing the gear on hand. The aliens can destroy your factory/base, but once it is destroyed, the pollution will die down and you can rebuild after they calm down with no pollution to attract them. Quite a big difference here. (There is actually a steam achievement for getting killed by a train... they can move quite fast in late game and you will have them delivering ores/goods everywhere.)
They are both games with 2D maps as a world. However, ONI has a side view like an ant farm and is quite limited in both size and resources. Factorio has a 2D top down map (with a slight isolionear angle given the faux appearance of 3d.) In factorio, the map size is infinite in all directions. Resources are also unlimited... If you run out of something just go exploring and you will find another ore patch. It really is an infinite map... but your computer's memory is not infinite enough to store it all. (Your RAM is a theoretical limit, I have not heard of people exploring so much of the map that the game ran out of memory.)
In ONI, you try to support enough dupes to do all the work that you want to get done. Of course with each Dupe, that is more Oxygen that needs to be created, more food, and more heat that has to be dissipated. In Factorio, the object is more to automate everything with machines so that you do not have to do a thing except grow and upgrade the base... but even that can be automated.
Despite the differences, they are both base builders and people try to take it to the max. I remember some people in ONI would try to get colonies that were thousands of days old. In factorio, people tend to make huge mega-bases trying to produce x amount of science research per minute, or launch x number of rockets per minute. For many people of both games, it isn't over until after you bring it to the extremes.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Saturday August 15 2020, @12:19PM (1 child)
ONI is deceptively complex after a while. Getting rid of the gases and the heat turns into a massive problem. In some way you are your own worst problem -- as you want to build more, since it's in essence a builder game, but building more creates more problems that have to be dealt with which in turn causes almost as many, or more, new problems as it solves. Bases tend to eventually end in my opinion in heat problems or that the base becomes so big and sprawling that eventually you just never get anything done but there is just maintenance and eventually you run out of stuff. One would think it would be hard to die but considering the clones (or whatever they are again) are to stupid to live it happens, like building themselves into places they can't get out of and then eventually just die there.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday August 16 2020, @04:12AM
Mods. There's a mod that makes the dupes smarter. A mod that adds radiators that dump heat out into the void. Etc.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @07:27AM (10 children)
I keep suggesting that perhaps Windows flaws and vulnerabilities, and video games, are not the most interesting fodder for the over 60 SoylentNews crowd? Perhaps some more pertinent articles, perhaps submitted by soylentils instead of bots? I have said this many times, and I repeat it now. Eds, straighten up, and fly right. Only way to be sure.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by coolgopher on Saturday August 15 2020, @07:43AM
Start submitting some subjectively better stories then, citizen! :)
I'll agree though, SN isn't where I (want to) go for my gaming news. I do like seeing the latest Intel security fuster cluck though.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by stretch611 on Saturday August 15 2020, @08:16AM (1 child)
Last I checked, I was not a bot. I think therefore I am.
As for the appropriateness here... Many people use there PCs for games when they are not working... you may not be one of those, but for you to assume that no one here would care about a game is quite a bit harder to justify than me thinking that some people would care to hear about it.
This is a technology related site, computer games are more technological than the politic stories that we get here.
We get the occasional Fortnite story, despite having a reader base that I would assume is quite a few years past the average Fortnite player.
And one pretty big base of enthusiasts of factorio is programmers and engineers... both of which seem to be quite common on this website.
If you don't like it, ignore the story and go on to the next... but don't make it so that others do not have a choice.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday August 21 2020, @03:01PM
And reviewing or promoting decent games that run on Linux -- hard to get that kind of information elsewhere, where they usually don't mention the required OS at all.
-- hendrik
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Saturday August 15 2020, @11:43AM
I'm in the 60+ crowd, and I disagree.
- Windows flaws affect everyone, because Windows is so widespread. If not you personally, then your colleagues, friends or family.
- I am also a gamer. I play less than I used to, but I certainly do play. Specifically, in reference to TFA: I have played Factorio for a couple of years now, and I'm interest to hear about its much-delayed official release.
I dunno what articles you are looking for, because you don't give any hints. Maybe something about the next generation of IBM 360s? Seriously, submit the kinds of articles you care about - we all have different interests.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @02:40PM
The article is relevant to me, as I have over 2000 hours in Factorio. Ironically, I thought about submitting it yesterday, but thought it wouldn't have been relevant.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Saturday August 15 2020, @03:20PM (4 children)
During my undergrad days, I took a class on computer graphics. First day of class, I waxed enthusiastic about all the cool graphics in video games. Little did I know that was a big mistake. The professor was one of those Very Serious Persons who thought games a waste of time. I couldn't believe it. How could someone who taught computer graphics, of all things, feel that way about the biggest use of graphics, video games?
Nevertheless, he felt that everyone should spend their time on more productive things. I guess graphics were only to be used for CAD software or some such. He graded accordingly. Kept coming up with spurious reasons why I didn't deserve a decent grade, despite several times doing the best work in the class.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2020, @12:36AM (3 children)
That reminds me of a grade review I was on in a different department.
A student challenged what he had gotten in some software testing class, IIRC. He had the program he wrote to solve a problem given by the professor and it had "gone above and beyond" in the testing department. So much so that one of the department reviewers said "wow" out loud when looking at the test suite documentation and results. The student got a "C" on the whole thing. He was marked down on a bunch of things on the rubric and took a major hit on the "implementation" side of things.
The top grade in the class had probably had minimal testing based on the function calls. I say probably because we couldn't actually get it to run during the review session. I honestly had no idea how it could score that high based on that and what the other reviewers were saying, until I spotted something in the supporting documentation. Turns out that student had used an algorithm for that problem written by the course instructor. Things made a lot more sense after that when we looked at the rest of the class results.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday August 17 2020, @06:44PM (2 children)
Another professor in our department did that kind of stuff. Anyone who went above and beyond might well be given an F, for "not following the directions". I heard of it happening to others. As for me, the old boy decided that I was a B student, and that was that. Didn't matter how much I deserved an A, I got a B. Or worse.
I had the misfortune to be enrolled at a school that made a huge mistake in staffing their CS department. At the time, CS was new, had just been elevated to department status from its previous status of merely being part of EE, and the school needed more professors in a hurry. Rather than hire, they asked related departments to transfer some professors. Big, big mistake. These departments all used this request as an opportunity to dump their worst. Many departments have one or two rotten professors. But thanks to that, the whole CS department was rotten. These professors were further embittered by the knowledge that they'd been kicked out of their chosen discipline. And, to add to the perceived insult, they did not see the value in CS. Thought it was a Mickey Mouse science, a fake science. Felt that they were being forced to teach garbage. Obviously, any student who couldn't see that and actually wanted to study CS had to be a moron, and deserved to flunk, you know. If you weren't a moron, they hated you even more. If you somehow got on the good side of one of them, you were in trouble with all the rest, because they hated each other too. And hoo, did they flunk students. Had a graduation rate of 5%, and they had to get a little creative with the numbers to get it that high! But, no problems with grade inflation there, no sir! I was one of the few who made it, with a 2.667 GPA, and it took me 5 years to get through their 4 year program. I had to explain over and over to prospective employers and grad schools that my GPA was actually pretty good, for that school. Like, there was a scholarship they were unable to give to anyone, because the recipient needed a minimum 3.0 GPA, and no one had grades that good. The Dean of Engineering was NOT happy with them. Threatened to kill the department. When the school contacts me to ask the alumni to remember all the good times they had in college and of course to donate money, I just laugh at them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 17 2020, @08:53PM (1 child)
5% for over five years? At my last school, one of my colleagues got threatened for failing a student who didn't do any work in the class and never showed because his numbers went too low because the class was so small. I can't imagine how that could have been that bad for so long.
I would be willing to bet that they called you more than average the first few years too. Donation rates are one of the metrics universities use to gauge the success of the program. A year or two of their graduates not donating probably was the real kick in the pants needed to change the program.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday August 18 2020, @01:51AM
Interesting. Hadn't thought of that one, but yes, money talks. Yes, they haven't called me for years now, but they did call pretty often at first. The school was definitely money hungry. Did the all too typical extreme parking enforcement. I guess the exception is the school that doesn't rig the parking system to generate more violations. Also did the textbook racket, of course.
However, they wouldn't have to be turned down by their grads to be hurting for money from that direction. A pathetic 5% graduation rate gives them such a small base they won't get much even if all their grads donate regularly. When I graduated, it was a record high: 15. First time that CS had managed double digits. Starting class size when I was a freshman was 400, after 1 semester it was 90, and by the end of the freshman year it was 50. And they never let up. Traditionally, once you've made it halfway through your sophomore year, or to your junior year, you shouldn't be facing any more attempts to weed you out. You can still flunk out or drop out, but they're no longer mining the classrooms with explosives, so to speak.
But these CS profs were so consumed by their own hurt they didn't care at all about such niceties. It really disgusted me that anyone who made it to the coveted position of tenured professorship could be so unappreciative of their good fortune and behave so badly and treat everyone so unfairly. Calls into question the whole system of tenure.
The rest of the college of engineering had a graduation rate of 20%. Not good, but much better than CS. Last time I inquired, that had changed dramatically, and is now 60%.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday August 15 2020, @01:46PM (3 children)
I considered buying it, but don't want to buy any more games that require a network connection. The site didn't obviously say whether that was necessary or not.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @02:38PM (1 child)
No, it doesn't. Unless you want to play multiplayer, which is not essential.
Also, if that's important to you, don't buy it through Steam, because Steam does need a network connection. Get it from the Factorio home page.
(Score: 3, Informative) by stretch611 on Saturday August 15 2020, @03:47PM
Actually, even the steam version does not require a network connection.
After downloading and installing from steam, you can play as much as you want in offline mode. Or, after installation, you can play using the proper executable without steam.
And If you buy on steam, you can create a factorio.com profile, and link it to your steam account. When factorio.com verifies that you are a owner on steam, it will allow you to have access to download directly.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Saturday August 15 2020, @03:45PM
I believe not, however I own the Steam version. It allows me to play when offline.
You probably are interested in purchasing directly from the vendor which provides a download link: https://factorio.com/buy [factorio.com]
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday August 15 2020, @05:26PM
Does it help with your maths revision [bbc.co.uk] too?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dltaylor on Saturday August 15 2020, @10:45PM (1 child)
I have been away from gaming for a while. My reflexes are no longer good enough for shooters, or, alas, RTS.
I discovered, somewhere along the line between building "Hack" on VMS, "Zaxxon", "Arctic Fox", "Sim City", and "RR Tycoon" on my Amigas, through "Star Craft" and "Civilization" on PCs, that something I really enjoyed was building. Unfortunately, a Zergling rush or barbarian attack can impact your plans to build a nice base.
"Factorio" sounds like a game I need to try. There are negative consequences for some choices, and those seem reasonable, but the real goal is to build something. I had no idea this existed, and there's a native Linux version as a bonus.
As mentioned above, "Oxygen Not Included" is also in this category, although the graphics are not my style, and I don't have a Steam account.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by stretch611 on Sunday August 16 2020, @12:15AM
While steam accounts are free, I know of the reluctance some people have with them and I understand.
When buying it direct, Humble does deal with the transactions and you do get a steam key with it. (as well as being able to download direct from Factorio.com/Wube.)
You can buy factorio on GOG.com as well and it will give you access to the DRM free build by giving you a key that can be redeemed on the Factorio website. The only reason why I personally would do something like this is only to keep all my purchases in a single game store so it is easy to find if I ever lose the codes. https://www.gog.com/game/factorio [gog.com]
You mentioned RR Tycoon... There is a lot of rail networks in factorio... you should like that aspect.
If you also liked the old Roller Coaster Tycoon... There is both a open source version of the original: https://openrct2.org/ [openrct2.org] It requires the original game files, but allows the old game to play on modern hardware and on linux. (and the original game files can be bought on GOG.)
Parkitect is a modern successor to RCT2 and is also available on Linux... and DRM free on GOG.
Another builder/logisitcs game that I enjoy on linux is Rise of Industry. Like the others I did check and it is on GOG: https://www.gog.com/game/rise_of_industry [gog.com]
I do admit though that I have mixed feelings about GOG.com. DRM Free is great and that alone is worthy of a recommendation. I own a lot of really old games through their website that I have collected it the decade plus that they have been around.
However, their linux support is a little lacking. Some games that have linux support do not get a linux version on GOG. Same with some DLC... and it is really frustrating if you buy something there and can get a wanted expansion. Also game updates/patches sometimes take a long time in comparison to steam to ever show up on GOG... if they show up. But If you want to avoid steam, there is no place better than GOG for linux.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P