Dyson Sphere vs Satisfactory

[CyberDown]

Looking to jump into either or this weekend. Not sure which one would be best for me, online reviews ect make the two seem very similair, other than endgame objective i guess.

Can anyone break down the differences between the two, pros vs cons, ect?

edit: this question has stumped the statisfactory community, perhaps someone here can answer this mystery?

[SailaNamai]

I couldn't get into Satisfactory because of the exploration aspect of it. Stopped after 6 hours or so when it became clear that just to make power from coal I'd have to scout out a proper way for pipes, make a halfway decent guess about how much resources to bring and still potentially run back and forth several times. In Satisfactory even a couple of factories are hard to plan. You'll find yourself constantly climbing the roof of your buildings just so you don't lose orientation. Later you'll unlock the ability to build watchtowers, that you'll also constantly have to climb. The combat reminded me of clunky 90's rpgs.
That being said it might be a fine game, it just wasn't for me. I couldn't get above its flaws.

In comparison DSP is much cleaner, but the truth is others might call it barren. It is simply on a different scale, with the spheres you can build and entire planets dedicated to a single thing. To me pushing forward was much more rewarding in DSP because its not so much about how to achieve X but about how to scale X. It does have its flaws also, but they didn't bother me as much.

DSP is a pure factory game, and its systems interlock for that one purpose. Satisfactory has combat and exploration aspects as well and is probably more broad from a gameplay perspective. Combat is not yet here for DSP but it looks to be an extension of the factory, where you will produce automated defenses. In Satisfactory combat is the random encounter that you sidestep and whack with your baton or whatever weapon the game has in store later.

Realistically both are fine games. If you liked stuff like Subnautica you can't really go wrong with Satisfactory. To me however DSP is clearly superior.

[CyberDown]

Thanks for the quality response.

Im torn on the two, i like satisfactory, however, the first person view, and climbing towers to see my base is a huge turn off, even if that game looks much much better, I think id like the view more in Dyson, also it has an objective beyond making production to support my production.

Still torn, I love the look of satisfactory, just not sure ill enjoy being in game building.

[Coops]

I got both about the same time.
DSP 1400 hrs
Satisfactory 500 hrs
I keep coming back to Dyson Sphere but have not abandoned Satisfactory. I tend to play when new updates are added.
Pick Satisfactory for rudimentary combat and better exploration
The field of view in Dyson is much more friendly and manageable
Both are early access but eminently playable

[Nico]

No idea if you know it, but in general DSP is very similar to Factorio, whereas Satisfactory is very different from it. Both, Factorio and DSP mostly focus on gathering and especially processing resources whereas Satisfactory focuses less about it and more about exploring.

The only real differences between Factorio and DSP right now are the no enemies in DSP (until they add them next year), no mod suport in DSP and 3D vs 2D graphics. Other than that they're really similar.

Also, Satisfactory has no real grid, so especially before you use any foundation it might be quite annoying to build stuff in a way that they properly connect. At the start it took me quite a while until IW as able to just connect a miner to a smelter ...

So I guess it mostly depends on if you like the exploration and first person perspective from Satisfactory or not. in DSP you can even activate some kind of god mode when you want to place buildings, aka you are seperated from Icarus and can move around the screen freely and don't always need to also move Icarus. Though you still can only build within a specific range around Icarus. So in general it's WAY more convenient to build anythign in DPS than in Satisfactory, where it can be a real pain. Up until a few days ago Satisfactory also didn't even had blueprints.

So yeah, I would say, DSP is more for mostly factory building and Satisfactory is more for exploration with less focus on factory building. Speaking of exploration, Satisfactory's world is handmade, which also means, it's always the same, so future runs might get a bit more repetitive and the exploration part gets a bit more stale.

[CyberDown]

Yes, ive sort of looked at satsifactory as no mans sky with factorio in 3d and Dyson more a traditional factory/production game.

Good bit of info on satsifsactory having a "set" game world, while im sure there is still 1000+hrs building, being more exploration based but also a stagnant game world that doesnt change might push me towards dyson.

[teron]

Originally posted by Nico:

So yeah, I would say, DSP is more for mostly factory building and Satisfactory is more for exploration with less focus on factory building. Speaking of exploration, Satisfactory's world is handmade, which also means, it's always the same, so future runs might get a bit more repetitive and the exploration part gets a bit more stale.

Plus satisfactory makes you have to go though the process of refinding hard drives on every playthough to get the alternative recipies.

Dyson sphere has a lot less annoyances when setting up factories.
So for example:

• Machines will scale down if there is not enough power. There being a limit since below a certain power % sorters stop working. In Satisfactory, it trips the power grid. Which also can cause mobs to respawn since there is not a powered building at the spawn points
  
• Also in the power vein, the fact that buildings are powered wirelessly. So it is setup power to cover an area, not having to juggle fixed number of wire connections on powerpolls
  
• Smelters, labs, and assembers are Assembling Machines are less finicky to place. Since they have input/output ports on all sides for sorters. It is not having to split belts to feed into specific input/output ports
  
• Currently Dyson sphere program you can have blueprints and copy and paste existing building setups

Though some people get annoyed with Icarus's need for power via fuel. But really it is just early game dropping a miner to dump coal into a storage box (with a low limit).
just keep in mind that plants and logs are trash for fuel due to not being energy dense and having a malus for extracting power.

Then doing the evolved chain of fuels from Coal --> Energetic Graphine --> Hydrogen Fuel rod (more optional) --> Deturium fuel rod --> Antimatter fuel rod.

Also the energy circuit upgrade is really good, since it makes Icarus extract power faster from the fuel.

[LorDC]

Originally posted by CyberDown:

Im torn on the two, i like satisfactory, however, the first person view, and climbing towers to see my base is a huge turn off

For me thats an absolute game killer. I've tried to get into it a couple of times but never really got far. Building factories from the first person view is an absolute pain in the ass. What makes it even bigger pain in the ass is that all buildings are huge, so even small production chain will not fit your screen.

[CyberDown]

Originally posted by LorDC:

Originally posted by CyberDown:

Im torn on the two, i like satisfactory, however, the first person view, and climbing towers to see my base is a huge turn off

For me thats an absolute game killer. I've tried to get into it a couple of times but never really got far. Building factories from the first person view is an absolute pain in the ass. What makes it even bigger pain in the ass is that all buildings are huge, so even small production chain will not fit your screen.

Also the community here has been far more responsive, kind, and helpful.

I REALLY want to get into a more 3D modern version of these games but its such a pain to build, and they all end up feeling like one of those survival sandbox games of the week here on steam.

I just dont get why there isnt an explore mode for FPS/3rd person and then a build mode sky view....like ofc ill need to be in first person to build inside built floors ect but still for placement and OCD its rough.

[Sid]

Satisfactory is the casual/grind version of automation games, Dyson sphere is the middle ground but very much accessible to newcomers of the genre and Factorio is the hardcore/puzzle version.

All 3 games are great it really depends on what you want, a relaxing experience or a challenge.

A few other interesting automation games:
-Mindustry
-Foundry
-Captain of Industry

[Nori]

Originally posted by SailaNamai:

I couldn't get into Satisfactory because of the exploration aspect of it. Stopped after 6 hours or so when it became clear that just to make power from coal I'd have to scout out a proper way for pipes, make a halfway decent guess about how much resources to bring and still potentially run back and forth several times. In Satisfactory even a couple of factories are hard to plan. You'll find yourself constantly climbing the roof of your buildings just so you don't lose orientation. Later you'll unlock the ability to build watchtowers, that you'll also constantly have to climb. The combat reminded me of clunky 90's rpgs.
That being said it might be a fine game, it just wasn't for me. I couldn't get above its flaws.

In comparison DSP is much cleaner, but the truth is others might call it barren. It is simply on a different scale, with the spheres you can build and entire planets dedicated to a single thing. To me pushing forward was much more rewarding in DSP because its not so much about how to achieve X but about how to scale X. It does have its flaws also, but they didn't bother me as much.

DSP is a pure factory game, and its systems interlock for that one purpose. Satisfactory has combat and exploration aspects as well and is probably more broad from a gameplay perspective. Combat is not yet here for DSP but it looks to be an extension of the factory, where you will produce automated defenses. In Satisfactory combat is the random encounter that you sidestep and whack with your baton or whatever weapon the game has in store later.

Realistically both are fine games. If you liked stuff like Subnautica you can't really go wrong with Satisfactory. To me however DSP is clearly superior.

I haven't played DSP yet, but I completely agree with your assessment of Satisfactory. I generally enjoy it, but it's a PITA to properly plan and place a factory. I got up to around the oil phase and just couldn't bring myself to keep playing.
There are lots of QOL mods out there that help, but yeah it can be rough. Combat is pretty lame, but exploration can be fun. It only gets you so far though.

[joebobku]

Satisfactory is a considerably larger world with exploration that actually matters to the game. At times the exploration aspect can be cumbersome. Dyson Sphere will play faster simply because the world is quite a bit smaller. It takes a lot of time to build out in Satisfactory. This is completely based on your preference of play. I would say you'll hate yourself if you ever start over in Satisfactory simply because of how long it takes to play the game and explore (and not die at the same time). Dyson Sphere is a quicker game with zero chance of death (so far). You can replay Dyson Sphere in a matter of days. I don't believe that exists in Satisfactory.

You should consider Satisfactory a multi-week or longer play through. Both games suffer from the same thing at the end though. You build out all of this stuff and finish research and there is pretty much nothing left to do. You will run into that wall a lot faster in Dyson Sphere then in Satisfactory.

[CyberDown]

well thanks for all the feedback, everyones been super helpful, snagged this game and oxygen not included so i think im set for a bit

[Dirkels]

Originally posted by CyberDown:

well thanks for all the feedback, everyones been super helpful, snagged this game and oxygen not included so i think im set for a bit

Indeed, both very active games. These and Shapez & Trandport Fever 2 are my all time top 4, way above anything else.

[Dex]

Originally posted by LorDC:

Originally posted by CyberDown:

Im torn on the two, i like satisfactory, however, the first person view, and climbing towers to see my base is a huge turn off

For me thats an absolute game killer. I've tried to get into it a couple of times but never really got far. Building factories from the first person view is an absolute pain in the ass. What makes it even bigger pain in the ass is that all buildings are huge, so even small production chain will not fit your screen.

Yeah, there are moments where Satisfactory is my favourite of the 3 games, but most of the time it's just a slog. Tons of QoL features are locked behind grinding coupons or late game tech when they should be available much sooner. Definitely feeling inclined to try out some mods next time I revisit it, it has potential I think.

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by LorDC:

Originally posted by CyberDown:

Im torn on the two, i like satisfactory, however, the first person view, and climbing towers to see my base is a huge turn off

For me thats an absolute game killer. I've tried to get into it a couple of times but never really got far. Building factories from the first person view is an absolute pain in the ass. What makes it even bigger pain in the ass is that all buildings are huge, so even small production chain will not fit your screen.

Just so you know (and a lot of people don't for some bizarre reason) Satisfactory has a "snap to align" button in pressing the CTRL-key... combined with building on foundation you can "snap to grid" using this key and it makes building stuff a LOT easier...

Having said that... the sheer fact that Satisfactory has a tendency to be the same every time once you figure out where all the nodes are on the map is a major turn off for me whereas both DSP and Factorio have this element of randomness to them (especially now we've seen the first indications of the enemies update coming out soon)... other than that it's just a perspective issue imho..