What does make Factorio a game for 1000+ hours?

[Mike Falcon]

I'm quite interested on giving Factorio a try, but I can't really find that "ingredient" that makes this game so much replayable.

No need to tell me that gameplay, atmosphere is unique etc. - on that I truly belive you. But all I see is a game where you try to flee from that planet by building your small factory empire step by step.

And here's what makes me wonder - every time you start new game, isn't everything the same all over again? Finding resources, fighting monsters, building factory and running on the space rocket? What makes you stay in this game for so many hours and still find it enjoyable? Are there many other options and things to do?

Would love to hear your opinions and hopefully become one day part of Factorio family!

[IPWIW]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXsQAXx_ao0

[Fel]

"small"?

All of the elements always act following clear rules, no random breakdowns or event that screw you over just because a random number generator decided that it should happen.
But what matters is how you use the tools you are given, there are a lot of widely different approaches to building a functionning factory, and the size of your infrastructure is mostly only limited by how big you want it to be (and to some extent on your computer because when it reaches the limits of your CPU on a single thread things start to slow down sadly).

And you are absolutely not trying to flee from the planet, launching a rocket is the "end goal" for new players that are learning the game but it is in fact the way to unlock the last tier of science packs (what you use for research in this game), allowing you to research increasingly costly technologies that give you various bonuses while you build a massive factory, effectively taking over the planet for yourself (and your factory) instead of fleeing from it.


The more you play, the better you will be able to get at making your dream layout, but it will also increase the complexity of what you are going to be using as well.
For example, initially your only goal will be to launch that rocket, your base will be a mess that barely even works properly (it happens to everyone, you can't plan ahead when you don't know how everything works and what you will unlock).
Your second and third time will be a lot smoother as you start to understand how to position and space things so they don't get in each other's way.
After a few playthrough, you will start thinking about optimizing things a bit, so you will be paying a lot more attention to the ratios and come up with solutions based on that.

You will start experimenting with trains to transport materials for your growing factory (in the first games you tend to just use belts or robots), which is easy enough at first until you start wanting multiple trains or even a train system (technically the signals are not that complex but the logic can be a bit tricky to pick up at first so a lot of people come asking for help on that at some point).

You will also start using circuit network, initially probably just to toggle pumps for cracking oil but you will continue to have ideas that require a bit more complex conditions.

And when you start merging everything into a "mega base" you will look at what steam is saying on how long you played and it will tell you a few hundred hours already, and you will still not have completed your mega base yet.




If you are a player that enjoy mods in general or one that just want more complexity (or something else), mods will extend the time you spend on that game a whole lot, especially if you like to increase the complexity of recipe chains and such, there are no less than 3 major groups of mods that cover this, each in their own way.

Of course if you like to play with other people you should be able to easily find a group to play with (the multiplayer is far from dead), it's not my thing but a lot of people spend a big portion of their time like that as well.

(wow, I do sound like a fanboy right now, not that any of the above is false)

[Overeagerdragon]

The thing is that, much like Fell says, Factorio is sneaky. That "small" factory might give you the satisfaction of launching a rocket into space and "finishing" the game....but if you're just a smidge interested into getting there "OPTIMALLY" you'll have started over some dozen times already and wasted plenty of excess hours in the idea of "okay I'll go to sleep once I fill up this belt so tomorrow I can start such and so..." an hour later that belt still isn't filled to your liking because "such and so" turned into "well might as well reorganise this then", "might as well do this too so it runs better."; "wait...why is there light shining through the curtains.....IT'S MORNING???". Then, during the following day, you need to add "this and that" and it turns your base into a spaghetti mess...which NEEDS to be fixed....and 5 days later you'll not remember why you did all that in the first place but who cares; because you have tapped 5 Iron deposits and are now swimming in iron...where to spend that all...why did you need all that iron? Well as long as you have it then you might as well * OH FRICK IT'S MORNING AGAIN?

And that's pretty much how all of the people in here got into the 1K hrs....

Then there's people who like to do special projects...using mods....build a base that builds itself using Recursive blueprints. Or build a miniature base within a base, within a base, within a base using Factorissimo. Go nomad and build a MOVING base locusting everything in its path....get 1M Science/M....
Or...like me....try and make the game as complex and mindbreaking as possible and play with so many mods that the amount of extra stuff you need to build in order to launch that rocket will make your saves last 100's of hours (and then discover you're not even a quarter of the way there; no seriously...getting the first circuit type will actually take me way over 25 hrs of gameplay and the 2nd type will prolly take me anopther 50hrs....an average savegame of mine will not be under 250hrs....without even coming close to launching a rocket.) a general game of mine will last way after the current unstable patch goes stable...and because I play the unstable branch...I never finish.

[Ryan]

The map is infinite in size. You can automate the building of factories. There is infinite technology. There are hundreds if not thousands of really great mods.

[UncleBod]

Originally posted by ✪ 김일성 ✪:

And here's what makes me wonder - every time you start new game, isn't everything the same all over again? Finding resources, fighting monsters, building factory and running on the space rocket? What makes you stay in this game for so many hours and still find it enjoyable? Are there many other options and things to do?

Isn't this true for a lot of others games also, the first 10-60 minutes of the game is a grind for resources (and survival).

For Factorio the things that makes it worth to play again are the same: another map, your own challenges you put on yourself and your decision to use mods, and in that case, which ones you will use.

/UncleBod

[juliejayne]

Yes, in principle each new start is the same. But with the map generation the environment is, or can be, very different.

But I find that towards the end of a world, I start thinking of new ideas, of better ways to organise things. Sometimes you can implement them where you are, but sometimes it seems better to start afresh. That is what keeps you going. Creativity, invention and the desire to try a new "out of the box" design, that has never been done before. Or just bigger and faster!

[Doom Sayer]

https://youtu.be/dY2nxVNBHQs
SMALL FACTORY

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

factorio is literally a trial and error game. Unlike other games that have a set meta or playstyle, factorio doesn't really have it (i mean there's a bus and hints and tips but nothing is set in stone not even stone).

For example you can use only conveyor belts and not use anything else.
stick to steam or break your ass trying to get enough red circuits to mass produce research potions to research it.

It's an automated sandbox like minecraft but instead you kill off the natives and eventually everything is made for you from mining to house building and other things best way i can describe it.
or
the sims but after awhile everyone becomes automated and you just sit back and relax and plan out the main houses.

While i'm only 3 days i already got the jist of everything (Cept trains but ♥♥♥♥ trains) and how everything boils down to rerouting iron and copper plates, steel, or stone bricks and either re-routing products or making them on the spot soley for some machines.

If you wanna get a taste for factorio without it get mindustry when it's on sale (for like $2). If you like that you'll love this. If you don't then factorio probably isn't the game for you.

[THE kilroy]

Im only at 2100hrs but i like the game loop, it keeps going at any scale. For example: i need for defense,so i need more ammo production,so niwi need more iron smelters,now iron ore, now im low on power so build more power which means more polution and more attacks, so i need to upgrade my defenses so that i can advance through the tech tree. There is almost always 3 things that should be done.

The progresion is amazing. Research takes components that prepare you for the current gameplay and encourage the next tier of gameplay. Quite impressive really.

[bredo]

I'm currently at 3500hrs. I use tons of mods to make the game as complex as possible, then I use "Marathon" times 40 (again with mods) to make it extremely expensive to research even the most basic tech. To get some of the late game tech, we're talking millions of science packs pr tech.

I also monitor the mod portal pretty much constantly for new interesting mods and when I find one, I'll restart from scratch even if I'm several 100h into a savegame. So in fact, the only time I ever launched a rocket was when I played a co-op game with my kids, without any mods. On my "own" setup, I've never been anywhere close to start thinking about building a rocket.

For me it's infinite replayability, trying to get the setup just a bit more perfect each time, or have to redesign everything because just producing iron plates now require 4 more steps. I must have spent more than 100h just to tweak all the game/mod settings to fit my play style perfectly. Deleting a 200h save game to start over is not something I hesitate the least about.

Right now I'm on a break, waiting for 1.0 to be released. With the number of mods I'm playing with it was unbearable when a new release was out that broke my Bob/Angel/Pyanadon setup :-)

Edit: However If you want to try it out I suggest buying it right away, it's already one of the most polished and balanced games I've ever played, and I've been playing since the mid 80's.

[🎇TYPHOON🎇]

I guess this is one of the games you'd have to play by yourself instead of watching let'splays on YouTube or anything, in order to realize it's potential for having fun.

Buy it. Try it. There is a reason why this game is rated so high.

[gienekman]

Originally posted by ✪ 김일성 ✪:

I'm quite interested on giving Factorio a try, but I can't really find that "ingredient" that makes this game so much replayable.

No need to tell me that gameplay, atmosphere is unique etc. - on that I truly belive you. But all I see is a game where you try to flee from that planet by building your small factory empire step by step.

And here's what makes me wonder - every time you start new game, isn't everything the same all over again? Finding resources, fighting monsters, building factory and running on the space rocket? What makes you stay in this game for so many hours and still find it enjoyable? Are there many other options and things to do?

Would love to hear your opinions and hopefully become one day part of Factorio family!

It takes a 'special' kind of person to play factorio for 1k+ hours.

I'm getting there thanks to my 'special' ocd, which makes me improve my factory and compress everything as tigh as it can get.... or i just make an animated dildo with lamps and circuit network.

I'm also 'special' in that 'kid with a magnifying glass around bugs' way and i love designing more and more elaborate ways to kill, contain and exploit biters.

Ask yourself, what makes you 'special' and embrace it.

This should totally be the factorio sales pitch. ^_^

[pryt]

I may not be at 1000+ hours, only 931h until now, but that's only the steam hours, there had been a few more pre-steam.

It's just the situation you are in: you got a "problem" -> produce this to get that -> solve it. And then the next "problem" arises, and this goes on and on. Add some mods and you get even bigger "problems" to find solutions for.

If you are interested in "problem solving" puzzles, this may be the game for you, since it's basically nothing else.

[Mohag]

1300+ hours and I still feel like a noob.

[Grossout]

Almost 1500 hours in and still often get as excited as I was when I played this game for the first time. For me the magic of this game is to try to make everything look as nice as possible while also functional. This game takes away all my sense of time.