How complex is Space Age compared to base game?

[11clock]

I am a software engineer, so I can probably handle it, but it's been a few years since I last played Factorio.

[Fel]

It's more about being different challenges than about it being more complex.
The basic idea is that anyone that launched a rocket in the base game should be able to reach the "win" in space age as well, even if it is going to take a few times longer (up to a couple hundred hours apparently).

But like with everything in factorio, when you go down the rabbit holes (ratios, efficiency, throughput) the complexity can go up rather quickly, and the additionnal systems definitely have their own shares in the rabbit hole department.

[JustSmile]

Not much more complex. It adds additional challenges, but does not make anything harder.

[Chindraba]

Factorio -> Factorio: Space Age

Perl -> Moose

[Khaylain]

I've heard it's more about having to rethink how you do things. Like when you first played Factorio. And some people don't like having to do things differently on the different planets than what they are used to: Main bus or citiblocks

[Marosh]

Originally posted by 11clock:

I am a software engineer, so I can probably handle it, but it's been a few years since I last played Factorio.

Not that much. Most of the complexity comes from not being able to use the same Nauvis mindset on other Planets. They have different logistical problems to solve.

When you have played Factorio before, Space Age is as hard as first time Factorio probably, when you knew nothing.

[knighttemplar1960]

Its very similar to the base game. You build on what came before. The next tech might be more complicated but not by much and its built on what came before.

[Eva]

From what I have experienced so far, they seem to have kept things considerably less complex than some of the Mods that exist for the base game.

[Swede]

Like many have said, it's not *harder* per se, but it's *different*.

From what I've seen so far, the developers have done a really good job at making each planet feel unique, with it's own circumstances and conditions you have to adapt to. They could have phoned it in, but each planet has its own set of unique mechanics in a way that I'm pretty impressed with.

[Gabiru The Brave]

I don't know if I'd call it more complex. It's not like an angelbob run with ridiculously complex recipe chains.

Each planet adds its unique constraints that means you have to think outside of the box in various different ways, you can't just build the same old megabus over and over again; and interplanetary logistics is another little puzzle to figure out.

[SharkPlush]

Originally posted by 11clock:

I am a software engineer, so I can probably handle it, but it's been a few years since I last played Factorio.

It made the initial game easier in a good way.

[Gazz]

It IS a lot more complex for sure because your "tools" are blocked behind conquering entire new planets to the point of being able to launch rockets from there.
Like how cliff explosives and artillery require Vulcanus research and resources.

[Ghulmeister]

spoilage certainly makes some things more challenging imo. i think nothing in vanilla compares to it.
especially when it comes to the final science-unlocks like super-landfill and the final science pack.
needing a ressource for either of those, that turns into a biter after 30 minutes, is slightly annoying to say the least.
a good thing is that the eggs dont spoil if you leave them inside the spawner, but the science packs can only be crafted on top of a space platform, while the super landfill requires large amounts of a fluid that is only available on one planet.
sure, barreling exists and is probably a viable workaround at large scale, but the science packs... guh. you need 25 meteor chunks per science pack and they only stack to 1.
they also dont stack on the belt, but given the space that a storage unit needs and the items a single belt can hold, its probably best to store the chunks on a massively snaking belt going across your entire platform. :<

[11clock]

Alright, decided to start with Space Age enabled.

"This game is really fun, but I'm not finding it as addicting as people were making it out to be. Kind of stressful, tbh- wait when did it become 3 AM?"

[secretlemur]

On fulgora - you have scrap to recycle and getting things going is an interesting challenge.

On Vulcanus - you get some new options due to the lava flow and the giant worms

Gleba is, in my opinion, where things get weird. Everything spoils. I haven't gone there in my current game where turned spoilage down a bunch, but it becomes a different kind of puzzle. You need to do Just in Time resource processing, consumption and planning as opposed to the standard "just throw it on a belt and let it sit til you need it"

Haven't made it to the last planet yet cuz Gleba is in the way. While I like the idea of Gleba in principal - I play with a controller, so I do everything slowly. So, had to restart with spoilage turned down to accommodate that. Also, advice I've read on Gleba is use bots, not belts.

[Zefar]

Vulcanus is the easiest one. I had very little problem setting up production there and scale it up. Power was super easy to get access too due to Calcite and Sulfur acid.
Due to having buffed up my normal ammo so much my tank shots did a ton of damage on the worms so killing them where pretty easy and they never venture outside of their area.


Gleba is harder and more complicated due to the spoilage. But once you get up production of your farms, seeds no longer becomes an issue. Then you no longer need to fear your whole production getting halted because of lack of fruits.
So then it's the eggs that need to be produced in the right amounts.
I have to burn away excess seeds so they don't fill up yellow storage chests. I just set up a wire connection to a inserter to a burner and made it throw in seeds when it goes over 5k seeds.
But once all of it is in production which it will be with enough red chests. You don't need to worry about it. Other than on some rare occasions where things just run out.
I just put up a lot of turrets near the production of the eggs and it has come in handy.
Then I put up the new Lightning towers and adding artillery and the base is safe from any sort of harm.
Excess spoilage can just be turned into Nutrients at later stages. Then just make all inserters use the new function to take the item that will spoil first.


Fulgur on the other hand. You are locked to a small island and might be able to get to another one right away. But that's about it in the start. Water is a massive problem and stops you from scaling things up. For power the only viable thing are Accumulators. I have 25k of them put out.
I do take up 2 islands with production. But I have 7 islands full of accumulators.
So why is water such an issue? Well Sulfur needs water and I need sulfur for larger battery production. Which is needed to the research part.
Do note that this productions is put on a massive halt because you need Foundations which is gotten from the worst planet.
Also dealing with excessive materials is annoying too. From time to time it's easier to just gun down the boxes.

Edit: I've tried to set up ice farm in space. Not enough. I've tried shipping ice from other planets. Not enough. Barrels of water will not be enough. I just need so much of it.

Aquilo. The frozen status, the limits of heating pipes, even when they are max temperatures. Power production and you have to make sure it stays on. At all costs. Because restarting it? That's going to be rough. With Solar panels only getting 1% at a whooping 60 Watt of power. You have to make sure you never run out of stuff on that planet.

The Foundation itself needing stones which for some reason is unavailable on the planet. Stone. The most basic component for a planet. Does not exist. So I have to ship it there.
This is by far the most annoying and hardest one. To the point where it's harder than anything I had to deal with in Space Exploration mod.
At least on Fulgur the lightning towers can cover such a large area that the lightning is a none threat from the very start.


In the start, the Space Age expansion doesn't look like Space Exploration but it will show it's signs of being Space Exploration later on.
Space Exploration just had more steps but it wasn't anywhere near as annoying as this.