Any essential mods for essentially a first playthrough?

[The88shrimp]

So I've played before in the past but never progressed further than trains and other equivalents in the progress tree.

Starting fresh are there any mods that would be essential or just highly recommended for beginners that don't change the vanilla game? Looking for more focus on the production line / construction side of things, not combat.

[Fel]

If you never launched a rocket in any playthrough yet, don't go for mods, and preferably also avoid copying others.

The first complete playthrough is a big experience on its own, you will learn a whole lot from the various mistakes you will make and get a better feel for the game and what you might want to change in it.

That's where mods come in, to tailor the game to your taste but there is no such thing as a must-have mod for new players.

[The88shrimp]

Originally posted by Fel:

If you never launched a rocket in any playthrough yet, don't go for mods, and preferably also avoid copying others.

The first complete playthrough is a big experience on its own, you will learn a whole lot from the various mistakes you will make and get a better feel for the game and what you might want to change in it.

That's where mods come in, to tailor the game to your taste but there is no such thing as a must-have mod for new players.

Thanks

[Washell]

If you like getting achievements, there are a few that are less of a pain to get on a first playthrough.

[The88shrimp]

Originally posted by Washell:

If you like getting achievements, there are a few that are less of a pain to get on a first playthrough.

My profile might give away that I'm an achievement ♥♥♥♥♥ but I generally don't like using mods to assist unless I have to for some rare reason.

[GreenBeanN1]

There are mods that don't alter the vanilla gameplay but enriches it.

After getting the concepts of the game (first game fiddling around -> +/- 4 hours) I installed alien biomes and a mod for dark nights. For me that are the two mods to make the vanilla game more immersive. After nightfall it wasn't a good idea anymore to roam the forests and clear some alien bases. And even better you can use the lamps in your vanilla game without being useless.

[Xandor]

Factorio has really good replayability and is short (although can be played endlessly in the same game until there is too much happening and the computer can't handle it).

First playthrough would be suitable without mods and launch a rocket. I don't think you should use mods until you are sort of "done" with the base game.

2nd/3rd playthrough is suitable to be related to achievements or doing something different (do some achievement you didn't do or even all achievements in 1 game, go with a desert start, change preset/settings at start).
In some playthrough go with a modpack like Angelbob, Seablock, Krastorio 2, singleplayer extreme modpack. Or some mix of mods you choose, maybe some of the combat focused ones.
In some playthrough you might make a megabase or try to launch a rocket in the lowest time you can manage.
Then there is also multiplayer, the biter battles server always has a bunch of people playing which is sort of a pvp map with no direct contact between the teams. There is also several teamwork scenarios that get hosted. Also a lot of normal games are hosted although they tend to do end after some hours (but you can save the map even if someone else hosted it and continue it in singleplayer or host it yourself).