Stuck in Space Age

[MalukuSeito]

So, I have been playing on an island map, and like a good engineer, I terminated all biters with a vengeance.. But now, I need to capture a biter spawner to progress with the science and there is none left.. The rest of the map is water.. Any idea how to continue?

[GAMING_Alligator]

Have you got the mech suit yet? If so, just fly off in a direction until you find a spawner I guess.

If not, get the mech suit.

[Fel]

Is it's really the "island" preset then there isn't more land, it's one large island with only endless water beyond the shores.

[Schobbob]

the map is infinite there is always more, you can just make a bridge with landfills or build an elevated train track until you find more land.

[Fel]

That's the thing about the island map, it's not infinite, you only have what is on the relatively large island you spawn in.

You can think of it as being similar to a map where you set both "width" and "height" (you can easily make a new map with 20 in both width and height if you don't understand what it means) in the advanced tab, but instead of a black void it's endless water.

[Serendipitous]

Yeah, some of the stuff doesn't mesh well with other map types.

[MalukuSeito]

It is indeed the island map. I got the mech suit and there is just water.. only water, no more land

[Fel]

If you don't care about achievements, you could do "/editor" to switch to editor mode, add a few spawners somewhere then go back to freeplay mode and continue playing.

[Schobbob]

Originally posted by Fel:

That's the thing about the island map, it's not infinite, you only have what is on the relatively large island you spawn in.

You can think of it as being similar to a map where you set both "width" and "height" (you can easily make a new map with 20 in both width and height if you don't understand what it means) in the advanced tab, but instead of a black void it's endless water.

damn that sucks, never playing island map I guess

[Chindraba]

Originally posted by Schobbob:

Originally posted by Fel:

That's the thing about the island map, it's not infinite, you only have what is on the relatively large island you spawn in.

You can think of it as being similar to a map where you set both "width" and "height" (you can easily make a new map with 20 in both width and height if you don't understand what it means) in the advanced tab, but instead of a black void it's endless water.

damn that sucks, never playing island map I guess

Or, know the limitations and don't sanitize the island quite as thoroughly as normal. Might also be worth considering what special cases in the future require something exhaustible, as all but oil are now not effectively infinite resources on your island.

[GAMING_Alligator]

Originally posted by Chindraba:

Originally posted by Schobbob:

damn that sucks, never playing island map I guess

Or, know the limitations and don't sanitize the island quite as thoroughly as normal. Might also be worth considering what special cases in the future require something exhaustible, as all but oil are now not effectively infinite resources on your island.

Come on, how was OP meant to know that they'd actually need biters for something in the future before even going to space? If the game let them get into a position where they effectively soft locked themselves without any way of telegraphing that was going to happen, then it's a game problem, not a player problem.

It's like the old Sierra adventure games, where you were screwed if you didn't know you needed to pick up a particular item 10 hours before you needed it, and had no way of getting it when you got to that point.

It sounds like at this point OP's best bet is to use the console to spawn in a biter spawner, but I would also post this as an issue report on the official forum.

[Chindraba]

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

Originally posted by Chindraba:

Or, know the limitations and don't sanitize the island quite as thoroughly as normal. Might also be worth considering what special cases in the future require something exhaustible, as all but oil are now not effectively infinite resources on your island.

Come on, how was OP meant to know that they'd actually need biters for something in the future before even going to space? If the game let them get into a position where they effectively soft locked themselves without any way of telegraphing that was going to happen, then it's a game problem, not a player problem.

It's like the old Sierra adventure games, where you were screwed if you didn't know you needed to pick up a particular item 10 hours before you needed it, and had no way of getting it when you got to that point.

It sounds like at this point OP's best bet is to use the console to spawn in a biter spawner, but I would also post this as an issue report on the official forum.

I've seen several threads, and at least one mod to compensate, complaining about the spoilers in the tech tree and the Factoriopedia. Now I see a complaint about I didn't know. Frankly I'm a bit confused. Is it bad to know what's coming and what you need to plan for, or is it bad to not know what's coming and what you need to plan for? I am pretty sure it cannot be both, and I don't think either is a flaw in the design of the game.

How is WUBE expected to plan for the "good engineer" who sanitizes their island without planning for the future? Or, in a different light, how is someone a "good engineer" if they are following a plan without knowing where that plan leads or what the final product looks like?

The island preset can just as easily create a softlock by using all the iron available to make defensive materials and not have enough left to build a rocket. Creating an enhanced restriction on the map allows for many issues. It's even possible that within the limits of the single island there is never any uranium ore placed. Caveat emptor.

[Serendipitous]

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

Originally posted by Chindraba:

Or, know the limitations and don't sanitize the island quite as thoroughly as normal. Might also be worth considering what special cases in the future require something exhaustible, as all but oil are now not effectively infinite resources on your island.

Come on, how was OP meant to know that they'd actually need biters for something in the future before even going to space? If the game let them get into a position where they effectively soft locked themselves without any way of telegraphing that was going to happen, then it's a game problem, not a player problem.

It's like the old Sierra adventure games, where you were screwed if you didn't know you needed to pick up a particular item 10 hours before you needed it, and had no way of getting it when you got to that point.

It sounds like at this point OP's best bet is to use the console to spawn in a biter spawner, but I would also post this as an issue report on the official forum.

Well, having no biter eggs isn't really softlocking himself. I mean, no biolab and prod module 3 sucks, don't get me wrong, but you can finish the game regardless.

[Hurkyl]

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

Originally posted by Chindraba:

Or, know the limitations and don't sanitize the island quite as thoroughly as normal. Might also be worth considering what special cases in the future require something exhaustible, as all but oil are now not effectively infinite resources on your island.

Come on, how was OP meant to know that they'd actually need biters for something in the future before even going to space?

I do think Chindraba's comment was in direct reply to the quote it was framed as a reply to, rather than being meant as a jab at the OP.

[Chindraba]

Originally posted by Hurkyl:

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

Come on, how was OP meant to know that they'd actually need biters for something in the future before even going to space?

I do think Chindraba's comment was in direct reply to the quote it was framed as a reply to, rather than being meant as a jab at the OP.

Well, it did include a minor jab at the "good engineer" pov. Still it's about is it bad to know what's next and next.... or is it good to know? It, in my mind, is not a flaw, or "game problem" and certainly not worthy of a report on the official forums about it.

[Vigilante]

Originally posted by Serendipitous:

Originally posted by GAMING_Alligator:

Come on, how was OP meant to know that they'd actually need biters for something in the future before even going to space? If the game let them get into a position where they effectively soft locked themselves without any way of telegraphing that was going to happen, then it's a game problem, not a player problem.

It's like the old Sierra adventure games, where you were screwed if you didn't know you needed to pick up a particular item 10 hours before you needed it, and had no way of getting it when you got to that point.

It sounds like at this point OP's best bet is to use the console to spawn in a biter spawner, but I would also post this as an issue report on the official forum.

Well, having no biter eggs isn't really softlocking himself. I mean, no biolab and prod module 3 sucks, don't get me wrong, but you can finish the game regardless.

Due to how tech tree unlocks now require you to do things you cannot get to aquillo in the tech tree without capture