How do i access space age content?

[RedHaze1911]

I just bought both the game and dlc on GOG but i figure it doesnt matter where i ask for advice. I enter the game but i dont see any space age signage or anything different from the regular factorio menu. How do i apply the space age content so i can use it?

[Khaylain]

Don't believe so, no. At least I've heard other people buying it on GOG, putting in the key you got from GOG into factorio.com to get it confirmed you own the game on factorio.com, and then ask for a Steam key from there. Don't think they made it account for whether it was bought directly on factorio.com for the confirmed buy or whether it was bought somewhere else.

[Chindraba]

Three questions in one, and only somewhat connected in content.

Originally posted by RedHaze1911:

How much faster do we get the rocket with space age?

Technically you don't get the same rocket. There are some achievements for launching a rocket, and those have the same 'requirements' in each version and those are easier to meet in the expansion.

In the base game the 'rocket' is the victory condition and is at the end of the regular tech tree. After the rocket, and space science are researched everything else is just infinite techs to make some things more powerful or better. Under normal use, launching a satellite, returns 1000 space science (white bottles). At that point there is nothing left to do as a built-in objective for the game. This is where the 'grind' of making a megabase and going for insane production levels becomes the goal. The so-called end game.

In SA the rocket is about half-way into the tech tree. In terms of play-time the base game offers the ultimate achievement, There is no spoon, for getting the launch in less than 8 hours. In the expansion launching a rocket is simple, even for me, in less than 4 hours. It is not, however, the victory condition. It's really just another kind of robot system and hauls stuff from the planet to space platforms. Launching the rocket in the expansion doesn't really 'mean' anything.

So, you get the rocket faster, and it doesn't get you any victory for getting there.

Originally posted by RedHaze1911:

I just dont appreciate the grind as much because the rocket can be built a bit earlier?

The real grind is actually in two places. It is the start of the game where you have to start with doing everything by hand. If you played the demo first you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't play the demo, you soon will know.

The other grind, which is optional, is what to do after you "win" the game. I think most players just start a new game and try different things or different maps. Some, however, move on to the idea of an ever expanding factory where they continue to launch rockets and research the infinite technologies. The goal here is basically to see how big, how many thousands of science per minute you can make and use, before the size of the task causes your computer to slow down. It does take skill - optimization and organization - yet it can also be a grind of building the same parts of the factory over and over as you scale up production. There's not much "new" to do except try different things to squeeze out a few more updates per second so you can scale up more.

This grind happens in the base game after the first rocket launch. In the expansion it happens after what the victory condition is there. The goal, and the grind, are the same flavor. In both cases you are expanding, infinitely, the factory you have made until the computer melts down. There might be a bit less "grind" to it in SA since you are working on 5 planets instead of one, and there are more interwoven threads , but it's the same mental activity.

SA, however, makes you partially repeat the game-starting grind on each planet. You can travel to the first three extra planets with nothing and repeat the full grind or you can carry a bunch of stuff with you and use that to build. Even with supplies, however, you still have to build a brand new factory, with different rules, each time. The last planet you have to bring all the supplies with you, and the grind is even more.

Originally posted by RedHaze1911:

What do i lose if i dont play the game without the DLC?

Practice and experience. In more than one context.

First off the base game is a complete game, with no need for the expansion at all. The expansion is designed to take what you've learned, and gotten good at, from playing the base game and expands on it. There are new game mechanics added, yes, and there are advanced uses for the 'old' mechanics as well. It's kind of like learning to juggle. You can start with learning how to juggle 12 swords or you can start with 3 apples and keep getting better until 12 swords is merely a simple extension of what you know already.

One of the benefits of doing just the base game is that you only have to deal with one planet. There's only one group of enemies. The supply chain is limited to 2 dimensions. The advanced things, like top-end modules, powerful weapons and tools, and fast machines, are available in a reasonable amount of time. The victory is 'shorter' as well.

Earlier I said that the top achievement in the base game, There is no spoon, is for finishing the game in 8 hours. The typical first run for the base game is around 50-80 hours. The expansion has its own 3 victory achievements, the top one of which is for finishing the game in 40 hours or less. The design of the expansion is to take 120-150 hours. (I'm working from memory on the expected typical time frames, and I could have the exact numbers wrong, but they are close and the scale is the important part.)

So, you loose the experience of using the full planet to achieve everything. You loose the, relatively speaking, simple victory, and the rush from getting there. You also loos the experience and practice with the basics of under-grad work before moving into the post-doc realm.

-------------

Both ways, base first then SA, or straight to SA, are valid. Neither is going to always be the best answer. I think, for most people, there's more total fun (more bang for you buck) by playing the base game first and then the expansion. Not always true - few things are.

Where you go from here is your choice, and I'm sure the factory will grow either way.

(Apologies for the wall of text, but I don't have a collection of visual aids to apply here.)

[Vano-san]

Originally posted by RedHaze1911:

Originally posted by Chindraba:

Activate Space Age like any other mod.

Main menu -> Mods
Select Space Age.
(It will automatically turn on any/all dependencies for any mod, to that's enough.)
Click 'Confirm'
After the game reloads, play.

When i go to the mods section i only see base mod 2.0.28
Nothing else

look for it.

[Strategic Sage]

You don't need to know which directory it is in. Just go to the Mods section of the game and make sure it is enabled.