Story progression

[BladeofSharpness]

Is the story progress only based on the Mercer Spheres you pick up, or are there other hard requirements at certain points? I have to admit something to you: I don't think I'm that suited for a game like *Satisfactory*, but I'm interested in exploring and reaching the end of the story (even though I understand, from what the devs say, that the story is just a side dish and it's primarily a factory game).
So... can I complete the story by exploring and picking up Mercer Spheres, with the occasional necessary factory developments? I'm realistic—I’ll never have the patience, like most of you, to spend hours establishing production chains. I can handle that in small chunks when I need something, but otherwise, I don't find it particularly appealing.

But perhaps at some point I'll have an epiphany, if the game grows on me :-)

[Dwane Dibbley]

What? You build stuff and send it via spacelift. Thats your story progress. Mercers are for dimensional depot, which you dont even need.

[Goblin]

Originally posted by Dwane Dibbley:

What? You build stuff and send it via spacelift. Thats your story progress. Mercers are for dimensional depot, which you dont even need.

Mercer Spheres and Somersloops also trigger story progression. It's not a mandatory one, but it's still a plotline.

As for getting the full story OP, you will need to complete the space elevator which requires a lot of materials. If you really want to go through the story and never set up any big infrastructure, you can place containers and use Satisfactory Calculator to fill them with parts. Maybe if you want it to be less cheaty you could set a rule to at least make one of any item, or a small production line that will spit out one of it even if at a slow pace, before you get to spawn in chests of it. Up to you, really.

[BladeofSharpness]

I have the space elevator up, and I can probably advance to tier VI. I'm not against doing production; it's just that I get bored extremely fast and don't find joy in setting up production lines, which, for a game like Satisfactory, is paradoxical. But I do like the map and the overall vibe and look. Now that they’ve added the story, I feel like my reward for doing anything production-related (I just set up a truck line to bring coal back to the base) is the chance to explore. I know I'm probably not suited for this game.

So usually I do something production-related, but it would qualify as absolutely minor and insignificant for most of you, and then I go explore for 2 hours.

[NocheLuz]

This game's main focus is building the factory. The story is there but not even the focus of the whole game. You might find the game boring because you might not like doing something slow and making progress toward each goal slowly.

The exploration is there but you'll need a functioning factory to support your gear. Especially if you explore toward the center of the map. The enemies are stronger and there are hazards everywhere. There are gears that will help you, but as I said, you'll need a functioning factory to support it. Or you might find yourself handcrafting for almost an hour just to get enough gear to explore each time you run out.

The satisfaction is there. Like you explore for hours to come back, dump everything into the factories you set up, and have them process them for you while you are scanning those HDDs you retrieved. Instead of handcrafting everything, you have gears ready for you on the container. You just go grab them and are ready to go explore again. After scanning the HDD you have alternative recipes for your factories, which either reduce the number of inputs, increase the number of outputs, or chance the way each item is manufactured entirely. Which will help your factory grow.

[Sonic Titan]

Originally posted by BladeofSharpness:

I have the space elevator up, and I can probably advance to tier VI. I'm not against doing production; it's just that I get bored extremely fast and don't find joy in setting up production lines, which, for a game like Satisfactory, is paradoxical. But I do like the map and the overall vibe and look. Now that they’ve added the story, I feel like my reward for doing anything production-related (I just set up a truck line to bring coal back to the base) is the chance to explore. I know I'm probably not suited for this game.

So usually I do something production-related, but it would qualify as absolutely minor and insignificant for most of you, and then I go explore for 2 hours.

You can actually get through a load of the tier milestones primarily with crash site loot, so exploring lots is very helpful. You can then do the "machine fed from containers" thing to make the relevant parts (though this will require several steps/at least a pseudo-production chain once you hit phase 4 and start needing supercomputers etc.).

Doing phase 5 like this would be... interesting/probably more of a pain than setting up actual production lines, though.