How hard is this game compared to other Zachtronics games?

[iamdanthemanstan]

SpaceChem ended up being too hard for my tastes overall. How hard is this game compared to their others?

[FlufflyKittens]

Finding *a* solution is not too difficult. For normal levels you have unlimitted space, can specify an unlimitted amount of instructions, and since the machine is designed to loop it cuts down on the complexity you need to deal with.

That said, if you don't process the game pieces effectively, the machine can get very large and unwieldy which puts a kind of a soft limit on how "bad" your solution can be.

The difficulty reminds me a lot of Infinifactory in case you've played that one.

[Atlessa]

TL/DR: Easy.


I pride myself in being one of the few who finished Spacechem. This game, as intriguing as it was on principle, was too easy for my tastes.

[Zednaught]

Without a doubt, this is the easiest Zachtronics game. Not a bad thing though! It becomes easier because it makes smoothes over some of what your problems with SpaceChem probably were. There are no space or cost restrictions, and setting the steps to get your machines outputting as you'd like is painless most of the time.

[gtw]

SpaceChem is to Opus Magnum as chess is to tic-tac-toe.

Besides the unlimited space and unlimited instructions, you can also position the inputs/outputs wherever you please. That alone makes it much easier than Infinifactory.

Optimising the levels is also much easier than the other games, because there isn't really a lot of depth to what you can do.

But it's still enjoyable.

[Zednaught]

Originally posted by gtw:

SpaceChem is to Opus Magnum as chess is to tic-tac-toe.

Besides the unlimited space and unlimited instructions, you can also position the inputs/outputs wherever you please. That alone makes it much easier than Infinifactory.

Optimising the levels is also much easier than the other games, because there isn't really a lot of depth to what you can do.

But it's still enjoyable.

For some reason, I read your first sentence as "cheese is to tic-tac-toe." I was about to comment on what a delightfully strange comparison it was.

To elaborate on my original post, I think this game is a great way to introduce players to Zachtronics titles. Probably the first I'd recommend someone try. They enjoyment of Zachtronics games of building your own contraptions is just as strong here, even if there's not quite as much depth. It's never been easier to turn an idea for solving a puzzle into a reality compared to past Zachtronics games.

[MangoMan]

too easy. I think he really needs to add a hard mode that has severe restrictions on the main quest puzzles. that's sort of what he did by adding the new "production alchemy?" puzzles, but those don't have the story. it could also maybe use a few more tools. I almost exclusively use extending arms.

I especially wish that there were more oportunities for "code reuse". the repeat instruction is not as useful as I would like it to be.

[gtw]

Originally posted by Zednaught:

For some reason, I read your first sentence as "cheese is to tic-tac-toe." I was about to comment on what a delightfully strange comparison it was.

I guess you could say it's like comparing pizza to cheese...

To elaborate on my original post, I think this game is a great way to introduce players to Zachtronics titles. Probably the first I'd recommend someone try. They enjoyment of Zachtronics games of building your own contraptions is just as strong here, even if there's not quite as much depth. It's never been easier to turn an idea for solving a puzzle into a reality compared to past Zachtronics games.

Yes, I think it's a great game to get people interested interested in this game genre and a good way to introduce people to optimisation.

[The Chosen One]

Game seems interesting. And I know it isn't the exact same but this is somewhat like a 2D/puzzle version of e.g. Factorio's resource setup? Input -> output kinda of setup?

And bonusquestion, or else I'll ask in new topic later; What is the gameplay/replayvalue of this game? Done with X hours? Any desire to play again besides 'improving solutions'?

[MangoMan]

Originally posted by The Chosen One:

I know it isn't the exact same but this is somewhat like a 2D/puzzle version of e.g. Factorio's resource setup? Input -> output kinda of setup?

yeah sort of. you have input and output and one of the central challenges is the logistics of moving all the parts from start to finish.

the difference is that in Factorio, it's only logistics, whereas here you also have to program the parts. (Factorio is the better game though, by far.)

And bonusquestion, or else I'll ask in new topic later; What is the gameplay/replayvalue of this game? Done with X hours? Any desire to play again besides 'improving solutions'?

very little replay value IMO. there's NO reason to play again besides improving solutions. the puzzles are already kind of samey, and solving them lacks variety to begin with, let alone doing them all over again.

it is definitely worth playing though.

[The Chosen One]

I'll def buy it for sure. Wishlist for now, I got plenty of games, movies, books to last me decades. :P