I feel like Foundry isn't respecting my time.

[Speiger]

I am a huge fan of Factory games.
I played the heck out of Factorio and Dyson Sphere Program.
Satisfactory is still ongoing but I don't play that alone which slows down the playtime I usually would play this kind of game.


I invested around 36 hours into this for the past 8 ish days?
And I feel no longer the desire to play this game.

Not because it is crappy, it is decent, but to expensive.


But I feel like it is actively not respecting my time.
In fact I always feel like my time is going to get wasted.

I tend to build my bases on an iteration based style based on my current need.

- Base 1: Beginner base that just gets the basic things going and gets the early research out of the way.
- Base 2-PreLast: Gets me through mid/early endgame until I have to build the final base for the game.
- Last Base: Finishes the game for me.

And I am ATM at the base 2 and I have no desire to build the base 3 because every step of it feels like a chore to me.

Here is a rough list of painpoints:
- Inventory is to small for how many different things you need. Even in the midgame. I am always 95% full.
- Building a chain is a chore because inserter placement and other things can't be done in bulk. Satisfactory has a similar problem but it has enough tools to compensate for it.
- No direct insertion meaning everything gets larger forcefully.
- Excavation of ores takes an unholy amount of time and until you have reached Science level 3 you have a really crappy time getting the resources out. Especially since ores tend to be deep underground, except for the first 2 guaranteed patches.
- Ore amount is not being visible is just painful thing. You can't plan at all and have to hope that you don't run out or go on extra expeditions to be extra sure. I ran out of fuel once due to not knowing my resource levels.
- The Pipe system being everything manually decided is nice thing but also sucks because it just adds a timedrain and inconvenience to the game. Like try building 20 Steam generators. I stopped after 10 because I said: No thanks to it.
- Cables having a grid based Line of sight system is a really bad design decision that just wants to make me scream. On top of that their distance is more expensive than doing an LV grid.
- Crafting Menu showing seconds per craft but belts showing items per minute sucks too, have it on the same timescale or the option to align the time scale.
- As someone who wrote a jetpack himself in a mod, having dedicated land/start buttons that can't be even applied to the mouse is a MORTAL SIN IMO. Either have 1 button to do both or mouse mapping.
- Double mapping of keys should be allowed.
- No large scale build assistance tools kills any decently sized factory planning. My factory was at the size of a factorio beginner base and I was already saying: "I will never build bigger than that"
- Jetpack fuel taking inventory slots is just cruel.
- Item Stacksizes of Machines are to low. They need to be like 5x larger. Especially when you want to carry around more then 10 machines per machine because bulk building is a thing.
- Construction Material costs being in the 4 digits and them only stacking till 25 is insane. (I never built a droneport because I was already starting to not want to play the game at this point anymore)
- The whole game balance seems to be not planned out at all. Some resources are barely used at all (copper/blue ore) while being plentiful. Yet the iron/orange ore is used by an insane amount things yet you have barely enough. (Yes I don't care about the names)
- And the most annoying story is the buildings are simply to large. It wastes an insane amount of time and resources just to get 10 buildings placed because you have to dig things up to have enough room. And without a jetpack building in the sky is to horrible... Lets ignore elevators being locked until the midgame.

Yeah this is the rough list of points where I say: The game doesn't value my time.

I am making this a discussion because I feel like I am not the only one and give the developer feedback.

Extra Points I remembered after writing the post:
- Machines storing more then 5 items in the output. Why does this game even have storage blocks? Because the capacity of 16 machines is bigger than any container.

[noncom]

Yes, same here. I struggle to even make myself do the T2 research, so I can't comment on some of the points you're saying, but I already recognize the degree of chore, and its prospect of increase. Even the need of starting the four identical mining/smelting lines with the basic production that is 1:1 Factorio but somehow with 10x more micro is already too much imo. Everything else just follows.

In 2024 I want to play a game that has every bit of UX that was already found and figured by the preceding games, and even better.

[Speiger]

Originally posted by noncom:

Yes, same here. I struggle to even make myself do the T2 research, so I can't comment on some of the points you're saying, but I already recognize the degree of chore, and its prospect of increase. Even the need of starting the four identical mining/smelting lines with the basic production that is 1:1 Factorio but somehow with 10x more micro is already too much imo. Everything else just follows.

In 2024 I want to play a game that has every bit of UX that was already found and figured by the preceding games, and even better.

Expect machines to get a lot larger.
Most machines get like 6-10 building blocks big on 1-2 axises...
And you will need multiple of these...

Tier 3 research will also eat at your fuel.

[Birdorf]

TLDR.

36 hours in 8 days? No desire to play, to (sic) expensive?

It's early access. I'd say you've had pretty good value for money so far, have some patience, wait for updates.

[Speiger]

Originally posted by Birdorf:

TLDR.

36 hours in 8 days? No desire to play, to (sic) expensive?

It's early access. I'd say you've had pretty good value for money so far, have some patience, wait for updates.

You read the first line and answered directly. You didn't read the post.
If you read it then you knew why i said its not worth the price and why i say i don't have interest in playing the game anymore.

Fun fact, i learned that this game has been on Itch.io on early access for a pretty long time already.

Ignoring that. 36 hours for this game was enough to get me through the first 2 progression tiers and thats it.
In factorio or DSP i would be already through most of the progression and would have larger factories than in Foundry.
You could argue that foundry has more content, but the opposite is the case.

Simply said most of this time was spend grinding resources to get the most nessesties.
Or trying to get room to get a simple setup running.

[GeforceJoe]

I bought the game the moment is was available and downloaded it! As of right now I don’t even have 6 hours into it. It’s like it is boring but it’s not but than it’s like why am I doing this? Than I’m like… I don’t care, save, exit game. Play something else for days come back try to get into it and it’s hard for me to put more than 1 hour at a time into this game without my brain acting like AI and shutting down killing itself realizing it has no purpose with these mundane tasks and limitations….

Kinda wish some aliens and hell divers dropped in on me trying to kill me and I have to survive somehow.

Than I’m like. I own satisfactory why don’t I just go play that enhanced, more detailed and rewarding older bother to this game. It actually has a lil nice notch of combat in it too!

Not a bad game. Not a good game. The lights are on but nobody is home.

1 more thing. Why can’t I bind my side mouse buttons? Why!

[Phoenix Cat]

Originally posted by Speiger:

Originally posted by Birdorf:

TLDR.

36 hours in 8 days? No desire to play, to (sic) expensive?

It's early access. I'd say you've had pretty good value for money so far, have some patience, wait for updates.

You read the first line and answered directly. You didn't read the post.
If you read it then you knew why i said its not worth the price and why i say i don't have interest in playing the game anymore.

Fun fact, i learned that this game has been on Itch.io on early access for a pretty long time already.

Ignoring that. 36 hours for this game was enough to get me through the first 2 progression tiers and thats it.
In factorio or DSP i would be already through most of the progression and would have larger factories than in Foundry.
You could argue that foundry has more content, but the opposite is the case.

Simply said most of this time was spend grinding resources to get the most nessesties.
Or trying to get room to get a simple setup running.

It has been in an Alpha Phase on itch.io. Get your info correct. It was no where near what it is now. Most games are silent during that time frame of game development. That is why it is so polished for an EA game.

[Speiger]

Originally posted by brnphoenix75:

It has been in an Alpha Phase on itch.io. Get your info correct. It was no where near what it is now. Most games are silent during that time frame of game development. That is why it is so polished for an EA game.

Stability/Graphically wise it's pretty polished.
I give it that.
Also I didn't know it was an alpha but I read it was in early access there too. If it was an alpha doesn't change the early access part.

But gameplay wise. This isn't polished. I wrote mods in the same category that this game is in with more content that had a better polish level at a beta stage. (And this is a beta effectively)

These issues I described are so bad that a lot of people will never beat the game.

These types of games are design wise intended to be played hundreds of hours where you build factories that are so large you can't see their ends.

Quiting after 36 hours and reaching the half way point is effectively giving it a 1/5 star rating.

[VinceG]

Originally posted by Birdorf:

It's early access. I'd say you've had pretty good value for money so far, have some patience, wait for updates.

You do understand that feedback like this is the reason why games improve, right? Like... what do you try to achieve with your input here? Is he supposed to be silent, never say anything and especially don't give feedback and wait for updates which probably never come because nobody is allowed to give feedback to improve the game?

How do you think the devs get ideas for what they should priorities and put into updates? Through feedback maybe?

[[INTRO] Maxumous]

Personally I just go and get all the Research done first then crap everything, before I start making a Assemble line. Personally I prefer this way and save space. use the mining ore deposits until you finish science pack VI then just refine telluxite to get your cpu. Then create the last science pack 5. Once you all unlocked everything reconstruct your base, as most are basic structures to get science packs on small creation of items. After you got every science unlocked, then reconstruct and start building the base you want to create robots and maintenance drones. I am going for warehouse creation for each production then export them to another level making it nice and tidy.

[Speiger]

Originally posted by MiniHerc:

Originally posted by Speiger:

- The Pipe system being everything manually decided is nice thing but also sucks because it just adds a timedrain and inconvenience to the game. Like try building 20 Steam generators. I stopped after 10 because I said: No thanks to it.

what do you mean by steam generators? those are the easiest thing to build. how did you lay them out?
this is how I did mine in my latest save (built far before jetpack): https://i.imgur.com/f9WfpoZ.jpeg

- Excavation of ores takes an unholy amount of time and until you have reached Science level 3 you have a really crappy time getting the resources out. Especially since ores tend to be deep underground, except for the first 2 guaranteed patches.

Did you make use of explosives? Before I got elevators, i dug down to the ore deposit, blasted out the area, then blasted a conveyor ramp out. https://i.imgur.com/OfvMbEk.jpeg

Fyi on phone that's why the weird answer style.

- Steam: since these machines were so big and I haven't formulated perfectly designed pattern yet, I wanted to build a pattern where the fuel belt goes between the generators/boilers with the option to share steam between all generators. I am not saying it's the best either but it showed me how problematic the fluid pipe system is... (Concrete die it too but it wasn't that bad)

- Ore excavation: list entry already included the fact that TNT existed. I use it in fact to dig out a rough frame and then I clean it up manually. Wasteful on time? Maybe but that doesn't change the fact that I always felt like: "I don't want to dig out another mine again". I do like a somewhat clean setup on things. Again I think that doesn't invalidate the point...

[red]

Originally posted by MiniHerc:

Originally posted by Speiger:

- The Pipe system being everything manually decided is nice thing but also sucks because it just adds a timedrain and inconvenience to the game. Like try building 20 Steam generators. I stopped after 10 because I said: No thanks to it.

what do you mean by steam generators? those are the easiest thing to build. how did you lay them out?
this is how I did mine in my latest save (built far before jetpack): https://i.imgur.com/f9WfpoZ.jpeg

- Excavation of ores takes an unholy amount of time and until you have reached Science level 3 you have a really crappy time getting the resources out. Especially since ores tend to be deep underground, except for the first 2 guaranteed patches.

Did you make use of explosives? Before I got elevators, i dug down to the ore deposit, blasted out the area, then blasted a conveyor ramp out. https://i.imgur.com/OfvMbEk.jpeg

Image link no longer works

[kremlin]

Tbh your critiques sound like the friction is because you want to play it the way you play Factory games, instead of adapting your playstyle to This Factory Game. Also, maybe you just burnt yourself out on it because you spent an entire work week playing it, rather than the game mechanics which obviously engaged you for an entire week on the job.

P.S. Don't expect perfection, this is a Factory game, enjoy the process of finding that perfection. Your point that you aren't building bigger because you don't know how to make it perfect? Figure out how to make it perfect for you. That's literally the Factory game.

[Hooch]

I agree with some of the op.

I use a single mod to fix a number of issues.

Inventory fix
Insta-Drilling
No night time
Bulk-Demolish Terrain
Improved Tooltip
Blueprint system
Increase drag length for building conveyors/foundation
Increase stack size in inventory

There are more, but these are the ones I use, and it completely changes the game (for me). It removes a lot of the monotony and allows me to focus more on planning, building, and learning to be more efficient. I've 100+ hours in the game so far (and in Tier V science), and haven't used any speed cheats (research/crafting/miners, etc) which exist in the same mod as abovve.

I am not affiliated with the mod or its maker in any way. I just think the mod can enhance some people's gameplay, particularly those who find the current state of the game somewhat lacking.

https://wiki.foundry-game.com/index.php/Mods_%26_Tools

[craig]

Which one is the blueprint system?

I use the same mod you do but I'm just getting used to it still. I've only used FastMiner and BulkDemolishTerrain. Both are huge QOL improvements.

[Double Deez Nuts]

u thought digging to regular ores took time? digging out ore veins takes way longer