[lively, industrious music playing] [turret gunfire]
[lively, industrious music playing] [lively, industrious music playing] "Factorio" is a factory-construction and survival game. Covering every detail would drive me more into the Abyss. At the time of recording, it's dark outside. I don't know if I'm closer to the sun setting or rising. People call this game "Cracktorio" for good reason. I've always had to be careful with it; I could never seem to play 'just a bit' of "Factorio". Like any hard drug, you can go 'that looks fun!', but by the time you recognize you're in the spiral, it's already too late. The premise itself is deceptively simple: you've crash-landed on an alien planet, and need to figure out how to build a rocket to escape it. At the same time, you need to deal with the locals. They're not too happy about you dumping uranium in their water supply, and everything else you get up to. You know how in "Subnautica" space law says you're not allowed to 3D-print guns? In "Factorio", you make rouge nuclear weapons. Then you could slap a multi-nuke launcher on a spider mech, just to see if there's a god out there that'll stop you. Well, they're either not here, or they approve of my actions. TELE-PUNDIT: "BRAIN BUGS!? FRANKLY, I FIND THE IDEA OF A BUG THAT THINKS OFFENSIVE!" So you need to get to space by any means necessary, and "any means necessary" always means expanding the factory. They're are plenty of game modes, including multiplayer with PvP, a map-editor, scenarios, you name it. But for this, I'll mainly be focusing on freeplay. The Chosen Way. It has tons of options, and you can customize your game how you see fit. "Factorio" is not instantly overwhelming. It's a journey. So I'm going to start off small, and then work my way up. From a humble craftsman, to a 'Dateline:NBC' Story. I find "Factorio" visually appealing, in the same ways I did for "Brigador". All the machinery in the game has an insane amount of detail to it. The animation and resolution is great, and it should be for a game about factories. But the scale the game can get to is gigantic. This one here is pretty compact by "Factorio" standards. You could go with a sprawling 'main bus' design, with efficient and beautiful parallel-production. But that would make too much sense, and bugs keep attacking me. So, instead of being an architectural Rain Man, you can just be a spaghetti chef, like me! You might even have a magical Mechanicus moment, where, after dozens of hours of playing, you're not entirely sure how the factory works anymore. Where does light oil go? I don't know. Why is this belt such a mess? Did I fix it? Or was there a reason, and I broke something? At this point, a stranger could reasonably understand the Wonka factory better. So the assets are great, but the readability of your factory is all on you. These are some filthy machines, and you'll see the effects of their pollution over time. Once again, there's a lot of detail here. Pollution is a trackable stat. How much a tree absorbs is based on its leaf density. They really spared no expense here. Pollution also has an effect on the neighboring aliens. Consuming pollution makes them evolve into larger and deadlier forms, and soon they'll be at the door to rip down your factory. The aliens and their weapons are all biological; The perfect enemy. At the same time, they're interesting. I'm not sure if natural creatures would want to rip down the buildings giving them growth hormone. And while they are horrible bugs, they also have these big expressive eyes, so they’re strangely cute. [Nyaaa!]
And while they are horrible bugs, they also have these big expressive eyes, so they’re strangely cute. [Nyaaa!]
Maybe other aliens made them to protect the planet. Maybe other aliens made them to protect the planet. But you know what? Them pooping in the woods and not using a cellphone doesn’t make them better than me. “Burn the witch!” “Factorio” also comes with a pleasant soundscape. The hum of industry is ever-present. [ever-present low hum of industry, hissing of emissions] [busy chirping of mechanisms] [thudding cannon fire] Hey, war is my business too… The actual quality of sound effects does jump around a bit. The important thing is that it’s never grating – it gets the job done. The sound even reduces when you open up your inventory, just to help you concentrate better. The music follows the same kind of direction. The tracks range from being tense to kind of lonely, but never too distracting to your work. Think of it like study music. [Factorio OST - Gathering Horizon] [Factorio OST - Solar Intervention] [Factorio OST - Expansions] I really don’t have much to say on it. Like the factory itself, it works fine. So that brings us to the gameplay and the constant struggle – the factory must grow. [angry hissing] It looks like Pol Pot over here is angry about the latest oil refinery. That’s no problem. If you’ve seen the trailers or a high-end factory, the game might look overly complex, but it’s really not. Things start out easy, and there are plenty of tutorials you can use to master the harder stuff. For a brief time you mine resources by hand. This is basically a joke, but it does teach you what can be collected, because you’re not a God Machine yet. You use miners that are slow and use fuel, but automate the process. So that will work for a while, and you might find some tricks, but there must be a better way. And there is. Electrical miners are way better, but they need power, so you get a boiler and steam engine to power the grid. With belts and robotic inserter arm, it even fuels itself. But a single engine only makes so much power, so you need to make more, which means more fuel. The ore you collect is smelted down into plates. In turn, they go inside of an assembler to make an item, and more items can go into more assemblers. Green chip, red chip, blue chip – robot. That’s the beauty of “Factorio”. The relatively simple tasks, but they feed into complicated outcomes. You’re also not overwhelmed, because you don’t start with everything from the get go. You need to research them through your technology. That’s done by feeding items into a lab building. So the factory is constantly thirsty for brain potions, but the more you feed it, the more wonders you unlock. Take the bugs – sure you could just go shoot the bugs, but with research, you could set up a wall-and-turret choke point. However, gun turrets need to be loaded, so I went and made a mini ammo factory for the wall. It’s a shooting gallery down there, but it will be hard for the guns to run dry. That is until the bugs start getting bigger. Well, the laser turrets never run dry. As long as the power grid holds up, I should be fine. [electrical failure noise] As it turns out, lasers need a lot of power. Bugs at the wrong time can mean the entire factory shuts down. DIMITRI: “I didn’t like that…” Flamethrower turrets are good, but need oil, and the bugs are on the oil, so it’s back to the lab. [muffled sounds of Caramelldansen rave] Custom power armor is usually a good solution, but an expensive one. [*woosh*] There are tons of ways to approach most problems, and “Factorio” will constantly having you say “You can do that?!” Because, sure, you could upgrade belts, or have belts upgraded for you, but you could use a completely new method, like trains. Multiple trains. All running automatically on the same network with the signal system. Better fuel gives better speed and acceleration, so the next thing you know, you want nuclear trains. “Factorio” has options that let you go deeper here, but you don’t have to. There is an entire circuit and signal system to learn. You never really need it. The thing is: nuclear trains are fast. They kept teaching me hard lessons when I wasn’t paying attention. DIMITRI: “It’s- It’s coming, get off the trains.” MANDALORE: “Get off- UGHH!” SHAMMY: “Eh-hah-hah-hah!” MANDALORE: “That was so close!” Now, I could just OSHA the place up (and I did), but I also learned enough about signals to make an alarm. [alarm sound] Because the last thing I need are more workplace accidents. SSETH: “Get that suit off, man! You’re in trouble!” SSETH: “Don’t worry, I’ll kill you.” MANDALORE: “How bad is it?” SSETH: “You got a minor blunt force trauma, I recommend eggs.” There is the option to forego trains, and make really long belts and pumps. How about a logistics network for robots? Items can be sent where they need to go, or brought to you automatically. Hell, they can build and maintain on their own! You can ascend from your body and control everything with robots. The release version added a spidertron robot mech thing, which you could equip with a grid, just like power armor. So you can build one with robots and blueprints, and send it out into the wild to make a new base. I enjoy games that scale from you being a doofus into a god. This is a good one of those. You go from learning about belts and coal to mastering uranium enrichment and nuclear power. There’s always something more to learn or do. You’re constantly after the next big building or tech or upgrade. It’s a lot to do, and, as a wise man once said, “Ritalin really helps”. This also ties into what makes the multiplayer so worthwhile. Any game is fun with friends, we all know that. “Factorio” does support things like that with aspects like having multi-crewed vehicles, but there’s more meta aspect to it. The game has so much in it that it’s likely other players know stuff that you don’t. When did they add filters into splitters? You get more quickbars from the interface menu? Oh… DIMITRI: “I will begin the de-population process.” I could talk a long time on how many systems there are, and all the things you can do, but that’s just an instruction manual at that point. This has just been a peek into the Vale of Madness. It’s dangerously addictive, but there are some shortcomings. Most I don’t notice until I’m dozens of hours in, and it’s too late for me, but here’s an example: the concrete. You can place it down to move much faster, and it’s used in some higher-end buildings. For a much higher investment, you can turn it into refined concrete. You can put this down to move slightly faster and... nothing else. No higher-tier walls or buildings – nothing. So, to compare the investment, it just doesn’t seem worth it. Just strange gaps like that. You have three types of furnaces, but only two kinds of drills. A few buildings seem like they could use a variant, or at least some more tech. The game wants you to use modules and beacons, but that always pales in comparison to shiny new buildings. I also find the endgame kind of weak. The aliens only have two kinds of units to send at your base, and while they do get bigger and meaner, they’re not very challenging or exciting. I have yet to see them breach the self-replicating minefield. Maybe building the rocket silo could send them into a frenzy? Let’s see how strong the factory really is! You have the option to stay on the planet and research repeatable techs, but it doesn’t feel like much, and it’s already overkill. If the enemies were deadlier, the spidertrons would be great to focus on. Maybe give them something like a virtual rail patrol path. Truly ascend into “AlmostStarCraft”, instead of the remote that… doesn’t… Well, it has issues. Also, what is this blueprint save system? I mean, it’s, like, separated, but… no. Of course, it’s really easy to think of things to just add on to “Factorio”. I won’t be going down that rabbit hole, but it does seem strange there’s no kind of recycling building. Even if it was a horribly inefficient one. Otherwise, you do end up with useless items that you just shove in a box and shoot. They are small issues, and there are mods to address nearly all of them. I would show some examples, but, if I look at the mod page, I might not be coming back. The modding scene is truly sprawling, so, enter if you dare. I can’t recommend “Factorio” enough. It can truly suck you in. 1.0 may be here, but the developers are threatening to release more updates. I don’t think I should be allowed to see them, for my own safety. You can buy it from GOG at the pinned link, but at no current discount, because I think they realized they’re selling virtual crack. At least, you have 30 days to try it, compared to Steam’s 2 hours. Losing control of my life has never been so convenient. However, October is coming! I talked about ghosts and ghouls last year, but no aliens. We’ll have aliens this year. I’ll see you then. [siren going off] SHAMMY: “Why is it doing that?” DIMITRI: “Heh-heh-hah-hah!” There won’t be a Halloween video a week, like last year, but something’s being cooked up. Derrick Graham: “What game do you never uninstall?” “Deus Ex” and “Morrowind”. They’re huge games, but pretty small file size. No reason not to have them on hand. Duke Jacob Von Briton: “[Are you] going to open the Pandora’s box of “Factorio” modding?” No, unless I do plan on making a “Factorio” mod video. I’ve seen those Angel-Bob ones, and the aircraft ones, and, eh… If I get into it, I might not be getting out. I’m legitimately afraid what could happen. Andrew Walli: “Any horse in the console wars?” Not really. I’ll probably get a PS5 eventually, for the 4K blue-ray player and the games on it. My PC is fine, so no real reason to get an Xbox. Who knows, maybe things will change. Matthew McConnell: “What would you be doing if YouTube didn’t happen?” I’d be doing my old job, instead of contract work. I know for a fact they’re always busy, and corona really won’t slow them down or anything like that. I’d still be making these, just a lot slower. Joshua Mettlach (Shadow): “Is there a mechanic devs keep adding that [you] don’t like?” Well, not really a mechanic, but more of an open world design. The completely useless ones, where the map is basically empty, save for collectibles, and it’s just to kill time. I never get it. Anyways, that’s it for now. Oh, it’s a girl!
Great review as always. Already owned the game for a while but his videos are just so enjoyable.
And the labs blasting Caramelldansen really gave me a good laugh.
I've been playing a bit since I'm waiting fo the new Path season, but I always get stuck on the most efficient way to just start a base. I've always gotten it to the part where I'm automating stuff but I find out I need to split more iron off and my production hits a standstill. Does anyone have guides or videos or some reading on some plans for the first bit of starting?
This is one of those games where I played it religiously until I just quick cold turkey becuase it was turning into a second job. Eventually my factory got too big where I forgot how things worked and it wasn't very easy to add on to. Reminded me too much of my software development job. I honestly feel like you need an engineering degree to build an efficient, large scale factory.
I played this game with 7 player co-op, and was incredibly surprised how fun and balanced it still was. With so many people, you weren't quite so inspired to automate everything, which in turn slowed the progression of the game down a bit. This resulted in the game somehow remaining in a good flow state (that sweet spot between overly challenging and boring) even with way more bodies being thrown at it.
YOU CAN ADD MORE QUICKBARS?
Edit: I swear to god I have dug through the settings multiple times looking for this dumb feature
Also while I'm here the inventory management of blueprints is a fucking nightmare thank you for listening to my ted talk
I got to a point in Factorio where I was not at all satisfied with how I laid things out. I think at this point I need to tear everything apart and completely rebuild. I might need to map it out on paper.
I'm surprised he talked so much about fighting the biters. Usually I turn off the aliens since I find them far less interesting than focusing on the logistical challenges.
For me the best part of Factorio is when I'm not even playing the game but instead planning designs in a notebook, trying to figure out input-output ratios like I'm doing math homework.
For anyone who plays modded Factorio, what are some of the best mods around?
One of the many games I've resigned to never touching just on the fact I already know I'm too stupid to play it.