Progression changes in SE0.7 (Patreon)

I’ve had some questions from Patrons that relate to progression in SE0.7 and the uniqueness of the new planets. Will they be different from each other in the way that planets are different in the Space Age (SA) expansion? The short answer is yes, they will be very different from each other in the same way as SA. That's always been the plan.

As long-time watchers of my roadmap will know, a lot of the planet styles and mechanics for SE were conceptualised long before SA existed. A lot of those ideas made their way into Space Age, which has the convenience of better engine support. (Examples below).

As I’ve mentioned before, the planets in 0.6 are essentially placeholders. They mostly have random resources and random terrain. To some extent that can make some interesting variability, but it’s not a designed experience. There are some designed components like the production chain for the special resources, but because the rest of the planet is random, that production chain generally can’t rely on other resources being there so needs to be more or less standalone, at least for 0.6.

The long-term plan was always to have much more unique types of planets with special gameplay mechanics, a primary resource, predictable secondary or basic resources to complement the main resource processing through to a science pack, and maybe some random tertiary resources that don’t matter too much. Usually the primary and secondary resources will be tied to the main mechanic, but sometimes they will have their own mechanics instead. 

As an example, in 0.7, vulcanite planets are volcanic and allow you to get lava. The lava can be used to get some secondary resources such as iron, copper and stone, but it is also a critical part of making the geologic science pack. You may remember that a while ago I gave a preview of what the lava was like in the 1.1 version of the game engine. Since then the 2.0 version of the game has been given support for more than just the water shader, so the future lava for SE will look a lot better thanks to support for it in the Space Age expansion.

For Space Age, the goals are different and the target audience is different, but some of the objectives are the same, so if an idea from SE is relevant to SA then I usually pitch it for that too. 

As another example, lightning has been on the SE roadmap since the beginning and specifically for the Holmium planet. I can talk about this now because Wube has made it public in the Factorio Friday Facts. As you probably know, in SA, Fulgora is a planet with both holmium and lightning. I pitched lightning for SA because it’s a good mechanic, but having it match up with holmium again is a little more coincidental. The two things weren't pitched together, it’s just that holmium was added to a list of lots of other elements and potential resources. It was chosen as a winner because it has some special properties, and then for the same reasons as in SE, it just makes sense to have both lightning and holmium on a planet where the theme is electromagnetism. 

Trying to push the difference between the planets has been a core focus for me. Initially people found some of my ideas a bit extreme, but in the big picture they make sense. As you may have heard in the FFFs, I put lava in the first gameplay prototype for SA, but it was taken out. Nearly unlimited iron, copper and stone does seem very powerful at first, but it’s not quite free, and even if it was, it’s all about context. It doesn’t matter if something’s extremely cheap on one planet if it’s a high volume resource and there’s a cost to move it around. Eventually lava as a resource was added back into SA because it makes the Vulcanus planet unique and interesting. 

The goal for planets in both SE and SA is to be as unique as possible. In SA it’s easier because there are fewer planets. In SE there are more planet types so there ends up being a bit more overlap, but on the other hand I can go a bit more wild with some of the planet’s other quirks, like the Vitamelange planet flooding.

As an example of the overlap: For the stars in SE, there are a number of different types of planet that can be very close to the star. These are Vulcanite, Iron, Uranium, Lithium, Stone. When any of these planets are extremely hot they can have lava, so lava isn’t unique to just 1 planet type. However, the lava on an iron planet looks different and is iron-rich so you get different resources from it compared to a vulcanite planet.

The planet types that have their own science pack will each have their own unique structure which can only be built on that planet. The vulcanite planet structure for the geologic science pack is the Magmaworks. 

In the starting system star type, all of the planets will have a local way to get all of the basic resources or an equivalent. For these planets you won’t be expected to import anything to get by and make the science pack for the planet, but you might want to come back later with something that can boost output or make some new toy.

The way you get resources, including the basic resources like iron, copper, and stone, will often be very different though. For example, you can get iron from lava on the vulcanite planet, from burning plants on the vitamelange planet, or as a byproduct of uranium processing on the uranium planet, or from bacterial slime on another planet. 

One of the things that is different from the original plan is that the early space phase of SE will have less of an interplanetary logistics focus. All the essentials are available locally for the first few planets and the interplanetary complexity will be added more gradually. 

The cargo rocket capacity will be reduced too (and made cheaper) so filling a rocket for a new expedition will be a lot faster. Basically, if you fling yourself off to a new planet then you won’t be able to take as much with you, but you also shouldn’t need to take much with you. 

After space science, you will have 6 science pack options to tackle next. 1 is in space, and the other 5 are different planet options. The space option makes space things easier, but for the planet options you are choosing between: Cooling & improved logistics, Beacons and efficiency, Nuclear stuff, Smelting & mining productivity, or General productivity but oil+chemistry in particular. 

After those there are 2 more science packs that are in space and these require some inter-planetary logistics approximately similar to 0.6 importing resources from planets you already have. 

Once all the science in your starting system is done, you are forced to go interstellar. Rockets can’t do interstellar trips at this point, so it must be done via spaceship. You can unlock interstellar rockets later by visiting the other stars.

The resources you need for the next packs are in interstellar asteroid fields, around metallic stars, or around organic (carbon-rich) stars. Metallic stars have planets with lots of metals like the ones you’re used to, plus iridium and lithium, but they won’t have many other resources like oil, coal, or cryonite. Organic stars won’t have as many metals, but they will have more coal, oil, and cryonite, plus they can have Deuterium and Xenorkyd planets. 

The planets you need to visit around other stars will be lacking 1 of the basic resources. Iridium planets for example, probably won’t have an oil or coal source or something equivalent to it, so you’ll need to import some. (It can’t require too much because I still want interstellar deliveries to be a viable option.)

In total you need to go to 9 different planets and build “something” there. It’s not always a proper base build though, the Deuterium planet is difficult to build on so that’s going to be more of a mining outpost for most people.

For total game length, I’m aiming for it to be a bit shorter than 0.6, but it’s fairly likely it will be the same or slightly longer. You are visiting more planets, and the planets have more quirks to figure out, so that side will take longer. 

So how can it be faster?

• The early planets will be self-sufficient so they’re less subject to inter-planetary logistic breakdowns that can slow down the game.  

• A lot of the extra stuff to do on a planet relating to its science pack is the equivalent 0.6 space science data card actions. This isn’t added content, it's moved and altered content, so it’s not extra work.

• There are 3 tech cards per catalogue instead of 4 so you save 25% there. The less interesting ones are gone (so of course smashing trains together is still there). 

• Each planet should have some shortcuts to help you get stuff back off the planet. Maybe they have an easy delivery cannon capsule recipe, maybe an easy rocket section recipe, maybe very low gravity for a spaceship to take off and land, or maybe they’re well-suited to a space elevator. 

• The very late game should be sped up a bit due to bigger bonuses and maybe reduced costs. 

That last point about bonuses isn’t just about things like more research and mining productivity but also things like new toys. As part of getting 0.6 ‘ready’ I was mainly focussing on getting the skeleton of the game in place so a lot of the smaller addons aren’t there. To some extent 0.7 might be that way too at first, but it’s a platform that I can build on for new features like jump clones, or some new flying assistants. Planets first though.