Comment by bigstrat2003 9 days ago
Same. I didn't like Fulgora, then I didn't like Gleba, but pushed through to get to Aquilo so I could see all the content. But then Aquilo wasn't fun either thanks to the massive amount of ice platform I needed to build and how slow it is to build. I just stopped playing. Overall I was pretty unhappy with Space Age, as it doesn't really feel like Factorio any more (except for Vulcanus which is excellent).
I actually found the new mechanics on Fulgora and Gleba very enjoyable. Fulgora especially, for whatever reason. I enjoyed spaghetti-ing my way through all the planets by primarily using the resources available on that planet ("starter" rocket full of belts and power poles notwithstanding).
Aquilo is just so barren. The new mechanic it introduces locks down player choice, as opposed to the other planets that are rife with opportunities for exploration and creativity.
I think that Nauvis+Vulcanus you can still build gnarly mega bases, if the full space age isn't your thing.
I find fulgora and gleba a bit tedious, but I appreciate that each of them bring unique new restrictions/mechanics/challenges to the game. Vulcanus is actually the least inspired, from a mechanics perspective. Mining->lava. It's a good lead-in to those wilder planets.
I didn't like fulgora for a long time...I think I started having fun with it when I got fusion power there and deleted the accumulator farms. Gleba was a thorn in my side for a long time but finally got it to a place of stable (over)production. It's begging for a rebuild (massively abusing robots there currently).
I can imagine that getting different power would help. My biggest problem with Fulgora is that even on the largest islands, it's so cramped because you have to have huge amounts of accumulators to keep things up through the pauses between storms. The island where I built my Fulgora factory (not including scrap processing) is 50% filled with accumulators, and even then I still will lose power sometimes.
There's a few alternative ways to go about it. If you have heating towers from gleba, you can burn some excess solid fuel (and melted ice) from scrap to make steam. Might be short on ice but could drop some from orbit (if your asteroid processing tech is good enough?). Or cart in nuclear stuff from nauvis. If you've started on higher quality stuff you could probably recycle extra batteries and make higher quality accumulators (a little more space efficient...but if you're still power constrained you probably wouldn't be removing the old low quality ones...).
> Vulcanus is actually the least inspired, from a mechanics perspective.
I agree with that, but I also think that the huge mechanical divergence of the other planets is a bad thing. Like I said, building on other planets it really doesn't feel like Factorio any more... more some new game with Factorio graphics.
I've thought about this comment a bit, and I was debating on whether to "agree to disagree" or state my case.
I think that they are a terrific sequel/expansion to Factorio. It's still "Logistics: The Game".
Fulgora requires you to work in confined space and manage a complex situation regarding waste.
Gleba requires you to deal with stock that expires, sometimes dangerously. (Tip: Basically you need to keep refining the "dangerous" spoilable products into non-dangerous products constantly, or else burn it).
Aquilo I haven't gotten to yet.
These planets have expanded the scope of real-world logistics concepts one may think about in manufacturing, in my opinion. The expansion would have been a lot more boring if all they did was add stack inserters and turbo belts. If they are not fun, then there are mods to disable/modify recipes to not need them, while still getting all the cool new tech in Space Age.
> ... it doesn't really feel like Factorio any more...
Something that stands out is that Space Age is more of an adventure (overcome challenges in series) where Factorio the base game was a sandbox (challenges can be handled in parallel).
In the base game, if someone doesn't like rail then they can just ignore it for an entire playthrough. Ditto nuclear/solar, most military techs, most other logistics, and so on. If someone likes yellow belts and coal power that can carry them through an entire playthrough. If you don't like Gleba/spoilage, you can't skip it because it is necessary to see any parts of the game gated behind it which is Aquilo onwards. Heaven help you if you don't like how space platforms work, because they gate everything and are quite unique compared to the rest of the game which some players must hate.