Just bought the game; What were Your first impressions?

[Firestronk]

Wtf did I get myself into.... The next day I stayed up till 1am playing Factorio xd

[Engimage]

I bought Factorio a couple weeks ago.

My first impression was like WOW this game really defies modern tendencies of game design and triggers feelings which I had in 90s games. A lot of soul energy is put in it. Creativity flows through it and forces your brain to actually work

After a day of play I just could not sleep almost a whole night with my brain inventing new factory designs and options. I just could not calm it to sleep!

So all those thumbs up for game devs! Just implement those oil wagons and make me a happy panda!

The only confusion about the game on Steam is the lack of automatic updates. I was playing 0.12.35 up until I accidentally saw the news about 0.13 being released and could not see the changes. Now I manually opt for beta releases but it is a bad design for default behaviour..

[vedrit]

The only confusion about the game on Steam is the lack of automatic updates. I was playing 0.12.35 up until I accidentally saw the news about 0.13 being released and could not see the changes. Now I manually opt for beta releases but it is a bad design for default behaviour..

Since 0.13 is experimental, I think it is completely valid that it not automatically distributed to everyone due to its unstable nature. Not everyone wants to play the experimental version, especially since it breaks mods

[MuhmachtdieKuh]

first impression: how the fuck does this shit work?!?!?!

second impression: aaaaaaah, im an idiot!

third impression: how the fuck does this shit work?!?!?!

[brunzenstein]

first impression: how the fuck does this shit work?!?!?!

second impression: aaaaaaah, im an idiot!

third impression: how the fuck does this shit work?!?!?!

The internet is your friend: http://www.factorio.com/videos

[brunzenstein]

The only confusion about the game on Steam is the lack of automatic updates. I was playing 0.12.35 up until I accidentally saw the news about 0.13 being released and could not see the changes. Now I manually opt for beta releases but it is a bad design for default behaviour..

Since 0.13 is experimental, I think it is completely valid that it not automatically distributed to everyone due to its unstable nature. Not everyone wants to play the experimental version, especially since it breaks mods

The new in-game mod portal makes your statement long outdated and the quoting "unstable" is imho a opinion which don't hold even a drop of water

[MuhmachtdieKuh]

first impression: how the fuck does this shit work?!?!?!

second impression: aaaaaaah, im an idiot!

third impression: how the fuck does this shit work?!?!?!

The internet is your friend: http://www.factorio.com/videos

nah, learning by videos taking away all the fun. i made it up to oil without videos for now. now im heading for science pack 3

[vedrit]

The only confusion about the game on Steam is the lack of automatic updates. I was playing 0.12.35 up until I accidentally saw the news about 0.13 being released and could not see the changes. Now I manually opt for beta releases but it is a bad design for default behaviour..

Since 0.13 is experimental, I think it is completely valid that it not automatically distributed to everyone due to its unstable nature. Not everyone wants to play the experimental version, especially since it breaks mods

The new in-game mod portal makes your statement long outdated and the quoting "unstable" is imho a opinion which don't hold even a drop of water

...
Except that 0.13 literally is unstable. There are bugs and crashes that the Factorio team is focusing on fixing. Why do you think that 0.12.35 is the most recent stable version?
And how does the mod portal fix anything? Mods made for 0.12 don't work in 0.13, and nothing but fixing the mod will solve anything. The portal is merely a method for those fixes to be distributed.
Your response is grossly misinformed, ignorant, and does not benefit anyone.

[brunzenstein]

The only confusion about the game on Steam is the lack of automatic updates. I was playing 0.12.35 up until I accidentally saw the news about 0.13 being released and could not see the changes. Now I manually opt for beta releases but it is a bad design for default behaviour..

Since 0.13 is experimental, I think it is completely valid that it not automatically distributed to everyone due to its unstable nature. Not everyone wants to play the experimental version, especially since it breaks mods

The new in-game mod portal makes your statement long outdated and the quoting "unstable" is imho a opinion which don't hold even a drop of water

...
Except that 0.13 literally is unstable. There are bugs and crashes that the Factorio team is focusing on fixing. Why do you think that 0.12.35 is the most recent stable version?
And how does the mod portal fix anything? Mods made for 0.12 don't work in 0.13, and nothing but fixing the mod will solve anything. The portal is merely a method for those fixes to be distributed.
Your response is grossly misinformed, ignorant, and does not benefit anyone.

Sir!
- For me as a single player even the experimental Factorio version 0.13.6 is very stable.
The former versions are stable like a lightning tower. They didn't crash on me a single time.
- mods written for 0.12 are not to be out of the box used in 0.13 - live with it
- All mods offered within the current experimental Factorio mod portal work seamless and can be updated transparent.
Thanks you for your kind attention

[vedrit]

The only confusion about the game on Steam is the lack of automatic updates. I was playing 0.12.35 up until I accidentally saw the news about 0.13 being released and could not see the changes. Now I manually opt for beta releases but it is a bad design for default behaviour..

Since 0.13 is experimental, I think it is completely valid that it not automatically distributed to everyone due to its unstable nature. Not everyone wants to play the experimental version, especially since it breaks mods

The new in-game mod portal makes your statement long outdated and the quoting "unstable" is imho a opinion which don't hold even a drop of water

...
Except that 0.13 literally is unstable. There are bugs and crashes that the Factorio team is focusing on fixing. Why do you think that 0.12.35 is the most recent stable version?
And how does the mod portal fix anything? Mods made for 0.12 don't work in 0.13, and nothing but fixing the mod will solve anything. The portal is merely a method for those fixes to be distributed.
Your response is grossly misinformed, ignorant, and does not benefit anyone.

Sir!
- For me as a single player even the experimental Factorio version 0.13.6 is very stable.
The former versions are stable like a lightning tower. They didn't crash on me a single time.
- mods written for 0.12 are not to be out of the box used in 0.13 - live with it
- All mods offered within the current experimental Factorio mod portal work seamless and can be updated transparent.
Thanks you for your kind attention

Just because you or I have not experienced a crash does not mean it's stable. Judging by the number of crash fixes in the update notes every day, lots of people are experiencing lots of different crash instances.
Should 0.13 go through a similar change as 0.12.10, the mod portal still won't help if mod developers don't correct for changes. The update will still break mods. Many users don't want to deal with updates causing their mods to break.
Currently, yes, mods uploaded to the mod portal can generally be assumed to be functional. But this may not always be the case.

I would not suggest anyone remain on the 0.12.35 stable build, unless there's a mod they cannot play without that hasn't been updated, but neither do I think it's a bad idea that Factorio not force experimental builds on all users.

[brunzenstein]

I would not suggest anyone remain on the 0.12.35 stable build, unless there's a mod they cannot play without that hasn't been updated, but neither do I think it's a bad idea that Factorio not force experimental builds on all users.

Trying the 0.13.6 is like taking first time a drug as it offers so much more in functionality and nifty improvements that if tried once one never looks back. It would be shame walking in old well worn comfortable slippers when a handmade British shoes are on the shelf. Even if they may be for some a litte tight fitting. Lose litte take a lot - for free.
Quite some 0.12 mods are obsolete as a lot of them are now on board included, many are updated and available from the onboard store. The stability is for normal users stable like a Stonehenge rock. Users with big factories they don't want to rework as they are relying on mods which are not updated until now better stay. But as they avarage advanced Factorio gamer is by his DMA loving to experiment this question is mostly academical. For beginners the unavailability of mods they don't know in first place can no be deal breaker.
So a minority will stay and the majority will happily move forward to 013.6 - imho..

[PUMPkinNET]

I bought Factorio a couple weeks ago.

My first impression was like WOW this game really defies modern tendencies of game design and triggers feelings which I had in 90s games. A lot of soul energy is put in it. Creativity flows through it and forces your brain to actually work

After a day of play I just could not sleep almost a whole night with my brain inventing new factory designs and options. I just could not calm it to sleep!

So all those thumbs up for game devs! Just implement those oil wagons and make me a happy panda!

The only confusion about the game on Steam is the lack of automatic updates. I was playing 0.12.35 up until I accidentally saw the news about 0.13 being released and could not see the changes. Now I manually opt for beta releases but it is a bad design for default behaviour..

Thats probably experimental version, and I don't really know about it...

My first impression is "HOW DO YA GET THE FLIPPIN' MULTIPLAYER WORKING?!?!?! "

[mischievousgod]

I think I got Factorio like a month ago or so... Saw it in Steam frontpage, seemed interesting, got into games Steam Store Page, watched the trailer, turned to "Gonna buy and play when there's time...".
Actually I started playing Factorio while I was waiting for a Heroes of The Storm matches to begin (lol, anyone who plays it know it can take a while).

I expected to play something close to Transport Tycoon, that would be really great as this was a old one I really loved, but it surpass Transport Tycoon in every aspect.
I also came from Terraria and Starbound, which also have a lot of item crafting...

Factorio mix Terraria/Minecraft item crafting with Transport Tycoon logistic puzzles... end result: I love Factorio!

My playtime is limited (married and so on...), but now I'm taking time from my Heroes of The Storm sessions to play Factorio more and more...

Congratulations guys, Instaclassic!

[Grendus]

The game is much more fun with biters maxed. With them turned down low, they were actually more intimidating since I never knew when they would attack and it was tempting to fight them off myself as repairs were cheaper than the investment in defenses, but rebuilding is depressing. With biters set to max, attacks are a given so you just surround your base with a turret wall and refill/repair it periodically. Expansion becomes a question of resources rather than space. And they're still not very intimidating, assuming you tech at a decent rate.

The jump from green to blue science is huge. Purple is so much easier, artifacts are easy to get once you have the fully upgraded shotgun, or better, the flamethrower. Red circuits are a pain in the ass to manufacture. Inserters are surprisingly simple.

BTW, flamethrower is OP. I kind of think that it's baseline level now should be the fully upgraded form. Once you've invested that heavily in a weapon it's fine for it to be devastating, but as is all you have to do is get in just close enough to spray a worm or nest and it dies. It should also hurt a lot more to light yourself on fire, the flamethrower barely dings the power armor but fries all the biters that are attacking you.

World gen still sucks. Some worlds are resource rich, others are critically lacking in one or more things. At bare minimum, you need a huge patch of iron and a small patch of copper, coal, and stone. In theory you can build a rail line to get oil, or just pump it across the map (biters will usually ignore the pipes, and a turret bunker can protect the pumps) but you have to have the first three or you can't tech out.

[gixbit]

The game is much more fun with biters maxed. With them turned down low, they were actually more intimidating since I never knew when they would attack and it was tempting to fight them off myself as repairs were cheaper than the investment in defenses, but rebuilding is depressing. With biters set to max, attacks are a given so you just surround your base with a turret wall and refill/repair it periodically. Expansion becomes a question of resources rather than space. And they're still not very intimidating, assuming you tech at a decent rate.

The jump from green to blue science is huge. Purple is so much easier, artifacts are easy to get once you have the fully upgraded shotgun, or better, the flamethrower. Red circuits are a pain in the ass to manufacture. Inserters are surprisingly simple.

BTW, flamethrower is OP. I kind of think that it's baseline level now should be the fully upgraded form. Once you've invested that heavily in a weapon it's fine for it to be devastating, but as is all you have to do is get in just close enough to spray a worm or nest and it dies. It should also hurt a lot more to light yourself on fire, the flamethrower barely dings the power armor but fries all the biters that are attacking you.

World gen still sucks. Some worlds are resource rich, others are critically lacking in one or more things. At bare minimum, you need a huge patch of iron and a small patch of copper, coal, and stone. In theory you can build a rail line to get oil, or just pump it across the map (biters will usually ignore the pipes, and a turret bunker can protect the pumps) but you have to have the first three or you can't tech out.

Like I said to some other people on the steam discussion. If you find biters easy, just keep those settings, add a few enemy mods and natural evolution, changes the AI a bit. You won't be singing the same tune at that point.

As far as blue packs go, I think its not that huge, Steel, some oil, using stuff you're already making to make red circuits, filter inserters or whatever they are now which really arent that hard, just a few more factories, the batteries were always the worst if you ask me, because sometimes oil can be a bit annoying. Redcircuits just take forever, increase your throughput and it gets easier to fab them. This idea that the game is too easy is really how much you're willing to do to make it harder for yourself. I personally believe that logi robots now are more or less not as good overall if you're willing to put effort into belts. The only thing logi robots are really good for is moving some simple resources that aren't really required but you can certainly spam tons of logi to use only logi, but, when you add distance to the equation, like long spanning bases, its just not worth it at that point. Considering how the game picks logi drones to send, could be very inconvenient.

EDIT: I also believe that if you use resource overhaul mod, it removes a bit of your complaint about resource gen, but, its easy to make a huge belt out to some iron, i mean, i've got my iron and copper right now in a new map about a few screens apart, and i thought that was pretty good. Coal is about 2-3 screens away from iron. It isn't that bad. Once you get trains you can get them full first then send them out to some main location to send iron around. Either by logi or not.

[Grendus]

As far as blue packs go, I think its not that huge, Steel, some oil, using stuff you're already making to make red circuits, filter inserters or whatever they are now which really arent that hard, just a few more factories, the batteries were always the worst if you ask me, because sometimes oil can be a bit annoying. Redcircuits just take forever, increase your throughput and it gets easier to fab them. This idea that the game is too easy is really how much you're willing to do to make it harder for yourself. I personally believe that logi robots now are more or less not as good overall if you're willing to put effort into belts. The only thing logi robots are really good for is moving some simple resources that aren't really required but you can certainly spam tons of logi to use only logi, but, when you add distance to the equation, like long spanning bases, its just not worth it at that point. Considering how the game picks logi drones to send, could be very inconvenient.

It's not so much a manufacturing speed issue as it is just the overwhelming complexity of needing to go down three additional manufacturing trees. Steel isn't hard to set up, but unless you have a bus setup it's hard to get from manufacturing to production without drones. Oil is complex, but the biggest issue is needing two byproducts, plastic and batteries, which is overwhelming for newcomers. Especially since batteries are fairly complicated (5 steps in the process). Once you get past blue science it's all downhill. That said, I managed to figure it out, it's just the first time can be kind of overwhelming compared to green science which is just a simple extension of the principles you mastered for red.

My experience with logistic drones is they're better for distributing primary manufactured goods (circuits, gears, steel, etc) to secondary manufacturing sites like module assemblers. The main bus is better for large scale manufacturing runs, while the drone deliveries are ideal for things you only need a few dozen of at a time.

[Nilaus]

This thread seem to have deteriorated into a discussion rather than first impressions... Let me add a first impression to get back on track.

I've had Factorio on my wishlist and follow in Steam for a while and the graphics kept me from purchasing it despite the fact that the game play looked interesting.

I eventually bought it (obviously) and was immediately hooked. At first it is about discovering how things fit together and what is needed to make the next step of the tech evolution. This is incredibly well done with a great sense of discovery. At first red science seems complicated, but once the spaghetti base accommodates it then you forget about it and move on. I love the slow pace of the game. There is time to monitor the factory and see how it is performing and notice where the ratios are not fitting together or when you split an iron belt so many times that almost nothing reaches the last important branch.

Some things that I notice as a first time player that becomes part of the game, but is hard to get started on:
- Trains are a brilliant addition to the game, but very unintuitive to automate. The "no path" error drove me crazy and I had to seek refuge on YouTube for assistance.
- Oil was in my first play through very far away and then only a couple of patches. Managing and balancing the flow out of the refinery is a nice challenge after a while, but in the beginning it caused some frustration why it stopped even though everything was connected (one of the components was backed up and stopped the line). Don't change it, but please make an effort to explain it.

By far my biggest gripe with the game is the lack of a campaign. The 4 missions are cool, but it seems like a relatively small task to create a 15-20 mission campaign where each tech step is introduced. This will create a much smoother transition to the "normal" games.

I am also wondering about the replayability of the game. First playthrough I learned how everything works and the second playthrough I will plan it out better and have a more smooth flow through it. There is only 1 way to finish the game and it most go through all the tech, which can limit the replayability. There are no separate "diplomatic" or "scientific" or "conquest" victory conditions. Each consecutive game will of course be smoother, but the returns in improvement will be severely diminished for each successive playthough.

Don't get me wrong; I am totally in love with the game and play it way too much I just want MORE of it...

[jonathansty]

When I first discovered factorio I immediately downloaded the demo to see if it was gonna be worth playing. I had so much fun on the demo that I immediately bought the game.
I'm now almost launching my first rocket in vanilla. The game starts out easy. Some upgrades are a little harder to reach and some production lines take some planning. I've rebuilt many shitty factories. I look forward to loading my game full of mods to play with some friends. I hooked up a friend to factorio too .

[SeelenJaegerTee]

Yay awesome.
This post is so I can post my mod url.

[Woodmn]

Beginning: Ok Woodmn, you've played the demo to death, you've watched at least 1 complete play through, you can do this. *sets biters to peaceful and minimal*
Starts first factory: Sleep? Oh I don't need that, the lack of iron needs me more.
Needs alien tech: Ok maybe peaceful biters was a bad idea...
Finishes: That was fun... if a little boring at the end... lets start another, except with more resources and biters on normal, just with a big starting area!
Halfway through second factory: This is too easy and confusing... ANOTHER!, this time with some basic mods!
*Installs RSO, the evolution indicator, Warehouse mod*
Starts third factory: Oh wait, I have school work to do... faaakkkk...
Halfway through third factory: Ok I need to stop and do work.
A few days later: Oh lets look at the forums -> Now.