[0.17+] Space Exploration WIP

[Earendel]

Title: Space Exploration
Short Description: Build Cargo Rockets launch stuff into space. Ride a rocket into space and start spacewalking. Build a an orbital space platform to develop advanced space science. Discover other planets, moons, asteroid fields, and explore them all.
Name: space-exploration
Mod State: Experimental / early alpha.
Dependencies: Base, AAI Industry, Alien Biomes, Robot Attrition
Author: Earendel
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/earendel
Discord: https://discord.gg/ymjUVMv
Wiki: https://spaceexploration.miraheze.org
Downloads: Mod Portal

I don't check this thread, if you want to give feedback, suggestions, or bug reports please use my Discord.

New worlds

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Over 500 new places to visit - planets, moons, stars, asteroids fields and more. Launch a navigation satellite to discover the next location. Each location has its own resource bias and challenges. Tight integration with the Alien Biomes mod means planets each have a visual character.


Navigation Satellite Uplink

Once you have launched a navigation satellite you can use the uplink at any time. This allows you to look around in bird’s-eye view. You can look at any planet you have discovered and scout the surface. You can even make data-changes while in this mode, changing combinator, requester, or inserter settings. You can also use blueprint library blueprints, the deconstruction planner, copy and paste, etc. Press N to start/end an uplink.

Starmap

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Accessed via the satellite uplink, it shows you where stars, asteroid fields, and spaceships are relative to each other.

Cargo rockets

Launch a huge cargo inventory from anywhere to anywhere. Not only can you launch items but you can enter the rocket and ride along into orbit, or different planets and moons.

Spacewalking

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You can float around in space with momentum. Your thruster suit will keep you safe and let you fly around in style.

Space stations

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Build your own space stations using space platform. You can build science space stations, asteroid mining space stations, or solar collection space stations near stars. Your thruster suit has magboots so you won’t fly way.

Space sciences

Space science is now used in space by the space science lab. You can also develop 4 new advanced space sciences in using specialised equipment: astronomical, biological, material, and energy. Be warned: These new sciences are data-driven and more difficult to set up. A basic initial setup is not going to be resource efficient, but you can develop the sciences further to unlock more resource efficient recipes. Which one will you invest in first?

Spaceships

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Build your own spaceship block by block. The core component is the spaceship console. Make sure it is on spaceship floor and surrounded by spaceship walls or doors. It needs containment from outside space so make sure there are no gaps. Attach a rocket engine, launch booster, some accumulators and lasers and you’re good to go. Fly from anywhere to anywhere. Upgrades let you build bigger ships. One day you might have a factory ship with an internal rail systems.

Planet core mining

Exhausted all the other resources on a planet? Or maybe you just have excess energy. Planet mining offers endless resources but at a high power cost. Multiple core miners on the same planet have diminishing returns, so you get more resources but pay more energy per resource. Each planet or moon has its own core fragment type that yields different resources.

Signal transmissions (Separated into an optional dependency.)

Allows you to send circuit signals from anywhere to anywhere, even different planets. Among other things, this allows you to have automated logistic cargo rocket systems.

Tesla gun

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It shoots chain-lightning to hit up to 30 semi-random targets per shot… and it’s rapid fire. Only damages enemies trees and rocks. This is the most fun weapon.

Plague rocket

This is extremely dangerous, save before you use it. One shot can wipe out all life from a planet and might strain your computer in the process.

Meteors

They fall from the sky and usually land somewhere remote adding extra resources. Sometimes they hit a structure which is unfortunate, but happens rarely. Meteor rate is mod option.

Respawn on death
It’s not game over when you die, you can respawn on Nauvis, a random launchpad, or a random spaceship.

Respawn button

You can use the space capsule to get out of most situations, but of you land on a tiny island on a planet, and you have no landfill you might be really stuck. If you find yourself with no way out there is a respawn button. It’s the red one with a skull on it. You can find it in shortcut buttons list on the right of your toolbar. You can also use it by pressing the ‘Home’ button.

Planet and space challenges

Some planets have high winds. Biters don't like these planet so they are safer to expand in, but the winds make it more dangerous for logistic bots. Larger planets also tend to have higher winds.

Areas of space closer to a star have strong solar output you you get lots of solar power but the radiation that can also cause interference with bots. Deep space is much safer for bots but need to look for other power production options.

If a bot crashes it drops the cargo harmlessly to the ground for deconstruction.

The suitability of your home planet in regard to robot interference is configurable via the robot attrition mod setting.

In the future planets will have more specialised challenges, such as special enemy forces (fire biters, hostile robots, more environmental challenges).

Many new structrues

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Many new items

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Recommended mods

Strongly recommended:

AAI Signal Transmission: So you can send signals between planets / orbits.

Other useful mods:

Grappling Gun: To catch yourself if you fall off your space station.
Walls Block Spitters: So your defences can be better protected if you abandon them for a while.
Bullet Trails: So you can see where turrets are shooting.


Future developments

Roadmap: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18vq ... LGQLSSkW5I

Follow the development on Discord: https://discord.gg/ymjUVMv

If you like what you see consider supporting me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/earendel

Edit:
Now that a few people have asked now if signing up to Patreon gets them a planet named after them I've decided to copy the information here. The answer is sort-of yes, so let me clarify:

For any pledge amount you can design a planet/moon:

• It is not guaranteed to be a planet in everyone's game, it might be a planet in some but a moon in others depending on the game seed and where the universe builder puts it.
• You can choose the name so long as it is in line with the naming convention. You can name it after yourself. The naming convention is difficult to explain concisely, but it should sound 'planety', not have numbers built in to the name, no special characters, and not have prefixes like hot, super, max, etc. If in doubt ask and I'll tell you if it would be accepted and if not I can suggest something with similar elements. Please don't suggest anything that is rude in a different language.
• You can choose a primary resource for the planet. Right now the mod only works with vanilla resources, but if you wanted to specify a modded resource then that would probably work later on.
• You can choose the climate, and any other map gen settings that work with Alien Biomes: temperature, moisture, terrain type, enemy base size, etc.
• You can set tile restrictions so that for example, a planet can only have red desert and some frozen areas to look like mars.

Video playlists

Haphollas: Has the intended Space Exploration experience and is the furthest along (at the time of posting).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp8OjSA ... tR&index=1

Xterminator: Has the intended Space Exploration experience and is making use of my meteor API to let viewers drop meteors on his head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS9i-US ... vp&index=1

Nilaus: Has Space Exploration plus AAI Vehicles, floor is lava, and some other differences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q24nvcs ... 3h&index=1

[Earendel]

This might give you an idea of what a playthrough is like. You are welcome to post your own stories.

A space exploration story

Chapter 1: Where am I?

I was awoken by the loud bang. Parts of my former spaceship were exploding around me. The spaceship was an unrecognizable scattering of burning debris.

How did I get here? My memory must be damaged. I vaguely recalled a mysterious spatial anomaly, some explosion, the ship running out fuel, then setting a course for the nearest planet with acceptable resources.

This planet seemed a reasonable crash site. All I could remember from the ship log was that this planet was called Nauvis, and it orbited a star called Calidus.

I hastily salvaged what I could from the ship. A little too hasty, perhaps I should have waited to the fire to stop as I singed myself a little in the process. I didn’t find much of value, just a few of basics.

Not one to dawdle, I set upon the monumental tasks of returning to the stars. How long could it possibly take to get from the stone age to the interstellar age? Well let’s see...

Automation would be the key. I set up some crude machines to do mining for me. Initially everything was powered directly by burning coal and wood.

The mining outpost was quickly becoming a small factory. I managed to get a crude electrical system set up so I didn’t need to transport coal everywhere.

I soon ran into the natives, a very hostile bug-like species I’d seen before. Unfortunately they seemed to have already infested this world and were were competing for space. Some mining drills were the target of their aggression, defenses were needed.

I needed more resources but they were so far away I decided to build my own rail network so I would have access to all of the resources I could ever need.

I finally started the construction of the first rocket. Not one for me, but for a navigation satellite.

The satellite was launched! A momentous milestone indeed, but let’s not celebrate victory too quickly, this is just the beginning.


Chapter 2: A foot in the rocket.


I could use the satellite uplink to look around with a bird’s-eye view. Great for scouting but better yet, I could send remote data commands to change signals and settings in my base from anywhere.

The satellite discovered a moon called Cadmus. I used the satellite uplink to take a look at the surface in detail. It was a desert planet, almost no vegetation at all, but swarming with more of these bug-like creatures. Nauvis is not the friendliest of places, but this is practically a biter-death-moon.

The satellite had also spotted some space platform in orbit around Nauvis. I used the satellite uplink again, it was an old research satellite that had never deployed properly. The data it contained would go a long way to advancing my efforts.

I immediately began work on a rocket capable of getting me and some cargo into space. It was nearly twice the size of the satellite rocket but could carry over a hundred times more. Most importantly, it could carry me.

The cargo rocket was completed quickly. I gathered a few things that I thought I’d need in space and filled the rocket with them. Mostly raw resources, solar panels, and all the science packs I could find. I hopped aboard and blasted of into space. Destination: Nauvis Orbit.

The rocket survived the short trip and successfully deployed the cargo modules. The rest of the rocket fragmented harmlessly. Perhaps I could reuse some of those parts later? Never mind for now, I can research that later.

I hopped out of the space capsule and floated around. I never get over how fun it is to do spacewalks.

By chance, I had landed near the space platform. There was a lot of research material there. I set up a space lab and set it to work on the research that I couldn't do on the ground. Powering the lab was a struggle, I had lots of solar panels but ran out of scaffold to anchor them too. I cleared space for only the essentials, solar panels, the lab, and of course a rocket landing pad. Without the landing pad I couldn't rely on future rockets getting to the same location, or getting their with their cargo intact.

It didn’t take long to run out of things to do in space. Back to the space capsule, and back to Nauvis.

Construction of the 2nd cargo rocket was under way. The space lab was going a great job processing through the material I’d left it and would be satisfied for a while. The next rocket would allow me to get some real infrastructure established up there.

I packed the rocket full of raw materials and barreled fluids. Everything I thought I’d need to get some real data-driven science done. Blast off the Nauvis orbit again.

Chapter 3: Space Station 1

Now begins the serious construction of space platform. I placed the remaining solar panels I couldn’t use last time and and began a vast expanse of scaffold to build my space base. It was all masterfully planned, until I got up there and realised I didn’t have enough water or heat shielding. I thought I knew what I was doing, but frankly it was a mess off pipes solar panels and thermal radiators.

For some reason I thought that making a rush for spaceship was a good idea and went for astronomical science first. Perhaps that was a mistake, smashing some materials would certainly have been easier. Somehow I managed to eek out enough astronomical science to research space solar panels. That made all the difference for power so maybe it was worth it.

I used the satellite uplink again to change what was being put into the next rocket on the ground. How did I ever live without this thing?

My current research setup was not efficient. I knew I needed to either diversify into multiple space sciences to get more significant data, or go deeper into astronomical science and get more insights that way. I decided to go for material science first and get the benefits of multidisciplinary simulation. That made all the difference and soon everything was ticking along quite nicely.

Some of my Nauvis resource depots were running low. Before heading down I placed a signal transmitter in orbit and linked it to the logistics item data. Then I landed on Nauvis and linked a signal receiver to the logistic requesters so that they could automatically send up items that the space station needs.

Back on the surface I set up some new mining outposts and also decided to mine some of the planet core. Planet core mining is not energy efficient and the output is low, but I had excess solar power and the resources are endless, it all adds up eventually.

I got back to the rocket launch pad as a rocket was taking off automatically. I just managed to jump on before it was too far in the launch sequence and rode back into space.

Something went wrong with the rocket and it didn’t make it to the landing pad. Bits of rocket and cargo pods went all over the place just outside the space station’s root network. I extended the network and got the robots to clean things up, then quickly switched research to rocket survivability. I didn't lose too many resources in the crash, less than the cost of the research, but the hassle of clean up and strain on the robot network was something I wanted to avoid in the future.

Biosludge was beginning to build up from the decontamination facilities. I decided to try a bit of biological science, because, why not? Biosludge is a part of that system and it makes sense to use it, right? Well I thought the astronomical science was tricky, but that was largely due to starting with nothing. Biological research was by far the most difficult, mostly because I used the first resources badly by not setting limits.

Chapter 3: Moon Base

Iron was becoming a problem. The next place on Nauvis to get iron was deep in enemy territory.

I kept looking at the moon, Cadmus. There was a lot of hostile activity there, but there was a clearing in the center with a huge iron deposit. The moon in general seemed very rich in iron.

I had most of a rocket ready to go, and an abundance of rocket fuel. I changed the next rocket’s destination to Cadmus and collected things I’d need for a moon base. Most of the stuff I took ended up being things reclaimed from depleted mining outposts and spares that my base had made for repairs. I jumped aboard the rocket, double checked I had all the essentials, and launched.

The moon landing went well. I was worried that I’d land in an enemy nest but fortunately it was within a safe clearing.

Setting up the moon base felt very rushed. I had much more than when I’d first landed on Nauvis, but somehow scouting the enemy locations by satellite first made things more tense. Maybe it was just the perspective, but I was sure the bugs were bigger here.

I set up coal mining first to fuel a basic electricity generation to power my lasers. Once a safe perimeter has been established I started more mining and bot-based assembly setup. The little moon had such little coal that the initial deposits only lasted a few minutes. Fortunately the planet had a surprising abundance of oil, so I quickly switched to solid fuel.

I placed down the rocket launch pad, landing pad core miner so that once the assembly base had made everything it needed for repairs if could start loading up rockets and sending resources wherever they were needed.

The plan had been to send a 2nd rocket with the rocket parts required for me to return to Nauvis. An enemy attack on a mining outpost meant that it would take a very long time. Although I could have waited it out and kept developing Cadmus I know that Nauvis needed attention of more outposts would fall. Oh look there’s a red button here that says “Respawn” …

“Player died”

Coincidentally at the same as the first character died, another one landed on Nauvis that happened to have the same name and general disposition. Maybe they came through the anomaly too?

I (the 2nd character) defended the outposts, got the Nauvis base back in order, and took the next rocket to the space station.

Chapter 4: Spaceships

Finally, Spaceships had been researched.

I built the smallest ship I could, made sure it was contained and structurally sound. Once the integrity check passed I found I could have built a little bigger, but what I had seemed fine for now. It named itself “Harrier” and I decided to keep the name.

There was very little rocket fuel on the space station so I decided to land first on Nauvis and collect some fuel. Once refueled, I launched from Nauvis. Doing so used up most of the fuel, but I still had more left than I had when I left the space station.

I set the distionation to Cadmus: Engage. My little ship was terrible. Any time the lasers fired the engines stalled. At max speed it should have taken just over a minute to get to Cadmus, but with all the stalls it took 10 minutes. The upside of the slow speed was that it was a safe journey, no space rocks got anywhere near the forward bulkhead.

While flying from Nauvis to Cadmus I used the uplink to order the Cadmus bots to prepare a rocket fuel refueling station. It was ready by the time I landed and immediately started refueling.

The next spaceship integrity upgrade had just finished so I started expanding the ship with the spares. This required more fuel, but it would mean a more consistent ride back. I loaded the ship up with iron and launched back into space.

The flight back to Nauvis took less than half the time. I dropped off the iron and fixed a few things that had broken.

It was time to start exploring more of this system. I removed the restrictions I had placed on the satellite rocket silo so it was free to send satellites up automatically.

It wasn't long before I had discovered another planet around Calidus called Furion.

Furion was a lava planet with some large seas. After scouting with the satellite for awhile I found some strange red grass and yellow flowers clinging to a coast line, but over 99% of the land was volcanic terrain. The planet had very few bugs, there were some on a small islands, but a large continent was completely clear. It seemed to have a lot of copper, iron, and stone, but almost no oil or coal. I knew that if I landed there refueling would be a problem.

Chapter 5: Interplanetary

The ship is larger now. The space solar panels and improved accumulators make going from planet to planet easier. I can’t land it on Furion unless I already have enough fuel to take off again, and I never do.

The Furion colony is thriving, but needs to be sent rocket fuel in order to export anything.

The Calidus colony is exporting iron and rocket fuel, but is struggling under constant enemy attacks.

The Nauvis colony has stagnated a little. Things main base is still tick along, but there are depleted mining outposts left abandoned.

The Calidus asteroid belt was discovered and it has a lot of resources. A mining base is there extracting resources. It is one of the best sources of iron copper and stone right now, but it doesn’t seem like a great science base location because so many fluids would need to be imported and it is so far away from the sun that the solar is low. It will have to stay as a mining base.

2 moons around Furion were discovered, one was mostly a water moon, the other is volcanic and desert with sparse trees and an abundance of coal.

A third planet around Calidus was found, Raegis, with 4 moons discovered so far.

A few stars and asteroid fields have been discovered. The closest by far is Teamagus. I think it might be close enough to get to if I make a few upgrades to the ship.

Chapter 6: Interstellar

The ship is now nuclear-powered beast. It has a train on board so I can land to link with a train network to roll on or off cargo.

The Nauvis space station and Calidus belt station have train stations too, but it is mainly just for loading and unloading at this point.

I don’t know when, but at some point the ship has called itself the Pheasant. It is a silly name, but I like it.

Teamagus, the closest star I’ve found is supposed to be 7 minutes away at the new ship’s max speed. I know that solar power is lower further away from stars so I’m not counting on that for interstellar space.

I have been doing some trips between planets for fun, just testing speed, how long the fuel and power will last. Also how long will the water last? The condenser turbines save a lot of water but I need enough for a long interstellar journey. It’s not just the best-case 7 minutes there, it’s the added power string from the lasers, the time spent exploring the system, and of course the trip back.

I head out for Teamagus, keeping eye on the power grid. I watch the solar output gradually drop to near zero, but it’s fine the nuclear setup is holding strong.

I quickly get comfortable about the interstellar voyage and start checking things with the satellite uplink, but then...

About 5 minutes in things start going wrong. The power output drops suddenly and the lasers struggle. Before I can get to the spaceship console to slow down a rock smashes through one of my laser banks. The ship stops.

I make repairs and diagnose the power problem. The water system get flooded and turbines couldn’t run. Soon back on track and speeding along. I reach Teamagus in about 10 minutes total travel time. Not bad.

I start setting up my first interstellar colony on a planet called Thule. Maybe I should be better at this by now, but every planet seems to be different and has its own challenges. This one has high copper and oil, the core fragments are copper. The iron, stone and coal are low, but not so low as to cause a serious problem.

I set up a self-sufficient colony on the planet that I can manage remotely before heading back to Calidus. The return trip takes roughly the 7 minutes estimated.

Chapter 7: Foenestra

A satellite just discovered the anomaly. The place where this all started. It is estimated to be about 40 minutes away, a long journey but I must get back there for my journey to be complete.

I load up some more fuel and head out, not knowing what I will find.

I soon start experiencing spatial distortions. Space is getting weird...

[Arch666Angel]

Finally!

[Episode922]

Seems very interesting.
A good Galacticraft for factorio
Tx for your work.

[disentius]

This.... Awesome!

[Earendel]

Finally!

Yeah, 2 years. Can't believe it.

[Ranakastrasz]

Wow. New fundimentally different map type. If I wasn't terrible at factorio I might even consider trying it.

Reminds me of how Wc3 maps simulated space. Either via faking two surfaces, or just using void between flat planets.

By fall damage, do you mean instakill, or does impact resistance, shields, or a parachute help?
And can you orbit?

[jcyxxx]

Is this No Man's Sky Factorio ? Looks awesome !

[ps666]

My experience so far: I installed the mod, loaded my world. Looked at all the chaos for 30 seconds. I closed the map and removed the mod.

No thanks! Not with this ridiculous Robot Attrition mod dependence.

(I know I should start a new map)

[Earendel]

My experience so far: I installed the mod

No you didn't, it's not even released yet. All you installed are some icons.

[Earendel]

Wow. New fundimentally different map type. If I wasn't terrible at factorio I might even consider trying it.

Reminds me of how Wc3 maps simulated space. Either via faking two surfaces, or just using void between flat planets.

By fall damage, do you mean instakill, or does impact resistance, shields, or a parachute help?
And can you orbit?

The change to different surfaces means this is not possible now, but when it was you would die unless you had a lot of shields. Orbit is its own surface now. By surface I mean factorio surface, i.e. it's a completely different world-space.

[ps666]

No you didn't, it's not even released yet. All you installed are some icons.

Yeah, I missed the words "icons via signals" and I didn't noticed it in the 30 seconds because of my huge annoyance. (Everywhere destruction, fire and chaos! I almost got killed by crashing bots.)

[Deadlock989]

This looks amazing. Looking forward to seeing it.

[nastyslave]

It IS something AWESOME... It looks absolutely STUNNING! That's what i'll dreaming about!...
Please tell us about your progress regularly.

[totobest]

wow amazing work!! when do you think you will release it?

[Earendel]

wow amazing work!! when do you think you will release it?

I should be ready for some closed tests in a week or two. This first version is just so people can test some mechanics. It will probably not be compatible with other mods at that point, and it won't be balanced. Further changes will probably break people's saves so it won't be on the mod portal, it will be closed testing only. I will give people from Patreon (my one patron so far) the first opportunity to play around with it, followed by my discord members. I'll then need some time to work on feedback and finish a few other things, but then there should be a version on the mod portal a couple of weeks later... so I'm guessing 3-4 weeks away.

[Xuerian]

Oh my.

Already looking amazing. Hope some more people jump on to support you!

[SuperSandro2000]

Did you consider making the planets multiple surfaces?
And those graphics look awesome. Did angel do them for you or is it your work?

[Earendel]

Did you consider making the planets multiple surfaces?
And those graphics look awesome. Did angel do them for you or is it your work?

The planets are now multiple surfaces. There were many problems doing it all on one surface but at the time there was a 255 surface limit and things like Factorissimo used a lot. Now the limit is way higher so I have changed to multiple surfaces, one per planet, moon, asteroid field, and each orbital space, etc.

I do all my own graphics. That's why it's taken so long to get this far.

[Arch666Angel]

Did you consider making the planets multiple surfaces?
And those graphics look awesome. Did angel do them for you or is it your work?

Oh give him more credit, Earendal is way more talented with graphics than me and also has more patience doing so