Gleba!

[Tertius]

I would be thoroughly shocked and surprised if there is any evidence to support the idea that more players aren't on steam than are on steam.

The vast, vast, vast majority of players who purchased the expansion haven't even gotten into the slightest bit of the expansion's content.

It doesn't matter how many players buy from steam and how many from other sources. The steam numbers are percentages of the players on steam. This is a representative part of the whole player base. So if 50% of the players on steam launched a rocket, it's likely 50% of all players including the non-steam ones launched a rocket.

Now steam counts Factorio and its expansion as one and the same game. They don't count expansion specific achievements only for the players who bought the expansion but instead count for every single player who bought the base game. This includes long gone players even from the early access phase when achievements were first added.
So expansion achievement percentages can never be as high as base achievement percentages.
Usually, only about 50%-70% of the players of any game got the "I started the game" achievement - the one that is unlocked right after creating a character or actually do as 1st task in the game. The others will buy the game, may be start it once but will not actually play.

For the base game, this is probably the "It stinks and they don't like it" achievement (64.5% on steam), although it's not quite the 1st thing you will do, but as far as I see there is no earlier achievement. Factorio 2.0 got a real "I started the game" achievement, it's "Automate this!" (35.2% on steam). So from 35.2% of the players playing the 2.0 base game, there is a part who also bought the expansion. The 1st expansion specific achievement is "Reach for the stars" (create a space platform, 10.2% on steam). The most popular planet is Vulcanus (7.3% on steam), then Fulgora (6.4% on steam), then Gleba (5.8% on steam).

Now we have some numbers. You need to exclude the players from the planet percentages who not even started the game and who are not even active any more at the time of the expansion to get the real percentages of how many players who bought and played the expansion actually reached the planets.

In addition, keep in mind the numbers are biased, because while playing players tend to explore mods, and as soon as you install a mod steam achievements will stop. So actually the percentage of players who reached the planets is probably higher than shown in the numbers.

I intend to publish a book titled "Steam Achievement Tea‑Leaf Reading" later this year.

[Amarula]

I intend to publish a book titled "Steam Achievement Tea‑Leaf Reading" later this year.

Ooh I have some tea-leaves you can use
Also, I would buy this book!

[angramania]

5% of players even got to Gleba in the first place.
That's 1 in 20 factorio players actually went to Gleba.
Of those 5%, almost all of them are on these forums complaining about it.

Let's calcualate how many of them have successfully completed Gleba
Visit Gleba - 5.8%
Research with agriculture - 4.8%
4.8/5.8 = 83%
So more than 4 of 5 players, who have visited Gleba, successfully solved it. Very good percent and definitely not a sign of any problem with game

For comparison let's calculate percent of players, who have reached Vulcanus after building first space platform
Reach for the stars - 10.2%
Visit Vulcanus - 7.3 %
7.3/10.2 = 71%
Looks like traveling from Nauvis to Vulcanus is much harder task than mastering Gleba.

Now lets calculate "Of those 5%, almost all of them are on these forums complaining about it."
Google give me that as answer for a number of factorio steam owners:

Total Owners: Estimates for Steam owners vary between 6.38 million and 8.3 million.

So 5.8%*6.38M =370040
Lets look at forum statistic:

Statistics
Total posts 615550 • Total topics 81836 • Total members 153147 • Our newest member elCapitano92

I have only one question to you - Do you actually not know how to count, or are you just pretending?

[coffee-factorio]

I have only one question to you - Do you actually not know how to count, or are you just pretending?

Probably does.

If you would like seasoning for the roast, calculate the number of players who complete Express Delivery using Reach the Stars as a statistic baseline. My number was about 2%.

Add to roast, given the fact poster is in Gleba celebration thread, raising concerns about 1/2000 individuals.

Serve with salt. Move on.

I like the music and environment on Gleba quite a bit.