Factorio Forums

LizardOfOz wrote: Mon Jan 12, 2026 1:43 pm
To use a Super Mario 64 analogy, reaching the System Edge feels like a good 70 star objective, but the game lacks a developer-imposed 120 star objective.
Getting all achievements doesn't fulfil that role, as you don't need your factory to grow to get 100% achievements.

Although, the problem for game designers here is that a player could cheese pretty much everything;
Let's say the devs introduce an official science production benchmark. You could just stockpile the science packs in advance over time, instead of genuinely producing, say, 100 science per second. If there's a check against stockpiling the packs, you could stockpile intermediaries instead, and so on.

What I run into is that there's just a lot of ways of building unsustainable factories as a result of what you're talking about.
Quality compounds this because if you take up an optimized design the dev team went out of their way to make it dull. I don't have a suite of tools to apply critical thinking with, I have a mechanic that goes out of its way to provoke questions. Instead of provoking answers you just kind of ignore the thing that's yelling at you in ways which are critical or bitter.

It ends up feeling unrealistic because things like P-NP problems have effective solutions that yield significantly different outcomes. It's comparable to the Collatz Conjecture function where "It takes too long and then its 1-4-2-1". And the answer to making it not take to long is "always use a power of 2".

Although i liked the super mario 64 analogy, i think the collatz conjecture function analogy makes no sense.

Edit : Nevermind it's actually brilliant, now i realize the pertinence of the analogy, indeed , whatever random situation you begin with that the game throw at you , it can feel like you end up in a cycle of repetition, always the same , as if you were stuck in a collatz function, repeating the same pseudo random litany of blueprint no matter how the discussion of the factory started.

I think to me it boils down to creativity, factorio is like a music instrument, if you like a melody , like a blueprint , you will work on it , improve it, make it yours, but that doesn't mean you can't like another melody, and work on another one, there's no "one best way to play the guitar". I feel it's on you if you reuse the same blueprint all the time like 4 2 1 4 2 1 , it means in a way you think you can't improve your blueprint anymore, i feel there's a lack of humbleness that you could potentially aquire when trying mods that forces you out of the confortatble routine you entrapped yourself into. Trying new things is definitly what i would advise in this situation, mods introducing new content "post game" or even mods modifying the tech tree, that will make you rethink what you thought you knew. Sometimes it can feel like you've reach a cap in your ability , your blueprint are so good they are the "best you can do" but it doesn't usually stays this way does it ? If you think you did reach your cap, then set yourself up for another challenge !

Your mods arguments don't hold up. Only because there are mods doesn't mean the base game can't be changed and improved.

Panzerknacker wrote: Tue Jan 13, 2026 6:38 am Your mods arguments don't hold up. Only because there are mods doesn't mean the base game can't be changed and improved.

That's a strawman , i never said the game can't be changed and improved on the contrary :

mmmPI wrote: Mon Jan 12, 2026 3:37 pm devs have stated already they plan changes for 2.1, i don't see the need to put a negative spin on it , especially when it's unsubstantiated, i feel the game is good , they try to make it better, but for this i feel they need articulated feedback by players, which unfortunatly appears to be viewed as "wall of text" from your end, severly limiting subsequent expectations of productive discussion.

I mentionned i could improve the clarity of the previous message that was addressing the belief i have that your feedback isn't articulated enough to generate productive ideas or discussion.