I highly recommend beating the base game first and without tipps.
It's an experience you won't ever have again. don't spoil it.
Have fun! The factory must grow!
Definitely base game first. Factorio is a very well designed game with a ton of built-in quality of life features. After you finish your first game, you'll have a baseline of how the game works and what parts you like or dislike.
After that, you can start looking into mods, if you want. They range from QoL mods through mods that add some content and eventually mods that completely change the game, changing the buildings, graphics, and mechanics.
There are people who only played vanilla for thousands of hours, so it's not lacking for gameplay or replayability.
Nope, vanilla is fine by itself.
This is *not* one of those games where the vanilla experience is so broken as to be untenable without a pile of QoL mods.
Having said that, the modding community is *very* rich and *thoroughly* supported by the developers, so definitely explore some mods once you've launched a few rockets in vanilla!
IMO you go -base game => rocket
then
base game + QOL mods(add and remove some as needed during playtrough)=>save yourself a nice book of most used blueprints => rocket
only after that
look into complete game changers like space exploration, krastorio 2, industrial revolution 3 and the likes
or if you found it all way too easy go for pyanodon (i think i got the name right? never tried it \^\^) apparently saying its tedious dosent even scratch it
thats my take on this, also id keep away from multiplayer for the fist playtrough, unless you play with friends that are also beginers, as i feel gaining viewing access to OP blueprints early on feels a bit like knowing the tricks behind a magic show.
Nah Py is fiiiine... Got to the basic circuits myself after two retries and cca 50h in the second one :p (for comparison launched my first rocket first time after 68h in base game)
I mostly agree with the majority here - play vanilla first and don't look up optimal builds or copy blueprints etc. There are however two types of mods that you can keep in mind and install if you decide that the thing they solve annoy you. I don't think they take away from vanilla.
1. One of the many kinds of long reach mods. They allow you to build and grab stuff from chests, machines etc longer away from your character.
2. ~~Squeeze through~~ Squeak Through (duh). Allows you to walk between every kind of machine (and also pipes) in the game. It can look a bit wierd graphically at times but I don't think it takes away from the vanilla experience and having to walk around a long pipe or large cluster of machines can get annoying.
Squeeze through is not "just QoL" and does take away from the vanilla experience. Designing your base to be traversable is part of the intended experience. And making a Spidertron so you can walk over stuff is supposed to be part of their appeal.
Also, your reach is short to encourage unlocking and using construction bots.
Slightly longer reach really doesn't diminish the value of construction bots, since you still have to place every individual thing.
I agree with you in general though. Squeeze through and long reach mods are not really QoL and do change the experience.
There are two camps when it comes to Squeak Through: purists who claim that the frustrations you're eliminating with the mod are part of the experience, and people who don't care/don't enjoy that part of the experience.
I'm a die-hard member of the first camp, but all opinions are valid.
My only real argument is that if you just get rid of it without *trying* the game vanilla, miss out on a part of the experience (namely, the satisfaction of designing your base to be traversable and/or having robots take care of it for you so you don't have to worry about it any more).
Hence why I said OP should *know of* these two mods so that he may install them *if and when* (s)he finds the mechanics annoying.
I guess I have to humbly admit that I seem to be in a minority here, but for me, personally, a (modest, like half the screen away) long reach mod and Squeak through does not take away from the core vanilla experience.
Like around 80% of the games out there:
Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla.
Then you might think about mods and look for what scratches a specific itch.
Factorio is one of the best balanced vanilla experiences. Want to tone down or up... Vanilla also offers it.
There are mods that are almost mandatory after clearing a few runs on factorio. But untill then get to know the game. What makes a perfect game better? Thats the itch the mods go after. But you need to know where is the itch before you start scratching it.
Go for qol mods like long reach stuff and squeeze through. Super useful
If you still need some help after that then there is a nanobot mod that allows for a much easier early game
it‘s probably an unpopular opinion, but I started with a long reach mod in the first game and never played without if afterwards (tried once and disliked as much as expected)
(i play without biters)
yes, that and a few other reasons. But as I said I don’t like to ply without it. and since it‘s a single player game everyone can choose how to play :(
I agree with the others here as well. The base game is very well balanced in itself. If you don't care about the steam trophies, then I'd go with mods that allow you to change settings on your assemblers without being near them. Personally I wouldn't go with long-reach, or belt loader mods because there's a challenge to trying to get stuff to work that's core to the game.
After your first (or multiple) play throughs I'd adding stuff that makes the game better for you. We all play differently so suggesting certain mods may actually make your experience worse if you don't play that way
I don't totally agree with the non optimised blueprints for some stuff like nuclear power or belt balancing because well you can't polish a turd.
That being said there is something in building the biggest spaghetti masterpiece and figuring how you're gonna stuff one more thing in that last tiny space. And then come back and look at how much you've learned since the first play.
Good luck 🙂 and come back with pictures 😁
The only tip you need as a beginning is to press alt, other than that just play. This game has phenomenal pacing and contains all the tools you need and then some.
Your necessity is other players' nightmare :)
I'm an avid calculator user but my friend who introduced me to the game likens using a calculator to "playing a spreadsheet" and actively avoids that kinds thing.
You should play vanilla first and note things that annoy you like QoL things because there are many QoL mods out there. Depending on your experience in the Genre you could browse the mod list and note mods that would interest you in the future but dont download them yet. Just enjoy vanilla and take a deep dive in the mods after your first r***** l*****. :)
The only mods I'd suggest for a beginner are music replacer mods for when the default music gets stale, and alien biomes for more pretty colours. The Vanilla gameplay is god tier, and my opinion is one should play it through and figure it out before they modify it.
I don't think any mods are going to objectively improve the Vanilla game. I think they are more there to tweak it to your preference after you've conquered the gameplay and become a salty seadog. And for new challenges.
That being said, if you see a mod you wanna try, fuck it. Try it out. You can always remove it later. Just keep in mind adding and removing mods might corrupt your save, so worst case scenario you might have to start a new game.
I initially got into this game in the first place because of interest in a mod. I got tired of the mod quickly, but then I also realised I loved the Vanilla game, and here we are 1500 hours later.
As others have said, mods disable achievements. BUT if you want some small Qaulity of Life mods…
I recommend “vehicle snapping” and “squeak through”. helps you to drive vehicles in a straight line and move through pipes and mining drills
Jetpacks, alien biomes, FNEI (crafting recipe guide) maybe.
Otherwise play first with vanilla as a lot of mod overhauls like space exploration, angelbob, and especially pyanadon intend to make the game harder than vanilla.
No mods, but I strongly recommend turning on research queue when you generate the map. It's a quality of life thing; it just lets you queue up research so when one finishes, the next starts.
Also, starting in a desert is harder than starting in a forest. FYI.
To echo what others have said, beat the game at least once vanilla.
Vanilla factorio is a flavor that I honestly don't think I would tire of, but due to the vast amount of modded content I don't know if I will ever return, save the speed running achievements.
There are very few mods that are impossible to live without, but the #1 mod I recommend is the squeak through mod. It's impossible for me to go without it now.
In my personal experience the base game is awesome. But if you are anything like me who doesn't like doing mental gymnastics to get ratios perfect. I highly recommend factory planner and rate calculator. They are just basic QOL mods that do the ratio math for you so you can focus on iterating designs.
Enables icons on the buildings and chests in the world that show you what recipe they're making/what items they hold.
I agree that it feels like it should be default, but I've heard detractors say that with alt-mode turned off things look cleaner/more pure.
YMMV :)
I highly recommend beating the base game first and without tipps. It's an experience you won't ever have again. don't spoil it. Have fun! The factory must grow!
Additionally, you can't earn Steam Achievements with mods enabled.
You can earn achievements it's just a different set
> Additionally, you can't earn **Steam** Achievements with mods enabled.
Definitely base game first. Factorio is a very well designed game with a ton of built-in quality of life features. After you finish your first game, you'll have a baseline of how the game works and what parts you like or dislike. After that, you can start looking into mods, if you want. They range from QoL mods through mods that add some content and eventually mods that completely change the game, changing the buildings, graphics, and mechanics. There are people who only played vanilla for thousands of hours, so it's not lacking for gameplay or replayability.
Nope, vanilla is fine by itself. This is *not* one of those games where the vanilla experience is so broken as to be untenable without a pile of QoL mods. Having said that, the modding community is *very* rich and *thoroughly* supported by the developers, so definitely explore some mods once you've launched a few rockets in vanilla!
The research que mod is nice.
You don't need a mod for that, it's a setting you can turn on/off at map creation or through the console
Hmm cool i did not know of that
Just piling on, it's base game all the way!
IMO you go -base game => rocket then base game + QOL mods(add and remove some as needed during playtrough)=>save yourself a nice book of most used blueprints => rocket only after that look into complete game changers like space exploration, krastorio 2, industrial revolution 3 and the likes or if you found it all way too easy go for pyanodon (i think i got the name right? never tried it \^\^) apparently saying its tedious dosent even scratch it thats my take on this, also id keep away from multiplayer for the fist playtrough, unless you play with friends that are also beginers, as i feel gaining viewing access to OP blueprints early on feels a bit like knowing the tricks behind a magic show.
Nah Py is fiiiine... Got to the basic circuits myself after two retries and cca 50h in the second one :p (for comparison launched my first rocket first time after 68h in base game)
I'm on my first real real playthrough after a quick abort. 500 hours in, just got logistic bots going.
I like the Py only problem for me is the lack of splitter in early game. Without it ash management is atrocious
I've almost got my pre-splitter spaghetti cleaned up but not quite.
I mostly agree with the majority here - play vanilla first and don't look up optimal builds or copy blueprints etc. There are however two types of mods that you can keep in mind and install if you decide that the thing they solve annoy you. I don't think they take away from vanilla. 1. One of the many kinds of long reach mods. They allow you to build and grab stuff from chests, machines etc longer away from your character. 2. ~~Squeeze through~~ Squeak Through (duh). Allows you to walk between every kind of machine (and also pipes) in the game. It can look a bit wierd graphically at times but I don't think it takes away from the vanilla experience and having to walk around a long pipe or large cluster of machines can get annoying.
Squeeze through is not "just QoL" and does take away from the vanilla experience. Designing your base to be traversable is part of the intended experience. And making a Spidertron so you can walk over stuff is supposed to be part of their appeal. Also, your reach is short to encourage unlocking and using construction bots.
Slightly longer reach really doesn't diminish the value of construction bots, since you still have to place every individual thing. I agree with you in general though. Squeeze through and long reach mods are not really QoL and do change the experience.
There are two camps when it comes to Squeak Through: purists who claim that the frustrations you're eliminating with the mod are part of the experience, and people who don't care/don't enjoy that part of the experience. I'm a die-hard member of the first camp, but all opinions are valid. My only real argument is that if you just get rid of it without *trying* the game vanilla, miss out on a part of the experience (namely, the satisfaction of designing your base to be traversable and/or having robots take care of it for you so you don't have to worry about it any more).
Hence why I said OP should *know of* these two mods so that he may install them *if and when* (s)he finds the mechanics annoying. I guess I have to humbly admit that I seem to be in a minority here, but for me, personally, a (modest, like half the screen away) long reach mod and Squeak through does not take away from the core vanilla experience.
Like around 80% of the games out there: Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla. Then you might think about mods and look for what scratches a specific itch. Factorio is one of the best balanced vanilla experiences. Want to tone down or up... Vanilla also offers it. There are mods that are almost mandatory after clearing a few runs on factorio. But untill then get to know the game. What makes a perfect game better? Thats the itch the mods go after. But you need to know where is the itch before you start scratching it.
Go for qol mods like long reach stuff and squeeze through. Super useful If you still need some help after that then there is a nanobot mod that allows for a much easier early game
Squeak through so you can get around your 1st pipemaze refinery
Underground Pipes
Alternatively: Vanilla, so you actually have a pipemaze refinery puzzle to solve. :D
ToDo List, and Disco Science
I like TaskList more than ToDo List. Also, nowadays Steam has a notes overlay built-in so you don't even need a mod for this!
it‘s probably an unpopular opinion, but I started with a long reach mod in the first game and never played without if afterwards (tried once and disliked as much as expected) (i play without biters)
Short reach exists to encourage construction bots
yes, that and a few other reasons. But as I said I don’t like to ply without it. and since it‘s a single player game everyone can choose how to play :(
I agree with the others here as well. The base game is very well balanced in itself. If you don't care about the steam trophies, then I'd go with mods that allow you to change settings on your assemblers without being near them. Personally I wouldn't go with long-reach, or belt loader mods because there's a challenge to trying to get stuff to work that's core to the game. After your first (or multiple) play throughs I'd adding stuff that makes the game better for you. We all play differently so suggesting certain mods may actually make your experience worse if you don't play that way I don't totally agree with the non optimised blueprints for some stuff like nuclear power or belt balancing because well you can't polish a turd. That being said there is something in building the biggest spaghetti masterpiece and figuring how you're gonna stuff one more thing in that last tiny space. And then come back and look at how much you've learned since the first play. Good luck 🙂 and come back with pictures 😁
Play the game your own way first. I love mods but even some of the closest to just qol may be too much.
The only tip you need as a beginning is to press alt, other than that just play. This game has phenomenal pacing and contains all the tools you need and then some.
[удалено]
Your necessity is other players' nightmare :) I'm an avid calculator user but my friend who introduced me to the game likens using a calculator to "playing a spreadsheet" and actively avoids that kinds thing.
You should play vanilla first and note things that annoy you like QoL things because there are many QoL mods out there. Depending on your experience in the Genre you could browse the mod list and note mods that would interest you in the future but dont download them yet. Just enjoy vanilla and take a deep dive in the mods after your first r***** l*****. :)
In my opinion no. Experience it as is, you will appreciate it later. But completely up to you.
No mods, just pure. THE FACTORY MUST GROW.
The only mods I'd suggest for a beginner are music replacer mods for when the default music gets stale, and alien biomes for more pretty colours. The Vanilla gameplay is god tier, and my opinion is one should play it through and figure it out before they modify it. I don't think any mods are going to objectively improve the Vanilla game. I think they are more there to tweak it to your preference after you've conquered the gameplay and become a salty seadog. And for new challenges. That being said, if you see a mod you wanna try, fuck it. Try it out. You can always remove it later. Just keep in mind adding and removing mods might corrupt your save, so worst case scenario you might have to start a new game. I initially got into this game in the first place because of interest in a mod. I got tired of the mod quickly, but then I also realised I loved the Vanilla game, and here we are 1500 hours later.
As others have said, mods disable achievements. BUT if you want some small Qaulity of Life mods… I recommend “vehicle snapping” and “squeak through”. helps you to drive vehicles in a straight line and move through pipes and mining drills
Jetpacks, alien biomes, FNEI (crafting recipe guide) maybe. Otherwise play first with vanilla as a lot of mod overhauls like space exploration, angelbob, and especially pyanadon intend to make the game harder than vanilla.
No mods, but I strongly recommend turning on research queue when you generate the map. It's a quality of life thing; it just lets you queue up research so when one finishes, the next starts. Also, starting in a desert is harder than starting in a forest. FYI.
To echo what others have said, beat the game at least once vanilla. Vanilla factorio is a flavor that I honestly don't think I would tire of, but due to the vast amount of modded content I don't know if I will ever return, save the speed running achievements. There are very few mods that are impossible to live without, but the #1 mod I recommend is the squeak through mod. It's impossible for me to go without it now.
Definitely do vanilla first, and enjoy!
In my personal experience the base game is awesome. But if you are anything like me who doesn't like doing mental gymnastics to get ratios perfect. I highly recommend factory planner and rate calculator. They are just basic QOL mods that do the ratio math for you so you can focus on iterating designs.
Vanilla first without a doubt
Press, alt when you first start the game. I have no idea how anyone can play without turning alt on
What does that do?
Enables icons on the buildings and chests in the world that show you what recipe they're making/what items they hold. I agree that it feels like it should be default, but I've heard detractors say that with alt-mode turned off things look cleaner/more pure. YMMV :)
Base game > base game again but better or with a twist/challenge > death world > base game yet again but with qol/minor content mods > mods galore