Factorio [GOG, Steam, Official Site] 0.16 is a huge release for this fantastic early access game and it comes with a lot of shiny new stuff.
Note: You will likely need to opt-in to the Beta on Steam for this release.
For those that haven't played it, Factorio is a sandbox building game about making a huge factory on an infinite world. It doesn't sound like much, but when you get going it's really hard to stop. It becomes more and more complex as you go further through the game and you can make some truly incredibly looking bases. You can play it by yourself or join up with others online!
First of all, in this update the map generation has been changed to include cliffs. Previously, Factorio maps were rather flat. Sure they had water, trees and aliens, but cliffs add a lot to the experience.
If you want to learn more about the changes involved in adding cliffs to Factorio, see this blog post. Also, the map generation was adjusted to have proper transitions from ground to water.
On top of that, they've also introduced the artillery wagon and artillery turret, which can automatically fire across a long distance to take out aliens and their nests. It can also be manually fired, if something is particularly bothering you.
There's plenty of smaller changes like your main inventory can now be filtered, mini-tutorials, plenty more high-resolution textures for items and terrains, players can now ride as passengers in cars/tanks in multiplayer, balancing changes and bug fixes. See the full changelog here on their official forum, there's a lot to take in and plenty I haven't covered.
It's a fantastic game that will rip away hours of your life, I fully recommend it.
Note: Our GOG link is an affiliate link.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
To be fair, I did crumble and buy Oxygen Not Included in EA, and it's amazing. But I don't want to ruin this, Rimworld, or the many other titles I'm waiting to spend money on if they'd only just hurry up and release their product!
Quoting: scaineI wish they'd just release it. It was slated for early/mid 2017 and we're at the end of the year and they're still firing out EA updates.I see factorio's early access as something like continuous development, and not a measure of quality. In my opinion it has been release quality for years, beating many of the games that have been released, sold, and stopped being updated. If you like it today, then you will probably like it in two years also. Playing it now won't ruin it for you. If you don't like it today then you are likely to not like it in two years either. You might want to stay away from the experimental versions if you want a fully polished game though. It will take some time before 0.16.x is marked stable.
To be fair, I did crumble and buy Oxygen Not Included in EA, and it's amazing. But I don't want to ruin this, Rimworld, or the many other titles I'm waiting to spend money on if they'd only just hurry up and release their product!
stretch611 Dec 14, 2017
Since then, they have updated some content, but mostly have improved graphics and optimized code. I have a fairly high end machine and I notice a difference. There are people on the forums noticing a 25-50% speed difference. All these speed increases while adding content and graphical overhead at the same time. Pretty remarkable.
This blog post contains the latest development road map. It hasn't been updated since July, but it does say what to expect and also the historical overview of the last few major updates. As I mentioned, content changes have been made, but they really have been adding the spit and polish to the game. 0.14 was a big network release, 0.15 added nukes, but had a major map rewrite. 0.16 added artillery towers and artillery train cars, but the underlying map/resource generation was vastly improved as well as many code optimizations. 0.17 has a major gui rewrite planned and a new mod portal, but currently no addition content planned. As I said, the game is pretty much done, but they are improving things before release. Even though it is mostly improvements... I still stand by the fact that it is currently (and was a year ago) better than the majority of "released" games.
They also are very good at interacting with their customers... something that many devs find difficult to do. Every week they provide a snippet of what they are currently working on and ask for community feedback. They have done this 220 weeks in a row now without missing a single friday. Pretty impressive.
If you like builder type games... Pick this one up... It is worth far more than the $20 they are asking for. Do not let the Early Access moniker fool you; the game is worthy of release for some time, its good to see the developer continue to improve it.
And yes, I am addicted... Just over 1 year... 880 hours. (I wish I had a life /s )
EDIT: I have a simplistic factorio review on steam.
Also, for those that are interested, the devs have not participated in and have no plans to discount factorio during any sales. There is no reason to wait for a sale, or you will be disappointed.
Last edited by stretch611 on 14 December 2017 at 9:32 pm UTC
FifteenthPen Dec 15, 2017
Quoting: stretch611I bought Factorio a year ago when it was shortly after 0.14 was released. It was release quality then, and as mentioned, better than most "released" games, even at that point.
Since then, they have updated some content, but mostly have improved graphics and optimized code. I have a fairly high end machine and I notice a difference. There are people on the forums noticing a 25-50% speed difference. All these speed increases while adding content and graphical overhead at the same time. Pretty remarkable
So what you're saying essentially is that they're the polar opposite of the ARK: Survival Evolved devs. ;)
Seriously though, Factorio has been a great game for a very long time! I beat it back on version 0.11 or earlier, before it was on Steam or had multiplayer, and it was an awesome game back then too! It just keeps getting better.
Quoting: 14... I really hate buying EA games. ...I guess this is true for each meaning of EA games? :P
Quoting: hjahreOh, not consistently. There are times I don't like the EA brands and then there are games I like a lot. I'm not a total EA hater.Quoting: 14... I really hate buying EA games. ...I guess this is true for each meaning of EA games? :P
Quoting: stretch611Also, for those that are interested, the devs have not participated in and have no plans to discount factorio during any sales. There is no reason to wait for a sale, or you will be disappointed.
Thanks for the info, removed it from my wishlist. 20euro is a bit too much for me for such poorly looking game (also I dislike they stance on sales, so I am not supporting it).
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