Factorio: Space Age will rework Research and Technology

Wube Software has revealed another change coming to Factorio: Space Age in their latest Friday Facts #376 blog post with a rework to the Research and Technology system. With the introduction of new planets to explore and build on, new and unique resources are also available to mine. The new system could create some interesting problems in terms of requiring research to discover and operate on a planet, while in turn requiring research science packs to be made from resources from said planet.

The solution Wube Software is opting for is trigger technologies. That is, technologies that unlock via a certain event trigger, rather than science packs. Examples include mining an entity, crafting a specific item, or launching a rocket with a certain item. With this new system, landing on a planet allows you to discover and make use of its new resources naturally. And, along the way, you’ll trigger unlock additional technologies to make use of on the new planet.

In the example provided by Wube Software, the Steam Power technology may now require you to craft 50 Iron Plates to unlock it.

Factorio currently enables the use of a research queue once you launch your first rocket. However, when you start a new game and generate your map you have to decide to enable the queue or not. If you choose not to, you can only ever enable the queue via console commands. In Factorio: Space Age the queue will now always be active. Furthermore, you will no longer have to launch a rocket to unlock it.

Infinite technologies are a big feature of Factorio, allowing you to constantly optimize and increase the efficiency of your factory in many ways. Mining productivity is a great infinite technology but doesn’t give much player choice at the end game. Wube Software is looking to increase the amount of production-based infinite technologies with the addition of productivity research. Each level of this infinite technology will increase the built-in productivity of certain recipes.

These are all great changes to Factorio, and will surely make Factorio: Space Age even more fun. It’s great to see Wube Software add content with the expansion but also rework existing systems to make them better.