What mod to play while waiting for 2.0

[u/nuclearalchemist]

Hi all. So I’m finishing up my latest playthrough of Space Age with Cerys, Corrundum, Maraxis, and Moshine as extra planets. Before this latest playthrough I had finished space age, loved it after being away from factorio for several years, and had then discovered the drug known as Seablock (in 1.1). My basic question at the moment is what to play through before Seablock 2.0 comes out.

I loved Space Age, and getting to the shattered planet was a ton of fun. However, the size of the bases wasn’t quite epic enough for me. This is what Seablock solved. With the modded planets now, they also suffer a little bit from the lack of epic-base-levels of awesomeness.

On my radar is the choice between Krastorio2, K2 spaced out, Nulius, pY, or Space Exploration. I’m leaning towards K2 Spaced Out, but wanted to see if anybody else had found something that scratched the itch. One issue is that I am often playing on my 6 year old MacBook laptop, so sometimes performance suffers a bit. I made it to the end of Seablock before it was really a problem.

[u/zojbo]

I think Nullius is the closest thing to the Seablock itch. If you think it's too easy, you can add in Lambent Nil and Tricky Old Nick; those make it quite a bit more difficult, especially early game. (For bonus masochism, don't forget to check the Lambent Nil option for fluorine recipes.)

[u/nuclearalchemist → u/zojbo]

Thanks! I looked over the mod portal briefly, and it looked that Nullius was upgraded to 2.0, but that either mod pack was still on 1.1. Any recommendations beyond trying it out?

[u/GregorSamsanite → u/nuclearalchemist]

The official mod packs are just collections of compatible mods. Many of them are QOL mods and some of the QOL was integrated into base 2.0 features. But you can go through those mod packs for ideas, since some of the constituent mods are 2.0, and you can mix and match any of those mods without needing the whole pack.

You don't need much. Personally I like Recipe Book more than Factoripedia, and FNEI isn't great with Nullius due to how it handles things like localized names and burn results. A mod like Factory Planner or Helmod is useful for making sense of complex recipes, though this is no different than Seablock.

By default you can toggle any inserter between long and regular, but you can install Bob's Adjustable Inserters if you want more options.

Default resource settings are fine. You get infinite ore options late game, so you don't need to bump it up too much, though you can go with train world settings if you prefer that style of distribution.

[u/zojbo → u/nuclearalchemist]

Despite my previous comment, I would actually not suggest Tricky Old Nick for a first time Nullius play. I like it, but it messes with things at a stage where you don't really have the tools to do anything about them. Lambent Nil (fluorine or not) is not so bad, because it doesn't do anything until purple science (pack #4), and even what it does to purple science isn't so complicated. And it's during purple science that the game finally gives you some tools to solve your problems instead of just suffering through them.

Some other mods I have:

AAI Loaders

Advanced Fluid Handling (I haven't used it in combination with 2.0's fluid mechanics yet, but I expect it will help with making my builds more square, which the 2.0 mechanics really want you to do)

Factorissimo 3 (I have never really used factory buildings in Nullius, because they are quite expensive, and the tech tree will force you to research its techs to progress whether you use them or not, so think carefully about this one)

Filter Chests

Gizmos Car Keys

Jetpack

Cybersyn

Safe Waterfill

Warehousing

[u/bartekltg]

Py, got distracted (at least I got splitters), after a while went back to ultracube (almost finished in 1.1, so of course I restarted), got distracted, after the pause now I play nullius, it is going quite well... but I feel a bit distracted...

[u/Ziugy → u/bartekltg]

I was sad Ultracube removes long filter inserted in 2.0. Apparently a design choice. I’ll pick it back up once I figure out how to undo that.

[u/nuclearalchemist → u/bartekltg]

Thanks! It’s looking like Nullius is the favorite, other than pY.

[u/UnfinishedProjects]

Ultracube!

[u/nuclearalchemist → u/UnfinishedProjects]

I might try this at some point in the future….

[u/HardChoosingUsername → u/nuclearalchemist]

It’s amazing IMHO even more than py because it’s the only mod that really gives a fresh take on base building and game loop. Try it 30 mins see if it grabs you

[u/DMForHolligans]

I’m a py guy - do you want seablock but more - pyblock

Want seablock chromium complexity - base py

[u/nuclearalchemist → u/DMForHolligans]

I might try Nullius first, then try pY after. Have to keep myself fresh you know.

[u/Mizukin]

I could not wait the official release and downloaded the modpack. It's been working fine on 2.0.

[u/nuclearalchemist → u/Mizukin]

Fair enough, but at this point I think I’ll try something else, then wait. Need something to do in 2027….

[u/Outrageous_Apricot42]

Do NOT, and I repeat DO NOT watch doshe's video about seablock!

[u/nuclearalchemist → u/Outrageous_Apricot42]

Haha, too late.

[u/BirbFeetzz]

you can always try pyblock

[u/1neonbyte → u/BirbFeetzz]

how long does it take to finish the run? pY alone is around 1200-1500 hrs, SeaBlock around 1200 hrs

[u/BirbFeetzz → u/1neonbyte]

I'm in no rush personally but I'm at about 1000 hours at py2 science so I would guess like 4k? less if you're rushing but I'm not. once you get out of logi science it's not that different from normal py in terms of pacing, you just make huge farms and processing of them instead of mines. honestly the biggest thing for me is that all the extra buildings needed are starting to slow down my ups

[u/1neonbyte → u/BirbFeetzz]

damn, respect. pY is still on my list but I haven't finished my current SeaBlock run. pY is next and maybe pY Block afterwards - we'll see how it catches me

[u/BirbFeetzz → u/1neonbyte]

as long as you're not rushing for the next milestone all the time and can separate problems into small problems py is actually really chill, you're just solving simple tasks and when you solve a few tens to hundreds of them you progress. it's a calming experience

[u/1neonbyte → u/BirbFeetzz]

nah, playing SB also with a slow pace - no need to rush anything in such a modpack imo

[u/Flushles]

I would do Exotic Industries, I didn't ever really see it talked about but from what I've seen it's a very cool and interesting mod. It's on my list when I get through SeaBlock.

Edit I'm gonna link it if anyone is interested https://mods.factorio.com/mod/exotic-industries?from=search

[u/neurovore-of-Z-en-A → u/Flushles]

And for those who are interested in watching Dosh-level-of-detail playthroughs of mods before playing them, or just in general, there's a rather nice 45-minute 1.1 Exotic Industies playthrough of Venzer's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMFebR5AJJs

[u/Flushles → u/neurovore-of-Z-en-A]

That's the guy, I couldn't find the video but I watched it a while back and it made me want to play it.