Factorio: Space Age - The Factory Must Grow... To Other Planets

October 21, 2024

Factorio: Space Age - The Factory Must Grow... To Other Planets

After making us wait longer than it takes to research nuclear power with lazy bastard achievement, Wube Software finally released Space Age. The expansion that asks the question: "What if your spaghetti factory wasn't complicated enough?" Now you can have poorly optimized factories on FIVE different planets. Your social life wasn't using those hours anyway.

What's New in Space Age?

Everything. No seriously, this isn't some lazy DLC cash grab. Wube spent 4 years making sure every new mechanic would haunt your dreams:

Five New Planets - Each with unique mechanics designed to break your perfectly planned blueprints
Space Platforms - Mobile factories that fly between planets. Yes, you need to automate space travel now
Quality System - Items now have tiers because regular complexity wasn't enough
Elevated Rails - Finally, trains can go OVER your spaghetti instead of through it
New Enemies - Because biters weren't annoying enough

The Planets: Each One a Fresh Hell

Vulcanus - The lava planet where everything melts except your determination to build there anyway. Features foundries that make your regular smelting setup look like a child's toy. Molten metal flows like water, which sounds cool until you realize you need to pipe lava.

Fulgora - The lightning planet where power is "free" but will kill you. Ruins everywhere containing scrap you must recycle. It's basically Factorio's version of dumpster diving, but the dumpster is trying to electrocute you.

Gleba - The biological horror planet where everything spoils. Yes, SPOILS. Your perfectly balanced production line? Now it rots. Bacteria-based production chains ensure you'll never sleep peacefully again.

Aquilo - The ice planet that makes you question why you didn't just stay on Nauvis. Everything freezes, heating is mandatory, and the locals throw ice at your factories. It's like playing Factorio in a freezer while someone pelts you with snowballs.

Space - Not technically a planet, but you'll spend half your time here managing platforms. Asteroids provide resources while trying to destroy your mobile factory. It's Factorio meets Space Engineers meets anxiety disorder.

Space Platforms: Your New Obsession

Remember when you thought trains were complicated? Space platforms are trains that fly through space while being factories:

Build factories that move between planets
Dodge asteroids or harvest them for resources
Manage fuel, defenses, and production while flying
Watch your carefully designed platform get shredded by space rocks
Rebuild and pretend you meant to do that

The Quality System: Because We Needed More Complexity

Items now come in five quality tiers:

Normal (what you're used to)
Uncommon (slightly better)
Rare (noticeably better)
Epic (significantly better)
Legendary (basically cheating)

A legendary assembler is 2.5x faster than normal. Now multiply that across your entire factory. Your UPS died for this.

New Production Chains: Say Goodbye to Sanity

Electromagnetic Plants - Only on Fulgora, powered by lightning. Because capturing lightning in a bottle is apparently Tuesday in Factorio now.

Biochambers - Grow alien fruits, process bacteria, make nutrients. It's like Stardew Valley had a nightmare about automation.

Cryogenic Plants - For when you need to freeze things on the ice planet. Because of course you do.

Foundries - Melt metals directly without those pesky intermediate steps. Efficiency at the cost of completely redesigning everything.

Community Reactions: Exactly What You'd Expect

"My 1000 hour megabase is obsolete" - And they're already 200 hours into a new one.

"Gleba spoilage is BS" - Until they figure out the mechanics and post a 10-page guide.

"Space logistics are impossible" - Posted by someone who'll have a 50-platform fleet by next week.

"Worth the wait" - The universal consensus. Wube doesn't miss.

The Real Challenge: Interplanetary Logistics

Forget belt balancing. Now you need to balance:

What to produce where
What to ship between planets
How to not die while doing it
Why you started playing at Friday evening and it's suddenly Sunday morning

Each planet has exclusive resources. Need carbon fiber? Hope you like Gleba. Want advanced circuits? Better befriend the lightning. It's a logistics puzzle that makes Amazon's supply chain look like a lemonade stand.

Is Space Age Worth It?

Absolutely if:

You've dreamed of interplanetary factory networks
Regular Factorio feels "too simple" now
You have 500+ hours and want 500 more
Sleep is optional in your lifestyle
You enjoy pain but in a productive way

Maybe wait if:

You haven't launched a rocket in vanilla
You think trains are too complicated
You have responsibilities
Your relationship is on thin ice
You're still working through your Satisfactory addiction

The Verdict

Space Age isn't just an expansion; it's Factorio 2 wearing a trenchcoat. Wube took everything that makes Factorio special and asked "but what if MORE?" Every new system integrates perfectly while adding layers of complexity that will haunt your spreadsheet dreams.

At $35, it's priced like a full game because it basically is one. The amount of content is staggering. Each planet could be its own game. The quality system adds replayability to infinity. Space platforms are so engaging they could be sold separately.

This is how you do DLC. Not some map pack or cosmetic nonsense, but a fundamental evolution of the base game that respects players' intelligence while challenging everything they know.

Now if you'll excuse me, my Gleba base is probably rotting, my space platform is out of fuel, and I haven't optimized my electromagnetic plant setup yet. The factory must grow... across the stars.

See you in 2025 when I finally emerge from my gaming cave, speaking only in ratios and throughput calculations.