I'm looking for a mod that can allow small limited requests from Space Age orbital platforms directly to the player (and/or suggesting this be a feature implemented in the 2.1 release).

I've run into an issue with my current play through, I set the water coverage far too high, leaving Nauvis a sparsely populated archipelago. I don't mind using trains and the wonderful elevated rails to get stuff around, or having the even newer unloading bays going, but they have a limit were as (landfilled) vanilla train stations can expand as far as I want....... Sooooo, to combat all the running back and forth to set up new islands, I was hoping there was a mod (or, again, a feature I could request) that'd allow me to do requests to player, from orbital supply. Even if it was drop pods land "near" and not directly into the player's inventory, that'd be fine.

Any mods you guys know of? Google is stumped.

What is this?

The idea behind the monthly community map is to share a map exchange string at the beginning of every month, and get as many people as we can to start a new world with it. Then at the end of the month (or even periodically if you'd prefer!) we share screenshots and saves of our factories so that we can see how different people approach the same spawn; how they set up their base, how they deal with aliens, and how they arrange their science, power, and everything else.

I hope it can highlight how many different ways there are to do things, inspire some new designs, and maybe seeing how veteran Factorio players tackle problems will help out new players facing the exact same problems. (Of course, there's also the fact that it'll be interesting to see all of the different possible factories - the good, the bad, and the ugly.)

Last Month's Results

August 2026 Results

The Community Map

It seems that the 2.1 map didn't quite offer the challenge that was promised. Well... I can fix that.

I was quite tempted to throw in some sort of difficulty/combat mod, but I figured I would show just a smidge of mercy this time around and leave the biters vanilla. No surprise death world map or anything either, I'm aiming firmly for "challenging but reasonable" rather than brutal engineer grinder. But rather than talk about it, I think it's easier if you can see for yourself.

DLC Requirements:

Elevated Rails: Optional

Quality: Disabled

Recycler: Optional

Space Age: Disabled

Required Mods:

Angel's Infinite Ores

Mining Drones

Spidertron Enhancements

Spidertron Patrols

The Exchange String:

>>>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<<<

Spawn area: https://i.imgur.com/CrF7ETR.png

Mod Sync: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tot0I-XzRFmk_MyVn4VINF7iEhhw80WY

Oh yeah, I also set a science cost multiplier of 2. Not anything wild, but enough to make you feel the sting of limited resources if you delay expanding for too long - thought you'd wanna know. Enjoy the island!

Exchange String Help

If anyone isn't sure how to use an exchange string, just go to new game like you're going to generate a new world, and at the bottom there's a button just above play labelled "Import map exchange string" - the icon looks like a little arrow going into a tray/bucket. Just copy the exchange string above and paste it into the box that comes up when you press that button. Press confirm, and that's it! You're good to go. Just generate the world and come back in a month to show us how your factory turned out!

If you run into any issues check to make sure that you copied the whole string, including the three greater than/lesser than signs at the beginning and end, and make sure that your Factorio is up to date with the most recent version installed. (As of the time of this post, the most recent version of Factorio is 2.1.17, which will not work with the most recent version of stable, 2.0.77.)

Want To Play With Others?

If you have an open public server, let me know in the comments below or send me a PM and I'll add your server here!

Feel Like Watching Someone Else?

If you are a streamer or let's player who will be recording yourself building a new factory on a community map, I'd be happy to add a link to your channel here!

Having Issues With The Sync File?

If you're uncertain how to use the sync file I provided above, here are step by step instructions:

1) First, of course, is to download the file. Make sure you know where this file is so you can move it later. (It will be in your browser's default download folder unless you've changed it.) 2) Locate where Factorio's save folder is on your computer. If you've installed Factorio at its default location (C:\Program Files\Factorio) then there will be a shortcut to your saves folder there called "saves". Double-click it to go to the saves folder. 3) Take the file you downloaded and move it into this folder.

That should be it! Now just launch Factorio and make sure you sync your mods to this save before playing. If you'd like to play on this save specifically (for example, if this month has some per-map settings you don't feel like messing with) then you'll notice when you load the map normally your player will be named "ChaosBeing" (since I'm the one who started the save, of course). To get around this, you can host it as a local multiplayer game and then save. You should now appear as your own character when you load the map from now on!

About Mods

Since mods can affect how a world spawns and ores are distributed, as well as add or change items and functionality, it's important to make sure that we're all playing the same game by the same rules. For example, if one person's playing vanilla and someone else is playing with Bob's mods, even if they use the same seed and map settings you still couldn't very well say they were playing the same game, and the way they'd play would differ enormously.

On the other hand, Quality of Life (QoL) mods should be perfectly fine. What do I consider a QoL mod? Any mod that doesn't A) add new items, B) change terrain, or C) make significant gameplay changes, like modifying recipes or enemies. Any mod that fits this definition should allow everyone to play the same game even when some people are playing with them and some people are not.

Even Distribution is a great example of a mod that, while very useful, does not inherently change the way the game is played. Then there are also mods like RadarPlus for RSO that do add new items, but still don't meaningfully change the way the game is played.

Below I've put together a short list of examples that I think are ok to use on any map. It's made up of a handful of optional mods that might seem ambiguous in how well they fit the definition above, so they're just here to act as guidance on what should be ok. Another good resource for Quality of Life mods is available on the Factorio Discord - check out Xorimuth's pinned post.

Optional Mod Examples

Note: I can't imagine any situation where this could be an issue, but if you're the author of one of the mods listed here (and can offer me some proof of this) and for whatever reason would like me to remove your mod from this post, I'd be happy to comply.

It's entirely possible some of these mods either don't work with the current version of Factorio, conflict with each other, or in some manner just don't work. I can't test them all, let alone every configuration of them, so you might want to back up your world before adding one of these.

Color Coding

fCPU

Nixie Tubes

Project Cybersyn - Logistics Train Dispatcher

RadarPlus For RSO

Squeak Through 2

Text Plates

Updated Construction Drones

Visible Planets in Space

Previous Threads

-- 2025 --

September 2025 - Results

October 2025 - Results

November 2025 - Results

December 2025 - Results

-- 2026 --

January-February 2026 - Results

March 2026 - Results

April 2026 - Results

May 2026 - Results

June-July 2026 - Results

August 2026 - Results

Time's Up

Hands off the keyboard! Another month has come to a close, and it's time to share whatever you've got done with the rest of us!

Did you finish everything you would have liked to this time around, or did you wind up still having a few big, unfinished plans? Run into any particular issues, or were you pumping out infinite science like nobody's business? Here's the place to share your stories, screenshots, saves, or whatever else you've got!

This Month

The first 2.1 map has come to a close! With all I'd heard about biter expansion going in I was expecting much more of a problem, but everything seemed to play out pretty... reasonably? Granted I didn't have much hands on time with this map - I used this month to finally finish off my Nullius playthrough. >_>

But that's why hearing about your experiences is all the more important! So far I've heard from a few people as the map was ongoing, but maybe your experience was different? Did you hit any odd snags or quirks? Perhaps the opposite; did you encounter changes that you particularly enjoyed? Was there anything about this map in particular that stood out to you? Whatever the case might be, I'd like to know!

While you're typing up your response, maybe with an image or two, let's talk about September's map. (It's September already!?)

Next Month

Since last month didn't offer as much challenge as I'd anticipated, I may have overcorrected. Not to an extreme extent! The challenge itself is still vanilla - with a few modded toys to boot - but I did want to crank things up a bit before we get to the end of the year maps.

I'll give away one mod, as I often do, just to leave you wondering what else may be included: Mining Drones

Why Mining Drones? No one particular reason really. ...Okay that just makes it sound like I have some detailed plot here, genuinely I just happened upon them and thought I hadn't used them in a while. They're fun, not too overpowered, and simplify setting up a new resource patch. What's not to like? As for the rest, you'll just have to wait and see!

Previous Threads

-- 2025 --

September 2025 - Results

October 2025 - Results

November 2025 - Results

December 2025 - Results

-- 2026 --

January-February 2026 - Results

March 2026 - Results

April 2026 - Results

May 2026 - Results

Jule-July 2026 - Results

August 2026 - Results

found this walking near my base, I didn't eliminate any nest of biters here, what can it be? and how to destroy

Hi everyone,

I recently decided to finish off getting the last of the DLC achievements in the game (So far I have 82/88 - only missing the shattered planet, promethium and DLC speed running achievements). Thing is, the original save I got most of my DLC achievements on was eventually transitioned to a modded save, without backups.

I bit the bullet, but also didn't want to have to redo the early-game again, so I used one of my old pre 1.0 saves where I had already launched a rocket. So I could quickly get back into the new planets.

I've now tackled Gleba, Vulcanus and Fulgora, however, Nauvis is in a pretty rough state, having not really been touched since I first loaded the save back up. One big issue is that when I originally made the save used landfill everywhere, of which, I cannot pick back up.

My guess is this is due to 1.0 changing landfills properties or tile type to something that looks the same but behaves differently, given they added the force deconstruct mode.

So this is a 2 part question, firstly, is their a way to reconvert that landfill properly into the correct 2.1 version of landfill that can be used with blueprints and the deconstruction planner. WITHOUT commands (removing steam achievements).

And secondly, is it possible to completely delete Nauvis's surface from the save and restart their? Removing all the somewhat broken aspects of the save and shrinking the file size in the process. (If it is possible, will this also block achievements given its file modification)?

Full evolution in one post.

Made a droneless variant. Hook this settup to a heavy krued source, and it runns permanently.

I did cutt of the underground belt/pipe weave below, so it has to be conekted to work. Each part can be expanded to the north, so there are no bottlenecks to report.

The inserters aren't wrong. I use bobs adjustables for some quality of life.

C&C wanted.

Im currently very scared to start setting up my drills(only have 4 currently) on my copper because there is a nest right next to the copper vein I started automation of gun turrets just to be able to start clearing them out

Part 1, Part 2

2.1 features inserter flipping and inserters always targeting the input side of a splitter. This lets us greatly simplify some of the previous approaches.

N: Small, cheap way to move deconstructed items back onto a bus/belt without full saturation. Replaces old 'B-D'.

F: No sideloading or splitters. Unchanged from last time.

O: Minimum inserters, but adds splitters and sideloading. Note the last inserter has input priority. Replaces old 'I'.

P: No sideloading or splitters in a thinner profile than F, but adds a fifth inserter. Replaces old 'H'.

Q, Q4: Very high throughput in a small profile, but more bot activity. The requester chests simply read the (filtered) storage chest and request the same thing. As bots move items from storage to requester, the signal decreases and the connected chests end up pretty close to even. Replaces old 'J-M'

As a reminder, bulk inserters and blue belts are a bit strange and require hand size of 11 and 7 for the upstream and downstream inserter targeting a particular lane. 12 and 7 was the norm at one point, but now that only works if both inserters target within the same transport line segment. Don't ask me why, it's just what I learned through testing.

See Part 2 for other belt speeds, inserter types, and inserter quality.

Hey, new player here.

Since years i love playing games like factorio (logistics etc) like dsp, satisfactory or other games.

I tried factorio's demo months ago but i didn’t like it idk why, maybe because my worlds got "erased" because the tutorial cut the game with missions.

Now I'm asking here the question if some people can help me because i don’t know if i should buy it or not.

If yes should I do again the tutorial or just launch me in a new world.

Also what are the best settings to play for a new player like me ?

Thanks for help

Worked a few hours off the sprite and realized I got the mouth completely wrong.

Legs are still a bit funky too but the base forms are done so just have to refine the shapes.

I'm testing wall defenses segments in the sandbox mode and i wanna know if theres a way to simulate biter attacks like in vanilla: ie spawners absorb pollution and produce biters that they then send to an amassing attack group, then at some point that group goes to attack you. In creative I can slap down some spawners via the Editor on their plot of land that I isolated with water except for my wall segment, but they don't seem to be amassing an attack force of biters, even as I stick some boilers around them to pump out pollution, or even when I use the Add Pollution command

Do spawners that've been added manually not use the same mechanics as those in a normal game? Or is there a certain amount of space in a certain direction needed for the nests to assemble an attack force in?

EDIT: went into Editor menu> Surface > Edit Map Gen Settings > Enemy and it seems like when you make a Sandbox Mode world Peaceful mode is turned on by default, it specifically says that enabling it means Biters will not actively attack or expand. Now it's off i can see them absorbing pollution like normal

With Tier 2 modules, the layout produces 350/min.
With Tier 3 modules, the exact same layout produces 550/min.
I built both factories using the same idea. But I built the one on Nauvis later, after unlocking the Biolab. Because of this, the design and layout of the Nauvis factory are much better and cleaner than on Vulcanus.

I built this based on that idea.
https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/1qyoflj/vulcanus_all_science_1617kmin/

I don't know why it's never occurred to me to put little radar outposts out before? Just a single solar panel is enough to let me know if the biters have expanded in to my pollution cloud.

I play with few mods, but one involves a lot of ore, and I keep running into multiple patches overlapping, especially with the advanced miners from Space Age. Any way to set a minimum distance between patches or something?

Hey yall

For some reason one of the train cars has a slight blue hue on it. Noticed it a while back but kept ignoring it. Thought maybe its because i was messing around locomotive colors way back. Today i tried to see if i can do this to other cars, found no way of doing it. Did i do it, if not why is it like that? Can i do this on other cars?

Its not an issue, If i take the car out and place it again it will look normal. but was just wondering.

Thanks
Cheers!

EDIT: Seems like the color was set way before version 2.0. I can copy the color of the blue colored car, using Shift Right-Left click. But can't copy locomotive color to cars using the same method anymore.

I wanted the clean hands and rush to space achievements and decided the best way to do it was to simply leave Nauvis ASAP, abandoning it entirely before coming back with artillery. Did that successfully - but at that point was already comfortably set up on Vulcanus, so I decided to see if I could win the game without coming back. You can see here that the natives moved back in pretty readily - with my original crash-landing site being within spitting distance of a new biter base.

They actually never attacked my former Nauvis base because I simply disconnected the power from most of it - except I had left the boilers running initially to allow for Uranium mining, so one biter did eventually go after the boilers until I cut that final power connection. You can see the destroyed section of the boiler array.

Otherwise, you can see my map, including the total of three oil pumpjacks I got in the upper right (hey, it was enough to get me off planet! They're down to 70% total yield now). You can also see on the kill screen the times I came back to the planet - once to unlock uranium and get "keeping my hands clean", second time to grab a bit more uranium after I unlocked my mech suit and needed more fission reactors.

Finally, you can see that I managed to win in 96:18 despite the handicap I set for myself - first time I actually beat Space Age - and it ends with my little Aquilo Hauler that made it to the system edge. Pretty proud of that one actually - I used no outside blueprints so that brick is all mine. It's almost all rare/epic parts that I scrounged off my Fulgora quality island and got me there pretty comfortably.

Next steps? Land on Nauvis, grab the cargo landing pad, move far enough away to find some rich, rich resources, and clear the area with a few thousand artillery shells. Time to move back in!

Hello everyone! I’m a new Factorio player and I’ve only played for about 30 hours so far. This is my automated research setup, and I’m currently playing Tutorial 5 in Factorio: Space Age. :D

I’m really happy to share it with everyone! Hope you enjoy it! ❤️

Hi I'm considering buying this game but I mainly game on an old laptop with a gtx 1060. I've always been particular on games I buy based on the temps on this old machine. I've played the demo and the temperature on the demo is reasonable for me. Is the temps of the real game similar to the demo or is the demo too small to really test this old machine?

Tryna be mostly spoiler-free as figuring things out blind has been fun! We finished Fulgora and just made our first science on Vulcanus

1. Vulcanus seems way easier than we expected? Like we can make a lotttt of raw inputs but the science production seems relatively simple and cheap. What do I do with all these foundries?? Should supply our base from here or is ship throughput too limiting

2. If I don’t want to keep finding ore patches on Nauvis, would it be realistic to set up iron ore harvesting from space? Can you set up multiple landing pads and target them separately? Or is this also not throughout scalable

3. Minor fulgora question, do you produce more power if your lightningrod accumulator grids are spread out across the map? Or does that don’t matter

Cpu-5600g

Ram- 16g 2666mhz * 2

Graphic - rx580

So... my base factory is under 40~45 ups now.

If I bought 5500x3d, can I maintain over 60 ups for a while? I've heard the L3 cache is important on this game.