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Hello,
It's time to speak about more Gleba. Some changes, and also something new...
The Gleba problems
In the last few months we have been thinking about how to improve Gleba. There has always been this fundamental problem with a biological-oriented planet - other things you produce in the game tend to not be organic so it doesn't quite fit as easily as a planet based on making more Iron or more electronic circuits.
- It's difficult to integrate the biological production chains into the rest of the traditional factory, as it's mostly metals there.
- Finding useful things to unlock is difficult, especially compared to the metal and electronics based producers like Foundry and Electromagnetic plant.
And during the LAN party we had about a month ago, these problems were only confirmed plus we've realized many more issues in other areas. And seeing people interact with Gleba put a lot more urgency on finding solutions.
There is one change in particular which is significant and outlines our approach fairly well:
Bacteria cultivation
One of the key issues on Gleba was that you'd be building two factories - one for agriculture which would eventually output the science pack, and the usual Iron/Copper one which craft the factory and rocket parts.
The normal crafting tree was completely severed from the organic one.
This was especially problematic as the agriculture factory didn't contribute in any way until you'd have delivered the science packs to your labs. And as we've learned, it is preferable to attempt to have each step you take feel rewarding and immediately useful.
For a very long time we had wanted to add a way to create Iron and Copper ore via agriculture but we weren't quite sure how. Getting factory-grade amounts of minerals from plants felt just too unbelievable.
Stromatolites waiting to be mined.
The idea we've implemented is that some bacteria can be found in the swamps where agricultural plants grow.
- Stromatolites are rock-like objects which have formed there over many years, acting as accumulated bacteria and ore for you to quickly obtain at the start.
- Yumako/Jellynut can be processed with a small chance to obtain Copper/Iron bacteria respectively, reinforcing the feeling that there really isn't much in it.
- Soon enough you unlock the Biochamber, and as you are the ingenuous engineer, you replicate and grow the bacteria in it to truly industrial amounts.
Mp4 playback not supported on your device. Cultivating bacteria which turn into iron and copper ore.
This results in the agriculture chain being immediately useful for creating Iron and Copper ore which you can use for building more of the Gleba factory, and once you've got enough of that you can "just" switch it for full-on agricultural science production. As a result the steps you're taking are much more useful and less tedious.
A beautiful little detail is that the bacteria spoils directly into ore, so it's a place where spoiling is helping you, for once.
The reward
It's nice when an activity is fun, but it's much better when it's also meaningful and leads somewhere. Obtaining powerful factory improvements is how we like to be motivated in Factorio.
There's a handful of improvements to be unlocked by the agricultural science pack like the stack inserter, spidertron with rocket turret, or more efficient recipes for space platforms, but there is one specific new technology...
Biter captivity
Bioflux is a combination of processed Yumako and Jellynut. It's crafted on Gleba and it can be used to capture biter spawners on Nauvis.
A capture robot loaded with doses of Bioflux solution and is shot from a rocket launcher. The capture robot latches onto a spawner and soon enough the spawner is rendered harmless and docile.
Mp4 playback not supported on your device. (Capture time reduced for demonstration)
Once captured, the spawner no longer hatches biters, and biter eggs can be collected with inserters for further processing or disposal.
Mp4 playback not supported on your device.
As long as you keep feeding it Bioflux in frequent intervals, the spawner will remain that way. Otherwise it 'goes rogue' and returns back to its natural form, spawning hostile biters again.
Biter eggs can be immediately used for improvements to agriculture, crafting Productivity module 3, or because we felt like the Gleba unlocks aren't motivating us enough...
A new laboratory
Combined with some other items, the egg can be grown and hatched into a mutated laboratory.
As you will be able to read down below, the work on the graphics has only just started, but here you can see a work in progress version of it from Earendel and Jerzy:
Mp4 playback not supported on your device. Work in progress graphics of the new Biolab. Subject to change.
The Biolab can be used only on Nauvis as the organism inside would die on other planets, but in turn it only consumes half the amount of science packs for any given research. It can process all science packs just like the normal lab. It also has 4 slots for modules.
This means it's a powerful unlock and obtaining it early on should feel quite rewarding. Whether we finally broke the imbalance of Vulcanus and Fulgora being clearly superior to Gleba, we will see - but at least the difference is much, much less stark now.
A bit of backstory
You may notice that the Biolab above looks awfully similar like the captive biter spawner. Until very recently, that's pretty much what it was.
Concept art from Earendel.
We had an entity in the game called Synthetic biter spawner. We added it because we felt like it would be nice to be able to just place your own spawners anywhere in order to scale up biter egg production in the typical Factorio fashion of rows on rows of machines.
As we were trying to simplify some things and find rewards for Gleba, the Synthetic biter spawner started to lose its significance - and at the same time we felt like some powerful Gleba unlock is missing.
At first we changed it to be a more universal crafter, giving it the ability to craft Nauvis science packs, solid fuel and rocket fuel, all with a productivity bonus similar to the foundry and electromagnetic plant. The recipes felt a bit forced and the bonus wasn't that great compared to its rivals, but it was something.
Mp4 playback not supported on your device. The discarded synthetic biter spawner in its science pack crafter form.
Along the way we started dreaming about turning it into a full-on laboratory...
The graphics however would be far from a proper visual solution so we've put our heads together with Albert and Earendel and we decided to make a last minute adjustment making a proper semi-organic Biolab which would include more of the typical lab structure.
The finished version will be in Space Age on release day. :)
Because this means we've discarded the synthetic biter spawner, we have added a way to craft the captive biter spawners which you could then place anywhere on Nauvis you like, so you can still scale their production up conveniently. This technology is unlocked at the last planet so it won't get trivialized too early, and the captive spawners you make will have their own quirks...
Conclusion
The idea of capturing biters has been in our heads for a long time, and in Space Age since the very first serious brainstorming going into the initial prototype.
Biter eggs also make use of the spoiling mechanic as they spoil into live biters. The biter based lab has had many uses before and we believe now it has found its true form.
Over the last month we've improved the experience on Gleba in many other ways. Changing map generation, cleaning up some graphics, tweaking many if not all recipes, making the enemies less crazy, adding new ways to obtain resources and making the rewards a lot more appealing. A lot of the changes are too detailed for the context of FFFs, but we'd like to express our deep gratitude for the feedback from our testers, which has been immensely helpful.
Speaking of testers, please be aware that the content/press embargo ends on the 14th October, so if you want to avoid spoilers please keep it in mind as there are no restrictions on what they can show.
Captivate us with your least spoiled ideas in the usual places, and don't argue whether Bioflux is drugs or food, it's obviously...