Thoughts on Vulcanus!
I have many thoughts, but none are in order, so here we go bitches!!!
Demolishers!!
I think the demolishers are VERY cool!! I feel like every good scifi story or media has at least one Fucking Giant Worm, and seeing Factorio get one is very nice!! When I first read the FFF post about Vulcanus, I was waiting the entire time like "show me the worm show me the worm show me thE WORM-" and I was SO excited when they showed us the worm!!!
Their mechanics are cool I think! A twist on how the enemies in Factorio usually operate. The lack of a constant pressure from biters is a nice change of pace, and needing to kill them to expand your building area is fun! They are deceptively easy to kill if you know what you're doing, but if you don't, they can be real nasty to deal with.
I took down smalls and mediums with gun turrets and red ammo, which is basically free on this planet, which I'll comment on later.
Their atmosphere and presence is very cool as well!! The whole idea of them is very well done, seeing them visually slither across the map is terrifying and majestic. I always find it fun when they come right up to the edge of their territory, right next to where my factory is. Seeing this giant, destructive beast inches away from my carefully built machines, it's a very cool feeling!!
Environment!!
The environment of the planets and Nauvis in general has really been stepped up for Space Age/2.0! Landing on Vulcanus, obviously it is an alien world, but it's also so well done for being a factory game!! The biomes are all distinct, each with their own characteristics, and they all feel different to be in! The sulfuric acid vents feel different to the lava oceans which feel different to the volcanic plateau! It actually feels like I'm on a fully featured planet, with variation and development and history!!! It's all amazingly done.
The music is super sick and adds to this as well!! The big brass feels very dramatic, very grand. It sounds like the planet is BOOMING, which it kind of is in various ways. I'm honestly debating buying the soundtrack to have the Vulcanus tracks in my playlist, which is the first time I've seriously considered buying a game soundtrack.
Production!!!
I think the production lines on Vulcanus are very interesting! The mix of resources you have access to makes you think about your supply chains and logistics in a different way, and it's a very fun change.
The simple fact that you get iron/copper from lava and calcite alone changes so much. In my factory, I don't bother shipping iron or copper anywhere but a couple tiles away by belt. All my long distance transport and trainlines only move the calcite, and source lava locally. It DRASTICALLY reduces train traffic, which is VERY nice!!
Casting items in the foundry is fun!! The 50% productivity bonus on everything is so nice, especially for my belt mall. The speed that things cast also changes how you think about basic supplies like gears. While in a standard factory, you'll likely need a good few assemblers making gears elsewhere for a belt mall, you can very easily get away with just one or two with foundries. And steel casting is SOOO nice. Steel being produces so much faster makes so many things easier. I'm making purple science on Vulcanus, and not needing to have the equivalent area of a small european nation to fit the steel smelting is a godsend.
Power generation is a fun twist as well! Getting steam straight from sulfuric acid and calcite seems like it would be odd at first, but because the machines produce so fast, it ends up meaning that a single chemical plant making steam can supply your water needs AND your power needs for a very long time. I currently have 2.2GW of steam power setup, and I think I'm literally using like 10 chemical plants to make it all lmao.
One thing I was absolutely not expecting was how ABSURD the sulfuric acid vents are. Each individual node, on average, produces like a HUNDRED sulfuric acid per second!!!! Before mining prod and beacons!!!!!!! I was worried about my sulfuric acid supply for power production early on, but after killing one (1) small demolisher, I am absolutely set for LIFE on sulfuric acid.
Overall, the production lines end up being very similar to Nauvis, where you start by making plates, then crafting more advanced intermediates, then eventually science packs. But the way you get to those plates, and the logistics involved, make it a very interesting challenge!!
THOUGHTS!!!
I really enjoyed my time on Vulcanus!! I think it's a very good place to start in the expansion, with enough variety to make you have to rethink some things you thought you knew, but with enough similarities that you won't have to smash your head against a wall to make things work. Very well done, very well thought out, I can't wait to go back here and rework things with later game upgrades!! I feel like Vulcanus is going to become a mass production hub for a lot of the heavier things, like space platform and steel products.
I'm very satisfied with Vulcanus! I cannot wait to see what the other planets have in store :3
Next stop, Fulgora!!!!!