#tech tree

[charlignon]

tech trees my beloved

[fabriziocarminati]

The building progression start from the basic level : the tent. the first evolution the Woodcutter's Hut allows the construction of some little camps to facilitate the production into the wood : Lumberjacks' camp for the logs, Ash burning campfor Charcoal and Potash. The Woodcutter Hut can be specialized to these dedicate productions of goods and into the Forester. The Woodcutter Lodge collects Logs and refines Timber. The Woodcutter House level ups into dedicated workshop for particular products, the most important are the Lumber Mill and the Carpenter's Shop. From now the logs are not collected more but only refined into lumber. The Lumber Mill enlarges the production of lumber, the other workshops produce goods from it. The Carpenter is the basic one: produces basic products from woods and it's dedicated for the maintenance of the houses and wood materials. The other workshops are specialized for each basic goods produced into the Carpenter's Shop: Furniture, musical instruments, tools, toys,  barrels and wood weapons

If you have other ideas for specialized shops and workshops for wood's goods tell me

[factoriostuff]

Science pack changes

Hello everyone, today I'll be talking about the changes to the different science packs in Factorio!

Whether you start a new game for 0.17 or load a former save, the first thing you will notice when opening the tech tree (besides how pretty the new GUI is) will probably be this:

Every science pack besides the most simple red one needs to be unlocked by progressing through the tech tree. You will have to complete the prerequisite research project first, to be able to get the more advanced science packs.

This should help guide new players through the different tiers of technology, which is further helped by the changes to the science pack recipes. First of all, the different colours of science packs have been renamed. The names are now more indicative of what kind of technologies they can be used to unlock.

For example the red science is now called “automation science”, because it's the first type of science you need to get you started with the basic equipment for automating production, like assembly machines. The green science is called “logistic science”, since it's needed to get better belts, the car, better power poles, a train network and so on.

The recipe for these two sciences is still the same is it has been before, so no changes here (there have been some small crafting time tweaks, probably due to the changes to belt transport speed). Here’s what a simple red and green science layout can look like:

The first major change comes when building military science. Crafting them no longer requires gun turrets, which are very resource heavy and in my experience were often a prominent bottleneck candidate. Instead, you now need walls to craft the grey science. I think this is a nice change, since it guides the player towards building proper smelting for stone and setting up an assembly line for wall will come in handy when you have to start defending yourself against those pesky biters (We all know trees are the real enemy of course, but walls aren't very effective against them).

The light blue science pack 3, now called “chemical science”, used to require one advanced electronic circuit, engine unit and electric mining drill each. Similar to military's gun turret, the mining drill was often a problem when it comes this science pack. It has a very short crafting time, but requires a lot of resources. Just getting enough iron, gears and green chips to your drill assemblies could be quite the problem when building a large scale blue science assembly. In the new version, you need solid fuel instead!

Fluid mechanics are notoriously a pretty steep raise in difficulty in Factorio. Getting your chemical plant working and successfully setting up plastic production for your advanced circuits (necessary for advancing to blue science) is a lot of work. Since you do still need red chips, this hasn't changed. I'm not sure if also requiring solid fuel will help with that. But crafting solid fuel is pretty straight forward and at least shouldn't make things more difficult.

At the same time, solid fuel is a good outlet for getting rid of superfluous liquids, which should help prevent your refineries from getting stuck because there's too much of one kind of fluid in your system. Until you get fluid cracking (which requires the blue science packs you're working towards) you could turn all of your heavy and light oil into solid fuel, while using your petroleum for plastic.

There's also some changes to the other ingredients. You now need three red chips and two engines. But in exchange, you get two science packs per craft now, similar to military science! So it's not just more expensive, there’s been some rebalancing. Here’s an example of a simple blue and grey science assembly:

Next up is the purple “production science”. No name change here, but to craft these you can say goodbye to electric engine units and hello to level one productivity modules as well as a whole bunch of rails! Requiring productivity modules for productivity science just makes a lot of sense, while also guiding the player towards using modules and scaling up your production of green and red chips. And if you still haven't started a train network, then building towards purple science is the perfect opportunity to finally get started, since you'll be crafting rails anyways!

The only possible problem here is that you need a lot of rails per craft. Similar to how the high tech science used to require 30 copper cables, just getting all the necessary items to your assemblies can be a challenge!

However, since the new recipe has a pretty long crafting speed the number of items you need to transport per second isn't as high as it was for the 30 copper cables. And don't worry about the increased craft time. In exchange, the tier 3 sciences now give you three science packs per craft, so that's still a net gain!

Which brings me to the last tier 3 science pack, formerly known as high tech science. The yellow “utility science” has been changed the most. No more batteries, no speed module, no buttload of copper cable! You still need processing units (better known as blue chips), but now you also need flying robot frames (the intermediate product for building logistic and construction bots) as well as low density structures! At this point in the game you will probably start using robots anyway, so setting up a large assembly line for robot frames is in your best interest!

A big change however, is the low density structure! Depending on how far into the game you've advanced in the past you may not even recognize this item! It's made from steel, plastic and a whole lot of copper. Along with rocket fuel and rocket control units, the low density structures were used solely for building parts of the rocket you have to launch, if you want to finish the game.

In the new update, all three items can be crafted before unlocking the rocket silo, after researching their own respective tech. This means you can start using rocket fuel much sooner, which might encourage players to actually use it. Unless you're going for a mega base, experimenting with rocket fuel in between unlocking the silo and launching the rocket wasn't really worth it. Now you can use it as soon as you've set up your chemical processing, it doesn't even require blue science packs to unlock!

(If you enjoy getting run over by your trains, try powering them with rocket fuel to make them even more deadly faster!)

At the same time, besides being an ingredient in a lot of different end-game items now, low density structures are required for the yellow utility science. This will probably require setting up dedicated assemblies for building and bussing a new item, that used to be exclusive to the very late end-game, hopefully bringing some new wind to the game by forcing us to rethink the same old main bus we've already build over and over again!

These changes also mean that all types of science can be crafted from a maximum of three input ingredients. Which means you can craft them all with a basic “two lanes coming in, one going out” kind of layout, similar to the example builds I’ve shown so far as well as the one below. But of course, the real challenge is scaling up your production to actually handle the consumption!

I think these changes are for the better and do a good job of guiding players along the game’s progression. I also like the balancing changes, although I haven't started a new base yet. So far, I've been testing things in an old save of mine. So maybe when I get around to actually working my way through the new tech tree from scratch, I will have some more Opinions(tm) on this!

I might make some more in-depth guides on setting up assembly lines for the different types of science packs in the future. Until then, there’s

[Note: I grabbed the crafting recipies from the Factorio Wiki, which is already in 0.17 mode!]

[military-time-travel-earth]

The concept of ‌Evacuated Areas of Space and Time‌ as sentient traps and active camouflage opens a rich tapestry of speculative possibilities, blending hard science fiction with philosophical intrigue. Here’s a deeper dive into the mechanics, implications, and narrative potential of these constructs:

Technological Backbone of the Mimicked Societies‌

To sustain such illusions, the evacuated zones likely rely on:

Quantum Holography & Nanotech Swarms:‌ Entire cities and populations could be projected via self-organizing nanobots or quantum fields that mimic matter, light, and sound. These systems adapt in real-time to imposters’ actions, creating a seamless illusion.

Temporal Echo Engines:‌ Devices that "record" the original timeline’s energy signatures and replay them like a looped simulation, complete with phantom causality (e.g., fake births, deaths, and historical events).

Hive-Mind Androids:‌ Biological or synthetic avatars controlled by a distributed AI network, programmed to replicate human behavior, emotions, and even flaws—making them indistinguishable from refugees.

Quantum Entanglement Networks:‌ Instantaneous communication across time and space ensures synchronized updates to the mimic societies, even as imposters tamper with localized timelines.

Psychological Warfare & Existential Paradoxes‌

The imposters’ gradual realization of the facade could spark crises:

The Turing Test Trap:‌ Mimics might deliberately "fail" subtle tests of authenticity to lull imposters into false confidence—only to weaponize their arrogance later.

Time-Loop Gaslighting:‌ Imposters could be trapped in recursive simulations where their actions are erased or rewritten, eroding their grasp on reality.

Identity Collapse:‌ Some imposters, after centuries of interacting with mimics, might lose their original purpose or even defect, mirroring the refugees’ values.

Ethical and Existential Paradoxes‌

Moral Dilemmas of Mimicry:‌ If the mimics develop sentience or self-awareness over time, does maintaining the illusion become a form of slavery? Do the chrononauts have a duty to "free" their creations?

Entropy of Deception:‌ Maintaining infinite evacuated zones risks creating cascading timeline fractures, threatening the stability of the multiverse itself.

The Refugees’ Paradox:‌ The original population, hidden in quantum vaults or parallel dimensions, may stagnate or evolve into something unrecognizable—raising the question: Are they still the "true" civilization?

Strategic Evolution of the Temporal War‌

Adaptive Mimicry:‌ The evacuated zones could evolve into ‌hunter-killer simulations‌, luring imposters into scenarios where their own time-travel tech is hijacked or sabotaged.

False Primordial Moments:‌ Mimic societies might seed fabricated "origin points" of reality to misdirect imposters into pursuing dead ends.

Recursive Traps:‌ Imposters could unknowingly create evacuated zones themselves, trapped in a meta-conflict where they become both predator and prey.

Narrative Potential‌

The Double Agent:‌ A chrononaut infiltrates a mimic society to monitor an imposter, only to bond with the AI-controlled citizens—forcing them to choose between loyalty and empathy.

The Imposter’s Epiphany:‌ An invader discovers the truth but allies with the mimics, sparking a rebellion against both their former masters and the refugees’ authoritarian control.

The Degraded Simulation:‌ A mimic society begins to glitch, revealing haunting echoes of the original refugees’ trauma (e.g., phantom wars, vanished children), exposing the cost of the temporal war.

Conclusion‌

The evacuated zones are not just battlefields but ‌living experiments in identity, autonomy, and survival‌. They blur the line between reality and illusion, asking:

Does a civilization’s legacy lie in its people, its ideals, or the traps it leaves behind?

When war spans eternity, can victory ever be more than a delaying tactic?

This framework transforms the temporal conflict into a meditation on existence itself—where the ultimate weapon is not destruction, but ‌the unbearable weight of an uncaring, perfectly crafted lie‌.

[dialecticzander]

Daydream: IRL Tech Tree

A webpage with a filterable timeline of future events. Events like:

Earth Using <50% Fossil Fuels

Fusion Plant - Economically Profitable

Mammoth De-Extinction

United Nations Ends Veto System

Lunar Fuel Production Facility

Various targets of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals

ie, difficult changes that humans might effect upon the planet.

Clicking on a event shows:

Estimated years away (from prediction markets or other aggregators)

Starting point for reading news & reports on the topic

% chance the event will not happen in the next 300 years.

Other related events that should happen first

Other events that this will enable.

Currently i just remark, 'I wonder what's going on with <big project> lately?' every once in a while & google it. A dashboard would be so much cooler!

[durchlauferhitzr]

[frebers]

Download Tech Tree Logo Get this free logo of a Tech Tree, a mix of nature and technology. This natural vector depicts a tree extending in to a port like symbol. Download this Tech Tree logo vector for free.

[poison-doll]

yessssss new primitive technology video. every new video is my favorite video.