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Better Planets

Flexible, safe starmap planets and stars edits with orbit controls, icons, connections and tech tweaks. Designed to be played with mods that are listed below. However, can be played as a standalone mod.

Tweaks
17 days ago
2.0
605
Factorio: Space Age Icon Space Age Mod
Planets
source code
Download
Owner:
Efremiros
Source:
https://github.com/Efremiros/Better-Planets
Homepage:
https://github.com/Efremiros/Better-Planets
License:
MIT
Created:
a month ago
Latest Version:
1.1.1 (17 days ago)
Factorio version:
2.0
Downloaded by:
605 users

WILL WORK PERFECTLY SAFE IN THE EXISTING GAME

However, please backup your save file before.

If you see that a planet is positioned oddly on the galactic map or it has no space routes, you need to disable it in the mod settings (or play around with the angle and radius). Since Better Planets was developed alongside the listed mods, if some of them are missing, planets may be positioned NOT AS INTENDED.

Better Planets lets you precisely set the orbital angle (tier) and distance (radius) of planets and space locations, creates new moons, adds asteroid belt exits with Kuiper Belt zones, manages planet properties (temperature, gravity, solar power), smooths space routes lengths, and reparents tech - all with safe, late-stage updates that respect other planet mods.

Changes are made for progression-focused playthroughs with the listed mods. It supports rjdunlap's planets (nearly all of them), plus Rabbasca and Linox. However, it can also be installed without some mods or no other mods and played standalone. Orbit rendering is implemented for any celestial bodies that are modified.

Recommended settings for planets distance and angle already included as defaults.
Also, I personally recommend to play with Better StarMap Background mod with Enable Outer Asteroid Belt option.
Redrawn Space Connections should have route length multiplier set to 1.3 for better starmap routes.

What it changes

  • Master Configuration Switches

    • Use Custom Parameters - Toggle between mod defaults and custom settings. When disabled, the mod uses recommended presets for all planets without needing manual configuration.
    • Enable Technology Reparenting - Control whether the mod adjusts technology prerequisites.
    • Enable Space Connections - Manage space connections between locations (especially for moons).
    • Enable Connection Normalizer - Rounds connection lengths to nearest 10000 km for cleaner display.
    • Enable Asteroid Belt Clones - Creates additional asteroid belt exits and Kuiper Belt locations.

  • Per-object orbital control

    • Toggle any supported planet/location on, then set its angle (0-360°) and distance (0-5000) from the parent. Updates are applied late so positions cascade safely to children without fighting other mods.

    • Optional visual scale per body (clamped), plus a final magnitude pass to keep results sane.

  • New moons
    - Tchekor new moon of Fulgora
    - Froodara and ZZhora new moons of Vulcanus
    - Gerkizia and Quadromire new moons of Gleba
    - Tapatrion and Ithurice new moons of Secretas
    - Nekohaven, Hexalith, Mickora, Corruption are new moons of Vesta

    • Panglia is restored as a normal planet (from Gleba moon).

  • Nexuz system

    • Relocated planet Earth to Nexuz system. Planets Arrakis, Aiur, Char, Corrundum, Maraxsis, Tiber, Tenebris slightly changed their locations.

  • Dea-Dia / Calidus gate routing

    • Re-route a Calidus gate (Metal and Stars mod) to Dea-Dia system edge, removing the old Fulgora↔Dea-Dia system Edge link if present.

  • Asteroid Belt Exits & Kuiper Belt

    • 9 additional asteroid belt locations (requires AsteroidBelt mod):

      • 6 inner-outer belt exits - North, West, and South
      • 3 Kuiper Belt exits - East, West, and North (with custom Kuiper Belt icon)

    • Each exit has its own technology to discover it.

    • Kuiper Belt locations in outer solar system.
    • Connects to Shattered Planet, Dea Dia/Redstar systems, and Nexuz.

  • Planet Properties System

    • Automatically configures surface properties for planets/locations:

      • Temperature (Kelvin) - Affects habitability and resource processing
      • Gravity - Impacts movement and logistics
      • Pressure - Environmental factor for processing
      • Magnetic Field - Affects electromagnetic systems
      • Solar Power - Surface and space solar panel efficiency
      • Day-Night Cycle - Length of planetary day
      • Radiation (if Cerys mod present) - Ambient radiation levels

    • Properties set for vanilla planets: Nauvis, Vulcanus, Fulgora, Gleba, Aquilo, and more than 50+ mod planets/moons: Froodara, Zzhora, Tapatrion, Ithurice, Frozeta, Igrys, Shchierbin, Omnia, Castra, Rubia, Maraxsis, Moshine, Linox, Panglia, Arig, Cubium, Vesta, Mickora, Corruption, Hexalith, Quadromire, Nekohaven, and more

Technology re-parenting

If the target tech is missing (mod not installed), tech reparent is simply skipped. When specified, research unit is copied from the new parent and count is adjusted.

  • Moons

    • Vulcanus moons

      • Planet Discovery - Froodara moved under Planet Discovery - Vulcanus
      • Planet Discovery - ZZhora moved under Planet Discovery - Vulcanus

    • Gleba moon

      • Planet Discovery - Gerkizia moved under Planet Discovery - Gleba

    • Fulgora moon

      • Planet Discovery - Tchekor moved under Planet Discovery - Fulgora

    • Secretas moons

      • Planet Discovery - Ithurice moved under Planet Discovery - Secretas
      • Planet Discovery - Tapatrion moved under Planet Discovery - Secretas

    • Vesta moons

      • Planet Discovery - Quadromire moved under Planet Discovery - Vesta
      • Planet Discovery - Nekohaven moved under Planet Discovery - Vesta
      • Planet Discovery - Corruption moved under Planet Discovery - Vesta
      • Planet Discovery - Hexalith moved under Planet Discovery - Vesta
      • Planet Discovery - Mickora moved under Planet Discovery - Vesta

  • Planets / locations

    • Planet Discovery - Cubium moved under Asteroid Belt
    • Planet Discovery - Shipyard moved under Planet Discovery - Fulgora
    • Planet Discovery - Omnia moved under Asteroid Collector
    • Planet Discovery - Linox moved under Moshine Neural Computer tech
    • Planet Discovery - Castra moved under Moshine Neural Computer tech
    • Planet Discovery - Rubia moved under Moshine Neural Computer tech

  • Asteroid Belt Technologies

    • Multiple new technologies for discovering asteroid belt exits:

      • Discover North Asteroid Belt border
      • Discover West Asteroid Belt border
      • Discover South Asteroid Belt border
      • Discover East Kuiper Belt border
      • Discover West Kuiper Belt border
      • Discover North Kuiper Belt border

    • Tech tree reorganized around asteroid belt progression

    • Planet Discovery - Panglia moved under North Asteroid Belt exit
    • Planet Discovery - Igrys and Shchierbin moved under West Asteroid Belt exit
    • System Discovery - Dea Dia moved under West Kuiper Belt exit

  • Nexuz System

    • Moves the following discovery techs under Star System Discovery - Nexuz (if mod is installed). Each gets a fresh cost suitable for a system-level unlock:

      • Planet Discovery - Tiber (and moves Aquilo out; see below)
      • Planet Discovery - Arrakis
      • Planet Discovery - Char
      • Planet Discovery - Aiur
      • Planet Discovery - Earth
      • Planet Discovery - Corrundum
      • Planet Discovery - Tenebris
      • Planet Discovery - Maraxsis

    • Planet Discovery - Aquilo moved under Asteroid Belt (if exists, this decouples Aquilo from Tiber).

Mod Settings

Master Switches

  • Use Custom Parameters - When enabled, reads custom angle/radius/scale from mod settings. When disabled, uses only mod defaults (ignores all custom settings). Default: OFF - mod uses recommended presets automatically.

  • Enable Technology Reparenting - When enabled, adjusts technology prerequisites based on planet assignments. Disable if you want to manage tech tree yourself. Default: ON

  • Enable Space Connections - When enabled, manages space connections between locations (especially for moons). Disable if changing planet locations or want other mods to handle connections. Default: ON

  • Enable Connection Normalizer - When enabled, rounds connection lengths to nearest 10000 km for cleaner display. Disable to keep exact values. Default: ON

  • Enable Asteroid Belt Clones - When enabled, creates 9 additional asteroid belt locations (3 inner, 3 outer, 3 Kuiper Belt). Requires AsteroidBelt mod. Default: ON

Per-Planet Settings

  • Enable recalculation per object
  • Radius (distance) and Angle (degrees)
  • Scale (visual magnitude; blank = unchanged)
  • Moon lane length (only for bodies managed as moons)

Entries only appear when the source mod is present. Defaults are provided for many bodies so you can start from a sensible map without manual configuration.
Labels show the object name with its icon right in the settings list.

Compatibility & scope

  • Built for Factorio 2.0 / Space Age and with usage of PlanetsLib. Integrates with PlanetsLibTiers, Tiered-Solar-System and overwrites their values. Designed to be played with Redrawn Space Connections.
  • Supports (optionally, when installed): Nexuz, Dea-Dia, Metal & Stars, Asteroid Belts, Skewer (Vesta/Shattered), StarCraft worlds, Maraxsis, Arrakis, Tiberium, Rabbasca, Linox, and more. If a planet isn't present, it's simply skipped.
  • Conflicting mods (marked as incompatible):
    • Orbit patch mods (secretas-orbit-patch, terrapalus-orbit-patch, rabbasca-orbit-patch, panglia-orbit-patch) - Better Planets draws orbits itself
    • Cosmic Social Distancing - Not needed and causes strange behavior
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