Statement on AI: All my mods are created 100% without the use of AI.

Solar System Science (Endgame Expansion)

This mod aims to be a major endgame expansion, it add 24 news recipes, a new bulding and a lot of interesting mechanics and challenges. In this endgame overhaul you'll have to build complex production chains on every planet and master their unique mechanisms in order to craft the Solar System Science pack and win the game !

In particular, this mod focuses on creating links between the various planets (what’s missing a bit in the vanilla game), with interplanetary logistics and production chains that require ingredients and machines from different planets. The science pack needs new specific ingredients from each planet.
Each of these four ingredients comes from a planet, combines the mechanisms and resources of two planets, and requires the production of materials that are not usually produced on this planet. For example, the Fulgora-derived ingredient uses materials from both Vulcanus and Fulgora, and requires melting metal and working with probabilistic recipes.

With this mod, you can expect to face some interesting challenges and to rethink the way you approach certain production processes. Once you’ve conquered Aquilo, head back to each of the other planets to expand your factory there, because the factory must grow !

-> A fully detailed description of the mod, with all mechanics and rewards, is available below the other sections.

Most changes will be customisable in the settings . . .

-> WIP <-

Available in the following languages:

• English
• Français [WIP]

Compatibility

• Aquilo Overhaul: Circular Collider Lab -> Dependency of the mod.
  https://mods.factorio.com/mod/CircularColliderLab

Future plans

• Add French locales
• Add the other rewards tech
• Add a lots of settings
• Add the locales for descriptions
• Polish the stellar centrifuge graphics
• Add compatibility with some other mods
  And...
• For 2.0, I plan to add a link with modded planets. But it's for the futur...

I'm open to suggestions/ideas :)

Detailed description

This section describes the content of the mod, for each planet and the reward techs. If you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading here ;)
Images/illustrations will be added to this section soon...

Nauvis:

Nauvis is home to the production of hydro-biotic membranes, a biological product that utilises the mechanisms of Gleba and Nauvis, and requires a bigger supply of Bioflux. Three underused mechanics are in the spotlight.

• Wood farming

Wood cultivation is given very little attention in Vanilla, as wood serves no purpose. Its only use is to absorb pollution, which is often unnecessary at that stage of the game.
The hydro-biotic membrane is composed of two layers of wooden plates, coated in a lipidoic-acidic substance.
Wooden plates also requires a small amount of carbon, which can be obtained from coal.

• Fish breeding

A recipe that’s 99% useless in Vanilla, fish breeding plays a central role in this part of the mod. The manufacture of lipidoic-acidic substance requires a great quantity of fat, which is extracted from fish and then combined with oil and acid.

• Nutrients and biochamber usage in Nauvis

The Biochamber can be used outside of Gleba, as long as it can be supplied with the nutrients essential for its functioning, which are generally obtained from Bioflux. However on Nauvis, Bioflux can be "converted" into nutrients indirectly through the use of biters. The nutrients derived from eggs are increased significantly and allow for large-scale use, provided there is sufficient egg production.

• Biological stability and waste processing

Hydro-biotic membranes are spoilable, just like lipidoic-acidic substance. Both spoil into dried lipidoic-acidic substance, which cannot be put into a recycler due to its highly gelatinous consistency. However, they can be converted into pellets by digestion in a biochamber. These can then be heated in a furnace to turn them into coal or directly used as fuel.
At the cost of water and nutrients, the hydro-biotic membrane can also be kept hydrated to prevent them from drying out.

Gleba:

Gleba is probably the easiest part of the mod. The aim there is to produce bio-magnetic fiber. To do this, it will be necessary to import holmium ore from Fulgora. The core mechanic is a new feature of spoilage, and culture of bacteria is also used there.

• Bacteria cultivation

The production of the bio-magnetic fiber is quite simple. You just need to take some carbon fiber and spread bio-magnetic mixture over them, then stabilise the whole thing by killing and fixing the bacteria with gas.
The bio-magnetic mixture is made by combining bioflux juice, metallic bacteria and a little holmium.
However, it cannot be used straight away; you have to wait for the bacteria to do their work to obtain the correct magnetic properties. If the bio-magnetic mixture isn’t used at the right time, it goes off and needs to be refreshed, otherwise it will spoil. Once it has spoiled, you have to wait a while before you can treat it as spoilage, and it cannot be recycled beforehand, as its consistency would damage the recycler.

• Bioflux juice

To ensure that bacteria grow properly, they need to be provided with a suitable substrate. Bioflux juice is perfect for this. However, this fluid is extremely viscous and cannot flow through pipes, meaning the Biochambers have to be placed side by side.

• Petroleum gas on Gleba

One of the challenges is to successfully establish a petrochemical industry on Gleba, in order to have petroleum gas. This can be done entirely locally, thanks to the coal liquefaction technology learnt on Vulcanus. All that is needed is to ship a small amount of heavy oil to get the process started.

Fulgora:

On Fulgora, it is possible to produce a metal with unique properties, known as magnetic ferro-tungsten. To achieve this, you need to work with probabilistic recipes, molten metal and imports of various elements.

• Melting metal on Fulgora

When recycling scrap, it is rare to run short of iron (thanks to the gears) or steel. As a result, the iron ore obtained from recycling concrete is generally of no use and is simply eliminated.
But not with this mod !
Now this ore is very valuable because it can be used to produce molten iron, which is needed to make ferro-tungsten. Calcite and tungsten have to be imported.

• Managing probabilistic recipes

Producing ferro-tungsten in a foundry is a delicate process with an uncertain outcome. It is very difficult to produce a clean and dense ingot, and most of the time the result is a waste. Fortunately, some of this waste can be reused.

• Crushing metals in space

To produce magnetic ferro-tungsten, the ferro-tungsten ingot must be coated with metallic powder and electrolyte. This powder is produced in space by crushing various metals together, including holmium and lithium.

Vulcanus:

Vulcanus is a little different from the other three, as the ingredient produced there is a fluid that has to be barreled in a special resistant tungsten barrel. To produce this heavy supracritical fluid, crude oil and uranium must be imported from Nauvis.

• Heavy supracritical fluid

Combine crude oil, molten copper and a large quantity of sulfur, then add superheated steam and effervescent uranium tab to this mix. . .
What could go wrong ?

• Secure barreling

The amount of energy contained in this fluid is enormous and requires the strongest of barrels to be transported. The process of barreling heavy supracritical fluid is a delicate one and must be carried out in a refinery. This ingredient remains under control as long as it is kept in sealed barrel.

• Uranium instability

Effervescent uranium tab are produced by mixing uranium powder and calcite in a centrifuge. The uranium powder is produced by crushing uranium with sulfur.
Both are unstable and may explode if not used quickly. These are small explosions, not atomic explosions. The powder is less stable than the tab. Advanced belts and inserters have more HP to mitigate the damage.

Space:

Once all the ingredients have been produced, they will need to be sent into space. This is where the final stages of the science packs production take place. (With version 2.1 and interplateform logistic this will become even more interesting)

• Universe plate

In space, the ingredients from Nauvis, Gleba and Fulgora can be assembled in a cryo plant, with the addition of a foundation and fluoroketone, to form a new material: Universe plate.
Adding foundation to the recipe does make it possible to add a little value to basic recipes that combine materials from different planets. As quantum processors are already used in promethium science, they do not appear in solar system science.

• Fluoroketone

Fluoroketone is always used cold and is generally partially returned hot. But with universe plate, it’s the other way round. It is necessary to supply hot fluoroketone, and the process produces cold fluoroketone. To avoid a build-up, the cold fluoroketone must now be used somewhere. This presents an interesting problem to solve.

• Solar system science pack

The pack is made by combining an universe plate, the heavy supracritical fluid barrel and a fusion cell. The staggering amount of energy in this reaction unleashes the fundamental forces of the universe. The process is time-consuming, and in most cases the barrel is no longer usable once the science pack has been produced.
No conventional machine can handle this, therefore it will be necessary to use a stellar centrifuge.

• Stellar centrifuge

This new building is being constructed on Aquilo. It is very expensive to manufacture, and producing it in large quantities will turn out to be complicated. To make it run, it doesn’t need electricity, but uranium powder, which presents a final challenge to be overcome in order to achieve a steady and stable output over time.
The stellar centrifuge has a base productivity bonus of 50%, as well as three module slots. However, productivity modules are not compatible with this machine. Its crafting speed is 1,41 at normal quality.

• Science pack cost

The Solar System Science Pack is by far the most expensive of them all, but there are several ways to reduce its cost, including infinite productivity bonus techs.
The table below shows the final cost PER pack for key materials, without productivity bonus from tech, and assuming that legendary productivity modules are used at every possible step:

The process I went through to balance all the recipes together was long and laborious, involving Excel spreadsheets. But I’m quite pleased with the result; it’s expensive, which is fitting given the challenge this pack presents and the level of difficulty I wanted to introduce with this mod, but without it becoming just funless pure difficulty.

Rewards:

Once you have mastered the science pack, the following rewards can be unlocked.

• The solar system edge, to win the game and research promethium
• Infinite speed boosting for 6 buldings (+10% per Lvl)
• Infinite lab speed [soon]
• Infinite foundations productivity [soon]
• Infinite universe plates productivity [soon]
• And maybe a few more ;)

It’s also worth noting that when you master one of the five main new ingredients (by crafting 100 items), the corresponding machine gains a +20% speed boost.

Credits

• Most graphics are modified by me from the great work of Malcolriley !
  -> Detailed credits in the graphics file

• LoupAndSnoop for the machine upgrades API mod (GNU GPLv3)

Wants more ?

• If you like overhauls that stays in the game spirit, you'll maybe like my Aquilo Overhaul or my Science Difficulty Overhaul mods:
  https://mods.factorio.com/mod/LithiumBattery
  https://mods.factorio.com/mod/HarderSciencePacks

This is my biggest mod, I hope you like it :)