Before anyone tries to tell me "skill issue", please actually read this first. Thank you.

A few months ago, I encountered this mod by accident and decided to give it a try. However, I found that despite all of my attempts to get through the early game (including looking up playthroughs of the current version with Field Offices and taking notes), I couldn't make it to unlocking pumpjacks before medium biters showed up and tried to shut down my whole factory over smog. I was stuck on really slow science, but I couldn't expand science without the additional paperwork I couldn't automate because the paperwork to automate paperwork effectively was locked behind effective paperwork (catch-22). In particular, there were three core issues that halted progress long enough that it felt like I had to spend tens of hours just to unlock Factorio.

The first one if the Field Offices being horribly slow, even for a starter building. Commute times for freelance biters, inefficiency of freelance biters, pathfinding issues, and nightly closures makes them agonizingly slow for your first office. If you don't have a biter nest close by, you will need to handcraft even more belts just to automate paperwork. THEN you may start thinking about making a starter base.

The second one is the paperwork required for inserters. I absolutely understand from a flavor perspective why inserters would require a waiver, but it also means that each path of long-handed inserters requires two waivers each. Since paperwork is a new ingredient in basically all recipes for automation and smelting, the paperwork adds up to be suffocating. 5 furnaces require 10 normal inserters and 5 long-headed inserters to complete full input and output now, which is 1 waiver per 1.25 furnaces. Then there is the extra iron needed for the long-headed inserters and paperwork belts, which is just salt in the wounds.

The third one is the seemingly unnecessary restrictions on handcrafting. Handcrafting already requires paperwork, so forcing a machine to craft it only adds work orders to the recipe. If I am ready to automate those recipes, then this has no effect on gameplay. If I am not ready, then I just pseudo-handcraft, which bypasses the requirement to automate and replaces it with unnecessary steps. As fitting as that is for a bureaucracy mod, that is the last thing I want when I am already trying to race evolution. I will admit that I cannot say what the intention is for this change, so chances are I am just missing the point of this change.

I know I have been negative, but I really like the concept. The humor is spot-on, the late game looks interesting, and I would happily form an SPM 10000 megacorp if I could ever make it past the early game. I am already making blueprints in an editor mode world for if the early game lightens up, but I will need at least one friend I can drag into this before I can confidently try this again. Since I believe in attaching solutions to criticisms, I will offer my proposals that should hopefully fix these issues without ruining the spirit of the mod:

1. Remove the biter requirement from Field Offices and replace it with a greater penalty, such as even worse speed or being burner-powered. I would imagine this was probably difficult to code (though I have no experience with the technical side of game/mod development), but this change also fixes the "no nests nearby" scenario that makes runs even more seed dependent.
2. Remove the waiver from normal inserters. It can be argued that they are too slow to create a serious hazard to the workforce and thus does not need oversight. Either that or the bureaucracy is willingly ignoring the risks for convenience, which is also a thing in this real world.
3. Allow handcrafting of anything that was handcraftable in vanilla. If there is a reason for the handcraft restriction, I would love to hear it and I might change my mind on this one, but without context I can't understand the point of this.

NOW you can tell me if this is a skill issue, assuming you file the correct paperwork.

Before anyone tries to tell me "skill issue", please actually read this first. Thank you.

A few months ago, I encountered this mod by accident and decided to give it a try. However, I found that despite all of my attempts to get through the early game (including looking up playthroughs of the current version with Field Offices and taking notes), I couldn't make it to unlocking pumpjacks before medium biters showed up and tried to shut down my whole factory over smog. I was stuck on really slow science, but I couldn't expand science without the additional paperwork I couldn't automate because the paperwork to automate paperwork effectively was locked behind effective paperwork (catch-22). In particular, there were three core issues that halted progress long enough that it felt like I had to spend tens of hours just to unlock Factorio.

The first one is the Field Offices being horribly slow, even for a starter building. Commute times for freelance biters, inefficiency of freelance biters, pathfinding issues, and nightly closures makes them agonizingly slow for your first office. If you don't have a biter nest close by, you will need to handcraft even more belts just to automate paperwork. THEN you may start thinking about making a starter base.

The second one is the paperwork required for inserters. I absolutely understand from a flavor perspective why inserters would require a waiver, but it also means that each batch of long-handed inserters requires two waivers each. Since paperwork is a new ingredient in basically all recipes for automation and smelting, the paperwork adds up to be suffocating. 5 furnaces require 10 normal inserters and 5 long-headed inserters to complete full input and output now, which is 1 waiver per 1.25 furnaces. Then there is the extra iron needed for the long-headed inserters and paperwork belts, which is just salt in the wounds.

The third one is the seemingly unnecessary restrictions on handcrafting. Handcrafting already requires paperwork, so forcing a machine to craft it only adds work orders to the recipe. If I am ready to automate those recipes, then this has no effect on gameplay. If I am not ready, then I just pseudo-handcraft, which bypasses the requirement to automate and replaces it with unnecessary steps. As fitting as that is for a bureaucracy mod, that is the last thing I want when I am already trying to race evolution. I will admit that I cannot say what the intention is for this change, so chances are I am just missing the point of this change.

I know I have been negative, but I really like the concept. The humor is spot-on, the late game looks interesting, and I would happily form an SPM 10000 megacorp if I could ever make it past the early game. I am already making blueprints in an editor mode world for if the early game lightens up, but I will need at least one friend I can drag into this before I can confidently try this again with the current early game. Since I believe in attaching solutions to criticisms, I will offer my proposals that should hopefully fix these issues without ruining the spirit of the mod:

1. Remove the biter requirement from Field Offices and replace it with a greater penalty, such as even worse speed or being burner-powered. I would imagine this was probably difficult to code (though I have no experience with the technical side of game/mod development), but this change also fixes the "no nests nearby" scenario that makes runs even more seed dependent.
2. Remove the waiver requirement from normal inserters. It can be argued that they are too slow to create a serious hazard to the workforce and thus does not need oversight. Either that or the bureaucracy is willingly ignoring the risks for convenience, which is also a thing in this real world.
3. Allow handcrafting of anything that was handcraftable in vanilla. If there is a reason for the handcraft restriction, I would love to hear it and I might change my mind on this one, but without context I can't understand the point of this.

NOW you can tell me if this is a skill issue, assuming you file the correct paperwork.

Wait, fixing typos adds another entire post? That's a weird feature of the site itself.

Hi TheFireMouse!
First of all thanks for this very detailed and pertinent feedback, I launched a new game to try it again (was mainly focusing on space age these days) and indeed it is much harder than I remembered.

The field office was a late addition, it arrived with the employment of biters to have a first office that did not require employment but still required biters to operate (and was hell to code). But with other rework on the office hours and crafting times it became too restricted.
Removing the biter requirement would defeat the thematic purpose to me, I think this is the core of the mod that biters are to be worked with and the field office is a nice way of onboarding the concept, the idea was that they had to be close enough to biters (that is why they don't pollute) while having your base a bit further away which (to me at least) was a bit of a fun logistical challenge and without enough belts would require chests and hand feeding.
The solutions that I envision would be: * Remove working hours from the field office, this would more than double their operating time (because of biter travel time) * Have an early game research that increases the amount of crafts one biter can achieve in a field office (1 -> 2 -> 3)
I think those would buff the field office and lighten early game quite a bit without changing their thematic purpose, let me know what you think of these.

For inserters, I agree that the waivers are a pain, I thought that not requiring waivers on burner inserters would give them a bit more value and encourage people to use them, but even without paperwork required they are still too painful to use, and the base inserters then become a bit too expensive for super early game. I guess as the belts do not require paperwork (lol can you imagine !), regular inserters should not either otherwise it is too hard and consumes too much resources to craft some, and also makes green science way more expensive than it should. So I'll remove this requirement but keep the safety waivers for long, fast and bulk inserters.

For the handcrafting, I don't think there are vanilla items that cannot be hand rafted anymore (is there ?), I assume you are talking about the paperwork required for some (most) of them, the reason for this is thematic consistency, some paperwork you need to print, some need biter work, but if there is one specifically that you find painful let me know and I could look for alternative handcraft recipes.

For the biters evolving too fast for the factory to catch up, this is very hard to balance, evolution is 100% vanilla, absorbed pollution makes biters evolve, however removing nests does not, but you can't remove nests before oil anyway. The idea was that you couldn't build a "definitive" factory early on to avoid too much pollution but this may kill a bit of the fun. Maybe biter expropriation could be unlocked before blue science (but still with politician fluid) and cost a bit more taxpayer money, this could balance things out and allow for space to breathe to build a real starter base without having evolution catching up too fast.

Anyway thanks a lot for your feedback, definitely not a skill issue, the mod is hard and the early game is too punitive. I'll start working on those (because I have nothing else to do on my weekends) right away and update as soon as I can. Let me know if you have any other feedback, it is a hard mod to balance and I don't have enough time to restart games over and over again, especially with space age compat arriving fast, so your help is much much appreciated !

Keep your paperwork in order, the administration will reward you.

No problem! As for the hand-crafting restrictions, I am referring to how most mid-late game recipes require an assembler now. Even if they don't require fluids, some are seemingly banned from handcrafting with the mod installed. Here is the list:

Logistics: Storage Tank, all red and blue belt family items, Bulk Inserter, all power poles besides small, Pump, everything train related, everything with the logistics network, all circuit network items besides Lamps, Landfill, and Cliff Explosives
Production: all power generation besides Boilers and Steam Engines, Pumpjacks, furnaces better than stone, tier 2 and 3 Assembling Machines, Oil Refinery, all module stuff including Beacons (I can give a pass on the modules though since they are now administrative items), all space stuff
Intermediate Products: uuhhhh nearly all of them
"Combat": Gates and armor upgrades/inserts

All of the ones specified have work orders into the base recipe, making them illegal to hand craft. I am not sure why I can't even make iron sticks or combinators by hand anymore, but I am especially not exited to need to make a trip back to my mall often because I needed just a few more red belts and I am forbidden from using the iron in my Inventory. Since we both seemed confused on this, this is probably some kind of bug much like the tech tree weirdness I have seen (Logistics System research does nothing in version 0.5.9).

If you want me to provide more bug hunting, I am more than happy to report on some of the weirdness I have found while making science tiles.

As for solutions to the Field Office, I think the best solution would be to make the freelance biters more efficient. If I am going to be limited by how many can show up for work, I at least want them working fine by default. I don't think researching improvements makes any sense because Field Offices seem temporary by nature and any science spent on them is not science spend on getting real offices.

I rebalanced the field office in 0.5.14, now a single biter can craft up to 3 items, there is no nighttime shutdown and pathfinding around the office should be a bit more forgiving, should relief the early game quite a lot (also fixed some bugs around biters availability and respawning).
Re-enabled all the vanilla handcrafts except for the ones built in a machine that requires a biter worker to operate (quite a few), and removed the paperwork for basic electric inserter, let me know what you think of these rebalances.

And sure if you got more bugs or feedback, I am more than happy to receive them, it really helps me :)

I will be back on my computer to test things in a few minutes.

The new field offices are so much better now... and buggier. I will go over those field office bugs first.

FIELD OFFICE BUGS
-They are functionally 2x2 now, but their models are still 3x3, allowing you to clip them inside of each other. It is also confusing for lining up inserters and the coffee pipe
-Biters have still not figured out how to go around the field offices. If the face they can access does not face the hive, they won’t commute to it. Your workplace is just on the other side, guys!

I also found a lot of general bugs, from descriptive errors to mechanics issues. Both lists are from least to most concern.

DESCRIPTIVE BUGS
-Provisional Approval is not needed for any stone furnaces or burner equipment despite its description. I am personally in favor of removing that part of the description instead of adding the approval to those recipes.
-“Safety First” achievement still claims OSHA doesn’t exist here, but OSHA violations do. Is this outdated, a foreshadowing, or some kind of timeline thing? Personally, I would just remove that part of the description.
-“Justification” says it is used in OSHA violation scrubbing. However, it is not in ingredient in the recipe and is instead the product of it.

MECHANICS BUGS
-Logistics System research does nothing as all the unlocked items are available immediately on researching logistics bots. It technically unlocks tank logistics, but tanks don’t exist anymore.
-Despite relying on Steam Power trigger tech to be possible, the trigger tech for field offices is not only not downstream of Steam Power, but is strangely isolated from the whole tech tree. I personally got stuck wondering how I unlock the recipe for a few minutes. Oops.
-There is no penalty for machines running in the night. The game says there is, but there isn’t from what I have been able to figure out. I labeled this as mechanics since this does make nighttime operations undoubtably optimal.
-Literally today [8/16/2026], I have encountered biters that destroyed the stone furnace it was complaining about instead of just shutting it down. I even got a screenshot of it while it was happening, and I could reproduce it by speeding up time and letting them come. Is this a new feature in 0.5.14 or a new bug (no pun intended)? For context, this is on my sandbox test world where I solved all complaints by deleting the biters on the editor mode. In that case, a “rioter mode” would probably make a lot of sense lol.
-Administrative Offices do not recognize beacons yet, but you are probably already working on that.

I know that is a lot, but I can't thank you enough for fixing the handcrafting thing and these bugs here:

FIXED BUGS [You got these before I could report them. Great work!]
-Circuit network items like speakers and combinators used to be locked behind the Advanced Combinators research. Item recipes returned home now.
-Administrative Offices didn’t care about any modules besides the Overtime Exception, simply ignoring all other modules. However, you got it working correctly now in 0.5.14, with beacons I assume are being worked on currently.

Now that the early game has been worked on, I might return to the mod soon for a second attempt. Otherwise, I will play it again after my ongoing Space Age playthrough. I look forward to working with you on this mod if you need anything from me.

Speaking of Space Age, where are you in getting this mod compatible? If you are on the ideas stage, I have ideas for all of the planets and how the bureaucracy will work there.

Wait a minute. If both the centrifuge and the reactors require personnel... where do the personnel go? ARE THEY USED AS REACTOR FUEL?

If both the centrifuge and the reactors require personnel... where do the personnel go? ARE THEY USED AS REACTOR FUEL?
Lol no but that would have been fun ! Biter workers are required to enable each crafting, so you need a biter working station nearby fed with taxpayer money to keep those enabled.

Speaking of Space Age, where are you in getting this mod compatible?
I am pretty far away, Space Age is in alpha-state, I have a late-game update coming soon to it and still requires more testing but the core mechanics and progression are there, and I really love how silly it is, but if you have ideas do not hesitate, I'll happily integrate them if they do fit with the current implementation. You can have a preview at https://github.com/Onoulade/Administratorio/releases/tag/0.6.2

Thanks for the bug reports, most of them are pretty quick fixes I should have an update fairly soon