Would be cool to have a multiplayer scenario in which each new player gets assigned to a random planet.
Each planet has it's own distinct player force, so that different planets do research on their own.

I think it could be pretty fun! (No idea how viable)

It's a great idea, but there's one major problem:
The changes to the tech tree I make are global, and each planet needs a different tech tree.
Every force would need to have it's own different tree, which unfortunately just isn't possible.

My friends would love a coop version of this where start on different planets and meet up with each other.
Do the tech tree differences trivialize the game if we all start on different planets? If not, would be cool to give it a Per Player setting for starting planet.

I could make a separate mod called "all planet start" that just researches every planet and people get prompted to choose when they join the game, it'll be a worse experience because there won't be normal tech progression but it would allow everyone to do everything. I'm super busy right now, but I'll see about doing it soon.

I should also mention this mod, which lets you start on different nauvises, and later recombine after reaching your initial planets:
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/team-starts

Not the same thing, but still pretty similar.

Hi guys, I have a very similar idea and just want to write a post here. I want different team spawning on different planet have different tech trees. Glad to see you are already discussing this!

@_CodeGreen, as for the tech tree problem, do you think my following idea feasible? You might build a big tree that includes small independent subtrees each correspond to a planet start. To avoid confliction and keep independence, one tech is duplicated and renamed so each planet subtree has an unique copy. After new player choosing and spawning on a specific planet, hide irrelevant planet tech subtrees. Players start on differnt planets shall not be in the same team.

Hope this would work!

I was also thinking about that, but it's kind of a janky workaround and it would take quite a bit of effort to pull off in a way that's still mostly compatible with other mods. I'd have to dupe the entire tech tree for each force, not just certain parts due to how prerequisites are, and then dealing with force merging eventually, it's just a lot. Maybe eventually, but I don't see it ever getting easier to maintain over time.

I see. That is indeed kinda of janky. Thanks for your effort!

Planet Picker mod was mentioned in another thread and allows starting on multiple planets in multiplayer https://mods.factorio.com/mod/planet-picker