Beyond Vanilla - Extended

About

WARNING: This modpack has not gone through full end-to-end testing yet, and as such it may contain either breaking changes, or breaking changes might get introduced prior to hitting the 1.0.0 release.

Beyond Vanilla - Extended is a modpack designed to extend and expand upon vanilla gameplay, adding more structures, mechanics, and ways to automate the factory. The modpack builds on top of Beyond Vanilla - QoL and Beyond Vanilla - QoL+ modpacks.

It is designed for players that have already went through a couple of vanilla playthroughs, and have started to find the vanilla gameplay repetitive. Modpack is focused on maintaining the balance while filling-in the gaps in vanilla gameplay.

Design decisions for the modpack are (in addition to those outlined by Beyond Vanilla - QoL/QoL+ modpacks):

• Improve/smooth out the technological progression.
• Expand upon puzzle aspects of factory building.
• Expand the end-game.

This does mean that at least some of the restrictions related to game balancing/feel from the base modpacks are ignored. The modpack does deviate in one very important segment as well - since most of the bigger game-changing mods seem to utilise non-free licensing, this particular restriction has been dropped as well (otherwise there would be fairly limited content available for extending the vanilla game mechanics).

Features

Listed features build on top of Beyond Vanilla - QoL and Beyond Vanilla - QoL+ modpacks. Please make sure to check out the feature list there as well. Pay special attention to listed end-game and mechanics features.

End Game

• Victory requires multiple expensive rocket launches (Space Extension Mod)

  In order to win the game, it is no longer sufficient to merely launch a single rocket in order to escape the planet. Instead, multiple highly expensive (both research-wise and resource-wise) launches are required, with each putting a significant strain on your end game base, and leading to a natural transition towards a proper mega-base.

• Mine for resources in the asteroid belt (Asteroid Mining)

  Once no longer planet-bound, the resources of the asteroid belt are yours for the taking - just make sure to properly configure the resource collection rockets by equipping them with the correct mining module.

• Factory-oriented statistics in victory screen (Better Victory Screen)

  Get factory/production-oriented statistics after winning the game. Because, you know, if this game was really about killing biters, it would probably be called Biterio...

Mechanics

• Oil generates only in water (Cargo Ships)

  Oil is no longer generated on land, and can only by extracted via oil rigs. It has to be transported either using oil tankers, or by excess use of landfill to get the trains to the oil rig. NOTE: This makes finding oil way harder than in plain vanilla play-throughs! You may want to increase the frequency of oil generation in map settings!

Circuit network

• Measure total accumulator charge and capacity (Capacity Combinator

  Access information about total stored energy and energy capacity, and utilise these values in circuit network. Prioritise different means of production based on available charge, or control which parts of the factory get cut off when the stored energy is low.

• Daylight and pollution sensors (Kontraptions)

  Use daylight and pollution sensors to warn about iminent night-time biter attacks.

• Wireless signals (Kontraptions)

  Wirelessly connect circuit networks across vastness of wilderness. Redirect some of those free circuit wires into important parts of the factory!

Combat

• Early game fire (Kontraptions)

  Crash-land on planet, then set the nearby flora and fauna on fire using primitive. Don't play with matches - use the latest discovery from 5000 years ago - tinderbox!

• Snapper crab-like biters (Armoured Biters)

  Additional type of biters with more resistances, spanning from early game to late game. Makes expanding and defending outposts slightly more challenging.

• Improved automatic rifle (Assault Rifle)

  Pump out bullets even faster, and retire your trusty old SMG - it has worked hard enough already. New weapon also boosts slightly improved range and damage over its older counterpart.

• Uranium-based shotgun shells (Uranium Shotgun Shell)

  Fight off the local population using new, improved riot-supression ammunition - the uranium shotgun shell. Fill in the most obvious gap in entire Factorio research tree.

• Nuclear artillery (Atomic Artillery and Atomic Artillery Remote)

  Launch nuclear bombs at biter nests using dedicated nuclear artillery batteries. For those too tired to carry around all those shoulder-launched nukes...

• More weapon types for spidetrons (Spidertron Weapon Switcher)

  Ever wished that you could use flamethrower from the comforts of your personal spidetron? How about shotgun shells? Or just plain old magazines? Worry no more - now you can easily equip your spidetrons with multiples types of ammo, and switch between them using a control binding.

• Nukes in space (M.I.R.V.)

  Player-assisted orbital biter mass extinction event. Launch specialised nuclear weapons into space, and reign down terror from space.

• Disable repair of regular walls (No Waill Repair)

  Disables repair of regular (vanilla) walls and gates - because bots are normally way more expensive than the wall. The special walls (accumulator and solar) can still be repaired (and probably should not be part of the very first line of defense).

• Increased nighttime biter attacks (Nightfall)

  Biters attack more frequently during nighttime.

Logistics

• Denser pipe builds and fluid flow control (Flow Control)

  Use rotatable pipes that connect in fixed direction for compact factory builds, and for avoiding fluid mixing. Use the valves to control the flow of fluids without having to resort to powered pumps.

• Configure input/output layout for fluid crafting (Fluid Permutations Fixed)

  Improve the symmetry and efficiency of your oil-cracking set-ups by configuring the positiong of machine fluid inputs and outputs.

• Additional fluid storage tanks (Large Storage Tank and Extra Storage Tank: Minibuffer)

  Additional fluid tanks for convenience. Useful for both massive oil processing and having smaller local buffers for defensive purposes.

• Specialised fluid pipes for increased flow rates (Fluid Must Flow)

  Use specialised machinery and pipes to transfer large qunatities of fluids at high rates over long distances.

• Upgraded version of construction and logistics bots (Hercules Robots)

  Late-game upgrade to your construction and logistics automation needs. Harder, better, faster, stronger.

• Additional (larger) storage containers (AAI Containers)

  Enjoy more item storage options, and experiment with new layouts for all of your loading, unloading, and buffering needs. Additional containers ranging from 2x2 to 6x6 in size.

• Configurable inserter pick-up and drop-off positions (Side Inserters)

  Shake-up your traditional builds by using inserters that can work at a 90-degree angle, and pick what side of the belt to drop off the items at.

• Fluid transfer using bots (Logistic Tank)

  Move fluids around using robots without barreling and unbarreling using dedicated fluid tank logistic variants. Just make sure to install that barrel into the bot itself...

Miscellaneous

• Relocate the shipwreck/set respawn point (Relocatable Shipwreck)

  Are you nostalgic about your life as a failed pilot? You like keeping all the junk around? Can't bear yourself to disassemble your old trusty ship? Then worry no more - you can simply pick up your trashed spaceship, and plop it somewhere else. To top it off, this also sets your respawn point. Just make sure not to destroy it by accident... NOTE: To recolor the shipwreck once it has been moved, please use the /recolor-crash-site console command.

• Canal Excavator (Canal Excavator)

  Create canals for supplying large nuclear power builds in a desert, or for allowing the passage of cargo ships. Non-cheaty way to place water anywhere you want!.

• Mineable platforms for water placement (Platforms)

  Use water-placeable platforms for looks and pragmatism. Unlike landfill, platforms can be easily removed at a later stage.

Power Generation

• Extended power-generation based on burnables (Superheating)

  Utilise oil and its byproducts for early-game power-generation, and upgrade your existing boiler-based set-up with super-heaters and (early unlock) steam turbines. Provides for a nice intermediate step towards nuclear-based powed production, and gives all that coal some interesting use even in the late game.

• Plutonium-based power generation and weapons (PlutoniumEnergy)

  Move beyond mere uranium processing and power generation, and utilise new research and production chains that give you access to plutonium-based reactors and weapons.

• Produce steam using electricity (Electric Boiler)

  Simplify steam production for coal liquification, or use electric boilers to convert and store excess energy as steam.

• Power production and storage using stone walls (Solar Walls and Accumulator Walls)

  Build a literal power wall around your base or outposts. Bring green energy to all that real-estate wasted on keeping the local eco-activists out.

• Improved solar power production and storage (Advanced Solar HR)

  Additional tiers of solar panels and accumulators. Compromise with the local eco-activists, and lean into space-efficient power production. Just make sure they never see the factory that produced all of them...

• Traversable solar panels (Flat Solar Panels - Solar Freakin' Roadway)

  Build the road? Or solar panels? Why not both? Replace the immobile, blocking variants of solar panels with fully animated variants that retract and extend as you approach them by foot or by car. Eases base traversal and makes for a fantastic Mexican wave.

Transportation

• Additional asphalt-based road tiles (Asphalt Roads)

  Introduces asphalt-based road tiles, providing faster vehicle/walking speed and more decoration options.

• Water-based transportation (Cargo Ships)

  Use cargo ships and tankers in addition to railway to transport resources between outposts and factories. Sail the world, they said...

• Water-placeable rails (Beautiful Bridge Railway for Cargoships

  Bridge across the water using dedicated bridge railways instead of spamming the landfill.

• Improved car variants (Faster Cars)

  Additional car variants with improved speed, as well as speed toggles and better breaking. NOTE: Cars have been slightly tweaked by the modpack to make the technology progression a bit smoother. Effective speed of highway care and nuclear fusion car has been slightly lowered. Turret has been re-added to highway car.

• Aerial transportation (HelicopterRevival, Lex's Aircraft)

  Enjoy between two forms of aerial transporation - helicopter and three variants of hovering aircraft. NOTE: Some tweak have been applied to make the technology progression a bit smoother and to not out-compete other forms of transportation. Helicopters can be recolored by copy/pating colour scheme from cars and trains.

• Miniature trains (Mini Trains)

  Smaller (shorter) trains and wagon counterparts. Useful for delivery of low-volume items and for more compact builds.

• Battery-powered electric trains (Battery-Electric Train)

  Battery-powered electric trains provide increased speed, power, and braking force at the expense of additional infrastructure and power consumption. Useful for increasing the throughput of the massive rail networks.

Visuals

• Improved glow effects for reactors and heat pipes (Realistic Reactor Glow and Realistic Heat Glow)

  Enjoy the glow colour of a nuclear reaction the way scientistis intended it, and get a small boost to your visual experience through improved glow effects for the heat pipe elements.

• Realistically looking ores (Realistic Ores)

  Have a small dose of reality added back to the game by having the correct colour/texture schemes for in-game ores, or... Get massively confused as you struggle to understand that iron and copper ore patch colours are now reversed in the game after hundreds of hours of play-time.

• Vegetation-free concrete (Cleaned Concrete)

  Get rid of shurbbery and weeds when placing concrete. Stamp out those plants for good.

• Increased variety in biomes and map generation (Alien Biomes)

  Enjoy increase in landscape variety of the Nauvis planet, including some smaller mechanics changes in terms of walking/driving speed, or rock generation. NOTE: If you are running Factorio on a beefy enough machine (primarily GPU-wise), you may be interested to manully install the Alien Biomes High-Res Terrain in order to get nicer looking graphics.

• Longer day/night cycle and pitch-black nights (Clockwork)

  The day/night cycle is four times longer, and the nights are pitch-black (accumulator capacities are adjusted accordingly). To top it off, nightvision no longer works when in map mode. Don't forget to put some light on the situation!

Known issues

In addition to items listed here, please also have a look at known issues for Beyond Vanilla - QoL+ modpack.

• The Solar Walls and Accumulator Walls research lacks the technology pre-requisite on regular stone walls - despite having to use regular stone walls to craft them. Just don't forget to research regular stone walls as well.
• The AAI Containers mod is released under non-Free license.
• Moving the shipwreck around (picking it up and placing it down again) desyncs the shipwreck colour. This is a known incompatibility/limitation of the Tinted Spaceship and Relocatable Shipwreck mods.
• The Alien Biomes mod is released under non-Free license.
• The Armoured Biters mod is released under non-Free license.
• The Plutonium Energy mos is released under non-Free license.

Contributions

Bugs and feature requests can be reported through discussion threads or through project's issue tracker. For general questions, please use discussion threads.

Pull requests for implementing new features and fixing encountered issues are always welcome.

Credits

As the old metaphor goes, this modpack stands on the shoulders of the giants. It would never be possible to create if it were not for both Wube Software's dedication to the game and its modding capabilities, nor without the many modders that have selflessly contributed their time and effort to creation of all the wonderous mods that are included in this modpack.

I salute you, and thank you for making all of this possible and available in such a user-friendly form!

License

All code, documentation, and assets implemented as part of this mod are released under the terms of MIT license (see the accompanying LICENSE file), with the following exceptions:

• assets/ice-cream-cone.svg, by Delapouite under CC BY 3.0, used in creation of modpack thumbnail.
• assets/processor.svg, by Lorc under CC BY 3.0, used in creation of modpack thumbnail.
• build.sh (factorio_development.sh), by Branko Majic, under GPLv3.

All individual mods that are included by this modpack have their own licensing terms. For details please have a look at individual mod pages on Factorio Mods portal.