AI disclosure: this mod was made with the help of AI (Claude by Anthropic).
Interplanetary Rockets
Launch rockets straight from one planet to another. No space platform needed.
After an end-game research, your rocket silos can send their cargo pod directly to another planet. The pod flies up, crosses space and lands on the destination's cargo landing pad, with the same animations as the vanilla platform trips. You can send items, or ride along yourself.
Great when you're done with platform logistics and just want to move stuff between your bases, or for a lighter Space Age playthrough with the research turned off.
Features
- Direct planet-to-planet launches. Choose a destination planet on the rocket silo and press Launch cargo. Any unlocked planet can be a destination.
- Lands on the landing pad. The cargo arrives in the destination's cargo landing pad. If the planet has no pad yet, the pod lands in a container near the map center.
- Ride along. Press Ride along and travel to the other planet in the cargo pod. Like a trip to a space platform, your inventory, weapon and ammo slots must be empty (can be turned off).
- Automatic launches. Set a launch condition and the silo launches by itself as soon as the rocket is ready:
- When the rocket is ready (with any cargo)
- When the cargo is full (the rocket's 1000 kg lift limit is reached)
- When enough of an item is loaded (choose the item and the amount)
- Copy/paste and blueprints. Shift-click copy/paste between silos and blueprints keep the destination and the launch condition.
- Smooth transition. The departure and arrival animations are linked by a space scene, so you don't see the origin planet for a moment between them.
- End-game research. Interplanetary rockets unlocks after Promethium science and costs every science pack. You can turn the research off to have the feature from the start.
How to use
- Research Interplanetary rockets (or turn the requirement off in the startup settings).
- Build a cargo landing pad on the destination planet.
- Open a rocket silo. A new Interplanetary launch panel appears next to it.
- Pick the destination, load the rocket and press Launch cargo, Ride along, or set an automatic launch condition.
Settings
| Setting | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Require end-game research | Startup | On | The feature unlocks with the Interplanetary rockets research after Promethium science. Off: available from the start. |
| Empty inventory to ride along | Map | On | Your main inventory, weapon, ammo and trash slots and your cursor must be empty to ride along, like when you fly to a space platform. |
Requirements and compatibility
- Required: Space Age
- Planet mods: modded planets work as destinations, including their landing animations.
- Versions: the 2.0 and 2.1 versions are released together with the same features (1.0.0 for Factorio 2.0 and 1.0.1 for Factorio 2.1).
- Existing saves: can be added at any time.
Languages
- English
- Magyar (Hungarian)
Feedback
Ideas, bug reports and suggestions are very welcome in the Discussion tab. Code snippets and fixes are welcome too!