I've been getting a lot of joy out of this game. I find it gives me a lot of the experience I had actually wanted when I asked for a model train set for Christmas as a child: the feeling of constructing something intricate, interconnected, and functional.
It's a relatively chill game in that there's no one to fight and no disasters except through user error (accidentally intruding one pipeline into another) but the gameplay is very deep in terms of possibilities for automation, optimization, and customization.
I was well into the endgame on my first map before I fully grasped the possibilities of building structures using the block construction system. I also just started figuring out the quirks of the computational blocks (which aren't well documented that I can find).
I also didn't know, until I had completed the tech level tree, that you can build pipe networks vertically above ground to have them cross over each other or reach buildings at different elevations of where they emerged from the ground.
I've combined these things (block construction, computation blocks, and vertical pipes) to replace a row of barns (warehouses) that stored my quarried stone with a giant stone tower on the edge of town. It hides two stacks of barns built on top of each other, joined by pipes.
One of the two barn stacks has crated rocks, which makes them take up a quarter of the space. Honestly having more than one barn that's "uncompressed" is overkill, as taking 4 stone out of that one barn frees up space for a crate to be emptied out of the others.
But on the other hand, I discovered that you can use a lot of stone *very quickly* when building giant stone structures using the copy/paste function to make huge walls.
Barns count as part of the general inventory, meaning stuff inside them can be used directly by the player in construction (but must be removed and fed into a production line for the workers to craft anything out of it), and their count is included in your inventory readout.
Having ~80% of my stone reservoir stored in crates means my displayed inventory is not accurate. While it's easy enough for me to estimate the actual amount, I used the logic blocks to create a digital counter that adds up the inventory count of all barns...
...including multiplying the ones in the compressed column by 4, and then displays the total on a digital readout on top of the tower.
The number block was only designed for three digits and will do the "1.1K" thing past that, and my tower holds up to 20,000 stone, so I made five different readouts that each receive one digit of the total.
I've got to say that I don't love the name "Factory Town". There is a 0% chance I would have even checked the game out if I hadn't seen it being played. It's way more delightful than the title suggests.
One mechanic I really appreciate is that your maximum number of workers is not tied to money. You get more capacity for workers by placing houses, which aren't bought with resources but earned by making the people who live in your existing houses happy.
On a Watsonian/in-universe level, the ability to place houses likely represents people coming in and building their own houses, in response to the quality of life availble.
I discovered in speedrunning to the end game content that focusing on leveling up the tech tree can cause the population to plateau because your town's production is being bent in directions that don't directly benefit anybody but yourself.
It also can result in a cluttered, unaesthetic town with little room to decorate or build cool train layouts or structures. Once I had the highest tech level unlocked and had built up a stockpile of several thousand magic transporter pipes, I demolished almost everything.
And then started building a new town, with giant stockpiles of material including magical endgame technology, with a greater focus on aesthetics and quality of life.
The magical transporter "omnipipes" are a literal gamechanger. They will transport anything you put into them, the same way that units of water or steam travel through the first two tiers of pipes.
You've got to be careful not to cross lines transporting different things or you might wind up with an incompatible item jamming up a production line, but each tier of pipes (fluid, steam, magic energy crystals, and omni) has a separate underground layer isolated from the others.
I'm really excited about the pipe system because my initial city was a *mess* of delivery wagons clogging streets and conveyor belts going everywhere. My new idyllic farm village has invisible underground distribution systems.
Because I want my postgame layout to be more aesthetically pleasing, I'm going for little individual villages built one at a time instead of a giant sprawling city. Each one will feed their production into an automated distribution complex in the map center.
I started trying to make something like that before razing my city but alas my lack of knowledge of the automation blocks meant my inventory control was lacking and the depot was alternately flooded with thousands of units of butter, fried fish, or fertilizer.
I couldn't figure out how to discard items until very near the endgame. I'd looked for a recycling center or garbage dump or trash can or similar; it turns out the structure for removing waste from the game is called a "void obelisk". Which is the best name for a trash can.
Anyway. I'm excited about this game, because if you're playing in sandbox/creative mode or race to the endgame with a giant stockpile of construction materials, it's a lot of the fun of playing with LEGO sets and/or model trains.
And the music is very good.

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More from @AlexandraErin

3 Dec
So I mentioned #NiNoBilMa in my last thread, in passing. For those who don't know what I'm talking about: it's a sort of informal, year-long writing tune-up that I decided to give myself next year, and also decided to turn into a public participatory exercise.
The name I gave it evokes NaNoWriMo to convey that it's meant to be an open-to-all event/challenge that anyone can do on their own in their own time, and also convey that it's not a wholly original idea, both in the sense that it borrows from NaNoWriMo...
...and in the sense that #NiNoBilMa is short for "New idea? No, it's Billy Madison."

(Now THERE's a timely reference.)

Each month of 2022, I'm theming after a different grade/academic year of US primary and secondary schooling, with a soft launch this month for Kindergarten.
Read 17 tweets
3 Dec
The thing about the capitalist society mindset of "productivity = value = self-worth" mindset is that it is instilled into us to make us feel like our purpose is accomplishing someone else's goals.

But it's not a negative to be invested in your own goals.
And as I think about this... I think this is the actual truth behind those "Make the thing you love your job you'll never work a day in your life." sayings that get meme'd by creatives and small business owners because when you make the thing you love your job it becomes a JOB.
I have been wrestling with the fact that while my life is immeasurably better on ADHD meds, while things are easier, while I'm writing more often and more easily... it hasn't translated to any degree of greater professional success or financial security.
Read 47 tweets
27 Nov
I am holding back a lot of specific squee related to Masters of the Universe: Revelation until part 2 has been out for a while, but... holy moly. I cannot recommend it more highly.
Even if you didn't watch He-Man growing up, I feel like part 1 does a decent job onboarding a new audience with the mythology as part of the recap/catch-up stuff that also helps the old audience. There's a lot of deep cut stuff that's there for the fans, but not necessities.
If you watch just ONE streaming show where @GriffLightning emotionally destroys you as an updated version of the comic-relief sidekick from a decades-old animated adaptation of the adventures of a nigh-indestructible muscle-bound hero... well, that's kind of a toss-up, honestly.
Read 6 tweets
27 Nov
Introducing #NiNoBilMa 2022

A year-long public and participatory writing experiment aimed at breaking down my inhibitions around writing and (re-)acquiring skills I missed out on due to the intersection of ADHD and gifted child baggage.

patreon.com/posts/introduc…
Don't let the currently outdated media preview card generated by Twitter fool you... the post is unlocked. And as it explains, all basic #NiNoBilMa materials will also be unlocked as I invite anybody else who wants to write along on their own to join in.

The same posts will also be crossposted to my newsletter, as this one was, so if you do want to keep up with them you've got options.

buttondown.email/AlexandraErin/…
Read 10 tweets
26 Nov
Rewatching Part I in anticipation of watching Part II soon.
One thing I think the internet troll brigade missed about Revelation Part I is that the first episode was the series finale and heroic send-off that He-Man and his fans never got, due to the cranked-out toy commercial nature of the original series.
He-Man's already blurred-together adventures just kind of tapered off without any kind of resolution for the character or for the dangling plot arc(s) like Marlena knowing her son's secret or Teela's true sorcerous heritage when the suits decided it was time to sell She-Ra toys.
Read 12 tweets
25 Nov
Mashed potatoes aren't really mashed potatoes if you don't leave the bones in
Cornbread is better if you let the broth cook off instead of draining it.
Consider replacing your turkey's bones with chicken bones to make it easier to carve.
Read 7 tweets

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