Factropy

Factropy  is two parts Factorio, one part Satisfactory, a dash of Supreme Commander and a bunch of loose ideas a certain solo developer failed to mod into one of those games. Perhaps others will also enjoy this mix tape!

Fac-what-now?

Entropy, in the colloquial sense, the measure of disorder in a system. Fighting with entropy seems to describe the factory simulation experience rather well. Factropy.

If you hate that etymology maybe it's just that games in this genre inevitably do many things the same way, because a conveyor belt is hard to improve on. Tropes abound. Factropy.

Strong Opinions

Factorio's top-down 2D view is more comfortable than Satisfactory's first-person or the Dyson Sphere Program's third-person view, and the build grid is essential. So Factropy is still largely about building a base that spreads over flat ground on a fixed grid. The use of 3D is in specific areas where it seems worthwhile:

Hills contain the minable resources. Instead of laying out a grid of mining drills and belts to cover every bit of an ore patch, which gets boring, a few well-placed Factropy miners can eventually tunnel throughout their local hill. 

Lakes have underwater topography too. Don't just landfill everything; Oil rigs must be placed in sufficiently deep water for crude oil extraction, with underwater pipes to connect rigs to the normal land-based pipe network.

Pneumatic Tubes are the conveyor belts of the skies, allowing logistics in three dimensions and over rough terrain without sacrificing the 2D base. Why send engineers flying around in a hyperloop-cough-tube when you can send items?

Combat. An unseen off-world enemy is upset that the engineer is supplying the interstellar war effort and sends missiles and asteroids. High-tech aerial attacks  still require plenty of gun turrets creating cost and situational pressure, but no need for endless perimeter walls or periodic extermination of the natives.

Aircraft entities like the zeppelin, logistic blimps and heavy-lifter transports turn the sky into a giant logistics overlay.

Wind Turbines. Wind speed increases with elevation so mined-out mountains are still useful. Laser turrets are also more effective when elevated.

Interesting features are those that use 3D to enhance the basic 2D factory experience, not just saying hey, let's go 3D so we can build vertically and frustrate ourselves trying to control the camera.

What else is different?

• Entity construction is incremental with vehicles and drones delivering materials to the construction site, RTS style. No need for a mall. Simpler inventories. More planning around distribution of intermediate products around the base.
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• Only copy/paste blueprints exist and they do not persist longer than a single game. Ruins replayabilty and creativity.
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• Circuit networks have become wireless networks with towers animated packet streams. For those that loved combinators, the computer entity is fully programmable with multiple NICs.
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• Finer control over drone (robot) networks. No long distance flights unless the engineer designs the network that way. Drones are attached permanently to a single drone port, and co-operate when attached to the same wireless network. No more drones running out of charge mid-flight; they consume their entire energy budget on departure or they don't leave. No difference between logistic and construction robots. Drones simply prioritise construction over logistics.
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• Automated logistics and construction vehicles follow marked paths around the base, controlled by wifi networks.
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• Tech tree is shallow but challenging, and not based on research. Progression occurs as the engineer meets goals set by the MoD, mostly supplying the war effort with materials. Each goal unlocks all new techs necessary to meet the next goal.