It's Critter Time!

I'm gonna be real, I think my mind has been consumed by automation/factory building games for years at this point.

Satisfactory, Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program, like, way too many Minecraft Tech Modpacks, my brain is just hooked on making factories man.

For those who don't know how these games usually work, they're games that have you gather resources and then build things that automate the gathering and processing of those resources, the goals are different, sometimes you're escaping the planet, sometimes you're escaping the solar system, or idk if you're playing a Minecraft modpack maybe you're making a creative item or some really weird structure. Regardless, what you're making gets more and more complex with vast processing lines and needing to calculate throughput and recipe ratios and all that jazz. Shapez is a good example of the process distilled down to a minimalistic core, although a lot of games are more complex than this, which is what my brain is attached to more than anything.

I wanted this to be my first thread to basically know if anyone else has also been hit with this love of making thing make other things making other things for whatever reason.

Personally, I've been getting into the Minecraft mod GregTech, specifically the modern version for 1.20.1, GregTech Community Edition Unofficial: Modern (The history of this branch of the mod is... kind of convoluted lol). More specifically I'm starting a run in the official Community Pack modpack (with a couple extra mods added on for decoration/I like the Limited Barrels from Sophisticated Storage more than Storage Drawers) and I just got the Primitive Blast Furnace. Honestly the steam age could be better, but I'm just happy to start getting steel now, really want to get into Low Voltage Electrical Age soon!

I dig games of this general genre, though the only one I've got significant time in is Factorio (+ Space Age).

I might be a bit weird cuz the resource gathering aspects of these things don't interest me so much, but having limited resources does. Not many games really fit into that genre, so I usually end up playing sandbox modes or hacking things around a bit until it gets to the point that interests me.

Have you heard of Mindustry? It's a factory game combined with a tower defense. You play as a drone whose purpose is to build factories and turrets to fight back against a rogue AI known as the Crux. The Crux send other drones and robots ("units") to attack your factories and your Core, which is where you store each map's resources. Later in the game you unlock the ability to make your own units and fight back. There's also co-op and competitive multiplayer. It's free on Itch (US$10 on Steam) and can run on a potato.

Raven wrote: Mon Jul 28, 2025 8:36 pm Have you heard of Mindustry? It's a factory game combined with a tower defense. You play as a drone whose purpose is to build factories and turrets to fight back against a rogue AI known as the Crux. The Crux send other drones and robots ("units") to attack your factories and your Core, which is where you store each map's resources. Later in the game you unlock the ability to make your own units and fight back. There's also co-op and competitive multiplayer. It's free on Itch (US$10 on Steam) and can run on a potato.

I actually tried that but didn't get far, but I do plan on trying again since I also love Tower Defense games. More of a time thing now.

lilpaladin1 wrote: Mon Jul 28, 2025 9:34 pm

Raven wrote: Mon Jul 28, 2025 8:36 pm Have you heard of Mindustry? It's a factory game combined with a tower defense. You play as a drone whose purpose is to build factories and turrets to fight back against a rogue AI known as the Crux. The Crux send other drones and robots ("units") to attack your factories and your Core, which is where you store each map's resources. Later in the game you unlock the ability to make your own units and fight back. There's also co-op and competitive multiplayer. It's free on Itch (US$10 on Steam) and can run on a potato.

I actually tried that but didn't get far, but I do plan on trying again since I also love Tower Defense games. More of a time thing now.

That's understandable, it's a long game. It gets really hard near the end too, I haven't fully reclaimed the whole planet yet lol.

Easily becoming one of my favorite genres as of late. I just finished a playthrough of Dyson Sphere Program and despite a few minor gripes I have (mostly regarding blueprinting and the weird balancing for power generation), it was a blast for the 65 hours the bulk of that playthrough lasted. My second favorite factory/automation game, ahead of Satisfactory (yes, really.) Getting to the part where you actually build a dyson sphere definitely feels like it elicits a "holy shit, I'm getting real powerful now" feeling.

Factorio, though? Mmm, Space Age is pretty cool but honestly Gleba can go take a long hike off a short pier.

Oh boy, factory games! I've put so many hours into Satisfactory, it's a very fun game :3

I'm a bit of a slut for the aesthetic possibilities in it: (And a lot more I could post but gonna refrain from clogging the thread up with my screenshots)