Thanks for the warning, I suppose it is - and that's why I stick to my guns and won't play it. Since playing Age of Empires II online around 2000 took such a heavy toll on my study habits to achieve a 2000+ rating at the time, my mantra goes by the saying: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". ;)

A very long time ago, my dad prepared me for this risk by buying Civilization just before my high school final exam. I graduated with 268% on Emperor.

and how were your high school grades?

Still pretty good. I do sometimes wonder if they could have been better, but nobody cares about that anymore. And nobody is going to take that 268% away from me.

And here I am, a new player of Factorio and wishing I stuck to my prevention. On another note my factory is growing!

Do not install Space Exploration mode! Save yourself 400 hours.

Hmm, I had to google this mod [1]. Seems really cool, but it also does sound a whole lot like the factorio expansion [2], so what is going on here?

(I been eagerly awaiting the factorio expansion for a while now!)

1: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/space-exploration

2: https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/factorio-expansion-space-...

They hired the mod creator (as an artist) and, from the Factorio Friday Facts blog posts[1], the expansion has some inspiration from the space mod but is not the same.

[1] https://www.factorio.com/blog/

Oh, that is amazing! Thanks for pointing me to the blog!

If you like Factorio and are at all interested in game design I can highly recommend every one of those blog posts.

It’s amazing how time and time again a they describe a feature and you’re like wow this is perfect and then later they’re like “here’s how to fix all the problems you don’t even notice”.

The mod is older, and they hired the modder to work on the expansion. From the blog posts the expansion is a lot closer to vanilla then the complex mods.

The factorio team hired the person behind the space exploration mod to integrate it into factorio.

Earendel was employed by Wube in February 5, 2021

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-365

Wait for the official Space DLC and all the 2.0 QoL improvements next year instead!

I’ll be surprised if they actually release in 2024 I’d assume 2025 is more realistic.

Don't look at Dyson Sphere Program.

It’s funny how saying a game is addictive makes many people want to try it, but people like you and me take it as a warning. For me it’s because I succumb to addictions more easily than most.

All through lessons learned. It’s difficult to quit playing in the initial years, but as the time passes it becomes easier.

It’s a mostly harmless addition there is no monetization beyond the initial purchase.

Fascinating that the review is basically "it's too good".