After an early access launch and a full release to Steam in 2020, the automation resource management sim Factorio is still going incredibly strong. Even after all this time the team at Wube Software is teasing big quality-of-life improvements for the game, with changes to the Spidertron remote, the ability to pipette more things, and better blueprint grid adjustment at the top of the list for one of the best automation games on Steam.
Factorio has a lot of dedicated players – with over 140,000 Steam reviews at 97% positive no less – that I don’t doubt will eat up the small, but still incredibly impactful, changes being brought to the management game. With Factorio 2.0 and Space Age hopefully still coming out later in 2024, these changes are already being welcomed with open arms.
Let’s start with the Spidertron remote, which is being rebranded to the ‘RTS Tool.’ Wube says it knows “the Spidertron selection and control in 1.1 is a bit janky,” adding “As fans of RTS games, we know we can do better, and it’s not like we’re reinventing the wheel here.”
The newly-named RTS Tool has seen the controls for the old Spidertron remote change slightly too, as you can now left-click to drag spidertrons, shift plus left-click to add to previously selected spidertrons, control plus left-click to remove spidertrons from your selected pool, right-click to send a spidertron, and shift plus right-click to queue the move command.
The RTS Tool will also remember your previous spidertron selection per surface, so if you go between different planets and have a different selection of spidertrons, you’ll go back to the selection for that surface, which is neat.
Next up, we’ve got enhanced pipetting. The long and short of it is that Wube is making it so pipetting works for more than just entities, so you can have even easier access to more resources while placing items. The pipette will work for recipe slots, logistic slots, inventory slots, placeable items, water, lava, and a whole lot more.
Lastly, we’re looking at some meaningful changes that mean you don’t need to go through the process of trial and error with your Grid position and Absolute offsets with getting those blueprints down. This change means that with a simple press of shift and the arrow keys you can change a Grid’s position, while pressing control and the arrow keys means you can change the Absolute grid offset too. The Blueprint changes are slated for 2.0 later this year.
Everything detailed here is a part of Friday Facts number 404, so if you want to check out all the details for yourself you can right here.
If these changes aren’t enough and you want to mess around with more, we’ve put together some of the best Factorio mods you need to check out, alongside some truly excellent simulation games to keep your mind racing.
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