![Image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/380461544015659009/995440740203249785/Screenshot_1693.png)
The first session went terrifically. I was expecting 4-5 people and we got 9. It's not the biggest
Factorio session we've ever played, I am pretty sure we've played at least one session with about 10 people years ago, but we didn't know the game back then as we do now, and the Space Exploration mod wasn't out yet, so we were playing vanilla "Marathon" game which wasn't as fun as what we're playing now. The Marathon setting makes progress much slower, which made sense back then since the longer the game, the better. But now that Space Exploration doubles the content, and the official expansion will soon triple it, I don't see a need for Marathon anymore.
"Death world", on the other hand, is a must, and that's the only main game setting I adjusted. We might end up having to tone it down a bit if progress ends up stalling for too long, or we lose a bunch of players, but for now it's exactly what we need and it has made both of our attempts thrilling. Below are the Space Exploration-specific settings I set up; everything you see with the red light is changes I made from defaults. All my changes make the game more hardcore.
![Image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/380461544015659009/995445987852173422/Screenshot_1694.png)
![Image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/380461544015659009/995445987885731921/Screenshot_1695.png)
![Image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/380461544015659009/995446045427388486/Screenshot_1696.png)
Space Exploration recommends a bunch of mods, and we installed all of them:
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/space-explorationI have to ask dan to show me how to install mods, so we can experiment with more of them for future runs, but for the time being he at least taught me how to fully operate the server (turn on/shut down/set up new game), so that's progress. In the past I couldn't do a thing without his help. The main mod I'd like to pile on to what we have running is Krastorio 2, and I will probably add it to attempt #3 when we get there.
So Space Exploration floods the game with tons of professional-grade content, and changes things up from the first moments. This coronal mass ejection for example happens mere seconds into the start now:
![Image](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/380461544015659009/995438609693950033/Screenshot_1691.png)
But I'll sing the mod's praises in the main
Factorio thread. Here is the first run we played, lasting about an hour and a half (recoil's stream is shorter because he only started streaming towards the end):
cosmicwar.net Planetary Factorization #1 with ChevRage and The Cult 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLsB_5nFmRMcosmicwar.net Planetary Factorization #1 with recoil and The Cult 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IueekOkjLogAfter this brutal end, our factories completely overrun by hordes of bugs, we started a second run, this time taking care to handcraft as much as possible so as to not aggravate the bugs with too much pollution before we were ready to face them, and it has worked great so far. We destroyed a bunch of their nests, and didn't get attacked a single time in the 2 hours 45 minutes we played. This time the streams were equal length as they were started at the same time. We're doing two streams to try to cover most of what's happening across the sprawling base(s).
cosmicwar.net Planetary Factorization #2 with ChevRage and The Cult 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUhK1vL0VkEcosmicwar.net Planetary Factorization #2 with recoil and The Cult 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bHLFe4qNZsRory had to drop out maybe half an hour to an hour before the end, so he can skim the videos to see what he missed. I think we took out one or two more nests after he left, and were just about to start up green science production before we decided to call it a night. If you discount the hour-or-so we spent setting up the server and game settings, we played almost exactly 4 hours, as advertised.
Session #2 of attempt #2 will take place this coming Saturday July 16 at 1 PM UTC, and I hope to see many people there as it should be a thrilling session. With the intro stage out of the way, and the factory in great shape, we should be able to get a lot done with the full 4 hours, as long as we don't screw up. If you missed the first session entirely and want to join us for the second, just skim the last two videos and you'll get the gist of where we're at. See you on Saturday!