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Welcome to the Factorio Access wiki! This wiki is being written by the mod developers to introduce the game in the context of the mod. Like the mod, the wiki is a work in progress but we aim to include pages for everything supported in the game.
This wiki home page offers an overview about the game, the mod, and the wiki. You can navigate between wiki entries by jumping between headings on the pages, and you can navigate between pages using the links on page or from the contents table on the right hand sidebar. The first twelve wiki chapters are written in the order of encountering their topics in the game, while later chapters are a little more mixed because the game progression becomes less linear and we have been adding new pages as we bring support to new features our of order.
Factorio is a game where you build your own factory piece by piece. You assume the role of an engineer whose spaceship has crashlanded onto an alien planet called Nauvis. There are various natural resources like ores, trees, rocks, and lakes around you. In addition, sometimes there are dispersed communities of large alien ground insects collectively known as “biters”.
Your ultimate goal is to build yourself a new rocket so that you can leave the planet. However, your engineering database is missing the technology available for building a rocket. In fact, you have hardly any technologies available to you at all! Therefore, you will first have to set up some self-sufficient research labs and unlock all the technologies you need, while you gather and process the resources you need for that.
The good news is that you are a very skilled engineer who can craft a lot of things quickly by hand, and you also know enough basic crafting recipes to get your first few machines up and running. The first thing you will need to do is to mine some resources by hand and start smelting up some metals. You can have coal-burning machines that you can use to acquire more coal in a self-sufficient way. Later you can build your first electric power system, which will support your first research labs. As you do research, you will unlock new technologies that will help you branch out your production abilities and automate further research.
Factorio is played from a top-down perspective on a mostly flat two dimensional world. Especially when enemies are in peaceful mode or are turned off, you can play the game at your own pace, and gradually you put together sprawling systems that do tons of cool things all by themselves. The game has very good sound design, but it also has a lot of features that rely on vision, which is where the Factorio Access mod comes in.
Factorio Access is a free and open source modification that reads the world and behavior inside Factorio so that it can be played without needing any sight at all. The mod is written using the official Factorio modding API, which allows us to access most of its features with ease. The mod follows a philosophy of keeping the original experience of the game as much as possible, and so the focus primarily is to give information that would usually be provided visually, while you do the building and planning as usual. The mod also has some unique features, but they are meant to be alternatives to the vanilla features that are dependent on vision. You can read more about these in the Unique Features page.
The mod is also steadily developing its support for multiplayer and it is being designed to be versatile so that players with different levels of vision can enjoy playing together seamlessly.
In the beta release of version 0.4, all of the gameplay basics are accessible and you are able to complete the main objective of the game. Work still needs to be done in order to include some optional but iconic features of the game as well as increasing quality of life and supporting multiplayer mode. Here are more details:
- All basic gameplay features are supported. Examples: navigation, crafting, building, and research.
- Most features work the same way they do in Vanilla Factorio while the mod simply assists by providing contextual information.
- Some features are well-supported via tools unique to the mod that are alternatives to vision-based interfaces. Examples: Scanner tool, transport belt analyzer. See the Wiki page for Unique Features for more information.
- Some features are technically playable or partially supported but they need more work: Examples: Combat, train scheduling, multiplayer mode.
- Some features are not yet playable but we are planning/working to add support for them. Examples: Flying robots.
Development of the mod is slow overall because the team is only a handful of part-time volunteers. We work in parallel on improving the core gameplay, adding support for new features, and fixing bugs. Recent versions of the mod are coming out as the beta version because we are releasing it without every key developer reviewing it due to time constraints. Player feedback is highly appreciated so that we can steer the development accordingly. You can discuss the game with us on the Factorio Access Discord server.
For information about how to install the mod and a summary of the controls, read the readme page. To learn about updates and changes, read the change log. Note that the beta version has its own readme page and changes page.
For information about the game itself and mod features, this wiki is a source written specifically for players without sight. As an alternate information source, you can use the official Factorio wiki. You can also join us on the Factorio Access Discord server to ask questions.
Q: What is the development timeline? A: Development is slow overall due to the time constraints of our volunteers but we aim to have at least partial support for all main features before the middle of 2024.
Q: Do I have to pay to use the mod? A: The mod is and always will be free. The game itself costs $35 on Factorio.com and prices can vary per country on Steam.
Q: Does this mod work with the steam version? A: Not yet, however if you buy the game on Steam or another seller, you can use your product key to redeem the standalone version on factorio.com
Q: Does this mod work with the demo? A: No, in fact no mods work with the demo.
Q: Can this mod run the game's tutorials? A: No, but there is in-game help via item descriptions, while this page, our own wiki, and the official wiki can provide info and guidance. The mod now also comes with demo maps that show working systems.
Q: My game crashed, what gives? A: This mod is currently still in early access. Bugs are normal and expected. Please post about it in the issues channel of Discord. Autosave should generally restore your progress.
Q: Can I contribute to this project? A: Generally, playtesting and feedback from players is always welcome. You can also make suggestions for or assist in writing our wiki pages. Coding assistance from experienced modders would be appreciated. You can talk to us on Discord to discuss details.
Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the basics of the game such as how inventories work, controls, how progress in the game is measured, what resources exist, and how to gather them. Chapters 3 to 6 cover the machines and systems of the very early game known as the "burner era". Chapter 7 introduces electric power and Chapter 8 explains research and technology, which is the main form of progression in the game. Chapters 9 to 12 cover the tools and concepts of automation, which lie at the heart of the game. Chapters 13 and onward cover later systems and concepts that get unlocked as technology progresses. Note that these later chapters are in the order of when features get introduced to the mod rather than order of technology progression. Therefore you might want to check out the later chapters out of order.
In addition, we have some non-chapter pages that cover other information about the mod, such as our recommended map called Conpass Valley, or pages that discuss early game milestones, example maps, and unique features of the mod.