Factorio reduces asteroid damage to stationary platforms
Wube explains version 2.1.21: a medium asteroid deals 100 damage in orbit and 2,000 during travel.
Stationary space platforms in Factorio take less damage from medium asteroids. In the 9 October Friday Facts, Wube describes fixes introduced in version 2.1.21: an impact deals 100 damage to a stationary platform and 2,000 to a moving one. The team had received feedback about the difficulty of building in orbit around Vulcanus.
Version 2.1 changed impact calculations to depend on asteroid health. Damage an asteroid before collision and it hits the platform less hard. Relative speed no longer determines damage; remaining health does. This made the outcome more predictable, but some orbital impacts became too punishing.
Not every asteroid is less dangerous. Wube increased huge asteroid damage to discourage travelling towards the edge of space by simply absorbing hits.
A producer’s perspective
Making a rule readable is not enough if actual play becomes frustrating. Here the trade-off concerns two goals: helping players understand their risk and keeping platform construction viable. It is useful for distinguishing how a system works from how it is tuned. A change coherent on paper can need adjustments after feedback without demonstrating internal organisational problems.
Source: Wube Software.
The producer’s perspective is editorial interpretation.
