FAQ

Why wont SE work correctly?


Most likely, you have a mod incompatibility. One of your installed mods has disabled one of SE's required mods.

Follow the instructions of the diagnostics message and you should be good.

Some commonly installed mods that are incompatible: RSO, Clockwork, Bob's and Angel

Which mods are recommended with Space Exploration?
Check out the Recommended mods page.

Why is the Bob's modules mod incompatible?
At the current time of writing, SE has its own system of modules that does not work with bobs, due to conflicts, Bob's modules will cause crashes.

In the future, there may be a fix or an option to disable the modules but that is unlikely.

Can I play multiplayer with everyone starting on different planets? Can I play PvP?
 Start the game in freeplay, not a scenario 

PvP and multiple forces is possible, but very experimental. Here are posts from people who have tried:

Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/l9zx3b/space_exploration_and_separate_starting_planet/

Archived discord post:

I finally was able to create my k2 + se multiplayer Map with 6 different teams ( pvp scenario preset but a bit modified by commands). I know there is this command given:

/c remote.call("space-exploration", "setup_multiplayer_test", { force_name = "player-2", players = {game.player}, match_nauvis_seed = false})

But when you create a game and use this command to create different forces for your friends you don't have this nice team indicator at the top left where you can see who is online in which team. So create a Map with the amount of teams you need. As an example:

Team-1 --> User1 joins Team-1 Team-2 --> User2 joins Team-2

When people join your server let them join over the normal team selection in their team of choice. Now use the command I mentioned earlier ago and create a new planet with a new spawn for each team and use the exact team name for the force name:

/c remote.call("space-exploration", "setup_multiplayer_test", { force_name = "Team-1", players = {game.player}, match_nauvis_seed = false}) /c remote.call("space-exploration", "setup_multiplayer_test", { force_name = "Team-2", players = {game.player}, match_nauvis_seed = false})

Now move each player into the new force, after that both players have to die to spawn on their new planet:

/c game.players['User1'].force = game.forces['Team-1'] /c game.players['User2'].force = game.forces['Team-2']

--> /c game.player.character.die

Now every team has a own planet and you have that nice factorio team display. Maybe thats known but I saw a few people asking how to create this so maybe this can help a few people ''

I'm lost! What should I do next!
In general:
 * 1) Look at the tech tree and find the next science pack. If there's more than one science pack available, pick your favorite one (could be based on what the pack unlocks, or what resources are available to you).
 * 2) Look at the ingredients required to make the science pack.
 * 3) Find out how you can create these ingredients. Use your recipe explorer mod (e.g. Recipe Book).
 * 4) Figure out how to transport those ingredients to the place where you will create the science packs.

Good luck!

I'm lost and I need more specific advice!
Some pointers based on the last science pack you made:

I made chemical science:

Your next target is rocket science. Rocket science needs satellite telemetry, which is a obtained by launching a satellite from a satellite rocket silo. Don't forget to actually put the satellite inside the rocket before launching.

I made rocket science:

Your next target is space science. This is the first science pack that needs to be created in space, and then placed in a space science lab. To get to orbit, use a cargo rocket silo. Build a cargo rocket using cargo parts, capsules, and liquid rocket fuel. To survive in space, you will also need a thruster suit and life support capsules. Get yourself into orbit manually first, do some exploring, create some space science manually, try things out. Once you understand space a bit more, try to figure out how to automate the delivery of the resources you need.

I made space science:

You can either go for production or utility science. Which ever one comes first is up to you. Production needs vulcanite and utility needs cryonite. Both can only be obtained on other planets. Find a suitable planet and build an outpost there that can bring you back what you need.

I made production and utility science:

Welcome to mid-game. Pick your first science out of astrological, energy, material, and biological. Each of them needs its own off-world resource. Getting the resources will be similar to how you got vulcanite and cryonite. Your first science chain might be overwhelming, but they all end up using the same data card -> catalog -> insight -> significant data chain, so the following sciences will be faster and easier.

What do I need to take in the first rocket launch?
Without exact numbers, here's what you'll need and why:


 * A landing pad. You don't want to crash again, do you?
 * Power for your base. Space has a very high solar % so solar panels make the most sense. It is always daytime, so you do not need accumulators.
 * Roboports, bots, and storage logistic chests. You can give orders to bots remotely from the ground.
 * Inserters, power poles, and substations. Regular belts might not work in space, but these do.
 * Meteor defense and ammo.
 * Ground science packs. You'll make space science in space, but you'll need to research it in combination with ground packs inside a space lab.
 * Ingredients for space mall things. Look at the recipes for space belts, pipes, and assembling machines. Brings lots.
 * Ingredients for space science. That's processing units, solid rocket fuel, and stone, plus the space belts you'll be making. Cosmic water is 99% water, so don't forget water barrels. You won't be able to process water ice before some research.
 * Ingredients for manufactories and scaffolding. You don't have these unlocked yet, but they'll be one of the first things you will want to make. You will especially need a lot of scaffolding. Bring a lot of LDS, heat shielding, and steel.
 * At least 6 of your highest productivity modules. You can put them in your space lab.
 * Efficiency and speed modules are nice to have.

Try and pack as much as you can. Cargo rockets are expensive at first.

Why is it that we cannot place productivity modules in any of the space structures?
This gives you a choice for where to produce your intermediate resources that need to be consumed in space.

Producing things in space is easier, since it is right where you need it, but you cannot use productivity modules.

Producing things on the ground will let you use productivity modules, but you will have to figure out how to ship it.

Note that there are 2 exceptions where you can use productivity modules in space: Space labs, and drills.

Can I use construction/logistic bots in Space?
Yes you can, though note that robot attrition is often higher in space. Verify the robot attrition of a zone in the Universe Explorer.

Can I convert my belt/rail blueprints to space belts/space rails?
Because of a Factorio limitation with collision masks, SE cannot make upgrade planners work between ground and space versions of items. But there are workarounds to automatically convert your blueprints:

1) You can use this web app. Paste the exported string of a blueprint or blueprint book in the "Input" box and you will get a converted blueprint string in the "Output" box.

2) You can use a mod that directly edits the json of blueprints such as Upgrade Builder and Planner.

Why am I getting a "Cannot connect systems with different fluids" error when everything seems fine?
Factorio considers a building's different outputs to be part of the same system and this cannot be fixed. Make sure you don't have two different fluid input/outputs touching like the picture on the right.

SE's buildings can often be rotated to get what you need:

As of Factorio 1.1, a workaround is to place the item as a ghost and let your construction bots place the item.

How to create biosludge in space? Do I need to keep bringing fish or wood?


Once you have a small amount of biosludge, you can use it to grow more biosludge, by turning it into biomass and turning the biomass back into biosludge. You need some biosludge to start the loop. You can get it from wood, fish, or recycling contaminated fluids.

The chain of recipes is: biosludge -> nutrient gel -> nutrient vats -> bioculture -> biomass -> biosludge from biomass

You need some other ingredients to feed the loop, most notably, you need a bit of genetic data (basic bio science) in the middle.

In this Factory Planner plan below, we use 764 biosludge to create 1764 biosludge, for a profit of 1000 biosludge (230% gain).

If you count the recycling of the contaminated fluids, the ratio is even better: We use 650 biosludge to create 1650 biosludge (253% gain).

These calculations ignore the extra biosludge that might be obtained from recycling the contaminated scrap, since it's a negligible amount.

How does spaceship integrity stress work?
You have an integrity stress limit based on your tech. With just spaceship tech you have a limit of 200. Spaceship Integrity research increases it by 100 per tech up to a max 1000. Factory Spaceship research increases it by 500 per tech with no limit.

Integrity stress is calculated in 2 parts, whichever value is higher determines the actual stress.

Part A is based on the size and structure of the ship: Each spaceship tile with a spaceship wall takes 0.25 integrity, each spaceship tile without a wall takes 1 integrity.

Part B is based on cargo capacity: Each item slot of a chest or similar container takes 0.5 integrity, each 2k of fluid capacity takes 1 integrity (except booster tanks which are 1 integrity per 4k).

Note that you can hover over the integrity bars of the spaceship GUI to get a breakdown of what is currently counting in your integrity, which can help you understand this better.

After a Factorio/"Space Exploration" mod update, my game freezes. What can I do?
Load the game and wait. After the update, structures and maps seem to need a regeneration. That normally takes few minutes. After a while the game will be working as usual, so save the changes and keep enjoying the game.

Can I use this mod in Linux?
Yes you can.

Can I use my Factorio blueprints?
The short answer is yes. All Factorio structures are still available. However a lot of recipes have changed, so you will probably need to re-design blueprints involving producing items. Space requires new buildings/belts/structures, so your normal Factorio blueprints will not work in space.

My save file is too large and saving/loading takes forever. What can I do?
Every new planet chunk, structure, enemy, etc. increases the game file size.

If you quickly scanned a planet but decided it will not be useful, make sure to "Delete surface" so that it will not inflate your save file. If you change your mind and decide to look at the surface again, it will be generated identically.

If you have stuff on a planet, you can instead use "Trim surface" which will draw a rectangle around your stuff, and then delete all chunks around it. Beware, this can revive biters when those chunks are explored again! Also note that pollution will automatically generate chunks that it reaches, so if your pollution cloud covers the whole planet, trimming will not be useful.

Also check the "performance issues" question in the FAQ for other performance improvements.

How can I resolve performance issues?
(Based on my experience. This is not an official answer)

- Settings > Mod Settings > Map * Set "Meteor map interval" to "600"
 * Reduce Factorio graphics settings to the minimum details.
 * Ensure Factorio runs from a fast local drive(SSD if possible).
 * Check your memory usage and increase your virtual memory (Pagefile/swapfile) if necesary, since this mod will easily use 16GB of memory as soon as you start being interplanetary.
 * Avoid the use of "Scan Surface" for planets where you do not have a base yet or "Delete Surface" if you have already scanned them.
 * Launching a spaceship in a loop (say, triggering with circuit network but not enough fuel) can be the cause of the game freezing momentarily every second or so.
 * "Meteor showers" and "Console notifications" seem to freeze the system from time to time. So disable those options:

- Settings > Mod Settings > Per Player * Disable "Print Meteor Alerts to the console" * Disable "Alert when satellite discovers nothing"
 * Lag spikes are occur if using auto-targeting with the Weapons Delivery Cannon and there are no valid targets.