Factorio 2.1.21 stops punishing wide space platforms with lower top speed

Wube Software used Friday Facts #448 on 9 October to explain two space platform changes in Factorio 2.1.21. Asteroids now hit parked platforms much more gently, and a platform’s top speed no longer depends on how wide it is.

The asteroid side started with 2.1. In 2.0, damage depended on relative speed, and an asteroid simply vanished after dealing an invisible amount of damage. Since 2.1, an asteroid loses its own health every time it hits and breaks when that runs out. Shoot it before impact and it does less damage.

That had a side effect. Because speed no longer mattered, medium asteroids could one-shot platforms parked over Vulcanus. Version 2.1.13 cut damage to stationary platforms by 90 percent, and 2.1.21 goes further. According to Wube, a medium asteroid now deals 2000 damage to a moving platform and 100 to a stationary one, down from 3200 and 320 in 2.1.13. Huge asteroids hit harder again, so nobody can just tank the trip to the edge of the solar system.

The second half was written by CodeGreen, a self-described modder of six years. Until now, width was the biggest drag factor. One extra foundation tile on the edge cost almost as much speed as filling the whole column, which made long, skinny “pencil ships” the optimal design. In a Reddit poll CodeGreen ran, around 50 percent of voters disliked the width rule and only about 10 percent liked it.

Drag is now based on mass. Every tile counts the same no matter where it sits. Wider ships have room for more thrusters, so they get faster, with diminishing returns. The only designs that lost significant speed in testing were those stacking several rows of thrusters, which was never intended in the first place.

The change applies retroactively to every existing platform, and CodeGreen apologised for it landing this late in 2.1’s experimental phase. If you share a 2.1 save on a multiplayer server, check your routes after updating: some ships will be slower than before, others faster.

Wube also points players who have finished their megabase towards Biter Battles. The BiterBattles.org server runs around the clock on the latest stable vanilla version without Space Age, and you’ll find it under Multiplayer in the public games list.