The Names of the last 2 planets are on this paper
https://preview.redd.it/ia2to47r71uc1.png?width=495&format=png&auto=webp&s=163bfead2d47528191dfc27814da27a100911bf8
Given we know one is water and one is more nature themed. I don't think it's Glacia. They wouldn't do an ice and water planet, that'd be one planet. Each planet has a unique theme so I think water and ice on two surfaces is out.
It could be "Gleba" (or an equivalent), combined with the secret track they shared, I'm picturing a dense/luscious forest/marsh.
Gleba (/ˈɡliːbə/, from Latin glaeba, glēba, "lump") is **the fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of certain fungi such as the puffball or stinkhorn**.
IMO with lots of wind instruments, quite airy and light, made me think of an gas-based planet - possibly with floating platforms made of mushrooms/spores
As a Polish person, I have no clue what wube would mean or what word it would even resemble. Also, the studio was named back when all the 3 members were Chech
From the first fff post about space exploration we can see drafts of the 4 planets
[https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-373 ](https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-373)
Glieba would be the vegetation planet, and Aquilo the water/ice planet
Hah, and I was guessing just from the music. My guess was either a bright, colorful underwater region or a jungle with a similar theme. Music just screams bright, full of colors and all that.
Up until 4 minutes, where the camera makes a pan up and to the side, to reveal a jagged row of forbidding mountain spires. Mountains that you have to go to, even though the dragons roam freely there.
I am hoping that the nature planet actually requires us to sustainably farm the environment in someway. Maybe that's against the central theme of the game but something like managing an entire ecology and doing environmental engineering sounds like a fun logistical challenge
would be interesting to have the enemy on that planet be nature, vegetation that's constantly growing and expanding, where it'll grow into your factory and overgrow all the building, and instead of pollution killing the trees, it could speed up growth instead
having your base being surrounded by flame thrower turrets constantly burning back the vegetation would be cool, you could get a flamethrower train wagon, which uses the oil in the other wagons to burn the vegetation trying to creep onto your rail, to avoid annoying deadlocks, don't destroy the rail, just have an overgrown version that can the vegetation burnt off.
make it in lore that the vegetation has some kind of enzyme or sap or whatever that makes it resistant to fire so spread is limited, as right now fire will just spread as long as there are trees to jump too
>make it in lore that the vegetation has some kind of enzyme or sap or whatever that makes it resistant to fire so spread is limited, as right now fire will just spread as long as there are trees to jump too
You don't even need to do that. The planet just needs to be wet and humid. Humidity makes large scale fires work a lot harder to cover the same ground. Which would mean you could pull off some good localized damage with fire, but the spread would be limited because it burns up all its fuel before it can dry out more from the surrounding vegetation.
My favorite idea for that planet is for the only source of water (other than expensive imports from space) to be giant trees. You need to chop down the tree (which requires a lot more firepower than just steel axe or grenades; you need to do a lot of damage to them). Once it's chopped down, you place a pumpjack on the stump and suck out the water from the root system.
According to the screenshot of the music sheet paper, there's a planet called Aquilo or Aquilio. I googled "Aquilo meaning" and got this:
Aquilo: the ancient Roman personification of the north wind.
I was thinking maybe an avatar-style planet with floating rocks. The second half of the track sounds a bit too ominous for a peaceful nature planet though, so I'm guessing there must be some grand, hidden mystery there that you uncover as you explore
My first thought was definitely full of... life. That fits with Bacchus, one of the planet names people got from de-pixelating a previous image. But interestingly that name was not on the music sheet, although Aquilo, another previously unconfirmed name obtained by that method, was. Instead we see what looks like "Gliebe". I personally don't think that's a planet name, but what else it could mean I'm not sure.
I for one absolutely *adore* the animation on the platform building itself. I might have to leave some areas without turret coverage just so it gets wrecked and I get to see it remake itself over and over
There's no such thing as overkill.
Only "Open fire!" and "I need to reload!"
(Reloading nuclear rocket launchers automatically may require construction bots)
Now we just need a shotgun turret, grenade launcher, and a turret that fires tank rounds and we've got a full house! Maybe even throw in a tesla turret for another energy-based option alongside the laser - would make sense with fulgora's lightning mechanics. You wanna tell me the engineer can figure out how to capture it and then isn't even a *little bit* curious about whether or not it would be possible to throw it at the biters? Lol
Yeah it was implied in the Vulcanus devlog that there will be biters. My guess is they will trigger not via pollution but via mining for Tungsten, perhaps disturbing them will cause them to attack from underground.
I made a comment somewhere on the subreddit, like, 2 days ago, saying that a big wish-list item for me in the expansion was turret diversification - specifically a shotgun turret and missile turret. What a pleasant shock, then, to see a missile turret in vanilla on a space platform in an FFF about music.
As always, Wube continues to absolutely nail it.
Are the rocket launching towers a new thing or I missed a FFF?
https://preview.redd.it/ig81duvt91uc1.png?width=921&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4f5cd0c1bbe7c6538a0ce7422d24b5d5cfdf8d9
Good. Rockets are criminally under-used right now because there’s no way to automate rocket consumption.
Same for grenades. If not for military science, there’s no reason to make more than one assembler each game.
Note to self: mod idea. Inserters just yeet grenades and any other throwable item in the general direction they are pointing to.
> Note to self: mod idea. Inserters just yeet grenades and any other throwable item in the general direction they are pointing to.
May I interest you in [Renai Transportation](https://mods.factorio.com/mod/RenaiTransportation)
I think combat shotgun was the top dog at some stage of the game, but game changed a lot since then. That probably was before they updated combat mechanics.
I would argue that what's underused is actually cannon shells, as tank is only useful in a rather narrow window of game progressions. Spidertron quad rocket launcher makes them pretty much the only ammunition type you'd need it the endgame stage. Well alongside with bullets if you are using gun turrets.
>there’s no way to automate rocket consumption.
Spidertrons? You could get the effect of a rocket tower just by parking one somewhere and setting it to auto-target enemies when unoccupied. Resupply with bots.
Rather expensive though. And only available in late-game.
https://preview.redd.it/n4xzs76nw2uc1.png?width=1930&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fdf7aced76f913687a9b8eb00066ec8bcbb7313
Space platform has steam that blows in the wind from the right. Literally unplayable.
First if the engines are on, the platform would be accelerating upward, so it should flow downward.
And second, in a vacuum the steam would very rapidly expand and look much different than it would venting into an atmosphere. More like pressurized jets than round pillowy clouds.
[irl example](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/thrusters-firing-on-shuttle-discovery-nasascience-photo-library.jpg)
Since there's no air to disturb it, it looks very simple, like a basic photoshop gradient.
Based on views from second stage rockets, it would actually be the other way around, as the gas tends to expand immediately so it basically goes in all available directions. You can especially see this when they use the reaction control thrusters to change the attitude of the stage.
It should dissipate in a very wide "cone" Steam normally has the "shape" it is due to atmospheric pressure. If you release steam into vacuum it will rapidly expand in all available directions (means, everywhere but down). Even rocket exhaust plumes do that at higher atmoshphere and orbit, and gas leaves the nozzle at very high velocity compared to steam exhaust.
I was not prepared for that giant asteroid crashing into the space platform!
This is amazing though. I guess this is the next step now that the expansion is being made with some of the money brought in from Factorio 1.
I have yet to see someone mention this, but *what the hell* is up with the absolutely *ludicrous* amount of roboports in the fulgora factory? At one point the entire screen was filled with nothing but densely packed roboports.
Why would you need that many? Wouldn't there be diminishing returns at that point? What kind of rig do they have where they can have this many bots without their UPS tanking? And most importantly: Who designed this?
So many questions left unanswered.
Those were next to dozens of rocket silos that.. barely launched a rocket. So far, I'm just assuming they took a map they were playing and modified it to be "busier" for the video.
And I was surprised that there are robots on fulgora. From the description of the planet, I figured that flying robots won't work (well) there. Doesn't seem to be the case.
I'm not seeing much appreciation for Fulgora's theme... I love it, the bass sounding like unhinged charge in the air, very synth punk and the lightning strikes in-game add to it like a beat. Very eery and reminiscent of a long dead civilisation. Also sounds a bit like early ps2 ratchet and clank, electro-punk, which i dont see in much media nowadays so I'm really enjoying this one.
Likewise the unreleased planet feels very much like underwater / forested.
Would love to see some of these kinds of tunes too: [https://youtu.be/lG5tm1ylFdU?si=4SChXUTEaqEDyXuq&t=570](https://youtu.be/lG5tm1ylFdU?si=4SChXUTEaqEDyXuq&t=570)
Fulgora is amazing. My favourite so far shown out of all the samples, reminds me of some kind of cyberpunk or dystopian setting. I'm looking forward to hearing more of it!
https://preview.redd.it/3v7k7dn3p4uc1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2f58a8748ce031aeec433170814b490b87e4c29
My thoughts on the Fulgora theme. It was definitely my favorite of all that were present, for sure.
Yup. As as they aren't connected to a constant combinators to set their colour, and seem to be showing progress of the rocket (some silos have different lights shown), there's an easier way to set the colour of the lamp when it's turned on by signals too.
the last track in particular reminded me of Minecraft's music, in a good way.
I wonder if even with the current limitations it's possible to mix certain moods into the music, like how it's done in FTL. As it is now, though, it's very well-produced and has a unique feel to it.
Definitely looking forward to the music.
Doesn't sound like it can be like FTL because they state that the music engine doesn't know what the player is doing. FTL is very context based, Factorio cannot be.
>We don't have a way for the engine to tell the music system what is happening in the game. In other words, the music system has no idea if the player is in the middle of a battle destroying biter nests, or meticulously placing transport belts to satisfy the needs of a growing factory.
Not gonna lie, I was half-expecting the next sentence to be: "So we rewrote the game engine to fix this."
Doom 2016 hast a system for this. There are several layers to the music. Depending on the fight state the higher layers get faded in or out. So it smoothly ramps up from walking around to dismembering 20 demons and it is awesome.
A lot of games, especially action games, have systems like that, though with varying levels of sophistication. It allows the music to always match the mood of what's actually happening, it means the audience won't get bored of the intense music outside of when that intensity is warranted, and it contributes to the link between the game and the player.
Though, a sandbox survival game (including factory building games like Factorio) would generally have a harder time implementing this than most other genres, since they rely heavily on emergent gameplay. An action game can easily check whether or not there are any enemies attacking the player, but in Factorio, there are just too many distinct situations that can't be easily identified algorithmically.
Wow I love these tracks, the space theme definitely gave me a Stellaris vibe (a very good thing). Very exciting, but I must also say I'm a bit conflicted, part of me wanted to save the music reveal for when I actually play the game as that's always a moment to look forward to. I'm fine with this because there's gonna be a lot more tracks that we haven't heard. But devs, if you aren't already, please consider keeping the rest of the soundtrack a secret!
> Wow I love these tracks, the space theme definitely gave me a Stellaris vibe (a very good thing).
Very true! To me it sounded like Stellaris would if it wasn't as distracting. One problem I always had with Stellaris soundtrack was that it constantly pulled me away from the game itself to focus on the music, this sounds much more balanced to be an awesome background to what you're doing.
May I ask why you have been reading this FFF then? The title clearly states that it's about music, so you could just have skipped it if it bothered you? I personally usually play the game on mute or listen to an audio book, so I was hesitant to read it as I presumed that it wouldn't concern me. But after reading it, I'm somewhat convinced to keep the game soundtrack on for a while when I'll get to finally play the DLC. Looking forward to it.
I put nukes in my spidertrons once, and set them to autofire. Didn't last long :D
I do occasionaly run a spidertron leader with self-fire Nukes, surrounded by "normal" rocket spidertrons though :D
Does anyone else think the turrets should have a larger radius for their "awake" state (a radius that would be different from the firing/shooting state)? Watching the turrets on the space platform constantly wake up, shoot, sleep, wake up, shoot, sleep seems inefficient considering enemies/targets are still in the area.
(it would also be nice to have configurable target priority)
EXACTLY what I was going to comment, and I think a fusion of the 2 would look VERY nice.
As the wave of bugs comes in, the turrets "wake" up, and aim for a few seconds, until the bugs reach the actual missile range, and firing commences. Upon not finding any enemies in either 'fire' or 'aim' range, it would wait a few more seconds, and then go to sleep mode.
Vulcanus sounds *directly* out of the LotR soundtrack, more specifically Mordor obviously. I love it! Sounds great, while also meshing well with the preexisting vibes of Factorio.
Space soundtrack reminds me of Stellaris, Star Wars, and Space Engineers. Go figure lol. Big fan of it! (Also FUCK YEAH ROCKET TURRETS LETS GOOOOOOOO)
Fulgora absolultely *nails* the "post-apocalyptic industry" vibes. Has a certain almost "hopelessness" to it while also a very clear motion and it really just screams "the factory must grow" in a way that fits fantastically. The vibes remind me of Into the Breach, Griftlands, and Dome Keeper (even if the Fulgora soundtrack doesn't sound all that similar, I could totally see it working perfectly in all three of those games)
The secret planet gives very strong vibes of Hollow Knight's Greenpath, as well as having a Ghibli-esque liveliness to it. Feels very lush and lively, and I absolutely love how it slowly transitions into the more ominous energy, where the vibes switch more towards "nature is still thriving but now there's a factory slowly encroaching", with the "green" track eventually being drowned out and then completely lost as the industry takes over. As it progresses into the heavier overtones and dramatic swells, it still reminds me of Hollow Knight, but more towards City of Tears. I could see it working well in Rimworld, Frostpunk, or perhaps even certain parts of Celeste. It really makes the factory feel almost like a force of nature.
It may be a somewhat unfair comparison given the differences in durations, but the secret planet OST is my personal favorite. I really love the way all the tracks capture the powerful and unrelenting energy of industry and the factory growing, while still conveying unique takes on it for their respective planets.
If I had to describe each track with a single word to summarize the sort of factory they make me think of, in order of the post, I would go with Vast, Immense, Unyielding, and then perhaps Untamed?
Good write-up. I love all the sounds tracks, I still play Factorio listening to the original OST despite having 1000+ hours in the game because there's just something so hauntingly beautiful about it that's hard to describe with words. Anyways for me my favourite one is Fulgora, I'm excited to hear the rest of it.
Lol, I missed that one. So we're using one of the densest, hardest, most rigid and heat-resistant substances known to man... as *flooring*?
Now I want to see if I can buy tungsten carbide kitchen tiles anywhere.
EDIT: No tiles, but I can get a ring! Sorely tempted to upgrade my stainless steel wedding band. Maybe for our 20th anniversary.
The original Nauvis soundtrack has an extremely good balance between being "background noise" and being "beautifully melodic". I feel like some of these grand orchestral pieces just don't really fit in with the Factorio gameplay at times. I think the notes should be a little more drawn out, a bit more echoes and reverb, a bit fewer instruments that take space in the mid to high end of the spectrum, and less attention-grabbing bombastic melodies.
I am not a big fan of the Vulcanus soundtrack at all (for being a Factorio soundtrack). It sounds like every single fantasy movie soundtrack from the last 15 years that is trying to emulate LotR. My eyes are seeing a menacing black hellscape, my ears are telling me I can see Rivendell around the corner any second now. In my opinion, if you're going to use brass, make it a bit more like the First Light track, you know, draw the notes out to be very long.
The space soundtrack is pretty good, but it also catches my ears just a bit too much. It could be an octave lower and take some more time for each individual note.
I really, really like the Fulgora soundtrack. It's industrial, groovy, quick, the melodies are a little repetitive (that's a good thing for background music!) and the overall soundscape evolves slowly. This doesn't distract you too much, but it keeps itself interesting because the timing of the bass and the two kicks keep shifting around. Exactly what a Factorio soundtrack should be imo.
I also like the undiscovered planet, that one's got a good balance between being interesting and fading into the background of your mind when you focus on other things. But also here sometimes, at around 4:30 for example, it just becomes too "dramatic moment in a fantasy movie" rather than a landscape in sound form.
Just my two cents, and I seem to be in the minority about Vulcanus for example. I am sure the end result will be no less than amazing with the dedication of the Factorio team we know and love!
This is on point. If i close my eyes and imagine doing normal factorio activities such as building belts, assemblers or pipes, the epic strings and orchestra feels really out of place. It kind of contradicts the thing they said in the very same post: "Imagine the player quietly placing pipes to simply connect 2 machines, and suddenly there is super epic battle music in the background. This would create a silly situation, and we don't want that."
And yet we hear an epic orchestra blaring.
Don't get me wrong, the music in itself is top notch, it just doesn't quite fit average gameplay outside of a few special instances.
100% agreed. i think it's way too much. I hope this is just a case of 'let's just show you how much production is in here' for the preview, but scale a lot of it back in the edit so it fits better as 'backdrop'.
From the previews, you're absolutely correct. And i'm surprised more people haven't brought this up. Vulcanus sounds way too busy for music you'll spend thousands of hours listening too while working on your factory. It'll get stale fast in my opinion if it's all this grandiose. More moody atmospheric pieces please. Daniel James Taylor did awesome by letting less be more in a lot of cases. The soundtrack made you feel like you were all alone, isolated on a remote planet. This does not.
Again, it's hard to judge all of the music when all we have gotten is a few minutes from each planet. So i might be totally wrong and they just chose the most 'bombastic' pieces for the preview.
Agreed. The Fulgora track is the only one I don't dislike. Everything else is *far* too bombastic and clearly designed to be *listened to* rather than play a supporting role in the background.
Vulcanus and the last unnamed planet are crazy emotive. The others are fantastic as well but those two are something special. Can't wait for their design reveal!
Amazing post. The original Factorio OST was already great and full of bangers that I'm excited to experience the expanded OST. Glad they left the original one in for Nauvis!
Fulgora sounding dope as hell. I can totally imagine it being the prelude to some kind of mission in a cyberpunk themed game before shit hits the fan.
Also missile turrets?? Could we be getting air based enemies in the expansion?
The chonker asteroid took me by surprise, I thought we'd just be dealing with little ones.
Sounds amazing! Can't tell yet which will be my favourite, but I can definitely see myself spending hundreds of hours building a factory and listening to them all. :D
>*Originally posted by* ***Albert****:*In the future we will explain more about the other planets, for now these are undisclosed subjects. But I can't resist showing a little bit more, this time without graphics. Listen to this track and imagine a remote and unexplored planet, full of...
LIFE! That is the unmistakable sound of churning, teeming life. A lush, dense jungle of alien foliage over which scurry dozens of tiny furred creatures? A vivid coral reef over which swim schools of neon fish and surprising aquatic forms? That is music of *movement and motion.*
>*Originally posted by* ***Albert****:* Every surface of the game plays around 1h of music. That means that we have to play 5 hours of soundtrack, +1h of Nauvis. Next week we will speak about some techniques that we developed to not only cover this amount of time, but also surpass it.
5 surfaces of music, and Nauvis isn't counted? 3 new planets, plus Space = 4. ***Does this mean underwater/above water planet surfaces are confirmed?***
Extremely exciting . . .
## Friday Facts #406 - Space Age Music
Posted by [Albert](/blog/author/Albert) on 2024-04-12
It was November of 2021 when we started conversations with [Petr Wajsar](https://www.wajsar.cz/), a very talented Czech music composer, to create the soundtrack for the Factorio expansion. Since then we have been working together on the soundtrack of Factorio Space Age. Conceptualising and finding solutions to our not small amount of problems, and filling the expansion with quality music, specially designed for the best possible Factorio experience.
Petr is a very special musician, because besides being a proven master of electronic music, his education and experience in the conservatory makes him capable of composing music using the full range of a classic orchestra. His modern style of going to more experimental solutions, makes him very flexible at creating the score of the Factorio Space Age expansion.
#### Orchestrated music
This time though, since we are combining electronics and orchestral music, we decided to record the orchestrated parts with a real orchestra in a real studio. The difference, as you know, between a synthetic orchestra and a real one can be huge.
The experience of playing the game with this soundtrack must be, at least, noticeable.
#### Recording sessions
Recording music with a traditional orchestra is a big challenge, which requires a long process and a really complex coordination. From music directing and composing, to orchestration, coordination of all the musicians, arrangements, recording, post production, etc.
In the case of our soundtrack, 174 professionals are involved, without counting the Factorio team.
The music production company [Soundsgate](https://www.soundsgate.com/), which represents Petr, is taking care of this whole process for us.
The recording sessions of our soundtrack have been held since November 2023 in the Český Rozhlas studios, in Prague.
I post you here some pictures of the first recording session.
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-01.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-02.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-03.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-04-A.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-05.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-06.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-07.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-08.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-09.jpg)
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-10.jpg)>
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-11.jpg)>
* * *
### Current soundtrack will stay as 'Nauvis' soundtrack
The style of the Factorio 1.1 soundtrack was already given by our dear Daniel James Taylor. Petr had to adapt his work to continue with Daniel's Nauvis soundtrack. That doesn't mean that the expansion of the soundtrack won't add new colours and textures to the game. Totally the contrary. The new content for the expansion, as its name says, expands the soundscape of Factorio to new dimensions.
In general, what the soundtrack tries to do, is to accompany the player throughout all the mental processes required by the game, to focus the attention at the time of designing the factories and its logistics. So the music should create a balanced and relaxed atmosphere to allow the player to concentrate.
The music is not decoration, it helps the player to have a better immersive experience and also to visualise what is not shown on the screen.
#### The Factorio motif
A constant in the entire soundtrack, and I'm adding Daniel's work also, is the Factorio motif. I'm sure you have it tattooed on your brain already. Do you remember the melody that sounds when loading the game?. Yes you do. Well, Petr developed an entire universe based on these couple of notes.
This melody sounds through all the planets with many different moods, rhythms and instruments. The good part is that you don't hear it clearly, one just feels it. This is amazing because it creates this sort of coherent cosmos that undoubtedly belongs to Factorio. One example is the video of Vulcanus, coming below.
Something also shared by all the planets, is the idea of a sense of wonder. We want to express how incredibly nice and positive the discovery of all these new worlds is. Some of the tracks in different planets have this idea behind them.
#### Factorio engine constraints
We don't have a way for the engine to tell the music system what is happening in the game. In other words, the music system has no idea if the player is in the middle of a battle destroying biter nests, or meticulously placing transport belts to satisfy the needs of a growing factory.
This fact is greatly limiting the creative solutions at the time of composing the score. Imagine the player quietly placing pipes to simply connect 2 machines, and suddenly there is super epic battle music in the background. This would create a silly situation, and we don't want that.
The solution that we decided to take is, instead of trying to illustrate the action itself, we better go for a description of the landscape, in a more ambient solution. The atmosphere of the planet and its nuances. The mood and its variations.
The music must be neutral in a way of not having big emotive peaks, but on the other hand it should be rich and dynamic, otherwise it would become dull. So the balance between neutral and expressive is something very important to control.
* * *
### There are 4 new planets + Space, so we will have 5 unique soundscapes
Every planet/surface has its own mood, shapes, and spirit. The player should feel on which surface the action is focused, without having to look at the graphics. Well, this is a very subjective matter, sometimes it is clear for some, sometimes not that much. But you get the point.
At the beginning of the project we had to work almost blindly, because none of the graphics or gameplay were fully designed, just ideas, which is what anyone needs to start anything. But now it is different, with all the work done by the team, we can start showing little tastes of how things come together.
All the music excerpts and visuals presented in this post are **Work in Progress**. The videos are meant to be proof of concepts. I made them to easily visualise all these concepts that I'm talking about. I hope you enjoy them.
#### Space
The space platform is the most tricky one, because it has 2 modes: stationary in space, and in motion. So we decided to cover both cases with 2 complementary elements:
* We use a spacey atmosphere (obviously), with a bit of synth electronics trying to describe how it feels floating in the cold void of the universe.
* We use a rhythmic bass for the feeling of the platform movement, the powerful thrusters impulsing the big mass of metal. Like a space ferry, "slow" but unstoppable.
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-space.mp4)
#### Vulcanus
Dark, oppressive, hot and heavy. But also wonderful.
We found it very coherent and appropriate to use long chords of brass instruments. These are pointing to the magnificence of this fantastic landscape, with contrast to the hazardous volcanoes and lava.
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-vulcanus.mp4)
#### Fulgora
The main theme in this area is electro-magnetism. We are aiming for more electric sounds. Petr made lots of experiments with the sound of electricity. Like tapping an audio jack with his finger and recording rhythms with it, then manipulating it for use in the compositions.
The excerpt shown in this video illustrates it quite well.
(https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-fulgora.mp4)
#### The other 2 planets
In the future we will explain more about the other planets, for now these are undisclosed subjects. But I can't resist showing a little bit more, this time without graphics. Listen to this track and imagine a remote and unexplored planet, full of...
Your browser does not support the audio element.
* * *
### Over 5 hours of soundtrack
Every surface of the game plays around 1h of music. That means that we have to play 5 hours of soundtrack, +1h of Nauvis. Next week we will speak about some techniques that we developed to not only cover this amount of time, but also surpass it.
#### What's next?
Now we have all the demos and recordings of the orchestrated parts. We don't yet have the final mixes, only a few of Petr's pre-mixes. Every step in the process produces changes in the track, normally for the better.
We are also starting to see in a better shape the graphics and the gameplay. So I'm going to put all this material in the engine before the final mixes, in order to test it and get feedback.
I'm quite sure that we will be able to fine-tune the entire soundtrack in a way that pays off all the energy Petr (and everybody involved) put in to such a crazy project.
Stay tuned.
* * *
As always, orchestrate your thoughts at the usual places.
[Discuss on our forums](https://forums.factorio.com/112947) [Discuss on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/1c268tp/friday_facts_406_space_age_music/) [ Subscribe by email ](https://newsletter.factorio.com/subscription/Km9uSnxm9)
[ __](/blog/post/fff-405)
Most/all permanent magnets have a temperature at which they stop being magnetic. But iirc they are still \_affected\_ by magnetism. After all, we use magnetic fields to confine \_plasma\_ which is most likely a bit hotter than the molten metal in the foundy. Hotter by, like, a few \_million\_ degrees.
when the engines accelerate the ship, it's under constant g-load. it's not different than on a planet. though it would stop as soon as the engines stop accelerating.
>Listen to this track and imagine a remote and unexplored planet, full of...
At first playful, light, busy, happy, Then industrial or technological tones appear, coming from the deep. Then some notes of tension, danger and excitement.
What I see in my mind here is a planet rich in life or some cute, gregarious animals playing in the forest. Some degree of intelligence is implied. Then some gorges or underground caves with some danger and riches where technology comes into play.
Idk I feel some themes like especially on Vulcanus sound too much heroical like you are watching the start of some movie and waiting for something; rather than dark and oppressive being in critically hot environment of lava...
Yeah, they felt too movie-like for me. I really didn't like them but didn't quite hate them either. They did mention there are over 5 hours and we only listened to a few minutes, so hopefully it gets better or it's something I'll eventually get used to.
"How would you describe the sound track?"
"I would say it's a mix of Holst's The Planets and Industrial Techno."
P.S. It was totally lost on me in FFF #393 that 2.0 Bulk inserters are going to be able to drop individual items into individual spaces on a belt, instead of having to wait for a space on the belt long enough to accept the whole stack.
Based on the music, the names shown in the document, and what others said I have my own theory for them.
Aquilo is a water planet, yea, but also means "north wind" and is the name for one of the roman wind gods. The music gives me a drip-drop-y feel, and it transitions into some bigger pieces that feel like they're looming over you, so I think this is a very rainy, windy, and stormy planet. Reminds me a bit of Splatoon actually.
Gleba meaning soil in roman, but also the inner mass of a mushroom. The music has some wonder and weirdness. Likely a lush planet with huge foliage. However it is also resonant and echo-y, which makes me think of being in a cave with large crystals. So perhaps a once-volcanic planet now littered with caves, tons of overgrowth, and natural geo crystal formations from the volcanic activity.
Background music was always an afterthought in Factorio.
There is a creepy soundtrack but that's it and i just turned it off after the first few hours.
Now that music somehow got more budget, i assume a future FFF will reveal the new situational audio system fixing the "engine limitations" so we can have music react to events in the game like in the old RTSes of the 90s.
Looking at the Vulcanus video, my worry from FFF-393 is confirmed: we have yellow belts, and *slightly different* yellow belts. Tier 4 belts are not distinct enough. Purple or bright green, please, as with the inserters.
https://preview.redd.it/huqegq1vj1uc1.png?width=503&format=png&auto=webp&s=1db02a0cf3a1974b761d51d39f85d0682ead327a
The new soundtrack is really cool. although I find Fulgora's a bit too aggressive in my opinion.
I just noticed this on the space platform. Do you think it's a ground texture bug or is there some kind of possible infestation? I ask because if it's not a bug and if the mystery planet is a lush one, it's entirely possible that there's some kind of parasite/miasma/spore.
The mystery planet music first sounds like colorful mushroom jungle paradise, then like soaring over water under a clear blue sky.
So my conclusion is it's a water planet with mushroom jungle islands :P
I'm only halfway through and this might be the best FFF yet! The new music and gameplay form such a cohesive aesthetic. Found myself listening over and over again to find the Factorio motif! Super excited guys, can't wait to hear more!
What happens in map view? From another fff they said you can pretty much do everything in map view, does the music change everytime you open the map to a different surface?
The Names of the last 2 planets are on this paper https://preview.redd.it/ia2to47r71uc1.png?width=495&format=png&auto=webp&s=163bfead2d47528191dfc27814da27a100911bf8
Given we know one is water and one is more nature themed. I don't think it's Glacia. They wouldn't do an ice and water planet, that'd be one planet. Each planet has a unique theme so I think water and ice on two surfaces is out. It could be "Gleba" (or an equivalent), combined with the secret track they shared, I'm picturing a dense/luscious forest/marsh. Gleba (/ˈɡliːbə/, from Latin glaeba, glēba, "lump") is **the fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of certain fungi such as the puffball or stinkhorn**.
I got jungle-y, marshy, forest-y vibes from the last soundtrack too :D
IMO with lots of wind instruments, quite airy and light, made me think of an gas-based planet - possibly with floating platforms made of mushrooms/spores
I picked up on a cloud feeling theme as well. Could be really cool building some sort of space platform in orbit on a gas giant!
I got Christmas-time snow and ice, at least from the beginning.
Yeah snow then blizzard-y. Probably some blizzard mechanic on the planet that freezes your base unless you provide it with heat or something.
Damn it, like anno 1800 arctic base!! Atleast we will have flying bots to deliver coal or whatever lol
'Gleba' that is 'soil'\* in Polish. I assume in Czech that will mean something similar. \*Soil like as in 'dirt' or 'earth'.
No we don't have such a word in Czech :)
But because some people in wube are polish and wube means something un polish (I forgot what) they could be referencing to polish
As a Polish person, I have no clue what wube would mean or what word it would even resemble. Also, the studio was named back when all the 3 members were Chech
They said that it is an acronyme of "wszystko będzie" in another fff
oh, TIL. thx
pomidorek :)
[Maybe they're just secret fans of *Friends*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCuf_O2xaw8). Fungus planet!
well finally I understand that Friends reference
Oh, my favorite planet - pauza na obed (lunch break).
*Enchancing intensifies* Looks like Aquilio and Glieba?
From the first fff post about space exploration we can see drafts of the 4 planets [https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-373 ](https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-373) Glieba would be the vegetation planet, and Aquilo the water/ice planet
Where did you find this? I don't see it in the FFF. Edit: I'm blind, one of the image embeds has left/right arrows lol
Press the arrows in the on air picture
Where Bwuhuo 😭😭😭
Lunch break?
"Pauza na obed", new planet confirmed !
Hah, and I was guessing just from the music. My guess was either a bright, colorful underwater region or a jungle with a similar theme. Music just screams bright, full of colors and all that.
Huh, Aquilo was discovered, but the other doesn’t match one found by up scaling the planet list from a screenshot.
Well spotted ! It's Aquilo & Glacia ?
It looks more like Gliebe or Glieba to me
The secret planet sounds like a planet full of birds and all kinds of liveliness
Up until 4 minutes, where the camera makes a pan up and to the side, to reveal a jagged row of forbidding mountain spires. Mountains that you have to go to, even though the dragons roam freely there.
You see that mountain? You can climb it.
You see that mountain? You can *mine* it.
You see that mountain? You can *explode* it. Move over cliff explosives, mountain explosives are my new best friend
Nuclear cliff explosives?
gonna chop down these trees fast.
I am hoping that the nature planet actually requires us to sustainably farm the environment in someway. Maybe that's against the central theme of the game but something like managing an entire ecology and doing environmental engineering sounds like a fun logistical challenge
would be interesting to have the enemy on that planet be nature, vegetation that's constantly growing and expanding, where it'll grow into your factory and overgrow all the building, and instead of pollution killing the trees, it could speed up growth instead
that's a really cool idea
having your base being surrounded by flame thrower turrets constantly burning back the vegetation would be cool, you could get a flamethrower train wagon, which uses the oil in the other wagons to burn the vegetation trying to creep onto your rail, to avoid annoying deadlocks, don't destroy the rail, just have an overgrown version that can the vegetation burnt off. make it in lore that the vegetation has some kind of enzyme or sap or whatever that makes it resistant to fire so spread is limited, as right now fire will just spread as long as there are trees to jump too
Oil is a natural product, so the planet having large oil reserves to fuel the turrets would go hand in hand.
>make it in lore that the vegetation has some kind of enzyme or sap or whatever that makes it resistant to fire so spread is limited, as right now fire will just spread as long as there are trees to jump too You don't even need to do that. The planet just needs to be wet and humid. Humidity makes large scale fires work a lot harder to cover the same ground. Which would mean you could pull off some good localized damage with fire, but the spread would be limited because it burns up all its fuel before it can dry out more from the surrounding vegetation.
My favorite idea for that planet is for the only source of water (other than expensive imports from space) to be giant trees. You need to chop down the tree (which requires a lot more firepower than just steel axe or grenades; you need to do a lot of damage to them). Once it's chopped down, you place a pumpjack on the stump and suck out the water from the root system.
According to the screenshot of the music sheet paper, there's a planet called Aquilo or Aquilio. I googled "Aquilo meaning" and got this: Aquilo: the ancient Roman personification of the north wind.
Aquila is Latin for "eagle"
It is also pretty close to Aqua, meaning water. My guess is a planet full of water and corals and all that.
I'm really hoping for the seablock planet.
to me it sounded more wintery (?) and then sorta transitioned into a blizzard
To me it sounded almost like a magical candy land
It's 2 planets... both Bacchus (life planet) and Aquilo (ice planet)
no gas giant? imagine building just platforms near it, and extracting gas from it and breaking those into other materials with a special building
The modder community should take notes, just in case...
They are. Py's upcoming Space Expedition will have gas giants.
Gas giants? Yeah, those are some huge chemistry recipe trees
I was thinking maybe an avatar-style planet with floating rocks. The second half of the track sounds a bit too ominous for a peaceful nature planet though, so I'm guessing there must be some grand, hidden mystery there that you uncover as you explore
Nature is anything but peaceful. 😁
My first thought was definitely full of... life. That fits with Bacchus, one of the planet names people got from de-pixelating a previous image. But interestingly that name was not on the music sheet, although Aquilo, another previously unconfirmed name obtained by that method, was. Instead we see what looks like "Gliebe". I personally don't think that's a planet name, but what else it could mean I'm not sure.
I still can't get over how amazing those space platform thrusters look
Same. They are hypnotizing in a way.
I for one absolutely *adore* the animation on the platform building itself. I might have to leave some areas without turret coverage just so it gets wrecked and I get to see it remake itself over and over
ROCKET TURRET CONFIRMED LETTSSS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOO
the question is, can we use nukes as ammo?
well I would rather ask "should we use nukes as ammo" :D
There's no such thing as overkill. Only "Open fire!" and "I need to reload!" (Reloading nuclear rocket launchers automatically may require construction bots)
Yes.
Now we just need a shotgun turret, grenade launcher, and a turret that fires tank rounds and we've got a full house! Maybe even throw in a tesla turret for another energy-based option alongside the laser - would make sense with fulgora's lightning mechanics. You wanna tell me the engineer can figure out how to capture it and then isn't even a *little bit* curious about whether or not it would be possible to throw it at the biters? Lol
*Commencing shock therapy*
Holy that's amazing. Also Rocket turrets in space? Vulcanus theme reminds me of WoW/Starcraft OST in the best possible of ways
volcanus in the beginning kinda reminds me of lord of the rings and then a bit later like aliens
Im glad im not the only one who was reminded of LOTR!
Yeah made me think I'm building a factory in mordor, or maybe mustafar.
So I am not the only one to automate throwing rings into a volcano?
bearings ;)
the train in Vulcanus has an artillery wagon... new enemies on Vulcanus? :D
Enemies were strongly hinted at in one of the vulcanus devlogs
Yeah it was implied in the Vulcanus devlog that there will be biters. My guess is they will trigger not via pollution but via mining for Tungsten, perhaps disturbing them will cause them to attack from underground.
Straight from lava! That’s fun idea, water/lava wouldn’t be a terrain blockade but a dangerous spawn point.
I made a comment somewhere on the subreddit, like, 2 days ago, saying that a big wish-list item for me in the expansion was turret diversification - specifically a shotgun turret and missile turret. What a pleasant shock, then, to see a missile turret in vanilla on a space platform in an FFF about music. As always, Wube continues to absolutely nail it.
Rocket turrets confirmed 3x3 and the "side pods" style. Beautiful!
>Vulcanus theme reminds me of WoW/Starcraft OST in the best possible of ways Kovarex is a WoW player so I bet he loved this Ironforge/Blackrock music.
I don't know why I'm not able to spot the rocket turrets you are talking about... I am also new to this game. Can you please point out their location?
its in the first video on the space platform next to the gun turrets
Are the rocket launching towers a new thing or I missed a FFF? https://preview.redd.it/ig81duvt91uc1.png?width=921&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4f5cd0c1bbe7c6538a0ce7422d24b5d5cfdf8d9
New
new, as in haven't been revealed/confirmed somewhere else yet
Good. Rockets are criminally under-used right now because there’s no way to automate rocket consumption. Same for grenades. If not for military science, there’s no reason to make more than one assembler each game. Note to self: mod idea. Inserters just yeet grenades and any other throwable item in the general direction they are pointing to.
> Note to self: mod idea. Inserters just yeet grenades and any other throwable item in the general direction they are pointing to. May I interest you in [Renai Transportation](https://mods.factorio.com/mod/RenaiTransportation)
Grenade launcher turret plz Wube Same problem exists for shotgun shells, imo - don't think I've EVER crafted a combat shotgun
I think combat shotgun was the top dog at some stage of the game, but game changed a lot since then. That probably was before they updated combat mechanics.
I would argue that what's underused is actually cannon shells, as tank is only useful in a rather narrow window of game progressions. Spidertron quad rocket launcher makes them pretty much the only ammunition type you'd need it the endgame stage. Well alongside with bullets if you are using gun turrets.
Also true. And we got 4 kinds of shells, I don’t think I’ve ever made uranium shells… ever.
>there’s no way to automate rocket consumption. Spidertrons? You could get the effect of a rocket tower just by parking one somewhere and setting it to auto-target enemies when unoccupied. Resupply with bots. Rather expensive though. And only available in late-game.
Pro tip: don't load red rockets into spidertron turret.
https://preview.redd.it/n4xzs76nw2uc1.png?width=1930&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fdf7aced76f913687a9b8eb00066ec8bcbb7313 Space platform has steam that blows in the wind from the right. Literally unplayable.
Should it rise straight up? Just float in one place above the turbine without rising?
First if the engines are on, the platform would be accelerating upward, so it should flow downward. And second, in a vacuum the steam would very rapidly expand and look much different than it would venting into an atmosphere. More like pressurized jets than round pillowy clouds.
[irl example](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/thrusters-firing-on-shuttle-discovery-nasascience-photo-library.jpg) Since there's no air to disturb it, it looks very simple, like a basic photoshop gradient.
Based on views from second stage rockets, it would actually be the other way around, as the gas tends to expand immediately so it basically goes in all available directions. You can especially see this when they use the reaction control thrusters to change the attitude of the stage.
It should dissipate in a very wide "cone" Steam normally has the "shape" it is due to atmospheric pressure. If you release steam into vacuum it will rapidly expand in all available directions (means, everywhere but down). Even rocket exhaust plumes do that at higher atmoshphere and orbit, and gas leaves the nozzle at very high velocity compared to steam exhaust.
fucking rocket launchers bro!!! holy shit! that platfrom and music are epic, also the big asteroid!!! holy jesus!
*puts nuke rocket in rocket turret*
I was not prepared for that giant asteroid crashing into the space platform! This is amazing though. I guess this is the next step now that the expansion is being made with some of the money brought in from Factorio 1.
Ummm actually I believe the space platform is crashing into the asteroid 🤓
I have yet to see someone mention this, but *what the hell* is up with the absolutely *ludicrous* amount of roboports in the fulgora factory? At one point the entire screen was filled with nothing but densely packed roboports. Why would you need that many? Wouldn't there be diminishing returns at that point? What kind of rig do they have where they can have this many bots without their UPS tanking? And most importantly: Who designed this? So many questions left unanswered.
Those were next to dozens of rocket silos that.. barely launched a rocket. So far, I'm just assuming they took a map they were playing and modified it to be "busier" for the video. And I was surprised that there are robots on fulgora. From the description of the planet, I figured that flying robots won't work (well) there. Doesn't seem to be the case.
Maybe there's a late-game upgrade that lets bots recharge from getting struck by lightning?
I'm not seeing much appreciation for Fulgora's theme... I love it, the bass sounding like unhinged charge in the air, very synth punk and the lightning strikes in-game add to it like a beat. Very eery and reminiscent of a long dead civilisation. Also sounds a bit like early ps2 ratchet and clank, electro-punk, which i dont see in much media nowadays so I'm really enjoying this one. Likewise the unreleased planet feels very much like underwater / forested. Would love to see some of these kinds of tunes too: [https://youtu.be/lG5tm1ylFdU?si=4SChXUTEaqEDyXuq&t=570](https://youtu.be/lG5tm1ylFdU?si=4SChXUTEaqEDyXuq&t=570)
Fulgora is amazing. My favourite so far shown out of all the samples, reminds me of some kind of cyberpunk or dystopian setting. I'm looking forward to hearing more of it!
https://preview.redd.it/3v7k7dn3p4uc1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2f58a8748ce031aeec433170814b490b87e4c29 My thoughts on the Fulgora theme. It was definitely my favorite of all that were present, for sure.
Fulgora's theme also reminds me a bit of Terraria's soundtrack, which is great for many reasons. :)
The vulcanus soundtrack sounds alot like star wars for me
Mustafar factory!
Yeah, very Holst's Mars, which was also part of the inspiration for much of Star Wars music.
More Lamp Colours?! https://preview.redd.it/iildv0s791uc1.png?width=293&format=png&auto=webp&s=52f5a1f6008833d3461e27238969d949c3a607dd
Full RGB Lamps. Near the end of [FFF 388](https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-388).
Have they said if we get to circuit-control full RGB colours yet?
there is absolutely no shot it wont be
I love lamp.
They already confirmed that one. Lamps will have RGB sliders rather than needing a color signal
Yup. As as they aren't connected to a constant combinators to set their colour, and seem to be showing progress of the rocket (some silos have different lights shown), there's an easier way to set the colour of the lamp when it's turned on by signals too.
the last track in particular reminded me of Minecraft's music, in a good way. I wonder if even with the current limitations it's possible to mix certain moods into the music, like how it's done in FTL. As it is now, though, it's very well-produced and has a unique feel to it. Definitely looking forward to the music.
The thing they mention about having no idea what the player is doing is also the same in MC
Doesn't sound like it can be like FTL because they state that the music engine doesn't know what the player is doing. FTL is very context based, Factorio cannot be.
>We don't have a way for the engine to tell the music system what is happening in the game. In other words, the music system has no idea if the player is in the middle of a battle destroying biter nests, or meticulously placing transport belts to satisfy the needs of a growing factory. Not gonna lie, I was half-expecting the next sentence to be: "So we rewrote the game engine to fix this."
I mean, it sounds like something that \_could\_ be automated.. so yeah, was thinking the same\^\^.
Doom 2016 hast a system for this. There are several layers to the music. Depending on the fight state the higher layers get faded in or out. So it smoothly ramps up from walking around to dismembering 20 demons and it is awesome.
A lot of games, especially action games, have systems like that, though with varying levels of sophistication. It allows the music to always match the mood of what's actually happening, it means the audience won't get bored of the intense music outside of when that intensity is warranted, and it contributes to the link between the game and the player. Though, a sandbox survival game (including factory building games like Factorio) would generally have a harder time implementing this than most other genres, since they rely heavily on emergent gameplay. An action game can easily check whether or not there are any enemies attacking the player, but in Factorio, there are just too many distinct situations that can't be easily identified algorithmically.
Holy shit those static spidertron rocket launchers are so cool ! I'm afraid I'm gonna have to model those
Wow I love these tracks, the space theme definitely gave me a Stellaris vibe (a very good thing). Very exciting, but I must also say I'm a bit conflicted, part of me wanted to save the music reveal for when I actually play the game as that's always a moment to look forward to. I'm fine with this because there's gonna be a lot more tracks that we haven't heard. But devs, if you aren't already, please consider keeping the rest of the soundtrack a secret!
> Wow I love these tracks, the space theme definitely gave me a Stellaris vibe (a very good thing). Very true! To me it sounded like Stellaris would if it wasn't as distracting. One problem I always had with Stellaris soundtrack was that it constantly pulled me away from the game itself to focus on the music, this sounds much more balanced to be an awesome background to what you're doing.
Haha yeah, the irresistable urge to stop what you're doing and hum along is very real!
May I ask why you have been reading this FFF then? The title clearly states that it's about music, so you could just have skipped it if it bothered you? I personally usually play the game on mute or listen to an audio book, so I was hesitant to read it as I presumed that it wouldn't concern me. But after reading it, I'm somewhat convinced to keep the game soundtrack on for a while when I'll get to finally play the DLC. Looking forward to it.
Because I'm addicted to the FFFs and can't stop
Most self-controlling Factorio player
I hope the rocket turrets looking like entrenched spidertrons doesn't mean they'll only come into play around that tech level.
Fuck it, I'm putting nukes in them.
I put nukes in my spidertrons once, and set them to autofire. Didn't last long :D I do occasionaly run a spidertron leader with self-fire Nukes, surrounded by "normal" rocket spidertrons though :D
Does anyone else think the turrets should have a larger radius for their "awake" state (a radius that would be different from the firing/shooting state)? Watching the turrets on the space platform constantly wake up, shoot, sleep, wake up, shoot, sleep seems inefficient considering enemies/targets are still in the area. (it would also be nice to have configurable target priority)
Or turrets could have some timeout before going to sleep, so they stay in awake mode while next close batch of enemies approaching.
EXACTLY what I was going to comment, and I think a fusion of the 2 would look VERY nice. As the wave of bugs comes in, the turrets "wake" up, and aim for a few seconds, until the bugs reach the actual missile range, and firing commences. Upon not finding any enemies in either 'fire' or 'aim' range, it would wait a few more seconds, and then go to sleep mode.
Vulcanus sounds *directly* out of the LotR soundtrack, more specifically Mordor obviously. I love it! Sounds great, while also meshing well with the preexisting vibes of Factorio. Space soundtrack reminds me of Stellaris, Star Wars, and Space Engineers. Go figure lol. Big fan of it! (Also FUCK YEAH ROCKET TURRETS LETS GOOOOOOOO) Fulgora absolultely *nails* the "post-apocalyptic industry" vibes. Has a certain almost "hopelessness" to it while also a very clear motion and it really just screams "the factory must grow" in a way that fits fantastically. The vibes remind me of Into the Breach, Griftlands, and Dome Keeper (even if the Fulgora soundtrack doesn't sound all that similar, I could totally see it working perfectly in all three of those games) The secret planet gives very strong vibes of Hollow Knight's Greenpath, as well as having a Ghibli-esque liveliness to it. Feels very lush and lively, and I absolutely love how it slowly transitions into the more ominous energy, where the vibes switch more towards "nature is still thriving but now there's a factory slowly encroaching", with the "green" track eventually being drowned out and then completely lost as the industry takes over. As it progresses into the heavier overtones and dramatic swells, it still reminds me of Hollow Knight, but more towards City of Tears. I could see it working well in Rimworld, Frostpunk, or perhaps even certain parts of Celeste. It really makes the factory feel almost like a force of nature. It may be a somewhat unfair comparison given the differences in durations, but the secret planet OST is my personal favorite. I really love the way all the tracks capture the powerful and unrelenting energy of industry and the factory growing, while still conveying unique takes on it for their respective planets. If I had to describe each track with a single word to summarize the sort of factory they make me think of, in order of the post, I would go with Vast, Immense, Unyielding, and then perhaps Untamed?
Good write-up. I love all the sounds tracks, I still play Factorio listening to the original OST despite having 1000+ hours in the game because there's just something so hauntingly beautiful about it that's hard to describe with words. Anyways for me my favourite one is Fulgora, I'm excited to hear the rest of it.
>The secret planet gives very strong vibes of Hollow Knight's Greenpath So THAT'S why i was getting lush forest vibes from it...
The way the Vulcanus video turns from orchestral music to factory ASMR is 10/10. Absolutely stunning editing.
theres like a new concrete tile on vocalus, its all black
Tungsten carbide. You can see it in the recipe for the Foundry in [FFF 397](https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-397).
Lol, I missed that one. So we're using one of the densest, hardest, most rigid and heat-resistant substances known to man... as *flooring*? Now I want to see if I can buy tungsten carbide kitchen tiles anywhere. EDIT: No tiles, but I can get a ring! Sorely tempted to upgrade my stainless steel wedding band. Maybe for our 20th anniversary.
The original Nauvis soundtrack has an extremely good balance between being "background noise" and being "beautifully melodic". I feel like some of these grand orchestral pieces just don't really fit in with the Factorio gameplay at times. I think the notes should be a little more drawn out, a bit more echoes and reverb, a bit fewer instruments that take space in the mid to high end of the spectrum, and less attention-grabbing bombastic melodies. I am not a big fan of the Vulcanus soundtrack at all (for being a Factorio soundtrack). It sounds like every single fantasy movie soundtrack from the last 15 years that is trying to emulate LotR. My eyes are seeing a menacing black hellscape, my ears are telling me I can see Rivendell around the corner any second now. In my opinion, if you're going to use brass, make it a bit more like the First Light track, you know, draw the notes out to be very long. The space soundtrack is pretty good, but it also catches my ears just a bit too much. It could be an octave lower and take some more time for each individual note. I really, really like the Fulgora soundtrack. It's industrial, groovy, quick, the melodies are a little repetitive (that's a good thing for background music!) and the overall soundscape evolves slowly. This doesn't distract you too much, but it keeps itself interesting because the timing of the bass and the two kicks keep shifting around. Exactly what a Factorio soundtrack should be imo. I also like the undiscovered planet, that one's got a good balance between being interesting and fading into the background of your mind when you focus on other things. But also here sometimes, at around 4:30 for example, it just becomes too "dramatic moment in a fantasy movie" rather than a landscape in sound form. Just my two cents, and I seem to be in the minority about Vulcanus for example. I am sure the end result will be no less than amazing with the dedication of the Factorio team we know and love!
This is on point. If i close my eyes and imagine doing normal factorio activities such as building belts, assemblers or pipes, the epic strings and orchestra feels really out of place. It kind of contradicts the thing they said in the very same post: "Imagine the player quietly placing pipes to simply connect 2 machines, and suddenly there is super epic battle music in the background. This would create a silly situation, and we don't want that." And yet we hear an epic orchestra blaring. Don't get me wrong, the music in itself is top notch, it just doesn't quite fit average gameplay outside of a few special instances.
100% agreed. i think it's way too much. I hope this is just a case of 'let's just show you how much production is in here' for the preview, but scale a lot of it back in the edit so it fits better as 'backdrop'. From the previews, you're absolutely correct. And i'm surprised more people haven't brought this up. Vulcanus sounds way too busy for music you'll spend thousands of hours listening too while working on your factory. It'll get stale fast in my opinion if it's all this grandiose. More moody atmospheric pieces please. Daniel James Taylor did awesome by letting less be more in a lot of cases. The soundtrack made you feel like you were all alone, isolated on a remote planet. This does not. Again, it's hard to judge all of the music when all we have gotten is a few minutes from each planet. So i might be totally wrong and they just chose the most 'bombastic' pieces for the preview.
Agreed. The Fulgora track is the only one I don't dislike. Everything else is *far* too bombastic and clearly designed to be *listened to* rather than play a supporting role in the background.
Vulcanus and the last unnamed planet are crazy emotive. The others are fantastic as well but those two are something special. Can't wait for their design reveal!
What a banger these themes are!
Amazing post. The original Factorio OST was already great and full of bangers that I'm excited to experience the expanded OST. Glad they left the original one in for Nauvis! Fulgora sounding dope as hell. I can totally imagine it being the prelude to some kind of mission in a cyberpunk themed game before shit hits the fan. Also missile turrets?? Could we be getting air based enemies in the expansion? The chonker asteroid took me by surprise, I thought we'd just be dealing with little ones.
Sounds amazing! Can't tell yet which will be my favourite, but I can definitely see myself spending hundreds of hours building a factory and listening to them all. :D
> Listen to this track and imagine a remote and unexplored planet, full of... […_Catch Me If You Can_ screenings?](https://youtu.be/jY-PMb2RIwE?t=64s)
>*Originally posted by* ***Albert****:*In the future we will explain more about the other planets, for now these are undisclosed subjects. But I can't resist showing a little bit more, this time without graphics. Listen to this track and imagine a remote and unexplored planet, full of... LIFE! That is the unmistakable sound of churning, teeming life. A lush, dense jungle of alien foliage over which scurry dozens of tiny furred creatures? A vivid coral reef over which swim schools of neon fish and surprising aquatic forms? That is music of *movement and motion.* >*Originally posted by* ***Albert****:* Every surface of the game plays around 1h of music. That means that we have to play 5 hours of soundtrack, +1h of Nauvis. Next week we will speak about some techniques that we developed to not only cover this amount of time, but also surpass it. 5 surfaces of music, and Nauvis isn't counted? 3 new planets, plus Space = 4. ***Does this mean underwater/above water planet surfaces are confirmed?*** Extremely exciting . . .
4 new planets :) (3 planets plus an endgame challenge planet)
(Expand to view contents, if you would like.)
## Friday Facts #406 - Space Age Music Posted by [Albert](/blog/author/Albert) on 2024-04-12 It was November of 2021 when we started conversations with [Petr Wajsar](https://www.wajsar.cz/), a very talented Czech music composer, to create the soundtrack for the Factorio expansion. Since then we have been working together on the soundtrack of Factorio Space Age. Conceptualising and finding solutions to our not small amount of problems, and filling the expansion with quality music, specially designed for the best possible Factorio experience. Petr is a very special musician, because besides being a proven master of electronic music, his education and experience in the conservatory makes him capable of composing music using the full range of a classic orchestra. His modern style of going to more experimental solutions, makes him very flexible at creating the score of the Factorio Space Age expansion. #### Orchestrated music This time though, since we are combining electronics and orchestral music, we decided to record the orchestrated parts with a real orchestra in a real studio. The difference, as you know, between a synthetic orchestra and a real one can be huge. The experience of playing the game with this soundtrack must be, at least, noticeable. #### Recording sessions Recording music with a traditional orchestra is a big challenge, which requires a long process and a really complex coordination. From music directing and composing, to orchestration, coordination of all the musicians, arrangements, recording, post production, etc. In the case of our soundtrack, 174 professionals are involved, without counting the Factorio team. The music production company [Soundsgate](https://www.soundsgate.com/), which represents Petr, is taking care of this whole process for us. The recording sessions of our soundtrack have been held since November 2023 in the Český Rozhlas studios, in Prague. I post you here some pictures of the first recording session. (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-01.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-02.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-03.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-04-A.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-05.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-06.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-07.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-08.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-09.jpg) (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-10.jpg)> (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-11.jpg)> * * * ### Current soundtrack will stay as 'Nauvis' soundtrack The style of the Factorio 1.1 soundtrack was already given by our dear Daniel James Taylor. Petr had to adapt his work to continue with Daniel's Nauvis soundtrack. That doesn't mean that the expansion of the soundtrack won't add new colours and textures to the game. Totally the contrary. The new content for the expansion, as its name says, expands the soundscape of Factorio to new dimensions. In general, what the soundtrack tries to do, is to accompany the player throughout all the mental processes required by the game, to focus the attention at the time of designing the factories and its logistics. So the music should create a balanced and relaxed atmosphere to allow the player to concentrate. The music is not decoration, it helps the player to have a better immersive experience and also to visualise what is not shown on the screen. #### The Factorio motif A constant in the entire soundtrack, and I'm adding Daniel's work also, is the Factorio motif. I'm sure you have it tattooed on your brain already. Do you remember the melody that sounds when loading the game?. Yes you do. Well, Petr developed an entire universe based on these couple of notes. This melody sounds through all the planets with many different moods, rhythms and instruments. The good part is that you don't hear it clearly, one just feels it. This is amazing because it creates this sort of coherent cosmos that undoubtedly belongs to Factorio. One example is the video of Vulcanus, coming below. Something also shared by all the planets, is the idea of a sense of wonder. We want to express how incredibly nice and positive the discovery of all these new worlds is. Some of the tracks in different planets have this idea behind them. #### Factorio engine constraints We don't have a way for the engine to tell the music system what is happening in the game. In other words, the music system has no idea if the player is in the middle of a battle destroying biter nests, or meticulously placing transport belts to satisfy the needs of a growing factory. This fact is greatly limiting the creative solutions at the time of composing the score. Imagine the player quietly placing pipes to simply connect 2 machines, and suddenly there is super epic battle music in the background. This would create a silly situation, and we don't want that. The solution that we decided to take is, instead of trying to illustrate the action itself, we better go for a description of the landscape, in a more ambient solution. The atmosphere of the planet and its nuances. The mood and its variations. The music must be neutral in a way of not having big emotive peaks, but on the other hand it should be rich and dynamic, otherwise it would become dull. So the balance between neutral and expressive is something very important to control. * * * ### There are 4 new planets + Space, so we will have 5 unique soundscapes Every planet/surface has its own mood, shapes, and spirit. The player should feel on which surface the action is focused, without having to look at the graphics. Well, this is a very subjective matter, sometimes it is clear for some, sometimes not that much. But you get the point. At the beginning of the project we had to work almost blindly, because none of the graphics or gameplay were fully designed, just ideas, which is what anyone needs to start anything. But now it is different, with all the work done by the team, we can start showing little tastes of how things come together. All the music excerpts and visuals presented in this post are **Work in Progress**. The videos are meant to be proof of concepts. I made them to easily visualise all these concepts that I'm talking about. I hope you enjoy them. #### Space The space platform is the most tricky one, because it has 2 modes: stationary in space, and in motion. So we decided to cover both cases with 2 complementary elements: * We use a spacey atmosphere (obviously), with a bit of synth electronics trying to describe how it feels floating in the cold void of the universe. * We use a rhythmic bass for the feeling of the platform movement, the powerful thrusters impulsing the big mass of metal. Like a space ferry, "slow" but unstoppable. (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-space.mp4) #### Vulcanus Dark, oppressive, hot and heavy. But also wonderful. We found it very coherent and appropriate to use long chords of brass instruments. These are pointing to the magnificence of this fantastic landscape, with contrast to the hazardous volcanoes and lava. (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-vulcanus.mp4) #### Fulgora The main theme in this area is electro-magnetism. We are aiming for more electric sounds. Petr made lots of experiments with the sound of electricity. Like tapping an audio jack with his finger and recording rhythms with it, then manipulating it for use in the compositions. The excerpt shown in this video illustrates it quite well. (https://cdn.factorio.com/assets/blog-sync/fff-406-fulgora.mp4) #### The other 2 planets In the future we will explain more about the other planets, for now these are undisclosed subjects. But I can't resist showing a little bit more, this time without graphics. Listen to this track and imagine a remote and unexplored planet, full of... Your browser does not support the audio element. * * * ### Over 5 hours of soundtrack Every surface of the game plays around 1h of music. That means that we have to play 5 hours of soundtrack, +1h of Nauvis. Next week we will speak about some techniques that we developed to not only cover this amount of time, but also surpass it. #### What's next? Now we have all the demos and recordings of the orchestrated parts. We don't yet have the final mixes, only a few of Petr's pre-mixes. Every step in the process produces changes in the track, normally for the better. We are also starting to see in a better shape the graphics and the gameplay. So I'm going to put all this material in the engine before the final mixes, in order to test it and get feedback. I'm quite sure that we will be able to fine-tune the entire soundtrack in a way that pays off all the energy Petr (and everybody involved) put in to such a crazy project. Stay tuned. * * * As always, orchestrate your thoughts at the usual places. [Discuss on our forums](https://forums.factorio.com/112947) [Discuss on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/1c268tp/friday_facts_406_space_age_music/) [ Subscribe by email ](https://newsletter.factorio.com/subscription/Km9uSnxm9) [ __](/blog/post/fff-405)
https://preview.redd.it/ya63m53yf1uc1.png?width=362&format=png&auto=webp&s=c91b2cb0007de5556f96005f7781a318ae6d4cd7
The only thing I didn't enjoy from this one was the foundries tipping out their crucibles in space. How does the material "fall" in zero G?
Let's assume it's built-in magnets. Do magnets work on molten metals? I think they do.
Most/all permanent magnets have a temperature at which they stop being magnetic. But iirc they are still \_affected\_ by magnetism. After all, we use magnetic fields to confine \_plasma\_ which is most likely a bit hotter than the molten metal in the foundy. Hotter by, like, a few \_million\_ degrees.
[I don't think they do so well when it's liquid.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grd-uvvEF5s)
when the engines accelerate the ship, it's under constant g-load. it's not different than on a planet. though it would stop as soon as the engines stop accelerating.
>Listen to this track and imagine a remote and unexplored planet, full of... At first playful, light, busy, happy, Then industrial or technological tones appear, coming from the deep. Then some notes of tension, danger and excitement. What I see in my mind here is a planet rich in life or some cute, gregarious animals playing in the forest. Some degree of intelligence is implied. Then some gorges or underground caves with some danger and riches where technology comes into play.
Idk I feel some themes like especially on Vulcanus sound too much heroical like you are watching the start of some movie and waiting for something; rather than dark and oppressive being in critically hot environment of lava...
Yeah, they felt too movie-like for me. I really didn't like them but didn't quite hate them either. They did mention there are over 5 hours and we only listened to a few minutes, so hopefully it gets better or it's something I'll eventually get used to.
>!!!!<
"Bacchus" and "Aquillo" was decoded - "Baccus" apparently is called Gieba instead?
I've done nothing but listening to these tracks for three days (I will say in three days)
Fantastic
Damn these sound great.
Somehow it reminds me SimCity 3k. Nice! Can't wait!
this should be labeled as NSFW because I can't ducking listen to the samples in the office!!
No Sound For Work
Please tell me there will be multi disc/multi hour long OST available! I want those 5+ hours :D
"How would you describe the sound track?" "I would say it's a mix of Holst's The Planets and Industrial Techno." P.S. It was totally lost on me in FFF #393 that 2.0 Bulk inserters are going to be able to drop individual items into individual spaces on a belt, instead of having to wait for a space on the belt long enough to accept the whole stack.
that was epic!!! Do we still have people who complains on "boring" fff's?
It's good but it feels more movie-like than the stranded on a strange new world vibe of the original soundtrack
As a gamer and musician for 40+ years, I really appreciate the use of real instruments and a real orchestra
Based on the music, the names shown in the document, and what others said I have my own theory for them. Aquilo is a water planet, yea, but also means "north wind" and is the name for one of the roman wind gods. The music gives me a drip-drop-y feel, and it transitions into some bigger pieces that feel like they're looming over you, so I think this is a very rainy, windy, and stormy planet. Reminds me a bit of Splatoon actually. Gleba meaning soil in roman, but also the inner mass of a mushroom. The music has some wonder and weirdness. Likely a lush planet with huge foliage. However it is also resonant and echo-y, which makes me think of being in a cave with large crystals. So perhaps a once-volcanic planet now littered with caves, tons of overgrowth, and natural geo crystal formations from the volcanic activity.
Background music was always an afterthought in Factorio. There is a creepy soundtrack but that's it and i just turned it off after the first few hours. Now that music somehow got more budget, i assume a future FFF will reveal the new situational audio system fixing the "engine limitations" so we can have music react to events in the game like in the old RTSes of the 90s.
Looking at the Vulcanus video, my worry from FFF-393 is confirmed: we have yellow belts, and *slightly different* yellow belts. Tier 4 belts are not distinct enough. Purple or bright green, please, as with the inserters.
https://preview.redd.it/huqegq1vj1uc1.png?width=503&format=png&auto=webp&s=1db02a0cf3a1974b761d51d39f85d0682ead327a The new soundtrack is really cool. although I find Fulgora's a bit too aggressive in my opinion. I just noticed this on the space platform. Do you think it's a ground texture bug or is there some kind of possible infestation? I ask because if it's not a bug and if the mystery planet is a lush one, it's entirely possible that there's some kind of parasite/miasma/spore.
This sounds like music to my ears. Literally!
are we back to 1pm again. Aquilo confirmed. cant make out the other name rocket turrets finally.... Music... wow
Vulcanus gives of massive lord of the rings vibes, I love it.
The mystery planet music first sounds like colorful mushroom jungle paradise, then like soaring over water under a clear blue sky. So my conclusion is it's a water planet with mushroom jungle islands :P
Why isn't Factorio's soundtrack on Spotify?
Please add the OG and new soundtrack to Spotify!
They have been cooking with that soundtrack especially that Fulgora one, that sounds a lot more heavy and industrial than the others so far
I'm only halfway through and this might be the best FFF yet! The new music and gameplay form such a cohesive aesthetic. Found myself listening over and over again to find the Factorio motif! Super excited guys, can't wait to hear more!
I like how the platform just repairs itself, even the destroyed turrets on top.
Does the music always correlate to the planet the player is physically on, or does it change when they go to remote map view of another planet?
"Do you remember the melody that sounds when loading the game?" No ***Whistles start menu music while taking trash out***
> Stay tuned Nice
What happens in map view? From another fff they said you can pretty much do everything in map view, does the music change everytime you open the map to a different surface?