Dyson Sphere Program

If it's a video game it goes here.

Moderators: LawBeefaroni, Arcanis, $iljanus

User avatar
Victoria Raverna
Posts: 5012
Joined: Fri Oct 15, 2004 2:23 am
Location: Jakarta

Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Victoria Raverna »

Just released as an early access game with overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews.


Dyson Sphere Program is a sci-fi simulation game with space, adventure, exploration and factory automation elements where you can build your own galactic industrial empire from scratch.

In the distant future, the power of science and technology has ushered a new age to the human race. Space and time have become irrelevant thanks to virtual reality. A new kind of supercomputer has been developed – a machine whose superior artificial intelligence and computing capability will push humanity even further. There is only one problem: there isn’t enough energy in the whole planet to feed this machine.

You are a space engineer in charge of a project launched by the space alliance COSMO, tasked with a massive undertaking: constructing Dyson Spheres (a megastructure that would orbit around a star, harnessing all its power and energy) to produce the energy that humanity needs. Only a few decades ago, Dyson Spheres were considered a hypothetical, impossible invention – but now it’s in your hands… Will you be able to turn a backwater space workshop into a galaxy-wide industrial production empire?
Last edited by Victoria Raverna on Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I'm interested, so I've wishlisted it.

It did take me a bit of time to figure out that you weren't asking if my Chinese was good enough for the game :wink:
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
wonderpug
Posts: 10342
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 4:38 pm
Location: Albuquerque, NM

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by wonderpug »

I thought the Chinese people or government had developed a plan for a pretty ok Dyson sphere.
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Or a Chinese copy of a British vacuum cleaner.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
coopasonic
Posts: 20966
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:43 pm
Location: Dallas-ish

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by coopasonic »

It's on my wishlist but without multiplayer, it drops a few notches. Playing this kind of game with my kids is where the fun comes in.
-Coop
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Tampa_Gamer
Posts: 784
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:08 am

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Tampa_Gamer »

Same here, wishlisted. "Like Factorio" seems to be the new marketing term that at least guarantees many views/hits. I do hope the team lives up to the very high bar set by Factorio's dev team in terms of its commitment.
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

The OO Effect was strong, I bought it due to the "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating. I'll take a look.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
stessier
Posts: 29816
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:30 pm
Location: SC

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by stessier »

KatherineOfSky has a series starting up on it. I've only seen the first episode and am intrigued. Looks more Factorio than Satisfactory to me (which is good because I prefer Factorio).
I require a reminder as to why raining arcane destruction is not an appropriate response to all of life's indignities. - Vaarsuvius
Global Steam Wishmaslist Tracking
Running____2014: 1300.55 miles____2015: 2036.13 miles____2016: 1012.75 miles____2017: 1105.82 miles____2018: 1318.91 miles__2019: 2000.00 miles
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I put in three hours last night and it is one of those games which you can't stop playing :roll:. Really, I was up an hour past my bedtime trying to get this to work, figure out why that doesn't work, making a conveyor belt go from here to there, etc. Nice graphics, interesting tech tree, good controls.

On the less than stellar :wink: side, the in-game guide isn't much help. There are some Steam guides but they aren't that much help. Discord is pretty useless, if you ask a question it gets buried in the firehose of people posting constant comments and even if it gets answered no one seems to remember to use the "Reply" icon so you can't find out which one they are replying to. I guess I'll try the Steam discussion forum for now if I have questions.

I got the game because I'm in a bit of a gaming rut and needed something to distract me for a few days. So, worth a buy right now? There is a lot of gameplay there and it seems worth the time I've spent on it. It is Early Access for the next year at least, so there's that. But I haven't seen any red flags, so if someone is interested it might be worth the bucks.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
telcta
Posts: 1113
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2004 3:47 pm
Location: Connecticut

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by telcta »

I did grab this before the sale ended since it sounded like there was a lot to do, and I had to force myself to stop playing last night too. The tech trees and the upgrade paths are quite detailed and needing to power your mech is a nice addition. Queueing up actions for your mech is nice too however the chain is reset when a movement key is used which I triggered frequently.

My one issue is the view rotation is bound to clicking the mouse wheel (which I don't have) and custom key bindings haven't been implemented yet.

I played for a couple hours and barely touched the tech tree, just figuring out how to setup the miners, belts and smelters and powering everything. I'm a slow game player, so yeah, for me, I'll be satisfied with the playability for a long time.
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

From the devs today:
Dear engineers,

How’s your galaxy factory going?
It has been a week since the launching of Dyson Sphere Program. We’re so glad that Dyson Sphere Program can be liked by such a lot of players, and didn't expect it can reach 350,000 sold copies in one week! It's such a surprise that both encouraged us and pressure us. At the moment, the team is still busy in the game development and debug to answer the supports we have achieved from every individually you, and make the game less problems and more fun.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

From PCGamesN, Dyson Sphere Program beginner’s guide
Dyson Sphere Program has hit Early Access with a head full of, well, Steam. It’s a game about building and automating production lines, and if you’ve ever played Factorio, you’ll have a pretty decent idea of what to expect. There are some key differences between Dyson Sphere Program and Factorio though, and if you’re new to the genre, the English translation may leave you with questions. Don’t worry – this guide will get you started, and you’ll be building stellar superstructures in no time flat.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

So I've put in more than twelve hours and have been enjoying the experience. I'm working my way through the tech tree as well as the upgrades tree, the two things that really drive the player to do more mining, building, assembling and pretty much all other activities. I'll come to a tech that unlocks some cool thing like a super-levitating motor, but to build it requires I unlock some other tech which allows me to set up a new series of factories and conveyor belts to make the new thing. I'm sure there are folks who are making their factories and conveyors very neat and tidy, but I just slap them down as needed. Thankfully there is a lot of land to work with.

I've now flown to two other planets, one to get titanium, the other silicon. I've set up factories to process the raw materials I mine and make ingots of them so I can schlep them back to my home world. I almost got stuck on one planet because I failed to put enough fuel in my mecha, but I was able to find the only coal deposit on the planet and convert the coal to graphite which give me a lot more energy.

This is early days for the game and so there are a lot of quality of life items missing which I hope will be added to game. Things like being able to rename factories and storage buildings, add labels to areas, stuff like that. Also navigating is tough when you are trying to remember where you put down that one gear factory in the midst of a dozen others. And on the other worlds it is a pain to find the one little spot on the planet where your little factory complex is chugging away.

Overall however the game is a lot of fun, but I'm going to step away for awhile till more content is added.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I found this video to be helpful. I'm twelve hours in and didn't know most of them :roll:

My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »



I found this video really useful. On my first playthrough of about twelve hours my production layout was a mess. I watched the above video and realized I had completely missed a lot of basic techniques of how to use sorters and storage and just a whole bunch of things. And one of those was to create a workshop that made my most used basic items like iron ingots, gears, magnetic coils, etc. The below is from my second game where I'm trying to be more logical.

Image
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
naednek
Posts: 10866
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:23 pm

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by naednek »

loving this game. Much more intuitive than factorio. I feel like it's not as steep of a learning curve.
hepcat - "I agree with Naednek"
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

naednek wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:47 pm loving this game. Much more intuitive than factorio. I feel like it's not as steep of a learning curve.
I've put in 23 hours over two games, but I'm stopping for now to let the devs add more content to the early game. I've not run into a single bug at all, graphics are nice and nothing seems illogical.

The game appeals to my retired engineer's mind, being a game of not just building but also of problem solving ("I'm not getting enough refined oil to that power plant! What can I do to make it more efficient?"). I like that I'm not crowded for space to build, since I have an entire planet to start. Also I liked that there is some variation you can take in the approach to some parts of the game. For example, in my first playthrough I just built conveyor belt sections in my replicator as needed, while in my second I built a production process to make them.

The guy who made the above two videos (I can recommend all his DSP videos, he does a good job on them) gets down to the point of actually calculating production, use and belt movements in items per second so he can be super-efficient, but that seems too much like work to me, so I try to build small and then expand till I find I'm unbalanced, like too many widgets stacking up at an assembler or a factory only having enough of one of two resources it needs. Then I tweak and build and fiddle :D
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
Lorini
Posts: 8282
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 8:52 am
Location: Santa Clarita, California

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Lorini »

Thanks for the recommendations JZ!
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Paingod
Posts: 13132
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:58 am

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Paingod »

jztemple2 wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 6:44 pm...I failed to put enough fuel in my mecha...
I was reading with my chin on my hand and the word "mecha" perked me up and made me go look. For some reason robots and mechs sell things better to my brain.
Black Lives Matter

2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Well I was going to step away for more updates, but laying in bed thinking about better ways of doing this and that brought me back to the game. After a couple more days I now have 33 hours in :roll:. I was getting tired of flying my mecha (that's for you Paingod :D) to another planet on the far side of the solar system so I focused on getting to the Interstellar Transport terminal (which is what you need to go between planets, in spite of the name). Getting the materials wasn't too hard, but the darn thing really pulls a lot of power off the grid on my away planet so I had to do some preps there. Biggest issue was the silly settings on the towers, they are somewhat counterintuitive (I needed to set my homeworld tower to "remote demand" even though in my mind I was demanding those resources locally) and getting the belts properly labeled for the resources I had coming in. Turns out I needed to set up the outbound belts from the tower after making the settings identifying the resources I had coming through.

I ended up staying up a couple hours past my bedtime :roll: but being retired I could just sleep in some more. I'm back to Elacrab II again tonight!
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Update: Dyson Sphere Program Patch Notes 0.6.16.5759
Dear engineers,

Chinese New Year is just around the corner and we wish to extend our best wishes to all of you! Despite that, the journey towards the starry sea will continue, so don't forget to replenish and re-energize yourselves while awaiting our return!

As a going-on-holiday gift, we present to you our last update before Chinese New Year's eve! As promised a few days ago, Keybinding and Quick Upgrade functions are now launched in this patch. And guess what, we also brought you an extra present - the Chain Dismantle function!

We're taking a short break and will be out of the office for a few days to celebrate Chinese New Year before returning to bring you more anticipated and fancy game updates. After the holidays, we will begin work on delivering a multi-language patch. Stay tuned!

~Best wishes and Happy Chinese New Year~

[Version 0.6.16.5759]
Feature:
  • Quick Upgrade: You are able to upgrade the conveyor belt, sorter, and assembling machine by directly putting the new ones (cover/overlap/move) on the lower grade ones.
  • Chain Upgrade and Chain Dismantle: You are able to upgrade or dismantle a whole conveyor belt directly with this new function.
  • Keybinding: You are able to rebind hotkeys.
  • Add a hint message of pressing 'SHIFT' to accelerate while sailing.


Change:
  • We modified the planet generation to make it easier to start. From now on, there must be 6 iron and 6 copper beside Icarus's landing place.
  • We changed the saving process to relieve the memory pressure. The savedata will be written directly to the hard disk.
Balance:
  • Reduce the energy consumption of deceleration and steering in sail mode.
Bugfix:
  • Fixed a bug that the lights of the energy exchangers flash for no reason.
  • Fixed a bug where the arrow on the energy exchanger panel might be reversed.
I especially like the "Quick Upgrade: You are able to upgrade the conveyor belt, sorter, and assembling machine by directly putting the new ones (cover/overlap/move) on the lower grade ones." I've been doing this already and it would be nice to not have to delete and then lay the belt again.

Also "Reduce the energy consumption of deceleration and steering in sail mode." I've had to do some reloading when I've sailed off into deep space, having missed planet fall :roll:
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Another update: Dyson Sphere Program Patch Notes 0.6.16.5775
Hi engineers,

We know we said yesterday would be the last update, but... here we go again!! We simply can't help it when we discover something to improve, we do it to bring you better gameplay experience. Many of your suggestions have been incorporated into our plan. We intend to work rigorously to optimize and make adjustments to them one after another until we are satisfied. Of course, it still takes a lot of time before we can launch new functions and content. Let's keep looking forward to it together!

This is definitely the last update before the holidays!


Happy 2021!

[Version 0.6.16.5775]
Change:
  • Canceled the restriction on keybinding of zoom in/out camera.
  • Canceled the restriction on keybinding of move forward and backward.
  • Optimized the operation experience of keybinding. Now you can cancel the key-binding response status by click left mouse button or click the blank space.
  • Optimized the mouse picking detection of the conveyor belt and sorter.
  • Now the mouse picking detection will ignore the sorter in construction mode.
  • Now it will automatically optimize the conflict when View Rotate button and Move to Target button are the same.
Repair:
  • Fixed the bug that the panel may open automatically when copying a facility in construct mode
  • Fixed the bug that the Mecha panel may open at Ctrl + C (custom) operation.
  • Fixed the bug that the star map may open at Ctrl + V (custom) operation.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
Rosarra
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2021 1:32 am

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Rosarra »

“Shift” to sail faster! Well I’m glad they included that little hint in their update. For two weeks I’ve just been sailing at 100 m/s for 5 - 10 minutes keeping my finger on the W key so I don’t lose speed. I really need to watch some videos (thank you for the suggestions!).

The new Upgrade tool is quite nice to have.

This game is fantastic! I’ve been looking for a good game for a few months now. I’ve been a bit bored with my usual games and this one has definitely filled the void and should keep me occupied for a good while.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Spent a couple of hours (or more :roll:) setting up a purple cube manufacturing process chain to support eight cube makers. I now have a pretty extensive research support program, below isn't even half of it.

Image
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
naednek
Posts: 10866
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:23 pm

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by naednek »

jztemple2 wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 3:53 am Spent a couple of hours (or more :roll:) setting up a purple cube manufacturing process chain to support eight cube makers. I now have a pretty extensive research support program, below isn't even half of it.

Image
I'm tempted to start over for the 3rd time. I've done a lot, but it's so unorganized and inefficient. Now that I have a better handle on things I think I can do things better. But the time already spent...
hepcat - "I agree with Naednek"
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I fiddled this afternoon with trying to get more silicone in from two offworld planets. I've been tweaking settings but no matter how much effort I throw at the problem I'm still not able to make purple cubes as fast as I had planned :cry:. I'm considering setting up another silicone mining/smelting/tranporting complex, but the world has very little coal and not that much wind for windmills....

And then it occurred to me, send excited(?) graphite, of which I have loads, back on those empty transports to build up a coal supply on that world to power the facilities! I'm going to engineer the heck out of this problem! :D
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I've stopped (for now) after 51 hours played. The next step would be to unlock green cubes but I just watched one of the JD Plays videos of what it takes to get a production line for them and I'm just not up to it. I'm waiting for more Quality of Life updates.

So instead I've been seduced by the OO Effect and have picked up Satifactory :roll:
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
Unagi
Posts: 26376
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Unagi »

I've been playing for a couple weeks now... this game is amazingly fun. And the EA status is not something that stands out really at all....

Getting systems humming, and working out logistics is a joy. The game is gorgeous.


Here is my home system - I've got 3 'Dyson Swarms' going here (masses of solar sails redirecting their energy back home)...

Image

I've been holding off on building the Dyson Sphere (wasn't sure I wanted it in this system), but I've got tons of the components ready to go and will soon pull the trigger on that.

My Polar Research Center
Image

My industrialized homeworld...
Image
User avatar
Unagi
Posts: 26376
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Unagi »

jztemple2 wrote: Sat Feb 13, 2021 6:53 pmI'm waiting for more Quality of Life updates.
No Blueprints yet, unfortunately - but they did add an 'Upgrade' feature - so you can now upgrade entire belts, etc- without having to remove the older version - and upgrade your Assembly Machines with one click (like one can do in Factorio).
Last edited by Unagi on Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Unagi
Posts: 26376
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Unagi »

Victoria Raverna wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:02 pm Just released as an early access game with overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews.
You should rename the thread without the 'Chinese Satisfactory' part. :wink:
User avatar
coopasonic
Posts: 20966
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:43 pm
Location: Dallas-ish

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by coopasonic »

Unagi wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:08 pm
Victoria Raverna wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:02 pm Just released as an early access game with overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews.
You should rename the thread without the 'Chinese Satisfactory' part. :wink:
Yeah it's really not that similar to Satisfactory. More like isometric Factorio.
-Coop
Black Lives Matter
User avatar
Unagi
Posts: 26376
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:14 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by Unagi »

Black Hole Sunrise

Image
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

coopasonic wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:25 pm
Unagi wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:08 pm
Victoria Raverna wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 9:02 pm Just released as an early access game with overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews.
You should rename the thread without the 'Chinese Satisfactory' part. :wink:
Yeah it's really not that similar to Satisfactory. More like isometric Factorio.
Agreed, the title can now just reflect the name of the game, it will stand on its own.

I've got in 55 hours so far, am at the point that I need green cubes. However, my home world is such a jumble of belts, facilities and veins that it is hard to even find stuff anymore. I think I'm ready to start on my third game, but I'm hoping for some QoL updates like labeling so I can figure out where the heck everything is once I get deep into it.

For those not aware, there is a site with mods for DSP, it seems legit and was recommenced by the guy at the YouTube channel JD-Plays, he is using some of the mods for a complete game playthrough. The first two episodes are posted below:



My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Unagi wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:26 pm Black Hole Sunrise

Image
Very cool! Thanks for posting it.

New patch notes! Dyson Sphere Program Patch Notes 0.6.16.5780
Happy new year to all the Dyson Sphere Program engineers!

The Chinese New Year holidays has gone, and the first update log for 2021 is already here!
For the Roadmap, we are doing final sorting and adjusting, and it will be updated as soon as possible.
Happy Dyson Sphere Program 2021!

[Version 0.6.16.5780]

Features:
• Add new soundFX for labs

Changes:
• Optimized UI of smelters/assemblers. The mecha inventory will no longer display if no recipe is selected.
• Reduce the soundFX volume of smelter and optimize its attenuation range.

Bugfix:
• Fix a thread safety issue in random planet generation algorithms.
• Fix a rendering glitch when building a massive number of labs. (more than 2,048)
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I was going to hold off playing for some more updates, but darn, I just can't stay away from this game 8-). Now I'm setting up my green cube production system. My process is to look at what is required to make the final item (the green cubes) and then drill down to what is needed to make each intermediate item. I'm not making it a pretty linear layout of belts like you've seen in some of the videos. That just seems, well, boring. I'm really just eye-balling the layout, so sometimes my belts end up wrapping around heaven knows where :roll:. I have finished the Graviton Lens side of the green cube production as shown below:
Enlarge Image

Now on to the Quantum Chips half!
Last edited by jztemple2 on Wed Feb 24, 2021 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I finally got green cube production going, but I'm really short on hydrogen which means either I spend time to build refineries to covert my crude oil or I build a lot more collectors on the nearby gas giant...

Meanwhile, I was recommended a good website for finding interesting DSP seeds called sphere not included. I'm still trying it out, but it looks fun.

Good gosh, I have seventy hours in on DSP, that's more than I put into Cyberpunk 2077 :roll:

I do have a pretty good Dyson swarm going:
Enlarge Image
Last edited by jztemple2 on Wed Feb 24, 2021 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

I figured out a way to keep track of where my various supplies of different resources are located on my homeworld. I made a Google spreadsheet listing the resource and then the latitude and longitude of where it is located. These are the supply locations so I can fill up my Mecha for use in the Replicator. Obviously it would lend itself to keeping track of other items as well. This will have to do till we get some kind of in-game labeling and search system.


Enlarge Image
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

So, 83 hours on this Early Access game :roll:. I just can't stop playing it :wink:

I do think I'm done with my second playthrough after 67 hours. I had finished my production chain to make green cubes and I was making enough to fill eight research facilities which was a slow plod but still getting there. I had two Dyson swarms active and shooting up enough replacement sails to keep them powered:
Enlarge Image
Enlarge Image
Enlarge Image
Enlarge Image

I also was starting on my Dyson Sphere, but to do that effectively I needed a production ling for the small carrier rockets, which is a pretty daunting production chain.
Enlarge Image

I was working on it late at night and even though I was filling page after page of notebook paper with plans, I still missed parts of the chain. And what is worst, I wasn't paying attention to my power balance. So as I was electrically connecting up all the production facilities I ended up running negative. That was bad, but what then happened was worse... :?

My homeworld of Elacrab II is a moon circling a gas giant which is circling a star. And just as my new production chain was going online, my homeworld moved in its orbit so that the ice giant was blocking not only the sun, but also the Dyson swarms from the view of my ray receivers. This was very, very bad :shock: . Sudden I was at such a power imbalance that all my facilities went off. And when Elacrab II moved out of the shadow of the ice giant, there wasn't enough power for the facilities to go back online. I finally resorted to building three power farms that put out about 250 MW:
Enlarge Image

I eventually got everything powered up and running, but I'm rather burned out at this point. However, I'm not sure I'm burned out on DSP, maybe just that playthrough. I've learned a lot of lessons from that and maybe I'm ready to try DSP yet again. On my next playthrough I'm going to use the setting to give me "infinite" resources, which apparently just means that veins don't run out. I don't think that's unreasonable, it would just reflex a universe where the veins are so large that for practical purposes in the game they are unlimited. I'm also going to play around with the seed explorer I linked to above and see if I can find a more interesting world. Finally I might start using some mods as well.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Just started my third playthrough and am several hours in. Using the Exceptional starting Seeds Steam Guide I found a really nice starting location with three moons/planets orbiting the gas giant of the system:
Enlarge Image

On this playthrough I've got my usual concentration of the early game facilities in a central location:
Enlarge Image

I've used the gameplay setting where the veins never run out. Things are hard enough without having to deal with all sorts of middle game crises as some obscure resource veins in the middle of a big facility layout decide at that time to run out :roll:

As the screenshot above shows, I've also bee-lined to get the Planetary Logistics Stations (PLS) unlocked ASAP. My intent is to avoid massive production chain locations that are unwieldy and hard to expand. Resources that are common to various production chains will be made in one location and transported to where they are needed. As a screenshot from my Google Sheet below shows, I'm labeling the PLS with resources they are either supplying or demanding. With their location noted, I'll be able to go quickly survey them and see if there is a shortage in the chain.
Image
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
User avatar
jztemple2
Posts: 11541
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:52 am
Location: Brevard County, Florida, USA

Re: Chinese Satisfactory? Dyson Sphere Program

Post by jztemple2 »

Setting up the scale of the universe - Dev Log#3
That said, we're back to our dev blogs, and today we want to discuss a very interesting topic: the scale of the universe of the game, and how we came up with it. Just to be clear, the figures and explanations you’re about to read are a bit simplified for the sake of clarity – going through every fine detail would be just too long!
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
Post Reply