Krastorio 2 (K2) is an overhaul mod for Factorio that is often recommended as a good “first” mod to try after vanilla. It deserves that repuation. In reviewing Exotic Industries I claimed it was likely a similar level of complexity to K2, but in replaying the latter I feel I overstated that. K2 is definitely simpler … and took only about a third of the time to complete (~36 hours.)

This is the second time I’ve played this mod, but it’s been many years and I’d forgotten pretty much everything about it.

I enjoyed the new science recipes in early and mid game. Similar complexity to vanilla, just different.

The end game became a little boring for me. Pretty much everything after launching a rocket. Most of the additional technologies don’t seem worthwhile: belts, power armor, and weapons are overkill, and the new combined smelting and production recipes for things like copper wires are less efficient compared to productivity modules. They could make builds simpler, but with full speed bots it’s not really a factor by that point. It might be fun to try a post-victory mega-base with the new tech, but that’s not usually my jam.

To try and spice things up I spent some time building a fully module’d circuit factory next to a couple of big mines (south on the map). Reminded me how much I dislike vanilla beacon builds, and probably added a few hours to my completion time.

Standard biters felt too easy, which is partly on me for forgetting how tame they are. The mod feels like it would be much more balanced with a harder setting. I used efficiency modules on miners and rarely had nests inside my pollution cloud. This process became even more efficient once I researched the spidertron: I filled one with lasers and sent it out to deal with any expansions remotely. I hadn’t spawed any behemoths before I finished, and hadn’t walled any of my factory.

The end game felt similar to Exotic Industries, requiring large amounts of matter for a sustained period. Cute and good lore, but at this stage of the game it wasn’t that much of a challenge to slap down a few more mines. (Contrast to the ridiculous end game challenge of Freight Forwarding.)

Overall I enjoyed revisiting this mod. I created a mapshot of the factory for posterity, where you can scroll and zoom around it.