Games With Involved Crafting (But No Realtime Combat)

[Amechra]

So, I recently picked up the Factorio demo, because I enjoy building virtual factories (don't judge me!)

When things started up, I was... less than happy. I was expecting a factory builder, not something with alien bugs coming to destroy my hard work For reference, I refuse to play Minecraft on anything other than Peaceful, because I do not care for having to interrupt my building fun-times because of zombies.

So, does anyone have suggestions for games with good tech-tree-based crafting systems that don't have real-time combat tossed in to spice things up? I'd be fine with something that had turn-based combat, but I mostly want to build things, damn it.

[Thomas Cardew]

Ark is a Dinosaur themed survival game with a fairly involved crafting system. If you play on a private server you can change the settings to eliminate player damage and other annoyances such as structure decay. That said the last time I played it was in 2016 and it was massively unoptimized. I don't know how it's been updated since then.

[Destro_Yersul]

So, I recently picked up the Factorio demo, because I enjoy building virtual factories (don't judge me!)

When things started up, I was... less than happy. I was expecting a factory builder, not something with alien bugs coming to destroy my hard work For reference, I refuse to play Minecraft on anything other than Peaceful, because I do not care for having to interrupt my building fun-times because of zombies.

So, does anyone have suggestions for games with good tech-tree-based crafting systems that don't have real-time combat tossed in to spice things up? I'd be fine with something that had turn-based combat, but I mostly want to build things, damn it.

Look in the advanced world creation options (If the demo has them?). Factorio has a setting that turns off aggression from the aliens, and a different setting that disables the aliens entirely.

[The_Snark]

Factory Idle is a free game about, well, building and optimizing a factory. I'm not very familiar with the genre, so I don't know how well it holds up to other games you might have played. On the other hand it's free, so if it turns out to disappoint you won't have lost anything except a bit of time.

[Mechalich]

Ark is a Dinosaur themed survival game with a fairly involved crafting system. If you play on a private server you can change the settings to eliminate player damage and other annoyances such as structure decay. That said the last time I played it was in 2016 and it was massively unoptimized. I don't know how it's been updated since then.

In a similar vein, Conan: Exiles is a Hyborian Age themed survival game that has a 'single player' mode where the game boots up a server instance for just you on your personal PC with you as the administrator, meaning you can turn on god-mode, make it never get dark, and give yourself infinite materials to indulge your crafting desires.

In a more high-tech theme, you can now build bases in No Man's Sky, and if you're willing to take the time to find a planet that doesn't have any Sentinels or Predatory Wildlife on it (which isn't actually that difficult) you have the freedom to build whatever you want and nothing will ever attack you.

Also, I believe 'build virtual factories' is broadly the premise of Space Engineers, but I have not played that game and do not know how well it actually works.

[Maryring]

Mrm. On one hand, I want to recommend Subnautica, because the stuff you can build there can looks pretty awesome, but on the other hand the combat in the game is very much realtime, but on the third hand, your best course of action as far as combat is concerned is to run away in the opposite direction and don't look back. Ultimately it's a game about exploration, but I had the most fun when I was building my base.

[The_Snark]

I love Subnautica, but I'm not sure it would have occurred to me to categorize it as a crafting game; it has crafting in it, but mostly as a tool to help you explore alien oceans. That said, if it turns out you love the crafting system the 'combat' should not be a turn-off. Of the several possible attitudes towards fighting the local wildlife such a game could take...

a) You should seek out and fight sharks. They're tough, but their teeth/skin/whatever are vital ingredients for crafting superior weapons/armor/other stuff, which you can then use to kill even bigger sharks.
b) You don't want to fight sharks, but they will relentlessly attack you whenever you venture into the ocean to look for food or other resources, so you should get used to the idea sooner or later.
c) Are you crazy? You're a castaway on an alien world, and you think knife-fighting a shark is a good way to survive? No. Just keep your distance from anything that looks like it might want to eat you. If that fails, swim away. They're animals, not hunter-killer machines, they won't follow you to the ends of the earth.

... Subnautica is very much the latter. There's no incentive to fight: you don't get anything out of it, it's not a good way to defend yourself, and the wildlife does not care about your base.

(At least, I don't think it does. I have admittedly never tried to build a base in reaper leviathan territory, it's possible they would try to smash anything built. But building a base in those regions is a terrible idea anyway, the last thing you want to do is run into a horrifying death-monster the instant you step out your door.)

[Destro_Yersul]

Wildlife tends not to care about your base, but it really is better to avoid building near anything huge and killy anyways. Combat in Subnautica is something best avoided if possible, and the only actively lethal weapon you get in the first place is a knife.

[J-H]

The Factorio Demo is a training tool. The regular Factorio freeplay (95% game) can be set on a Peaceful mode where there are no aliens, or on a no-expansion mode where the aliens don't expand and get closer to your factory. That way you can still seek them out and/or use long-ranged artillery to deal with them later.

The planet of Factorio with no aliens on it is a rather quiet and lonely place. At least with the aliens, you know something's there that cares about your existence.

[factotum]

(At least, I don't think it does. I have admittedly never tried to build a base in reaper leviathan territory, it's possible they would try to smash anything built. But building a base in those regions is a terrible idea anyway, the last thing you want to do is run into a horrifying death-monster the instant you step out your door.)

The shark things you mentioned (the ones whose teeth you occasionally need for crafting) do have an irritating habit of plucking your camera drones off the side of your scanner room and playing with them, but otherwise, I never saw a creature attack my base in 40-odd hours of Subnautica. Of course, my base was in the shallows which is fairly safe anyway. The monsters in the game are generally more annoying than anything, especially those horrible little wormy things that suck the power out of your sub.

[Artemis97]

Destro loves building games. (He's my husband, so I've watched him play countless hours of things like Factorio and Minecraft.) One that he enjoyed, I don't know if it's complete or in beta still, was called Factory Town. Build supply lines and conveyer belts all over your budding town until it grows and grows. No combat in that one. Kingdoms and Castles is another cute one, but it has regular viking and dragon attacks. I think you can turn those off, though. He also built some really neat stuff in Subnautica. Like tubes that let you swim between levels of your base, but are also aquariums!

[snowblizz]

Ark is a Dinosaur themed survival game with a fairly involved crafting system. If you play on a private server you can change the settings to eliminate player damage and other annoyances such as structure decay. That said the last time I played it was in 2016 and it was massively unoptimized. I don't know how it's been updated since then.

You can also play ARK:Survival Evolved completely single player (effectively a single server with 1 single player). That's what I do. Been doing so since Early Access. They improved optimisation alot but it is still a game requiring a lot from your computer. Its total installed size is around 100gb at present, I do have most DLCs except most recent one. I also feel it's bit glitchy so tend to abuse the console admittedly. But hey it's my game and I can enjoy it however I want right? In my defence, 2-3 times a year some random update wipes all my progress and I can't be bothered to figure out how I could restore it.

Is there real time combat? Yes and no. There may be no players but the environment is technically hazardous. A raptor shoving up while you build is gonna lead to severe cases of dinochompyitis. And I won't mention the T. Rex or *shudder* Gigantosaurus (thankfully extremely rare).

I enjoy exploring the maps, and the different ARKs. Not tried the procedurally generated ones yet.

Don't really think ARK is the game OP is looking for really.

[Brother Oni]

There's Oxygen Not Included, but that's more a management game (with plenty of "NOT IN THE DRINKING WATER!!!" moments) than a design and optimisation game like Factorio.

I also quite like Big Pharma on Steam, although I'm not very good at it (I always over optimise one cure and neglect the others, so the competitor who just spits lots of 'just barely better than placebo' products gets a lead on me).
There's an Early Access game in much the same vein, only for firearms manufacturing rather than pharmaceuticals - I'll need to check my Steam wishlist for the name. Edit: Gunsmith.

Surviving Mars is another one you might like, but again a bit thin on the optimisation part compared to Factorio.

There's another game set in space where you run a company trying to extract resources; there's more optimisation than Surviving Mars, but also has some combat in the form of corporate sabotage and industrial espionage. I'll check my Steam list for the name. Edit: Offworld Trading Company.

Finally, there's pretty much the whole of Zachtronics Industries catalogue; SpaceChem is the one I'm most familiar with.

[Hunter Noventa]

Ditto to the folks saying go play Factorio in peaceful mode. It used to be, a long while ago, you actually had to kill the bugs to get certain materials, but that was patched out as super unfun. And as entertaining as it was for me in my latest run (still going for that matter) to build a huge walled-off compound with gun emplacements, I'm only doing it for some of the achievements you can't get in peaceful mode.

[Brother Oni]

There's Production Line on Steam where you run a factory line making cars, then marketing and selling them afterwards. I'm not sure on the unlock tree on it though.

[Quizatzhaderac]

Dwarf Fortress can be played without combat, if you don't mind the lack of graphics. The combat it does have happens in real time, but it doesn't involve many user inputs.

Of Mice and Sand has plenty of crafting. Combat is mandatory, but it's mostly a matter of setting up your ship to be able to handle the fight, rather than actually fighting.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Again chiming in with 'Factorio can be set to peaceful, just like Minecraft' like everyone else. But in addition to that, there's another game to suggest...

Automation Empire. In effect, your job is to exploit the available natural resources, and ship them out for profit. You have to pay taxes and pay for electricity consumed, on a monthly basis. As you research and unlock better tech, you get more options for moving things around. It's really quite interesting, and has no aggressors whatsoever. However, you can still 'lose' if you go negative cash flow for too long.