Choosing Space Age-Compatible Mods in Factorio: A Practical Guide

You've launched your first rocket, but stepping into Factorio 2.0 and Space Age raises a sudden question: which mods should you mix in? With Space Age, Quality, and Elevated Rails as the foundation, deciding whether to add QoL improvements, compatibility patches, or full-scale overhauls becomes surprisingly complex. The stability and feel of your playthrough changes dramatically depending on your approach.

This guide is designed for intermediate players wanting to experience Space Age safely for the first time. Using concrete examples—Space Exploration's incompatibility, Krastorio 2 Spaced Out, and Angel's compatibility patches—we'll walk through how to evaluate mods and build a stable setup. From my experience, the safest first approach is Space Age alone with just a few QoL mods like Dolly. Any compatibility patches or existing save migrations should be tested in separate saves before committing to your main world.

The Foundation: What Sets Factorio 2.0 and Space Age Apart

The Three Core MODs and How They Interact

Before diving into MOD selection, it's crucial to understand that Factorio 2.0 and Factorio: Space Age are not the same thing. Version 2.0 is a free update bringing engine optimizations, UI improvements, and system-wide changes to the base game. Space Age, released on 2024-10-21, is a paid expansion available through Steam and other platforms. While separate purchases, they share the same foundation—think of Space Age as being built on top of 2.0's improvements.

What's particularly important to understand is that Space Age, despite looking like a single DLC, is actually delivered as three core MODs: Space Age, Quality, and Elevated Rails. 's 'Upcoming features' page, each can be toggled independently. I've found it helps to think of Space Age less as "DLC" and more as a three-MOD official expansion—this framing makes understanding the layered changes much clearer.

Breaking down their roles: Space Age itself redesigns your entire progression path. With four new planets, space platforms, new resources, intermediates, buildings, and achievements, the English 29 achievements, 30 intermediate products, 22 buildings, 5 science packs, 5 weapons, and 2 enemy types. This looks like content addition on the surface, but it's actually a wholesale reorganisation of your entire tech tree.

The critical shift here is that enabling Space Age changes when technologies unlock. Features that were relatively early in vanilla—or naturally available late-game—get repositioned, now requiring planetary exploration or established space logistics first. This isn't just difficulty scaling; it's a fundamental redesign reflecting Space Age's philosophy that each planet presents different problems.

Quality adds equipment, machinery, and materials with quality tiers, introducing a new optimization axis. Elevated Rails expands railway design freedom, making 3D rail networks official. Both seem like simple additions in isolation, but combined with Space Age's core shifts, they influence everything from inter-planetary logistics to high-density factory design.

The reason major MOD integration takes time becomes obvious: compatibility requires matching research ordering, recipe hierarchies, resource placement, planetary solutions, and space transport prerequisites. Since Space Age itself reorders vanilla research unlocks, large overhauls like Krastorio 2 or Angel's can't just shuffle recipes—they need complete restructuring.

Upcoming features

wiki.factorio.com

Toggling the Three MODs: Quality-Only and Other Combinations

Since these three MODs toggle independently, playstyle shifts dramatically based on what you enable.

Enabling Quality alone gives you vanilla 2.0 gameplay with a quality tier system. Research flow remains relatively straightforward, while mid-to-late game becomes about optimizing equipment and production facility quality. You're adding depth without restructuring the entire progression spine.

Elevated Rails only has even more localized impact—improved railway junction design and high-density transport, but no tech tree overhaul or new resources. It's powerful for rail-focused players but doesn't reshape your overall progression.

But enable Space Age itself, and everything changes. Adding four planets plus their resources, buildings, and research branches fundamentally reorders your roadmap from early to late game. The critical misconception is: "Vanilla plus space equals more stuff." Reality: features previously completed on Nauvis now require reaching other planets first. From a compatibility perspective, Space Age isn't content addition—it's a rules framework change.

This difference ripples through existing MOD compatibility. QoL packs adapt easily, but recipe and research-heavy MODs are vulnerable. "Space Age compatible" tells you it loads, not whether research, recipes, and planetary elements naturally integrate.

Space Age vs. Space Exploration: Different Design Philosophies

Space Exploration (SE) appears similar thematically but sits differently. Space Age targets 60–100 hours, while Space Exploration runs 150–500+ hours. But the gap isn't just volume—it's design philosophy.

Space Age adds new planets, resources, and space platforms. Traditional large MODs centered on Nauvis economics. Resources flowed from one planet, through intermediates, to final products in one integrated design. Space Age introduces resources available only off-world, materials requiring space logistics, and planet-specific operational constraints. When old MOD recipes remain unchanged, acquisition difficulty swings wildly.

Space Age maintains vanilla's clarity while injecting planetary challenges. New planets and space logistics are significant, yet Factorio remains readable. When I first played it, I was struck by how fresh yet still Factorio it felt.

SE, by contrast, transforms Factorio into a long-form overhaul. Logistics layers multiply, management depth increases, and planning horizons stretch further. Space Age and SE aren't competitors—they're fundamentally different experience densities. It's unsurprising they're officially distinct and SE isn't currently compatible with 2.0 / Space Age.

Why major MOD integration takes so long becomes clearer: Space Age redesigns research unlock sequences, resource pathways per planet, and space transport preconditions. Large MODs like SE and Angel's bring their own research trees and material economies. Making them coexist requires reorganizing not just recipes but which planet yields what, and when transport unlocks each tier. That's why compatibility patches evolve gradually and full integration demands time.

Space Age isn't SE's "simplified version"—it's an official mid-scale space expansion. The time-hour difference reflects how much accumulated complexity you're stacking, not just raw content. The first impression differs too: Space Age feels like "a new official campaign," SE feels like "an entirely separate long-form game."

Friday Facts #373 - Factorio: Space Age ｜ Factorio

Hello, long time no see! Today we are going to talk about the expansion which is called Factorio: Space Age.

factorio.com

Why MOD Selection Gets Tricky with Space Age

Tech Tree Reorganisation and Unlock Timing Shifts

The biggest reason Space Age complicates MOD selection isn't that more stuff gets added—it's that your existing research assumptions break. As Friday Facts #373 shows, Space Age reshuffles the tech tree, moving features you'd normally unlock on Nauvis to later stages, sometimes splitting them across multiple research chains. Here's where the pain comes: MODs built for vanilla assume "by this point, you'd already have this equipment or material." When Space Age delays that unlock, mismatches occur.

Particularly tricky: existing vanilla features unlock later than before. A vanilla-designed MOD might chain recipes assuming mid-game access to something that Space Age locks until a second planet. The result? You see the MOD research available but lack the materials, or you've collected materials but the related equipment stays locked.

This mismatch hits harder than it appears. Factorio thrives on intuition: "I should be able to build this now." When previously-available features suddenly lock, the friction is palpable. This breaks compatibility in ways load-testing never catches—it's the structural incompatibility between research prerequisites, not mere errors.

Planets, Resources, and Space Logistics Multiply Complexity

As the Factorio Wiki documents, Space Age adds new planets, resources, and space platforms. Traditional large MODs centered on Nauvis economics. Resources flowed from one planet, through intermediates, to final products in one integrated design. Space Age introduces resources available only off-world, materials requiring space logistics, and planet-specific operational constraints. When old MOD recipes remain unchanged, acquisition difficulty swings wildly.

Large overhauls demand integration time precisely because of this layering. Reordering research looks simple, but real work means aligning material economies, research costs, logistics unlock timing, and planetary roles. That's why Space Exploration isn't yet 2.0/Space Age compatible, why Krastorio 2 Spaced Out exists as a separate unified MOD, and why Angel's relies on evolving compatibility patches rather than direct support.

Fundamentally, Space Age doesn't just expand—it rewrites resource chains and transport logic. Economy-redefining MODs collide hardest because they face the deepest rework.

Space Age

wiki.factorio.com

Clarifying "Support": Loadable / Patch-Required / Fully Integrated

"Space Age compatible" is misleadingly broad. The community uses it widely, but the reality spans distinct stages.

Loadable means it starts without errors. Research chains and recipes may not feel natural, though—materials might float orphaned, research might jump illogically. Bob's packs might be "loadable," but that's only the starting point.

Patch-required means a separate MOD bridges gaps. Research gets reordered, recipes remapped, planets connected to vanilla economics. Angel's Space Age Compatibility exemplifies this: the base Angel's MOD works, but compatibility patches continuously refine the integration. This targets playability, not just functionality.

Fully integrated goes further—research, recipes, and planetary design feel intentional together. Not just conflict-free, but rhythmically right. Krastorio 2 Spaced Out aims here, redesigning when each feature feels good.

Confusing these three breaks expectations. Loaded doesn't mean smooth progress. Patched doesn't guarantee balance. Space Age's research reordering means the real question is structural: does resource and research logic flow naturally?

Which MODs Play Nicely, and Which Require Caution

A solid first approach is Space Age alone plus minimal QoL. This separation lets you distinguish official design from MOD changes. Safety tiers roughly stack: QoL → Compatibility Patches → Major Overhauls. Small additions appear safer but often carry hidden complexity, so positioning them helps organize thinking.

Generally: helpers that smooth operations and visibility are "safe to add"; MODs touching research, recipes, or material economics demand scrutiny. Space Age's tight research, resource, and space-logistics design means even "convenient" additions can trigger difficulty spikes if they touch economics.

QoL and UI Systems

This tier adapts most easily to Space Age's first run. Build helpers, UI improvements, visibility upgrades—anything assisting player operations without reshaping economics—sit here. Moving buildings, clearer screens, transport status displays: these add comfort without disrupting official flow.

MODs like PickerDollies (Mod Portal: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/PickerDollies) exemplify this promise, yet moving active machinery involves subtle interactions. Discussions report issues with miniloader combinations, so even "pure QoL" requires caution during active production. The safer approach: treat convenience features as non-critical helpers, avoid ragging active lines.

My sense: for the first run, choose features that "make gameplay comfortable but aren't essential to progression." Space Age itself is substantial enough that QoL-only feels complete.

Small-Scale Additions

Small additions disguise complexity. Adding buildings, convenience recipes, or niche intermediates might seem lightweight, yet Space Age's planetary-split design means small shortcuts can undermine intended bottlenecks. They're not as risky as major overhauls, but "check before committing" applies.

Why? Space Age's progression assumes planetary roles and transport challenges. A seemingly minor addition creates shortcuts, letting you source materials early where you were meant to struggle, or adding clutter elsewhere. The addition looks small, but factory-wide impact surprises.

Quality integration illustrates this well. Lightly grafting Quality multiplies stacks by quality tier, fragmenting inventory management. Suddenly, identical items split into variants; belts scatter materials; storage sprawls. This small addition demands rethinking logistics and filtering from the start. The feature itself is minor; the design ripple is major.

Compatibility Patch Systems

Compatibility patches aren't "convenience MODs"—they're continuous adjustments. They bridge Space Age and existing large MODs, remapping research prerequisites and recipe chains. Critical: ongoing maintenance matters more than initial release.

Angel's Space Age Compatibility exemplifies this. It exists because the original MOD doesn't directly support Space Age, so the patch maintains the bridge. Checking the changelog (Angel's Compatibility shows updates through 2026-02-13, v0.0.13) reveals this isn't one-time work—it's sustained alignment of two evolving systems.

Evaluate these by asking: does the tech tree naturally flow? Space Age + patches rank lower in stability than Space Age alone, but for players wanting specific large MODs, they're practical. First-time players, though, face higher information-tracking costs—MOD Portal Dependencies, Changelogs, and Discussions all become essential reading.

Major Overhauls

Major overhauls remake the game's foundation, not add to Space Age. Research, recipes, intermediates, equipment, and pacing shift broadly. Mixing them with your first Space Age save is risky. Treat them as alternate playstyles in separate environments.

Space Age and Space Exploration aren't peers you combine—they're different design visions. Forcing them together compounds complexity without harmony. That's why Krastorio 2 Spaced Out exists as a dedicated unified MOD, not just a patch.

When considering overlapping large MODs, dependencies and load order matter critically. QoL seems lightweight, but touching major systems, even small tweaks carry weight. Prioritize: Space Age first, then QoL light, then patches carefully, then overhauls in separate saves. This progression lets you understand official design before layering alternatives.

Major MOD Compatibility Status Summary

It's worth separating "does it load?" from "does it integrate well?" Major names—Space Exploration, Krastorio 2 Spaced Out, Angel's, Bob's—get lumped under "compatible," yet their situations vary enormously.

Here's the current landscape:

Space Exploration

In the Space Age context, Space Exploration belongs in a separate playthrough. Community announcements confirm 2.0 / Space Age incompatibility; Reddit discussions (e.g., 'Space Age compatibility with Space Exploration') treat it as a given.

Friday Facts #373 backs this clearly: Space Age is the official expanded campaign; Space Exploration is an alternate epic. The gap isn't just scale—it's what reshapes the entire game. Mixing them defeats each design. Easier approach: keep separate saves, toggle between projects. Both excel standalone; mashing them diminishes both.

Krastorio 2 Spaced Out

Krastorio 2 Spaced Out stands apart—it deliberately unifies K2 and Space Age. Checking the Mod Portal, this isn't casual compatibility; it's designed integration. K2 resources, intermediates, and progression slot naturally into Space Age's framework, avoiding the disjointed feel of forcing two large systems together.

Playing it, the sensation is closer to "official expansion plus K2's depth" than "two large MODs crammed together." Research trees flow; materials don't feel orphaned; the expansion feels organic. For players wanting both Space Age and a major overhaul, this is the most coherent entry point.

Krastorio 2 Spaced Out

Overhaul merging Krastorio 2 with Space Age.

mods.factorio.com

Angel's MODs and Compatibility Patches

Angel's needs re-evaluation in the Space Age era. Angel's core won't receive direct Space Age support, yet play isn't blocked. Instead, a compatibility patch bridges the gap.

Angel's Space Age Compatibility handles this, maintaining active updates (confirmed through changelog entries). This structure—independent base MOD plus evolving patch—reveals the actual pattern: patches preserve compatibility rather than official integration.

Gameplay implication: Angel's isn't "Space Age compatible"; rather, compatibility patches make simultaneous play possible. Since Angel's recipes are dense and complex, smooth integration depends entirely on patch design and maintenance. Calling it "Angel's space-age support" alone misses the sustained maintenance reality.

Angel's Space Age Compatibility

Compatibility patches for Angel's mods with Space Age.

mods.factorio.com

Bob's MODs

Bob's MODs represent the trickiest category because loadable and integrated blur together. Yes, they load on 2.0; yes, reports exist of functional saves. But loading ≠ smooth progression.

What matters for large MODs is progression coherence: tech trees flow naturally, intermediates don't orphan, equipment unlocks sensibly, resource availability supports designs. Bob's, with broad scope, needs this alignment—more so than contained additions.

From experience, Bob's initially seems promising but research ordering and recipe linking devolve into confusion mid-playthrough. Space Age's planetary progression doesn't naturally harmonize with Bob's finer-grained production stages. Treating it as loadable, but integration variable is more honest than declaring it "compatible."

Migrating Existing Saves into Space Age: Pitfalls and Strategies

Common Misalignments

Existing saves can load into Space Age; they often do. Comfort here is false. Real problems emerge from research sequencing and recipe mismatches with the expanded design intent.

Space Age restructures tech trees, embedding new planets, resources, and space logistics as progression pivot points. Old research histories, applied to new frameworks, create contradictions. You see unlocked research with missing materials, available materials without related equipment, progression routes that feel non-linear. These issues surface hours in, not immediately—worse for diagnosing.

Typical breakage: recipe shifts halt production lines. Mid-stage materials change sourcing; previously-available building methods shift. Even defense and rails, positioned before Space Age, can exist "before their official unlock," creating illogical progressions.

Large MOD saves compound this. Space Age already rebuilds tech trees; MODs add independent research stacks. Merging both requires remapping research unlock sequences, material prerequisites, and planetary roles—not quick patches. Large MOD compatibility takes time precisely here.

First-hand: I loaded a 1.1-era rail-focused save into 2.0 systems. Adding Quality alone fragmented inventory by quality tier; filters misbehaved; suddenly my hubs sprawled uncontrollably. Existing save assumptions—"items stay uniform," "logistics chains are stable"—crumbled. Visible infrastructure masked underlying chaos. Testing separately before committing would've saved hours.

Practical Strategies for Preserving Old Worlds

If you must keep old saves, partition versions by installation directory. Maintaining 1.1, 2.0, and Space Age instances separately preserves each system's integrity. ZIP-based portable editions work well for archival.

MOD collections follow the same principle—version-specific profiles beat accumulating into one environment. MOD Portal pages show Dependencies, Changelog, and Discussion history. Checking whether updates are active or changes are breaking helps gauge which constructs suit new frameworks.

Investment MODs complicate preservation. PickerDollies' elegance hides event processing risks; miniloader combo issues illustrate this. QoL additions seem neutral but modify operation semantics. If the goal is "see old factories as they were," even QoL risks breaking that authenticity.

Why Fresh Starts Are Recommended (And When They're Not)

Community forums and discussions (e.g., 'Space Age general Questions - Factorio Forums') consistently recommend fresh saves. This isn't just safety—Space Age's appeal lives in progression pacing and unlock sequencing. Carrying old progress betrays this design.

Evaluate based on what matters:

1. Keep old structures: Maintain that version's environment separately. Play old saves in original context.
2. Blend old foundation with new features: Test extensively in clones first. Accept jarring transitions.
3. Experience Space Age's intended flow: Fresh starts are the honest choice. New planets, resources, and tech tree reordering make sense only when encountered fresh.

Most players unconsciously want option 3. Fresh starts let you experience Space Age's design intent. Large MODs factor here too—their integration assumptions expect clean progression.

Checking Factorio forums, the consensus aligns: old saves load sometimes, but smooth play requires new starts. Space Age redesigns mid-to-late progression fundamentally. Preserving old worlds is valid (they document your building history), but treating them as "continuing saves" risks disappointment. Conceptually, upgrading resembles starting a sequel, not patching an ongoing game.

Step-by-Step Integration Approach

1) Verify Space Age Standalone

Start with vanilla 2.0 or Space Age alone—basic functionality confirms before layering. This baseline matters because later problems trace back here. Check startup, research, saves, loads, standard UI—everything running smoothly establishes your reference.

Space Age, as official content, communicates design intent most clearly on first contact. Taking time to absorb the bare progression, research flow, planet pacing, and logistics rhythm before adding convenience MODs clarifies how changes interact. A few playtime minutes alone prevent later confusion.

This stage reveals MOD integration patterns. Check MOD Portal Dependencies, Changelog, Discussion sections—future choices depend on maintenance status and breaking changes. Major MODs you'll consider later show their health through these indicators.

2) Layer in Minimal QoL

Once stable, add a small QoL selection—not wholesale convenience libraries, but 1–3 chosen MODs. UI tweaks, building helpers, visibility improvements fit here. Multiple additions together shift feel unpredictably; single MODs clarify compatibility.

This works because QoL doesn't remake gameplay—it streamlines operations. Space Age's first experience benefits from subtle comfort-lifting without design disruption. Introduction of PickerDollies or equivalents should come with testing; their convenience masks interaction complexity (miniloader conflicts demonstrate this).

Safe philosophy: choose "official experience plus unobtrusive comfort," not "official experience plus convenience overhaul." One or two QoL MODs achieve this; wholesale additions complicate diagnosis.

3) Layer in Compatibility Patches

With QoL stabilized, consider necessary compatibility patches for MODs you want. Don't jump to major MOD + patch combos; add patches for groundwork systems first. MOD Portal Dependencies clarify what bridges you need. Update dates and Changelog activity signal ongoing maintenance. Angel's Compatibility patches through February 2026 (v0.0.13) show active support—a positive sign.

Evaluate bridges by asking: Is Space Age's tech tree naturally connected? Dependencies show relationships; Changelog shows adjustment frequency; Discussion reveals shared problems. This discipline prevents entering non-functional states mid-playthrough.

4) Reserve Major MODs for Verification Saves

Always test overhauls in separate save files first. Large MOD combinations diverge from Space Age's baseline in subtle ways: research ordering, recipe chains, planet progression. They load, but smooth 50+ hour progression requires validation.

Run through early phases—research tier-ups, first equipment, initial buildings—in test worlds. Spot where progression flows unnaturally, where bottlenecks vanish, where things backlog. Move validated configurations to primary saves only.

Stability tiers rank like this:

Touching configurations this way teaches you which additions matter most and where stability breaks. Factorio's progression-dependent design means "it loaded" ≠ "it plays well". One-test-run-per-configuration discipline prevents savegame loss to cascading problems discovered hours in.

Common Pitfalls and Countermeasures

Research Ordering and Rollback Issues

Biggest Space Age integration failure: loading old saves with remapped tech trees. Gameplay resumes, then mid-run discovers research sequences are reordered, unlocks don't connect, features stay locked despite completion. This surfaces after hours, not immediately—diagnosis becomes nightmare-tier.

Root cause is structural: Space Age and MOD patches reorganize entire tech trees, not patch them. Old save data, grafted onto new frameworks, creates internal inconsistencies. Progress appears valid until you push into unexplored tiers.

Counter: Commit to fresh starts. Old environments deserve preservation (ZIP backups), but new structures merit clean progression. Multiple saves separated by version (not just world name) prevents confusing "which rules applied here?" Practical: maintain 1.1, 2.0, Space Age as distinct installed instances.

Quality System Inventory Fragmentation

Quality addition looks lightweight; actual impact: inventory management transforms. Items split by quality tier; inventory grouping fractures; crafting supplies scatter. Belts and box networks, assuming uniform materials, suddenly juggle variants.

This isn't Quality's fault—it's design-assumption shifting. Early saves assuming consistent quality suddenly need filtering logic, tier segregation, and smart routing. Retrofitting this breaks existing flow.

Countermeasure: If using Quality, design tier-splitting and staging from save start. Decide upfront: which quality tier flows main-line, which buffers where, which gets specialized handling. This investment prevents late-game logistics chaos.

Planetary Logistics Prerequisites

Multi-planet MODs break commonly at supply assumptions. Ground factory intuition says "add a belt, problem solved." Inter-planetary transport lacks constant flow—transport intervals, batch sizing, receiver inventory, return-trip imbalance all pinch.

Space Age expects planetary logistics as fundamental; MOD layering compounds this. Ground-designed production cascades into bottlenecks once split across planets. Shortages appear cyclically; specific resources build up while others deplete.

Safeguard: Calculate planetary throughput before building. Estimate: how many flights per cycle, what load sizes, how much buffer. Decide supply strategy upfront—constant flow, batch stockpiling, or hybrid. Space Age's 20+ hour arc makes mid-logistics redesign painful; front-loading choices saves rebuilds.

The "Loaded ≠ Compatible" Myth

Final common error: conflating "started successfully" with "integrated smoothly." Bob's MODs load on 2.0; Angel's packs start; many things "work." Yet research linearity, recipe precedence, and planetary relevance may not align.

Krastorio 2 Spaced Out works because it targets unity explicitly. Dependencies, design philosophy, and feature distribution assume Space Age integration. Standard "compatibility" claims less—often just "startup didn't crash."

Evaluate through tech tree naturalness: Do research branches flow logically? Are recipe chains intact? Do planets feel purposeful? This surpasses load-testing and determines real viability.

MOD Portal reading—Dependencies, Changelog, Discussion history, update dates—becomes your compatibility decoder. "Compatible" without maintenance or depth rarely sustains 40+ hour playthroughs. Check evidence first.

Dependency and Load Order Verification Process

Routine MOD Portal review prevents most failures. Method:

1. Dependencies: Verify prerequisite MODs and patches logically chain.
2. Changelog: Skim recent updates—are they compatibility fixes or major breaks?
3. Discussion: Skim current-version issues—any recurring problems with your target combo?
4. Update Date: Is maintenance active or stalled?

Apply this before committing to main saves. "Checking MOD pages" sounds tedious, but it replaces 10-hour debugging sessions. Factorio's intricate progression means small compatibility problems cascade. Catching them via MOD Portal beats discovering them mid-playthrough.

Final Recommendations for 2026

Immediate Next Steps

Space Age + minimal QoL MODs remains the safest 2026 first approach. Separate major overhauls into dedicated playstyles and saves, not overlaid experiments. Preserve old environments—keep 1.1 and 2.0 versions intact via directory partitioning or ZIP archival—rather than upgrading old saves.

Procedure: Space Age startup → MOD Portal review (dependencies, changelog, discussion) → QoL integration → compatibility patches for intended major MODs → test major combos in separate saves → validate before main-world adoption.

Split tracking by category: "safe" (QoL that passed testing) vs. "experimental" (large MODs validated but held separate). This discipline prevents research-reordering disasters or mid-playthrough progression collapses.

Compatibility patch monitoring matters—Angel's patches show how live maintenance works. Checking updates monthly and reviewing Changelogs prevents surprise MOD breakage from Space Age tweaks. Established patterns (Angel's, K2 Spaced Out) demonstrate active support; new/dormant patches signal risk.

Progression philosophy: Start fresh per Space Age approach, circle back to old worlds only in their original environments, experiment in cloned saves, migrate successful configs to mains. This honours both preservation and exploration.

Related articles (forthcoming): mod-selection-guide, mod-compatibility-check Note: Articles currently in preparation. Internal links will be added upon publication.