Hi,
first of all, thanks for the incredible work on PM — the periodic-table-driven progression is honestly one of the most interesting ideas I’ve seen in Factorio mods.
I just wanted to share a small, purely conceptual thought for the far future (not as a request or expectation).
From a realism point of view, it feels natural that the crashed character is already an engineer with general industrial knowledge. Because of that, early and mid-game elements and processes could arguably be treated as known, with progression coming mainly from scaling production, complexity, and material mastery rather than from rediscovering basic science.
“True research” could then begin later, especially once the player reaches actinides, transuranic elements, and very short-lived or synthetic elements — where particle accelerators, specialized facilities, and experimental infrastructure would make perfect sense.
I think PM is actually in a great position for this kind of grouping-based progression (element families, stability, half-life, etc.), but this is just a thought I wanted to share, not a suggestion to rework anything that already works well.
| Element Group | Elements | Real-world properties | Suggested gameplay role | Research method
| ------------------------------ --------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------
| Common & Early Metals | Fe, Cu, Zn, Al, etc. | Well-known, stable, industrial | Basic industry, infrastructure | No research – assumed knowledge |
| Transition Metals | Fe, Cu, Ni, Ti, W, Mo, etc. | Stable, widely used | Scaling complexity, advanced alloys | Unlock via production milestones |
| Post-transition Metals | Al, Sn, Pb, Bi, etc. | Known chemistry, stable | Specialized components | Production-based unlocks
| Metalloids & Non-metals | C, Si, B, P, S, halogens | Fundamental chemistry | Chemical chains & refinement | Mastery through processing |Noble Gases | He, Ne, Ar, etc. | Inert, well understood | Cooling, shielding, specialty uses | Infrastructure-gated
| Alkali & Alkaline Earth Metals | Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, etc. | Reactive but well known | Batteries, reactions, fuels | Production & handling challenges | Lanthanoids (57–71) | La–Lu (incl. Nd, Sm, Eu…) | Mostly stable, industrially used | High-tech materials, magnets, optics | Lanthanoid science (processing-focused) |
| Light Actinides | Ac, Th, Pa, U | Very long half-lives, natural | Nuclear power, reactors | research begins here
| Transuranic Elements | Np, Pu, Am, Cm, Bk, Cf | Artificial, radioactive | Endgame nuclear industry | Specialized facilities + research
| Superheavy Actinides | Es, Fm, Md, No, Lr | Extremely short half-lives | Purely experimental | Particle accelerator only
| Post-Lr (>103) | Synthetic / theoretical | Highly unstable | Futuristic megatech | Ultimate endgame science
Either way, thank you again for the mod — I’m really looking forward to how PM evolves over time.
