SeaBlock VS Mindustry

I would recommend starting with Krastorio 2 or Industrial Revolution 3. Krastorio (the original) isn't currently being developed, and afaik K2 is better. Industrial Revolution 1 and 2 are unavalaiable. Both are great starter overhaul mods, and can be a good way to get into modded games. Some other mods that you might want to check out are MSI II, Warptorio, Seablock, and Space Exploration. MSI II is an expansion of the base game, making it a bit more linear and storylined. Warptorio is vanilla factorio with a fun twist of base management. Seablock and Space Exploration are bigger overhauls, and aren't usually ones that beginners to mods jump into. But they're not the worst out there, and many people have played and enjoy them. I think you would like IR3 and SE the most, based on your preferences. But be sure to search around the factorio mod site to see what peaks your interest.

So - you finally decided to start a seablock run after playing around in vanilla factorio (or maybe some space exploration / K2 / AE / etc). You load up a new install of factorio, search the mod listing for seablock... and find 2 options: seablock, and seablock pack. Perhaps going by the latest update (seablock), or by just the name, you decide to select seablock - start the game... and its not quite the same as you expect (or perhaps you post some screenshots of your starter base online and notice all the comments of 'you got the wrong modpack!'). So let me clarify for you!

Found and fixed for the next version.

You should grab the seablock pack from the mod directory instead of just the seablock mod. It will have all the needed dependencies to get you started, to which you can add whatever QOL mods you wish.

Second this - dont just look at the base 'seablock' mod, but also grab the 'seablock pack' mod. The second provides all the necessary mods you should play with (including QOL mods like helmod and FNEI).

Mindustry - The automation tower defence RTS. Java

Mindustry[1] is quite similar.

This one isn't quite the same, but OpenTTD[2] might be of interest to you. It's fun and it's simple enough for kids to get the hang of.

- [1]: https://mindustrygame.github.io/

- [2]: https://openttd.org/

Does it make sense to publish Deb packages for this game?

Also this commit: https://github.com/Anuken/Mindustry/commit/5548e727501793479...

Or (while on the subject of Factorio) Mindustry:

[0] https://mindustrygame.github.io/

Mindustry is free and open source. Download the latest release from here.

It's not Factorio, but it's very similar and IMO has a much better PVP experience. Check it out! https://mindustrygame.github.io/

Sounds close to Mindustry.

Not sure what qualifies as 'highly successful', 'from the start', etc. but Mindustry[0] is GPL, is actively updated, accepts and includes contributions from third parties and is available commercially.

[0] https://github.com/Anuken/Mindustry