Welcome to Maraxsis

Let me introduce this pristine, submerged world. Far away from the sun, this planet paradoxically maintains a comfortable temperature through a runaway greenhouse effect. Preliminary surface scans show an average temperature of 101°F. It's not too hot and not too cold, the perfect Goldilocks zone for liquid water. Maybe even too perfect...

Maraxsis is 100% covered by deep ocean. There is no land on the entire planet meaning you'll have to invest in aquatic technologies such as submarines, torpedos, hydro plants, and submerged pressure domes. In terms of progression, Maraxsis is unlocked at the same point as Aquilo. This means the mod can be seamlessly added to a finished Space Age save.

Disclaimer

This mod is in early access/beta status. Here are the known issues before it can be moved to a full release:

• Placeholder graphics for the coral reef.
• Placeholder graphics for the fishing tower.
• Placeholder graphics for the salted tropical fish.
• Missing AI for the construction submarine.
• Missing nuclear artillery.
• Missing the Maraxsis enemy.
• Missing a good way to transfer fluids to the trench. Currently you have to use barrels.

During the beta period, please post factory screenshots, bugs, and balance suggestions on the Discord. Your feedback is extremely important!

Submarines

Your armor is designed to protect against attacks from various creatures, but it's totally useless against the immense pressure of the ocean. Your only hope is to build an underwater pressure can; the submarine.

This deep sea vessel is capable of submerging to any depth, and can be automated with a schedule to follow underwater channels. With further technologies, construct the nuclear submarine and atomic torpedoes. Be careful, swimming outside the submarine will quickly result in death by extreme pressure, drowning, or both.

Trenches

Occasionally while exploring Maraxsis, you might find a deep gash in the planet's crust. I wonder where this goes?

Your submarine descends for what feels like hours. Light levels slowly drop until everything is surrounded by a deep blackness. Your submarine begins to make horrible wrenching sounds as the hull integrity is pushed to its maximum. Finally you crash into the seabed. Is this finally the bottom?

While exploring the trench, you come across a geothermal vent. The magma appears to have similar composition as that found on Vulcanus. Perhaps it can be processed into basic metals?

As you are leaving, your sonar systems sense some underwater movement in the distance. But the equipment must be faulty, it's impossible for anything to live down here. Right?

Pressure domes

As you explore Maraxsis, you’ll quickly discover that many of your standard machines are ineffective underwater. You are able to research new designs that function underwater however many recipes are still impossible. In these situations, constructing high-pressure domes becomes essential.

These specialized structures are designed to withstand the immense pressures of Maraxsis’ depths. However, maintaining equilibrium inside the domes requires continuous supply of atmospheric gases into ballast pumps.

Progression

Maraxsis is available at the same time as Aquilo. The mod does not change any vanilla recipes meaning the mod can be seamlessly added to any existing Space Age save, even if the save is completed. The mod leans heavily into the puzzle genera requiring creative setups to solve difficult challenges. Do you have what it takes to craft the hydraulic science pack?

Vanilla Changes

This mod makes a few changes to Factorio: Space Age in order for Maraxsis to fit seamlessly into the tech tree.

• Adds a recipe for the pistol.
• Banned unbarrelling of heavy oil in space.
• The research productivity technology now requires hydraulic science packs.
• No more "haste makes waste". Speed modules no longer reduce quality.
• Added a new endgame technology which grants productivity to promethium science packs.

Recommended Mods

• HD Planets and Visible Planets for beautiful space platforms above Maraxsis.
• Starmap: Nexuz to improve the graphics of the starmap.

Etymology

The name "Maraxsis" draws inspiration from Frank Herbert's Arrakis. The two worlds can be considered "equal but opposite".

• Both lack essential resources—land on Maraxsis, water on Arrakis—making survival difficult.
• Both are dominated by colossal, worm-like apex predators that terrorize their respective environments.

This connection is mirrored in their names. The shared suffixes “-kis” or “-sis” evoke a harsh, guttural sound, hinting at the hostility in these landscapes.

• Arid → Arrakis
• Marine → Maraxsis

Credits

Maraxsis would not be possible without the help of these amazing, fantastic, incredible open source projects.

Unused Renders

• Creators: malcolmriley
• Source: Unused Renders
• License: CC BY 4.0
• Changes: Yes. Icons rescaled and cropped to 64x64. Various color adjustments.

Tropical Fish Pack

• Creators: ZivixLLC
• Source: Turbosquid
• License: TurboSquid 3D Model License
• Changes: Yes. Added animations. Added light effects. Converted to .PNG via Blender.

Hydro Plant & Regulator

• Creators: Hurricane
• Source: Figma
• License: CC BY
• Changes: Yes. Technology icon added. Renamed to "Hydro Plant". Renamed to "Regulator"

Submarine & Nuclear Submarine

• Creators: Archezekiel
• Source: Commissioned. Created in Blender.
• License: N/A
• Changes: Yes. Compressed for Factorio with Spritter

Pressure Dome

• Creators: Concept art by notnotmelon. 3D model by KaueNP. Shadow & item icon by notnotmelon.
• Source: Commissioned. Created in 3DS max studio.
• License: N/A
• Changes: No.

Sonar

• Creators: fishbus
• Source: Factorio+
• License: MIT
• Changes: Yes. Resized to create a low-resolution version. Added lamps.

Submarine AI

• Creators: Xorimuth, ILLISIS, Apollo314, fgardt
• Source: Spidertron Enhancements & Spidertron Patrols & Spidertron Automation
• License: MIT
• Changes: Yes. Updated the code to work with submarines.