Satisfactory now lets you create blueprints and play in peaceful mode

Satisfactory now has game modes and blueprints as of Update 7, which is now available in the main Early Access release of the survival builder. If you’re a hardcore factory builder, these are a big deal: blueprints make it easy to replicate structure layouts quickly, and game modes let you make Satisfactory’s alien fauna harmless.

Here’s the new update video covering all the major features:

The update adds a new building, the Blueprint Designer, through which you can plan structures that you can then build via a single click. Blueprints have size limits – “4 by 4 Foundations and 8 Walls in height” – but once constructed, they can be accessed via a Blueprints Build Menu tab or added to your hotbar like any other construction. This will save a massive amount of time for some players.

Game modes are likewise a relatively small feature with a huge impact. There are two new modes added in Update 7: Passive and Retaliating. “Passive” means that the creatures roaming Satisfactory’s alien world won’t attack the player under any circumstances. If you don’t like the guns and combat, and just want to focus on building your factory, this is for you. “Retaliating” means that the aliens will only attack if you attack them first, meaning you can still opt-in to combat when you feel like it, but won’t be hassled the rest of the time.

There are other new additions as outlined in the Full patch notes over on Steam.

Satisfactory developers Coffee Stain changed the cadence of their updates earlier this year to focus on the big remaining features required to get the game ready for a 1.0 release. Update 6 brought revamped exploration and combat in September though, so they’ve not slowed down much.

Satisfactory is also currently 40% off on Steam.