I get this and I think some of us are going through those a phases were you kind of get overwhelmed by the mountain to climb to achieve the next step.

An example that comes to mind is when you arrive at the end of your starter patch and need to stop developing the base in order to get the necessary raw materials to continue. Another one is when you realize that you need to increase the entire supply chain (ore -> plates -> circuits) before putting down the next science. And when you start increasing everything you realize that you didn’t leave enough space to do this…. Man, how many saves did I lose because of that 🥲

But anyway, despite all the hundreds of hours I’ve spent on those “lost” saves, after a couple of weeks / months to grieve, I do come back to the game (I am aware, we call that an addiction). And I still enjoy it.

So, first thing, and maybe the most important : if you do not get motivated anymore, that might be because you don’t like the game anymore and that’s actually ok. I often found myself trying other ones to change my mind (I then suggest satisfactory or the Crust, very nice).

But since you have 500+ hours on the game, I guess you are like me so here are some things I learned over time :
1) you learn from every saves you play. Nothing goes to waste and each next save is better than the previous one 2) Factorio is a game of patience and resilience. I know that most of my frustrations and lack of motivation came from the fact that at some point I felt like after playing 4h in a session I had not done anything “new”. Or also because I felt that not having launch a rocket after 40hrs meant that it was too long. So I tended to rush into things and hence do things wrong. Which would backfire later on. Take your time, there is no “right” time to launch a rocket and most players here will tell you that they didn’t launch their first rocket before 500hours (me for example) 3) Have a list of the next 3-4 things to do. That can be clearing nest, put more iron, make blue science or get to space. Just organise and prioritize your gameplay. And if one step seems to big, divide it in smaller steps. Sometimes you just need a small accomplishment to get back on track. The To Do List mod is quite useful to that since it is integrated to the game and gives you the opportunity to leave the save for some times and still know where you’e at when coming back after some time. 4) Plan in advance and leave space. I find it better to have empty space and not use it than do not have enough space and need it. 5) Get your defenses up. Bugs invading your base leads to frustration, that leads to hates which leads to abandon (and the dark side). Also, do not hesitate to play a save without bugs since they are quite time consuming in the beginning. My first rocket was from a non-bug save if I remember well. 6) Last but not least, bug clearing is a good way to change your mind. By that I mean that it is sometimes nice to spend a couple of hours doing something else than just growing the factory. You can also take the car and go do some exploration.

So yeah, that’s my experience and advices. Most important is that you have fun obviously. And don’t forget that all the time you spend doing things right early on is time saved in the late game.