Regarding design/setup of 'Mini-Factories' seperated by product and rails

[Mist of Majora]

So I'm on my first attempt to build multiple giant (giant being a relative term for me based on my past factories - maybe not a 'megabase' yet but I digress...) factories based on the major products that need to be produced and I'm having a lot of trouble expanding. Aside from train woes which I'm temporarily handling via premade blueprints, it's becoming increasingly frustrating to trek out to build a giant mini-factory for a product when I could build it in a sliver of the time off the bus.

So although I have multiple questions regarding designs and implementation of this, my main question would simply be - at what point do people branch off from a bus to rails when trying a multiple factory design like this? If there's multiple options in your opinion for this, what's the earliest (tech-wise) time to do it?

So far, I'm starting to think the 'efficient' way to do this without going crazy is to rush most of the tech line on the bus, and once I have roboports, construction robots, and a small amount of everything, I can simply blueprint the large factories off-site.

[KatherineOfSky]

I generally only build products in outposts in post end-game. (Meaning after launching the first rocket, and when I can afford beaconed/moduled setups). Building a large bus-based factory to get to that point is indeed the easiest way to get to that point. (Intermediate-product) outposts are really only necessary if you want to build a megabase.

Also, building outposts is made much simpler if you setup a Building Train. (Basically a train that loads itself with materials from the base and delivers assemblers, belts, bots, all the materials needed for constructing the outpost, so that you don't have to trek back and forth).

[Mist of Majora]

Thanks Katherine that makes a lot of sense :) I'll take a look later on about your setup for sorting tons of items into a building train, but that definitely gives me at a good grasp on when to do it. I was really hoping to build a factory that wasn't reliant on a bus for once, but looks like that's not in the cards haha

[KatherineOfSky]

You can definitely make such a factory -- I suppose the earliest tech you'd really need would be rails. But the caveat would be setup time, of course. The Building Train will definitely help.

There's really nothing else stopping you from doing a factory like that from the get go -- it might be a fun experience! Definitely a different way of doing things. (Not sure if you saw Bentham's Towns YT series, but he pretty much does this -- one "town"/outpost for each product).

Tip: Take care to plan your rail network effectively -- place smelting and intemediate products in places where there are not too many crossings of trains.


Most people use a bus because it's very convenient, but Factorio is a game about possibilities, so you should do whatever your heart desires!

[Vixx]

" Factorio is a game about possibilities, so you should do whatever your heart desires!" Well said KoS.

[Doctor_Moriarty]

You are only doing this for your own amusement, not because it is strategically advisable in any way. So I say make whatever rules you want for yourself that allows you to build something you find awesome without pulling out your hair in frustration.

[The_Mess]

Sometimes it's worth doing, especially if you run out of space in which to plug manufactoring/smelting etc at the start of your main bus. Like for circuits, which you can never have enough of.

In my case though I'm going to build weapon's supply bases to produce stuff for the eventual defensive lines, with each base having a discrete section it serves to reduce restocking time in the face of bitter attacks.

[GunRunner89X]

Originally posted by Doctor_Moriarty:

You are only doing this for your own amusement, not because it is strategically advisable in any way. So I say make whatever rules you want for yourself that allows you to build something you find awesome without pulling out your hair in frustration.

This. For everything else, there's Mastercard try other players' blueprints to see how things work, they can really help. I was able to figure out how to disable a train station using the conditions that I wanted so that the train only stops there when it needs materials just by looking at other's blueprints and learning from them.

That being said I'm never gonna even try and create my own mega mall... I'll stick to blueprints!

Although, I did manage to create my own module factory (generic build for all 3 module types) that procudes a whopping 2 level 3 modules every minute................ I haven't done so much math since school!

[Mist of Majora]

Haha Gun-Runner :)

And as for the evil Dr Moriarty who seems to be living up to his evil name in this thread, I am indeed continuing to do and try new things for my amusement because I don't really get this kind of accomplishment-'high' from most other games :)

All that being said, I try to keep my masochism to a minimum in this game which is why all these tips and hints from the community help so much! On that note, I love the idea of adding the train station to the logistic network btw - I'm going to experiment with that later.

We already have about 4-5 factories specializing in a single product going already, and finally have the robots going in full swing. Thanks again for all the help guys - and if anyone else has any tips for a train factory like that awesome logistic tip let me know :)