What do you do when you run out of ore?

[Ook]

I've almost exhausted my main iron field. I know I can go find another one and mine it. Until it runs out. Find another. Mine it until it runs out. So is this a limited resource such that eventually you run out, or is the world size pretty much infinite so that I can keep going further and further away to find more ore? I'm curios as to how others handle running out of limited resources like this.

[Vixx]

As long as you keep exploring you will find new ore patches. They should get richer as you move farther out. A lot of players use trains to ship the ore back to a central location. Others set up smelters at the patches and ship the plates.

[impetus_maximus]

• trains
  
• research mining productivity
  
• productivity modules in miners/smelters *pollution and power permitting

[[OTS]EchoZenLogos]

Originally posted by Ook:

I've almost exhausted my main iron field. I know I can go find another one and mine it. Until it runs out. Find another. Mine it until it runs out. So is this a limited resource such that eventually you run out, or is the world size pretty much infinite so that I can keep going further and further away to find more ore? I'm curios as to how others handle running out of limited resources like this.

I'm basically a noob, but I've gotten near the end-game (researching rocket-tech now) and have used most of the basic stuff in the game by now.

With that out of the way - you have to find another patch of materials.

The world is infinite as far as I know.

Your starting ore patches are also much much smaller than the ones you can find.

I've had a single iron patch that started with 3.3 million ore, ten times that of my starting patch, and haven't even exhausted it half-way when procrastinating until nearly the end of the game. Getting more patches of course is entirely reasonable, especially if your goal is to maximize output (electric drill miners can only cover so much area after all), but you can realistically beat the game with only a single extra patch of each resource type (iron, copper, coal, stone, and crude oil).

So far I did so by exploring by car to find crude oil and find where good locations were. I then expanded for iron first, building an outpost. I then built trains to supply my main base from there. I then built another outpost where I finally found oil, built refineries in my main base, and sent oil there by train as well. I then built a copper outpost along the same path as the train that goes from the oil location (furthest away, got the 1000+ tiles rail achievement for it), to supply copper. Stone is supplied from the same base that has the crude oil, in smaller quantities I ramp up as needed.

I planned out my route so I could expand to further iron, copper, and even uranium patches. Coal I could expand to as well if I needed to, but I'm unlikely to make any more outposts before I just start a new game. Once you get the tank it becomes much easier to clear out biters and such, but if you don't waste time early-on like I did you could conceivably kill them pretty easily before they evolve so much.

---

In short: the early patches are extremely limited in size, but if you find decent places to mine, you should be set with minimal expansion. Doing just the math alone on what you need to win the game, you only need said minimal expansion. I'm going to likely finish this game pretty soon by launching a rocket, then start a new game now that I know how to play.

You can definitely keep exploring. I recommend using a car for this, since you'll be fast enough to outrun anything, and can cover more ground. Using a tank once you get a tank (though that's later on) could also be useful depending on just how far you plan to expand. Radars also can help - I suggest keeping at least one at every outpost so you can somewhat "automate" exploring around specific regions (limited extent, but also lets you view the outpost on the map while zooming in).

[Purpleganja]

At some point you find extra huge patches of ores combined with productivity upgrades and modules, they are practically infinite. By the time you finish mining them you will have so much prod upgrades that the next big one will last until you stop playing on start a new game.. or maybe it's the next one because you feel like playing another 1000hr on this map.😜

[Leyla]

Originally posted by Echonian:

The world is infinite as far as I know.

Maximum map-size is 1.000.000 x 1.000.000.
You can test it with the console:
/c game.player.teleport({999990, 999990})

[lPaladinl]

Originally posted by Seven of Nine:

Originally posted by Echonian:

The world is infinite as far as I know.

Maximum map-size is 1.000.000 x 1.000.000.
You can test it with the console:
/c game.player.teleport({999990, 999990})

Yeah, it used to be theoretically infinite but they eventually capped it for performance reasons.

As for what to do when ore runs out: branch out and get more. That way you're encouraged to explore and deal with biters if you have them enabled.

Whether you move your base is up to you, but at some point it'll get quite annoying having super long train trips back to your starting location.

[[OTS]EchoZenLogos]

Originally posted by Seven of Nine:

Originally posted by Echonian:

The world is infinite as far as I know.

Maximum map-size is 1.000.000 x 1.000.000.
You can test it with the console:
/c game.player.teleport({999990, 999990})

I mean, when I said "infinite" I wasn't being quite literal. The map is large enough that it would take literal hours while riding a maximum-speed train to reach the border.

But yeah, there are limits in there.

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by Echonian:

I mean, when I said "infinite" I wasn't being quite literal. The map is large enough that it would take literal hours while riding a maximum-speed train to reach the border.

Essentially, "really infinite" vs "functionally infinite". If it would take you years/decades/centuries of continuous play to exhaust the map, it might as well *be* infinite :) Of course, you'd run out of memory and the UPS would grind to a halt way, way before that, but that's a different issue :D

[[WV] SotS]

Pretty much your only option is to expand outwards. Using radars and trains you can find ore patches further out from your area and then tap them using train lines and forward mining outposts.

Do note that these outposts are real biter magnets so make sure they are well defended!

[Ushiikun]

Also, as you progress, you'll expand more for throughput than raw amount. Before I ended my last game, I had consumed my initial iron patch, and had 8 new iron patches I was mining. This wasn't because I needed a 100 million iron, but because I needed that many drills functioning to support the throughput I need on iron\steel plates.

The tagline for this game should be:
"Your Factory Grows to Meet the Demands of the Growing Factory"

[Tankfriend]

What do you do when you run out of ore?

I go and find more ore... ;D

[Bromstine]

Originally posted by Starfleet:

Originally posted by Echonian:

The world is infinite as far as I know.

Maximum map-size is 1.000.000 x 1.000.000.
You can test it with the console:
/c game.player.teleport({999990, 999990})

Since no-one said it, I have to:
Map size limit is 2,000,000 x 2,000,000. You can test by using the console command (NOTE that it disables acchievements!) above, just replace the 999990 with -999990.

(Necros are a part of life, get used to them)

[impetus_maximus]

Originally posted by Bromstine:

(Necros are a part of life, get used to them)

as long as the post/thread is still relevant.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by impetus_maximus:

Originally posted by Bromstine:

(Necros are a part of life, get used to them)

as long as the post/thread is still relevant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb0PuaikL4w

[I Smell Bacon]

I think the world is 11,621,900 square miles if a square is a square yard.
Or something like that.