starting over

[SaltHuntress]

I have 40 hours played on steam, at the time of writing this i have had 4 save files.
After ~10 hours or so i am no satisfied with my factory and just start a new game, that is easier then reworking an entire base. Any tips on how to make long term bases?

[Jupiter3927]

Try planning your factory out before you do anything.
You could also build a new factory using your old factory as a starting point without starting over completely.

Once you get bots, construction and deconstruction become much easier.

[Fel]

I tend to do the same thing, except I do it for hundreds of hours (I have never properly launched a rocket, I did cheat it in a few test worlds to do things with space science and large scale bases but never in a non-cheat map).
But since I'm fine with that it's not an issue.

If you want to keep going for the long term and still get hit by "this base sucks, I know I can do it much better if I restart" you can do things a bit differently from that point onward.
For example, only slightly changing your current factory to produce mining drills, assembling machines, furnaces, belts, inserters, power poles and so on, all of the things you need to build a factory.
Then while it is crafting, you go out and explore a bit for a place to settle and start making a new base there with the supplies crafted by your old base.

If that isn't something that would work for you, there are designs that are focusing on using a main bus (which you already know about) for resources and mostly independent blocks fed from that bus.
That approach allows you to leave a decent amount of space between those blocks, meaning that if/when you decide that a portion needs to be re-done in a different way you don't need to tear down the whole base, making it much easier to do one step at a time.


Another way is to approach things with a different view, leaving to the side the idea of making a perfect base for now and only focus on makign something that works as you go up the tech tree.
As you continue learning about everything you will get to understand how trains work, they open a very nice way of designing your factory, transforming the main bus and blocks approach in a way that doesn't care as much about the order of your blocks or about the distance between them.
A modular approach based on rails takes a while to perfect but since you are working with blocks that are a fair distance away it makes it significantly easier for perfectionists to fiddle with a block for a few hours without affecting the base's layout.

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by PraiseTheSalt:

I have 40 hours played on steam, at the time of writing this i have had 4 save files.
After ~10 hours or so i am no satisfied with my factory and just start a new game, that is easier then reworking an entire base.

Honestly, I think the viewpoint here is 'wrong'.. After 10 hours, you're not satisfied. That totally makes sense; I'm sure it happens to just about everyone.

However, Making a new game instead of working on your existing factory i think is where a mistake in viewpoint lies.. It will take you 10 hours to get back to where you are now, While it might only take 2-3 hours to modify your existing factory. Not only that, but you will learn a lot more about how things can go together by modifying your existing factory to fix perceived problems in it than you will be restarting and building an entirely new factory.


But, I can't say I haven't also restarted entirely a time or two for similar reasons.. My suggestion? Don't make a new world. Cut the factory off at the ore inputs- Let everything in the factory run it's course till everything runs out of material, and dismantle the entire factory except for where your ore is coming from. Shove everything in a chest. Shut off your power production, but leave defenses around any remaining buildings like the power plant and ore mines... And wait for 30 minutes (go make something to eat while the game is unpaused or something)

You now functionally have a 'new map' in much less time, a big empty space to build in, and the components to build a factory already at hand. The reason you AFK for 30 minutes is it gives trees time to absorb pollution which brings your pollution cloud in. You may need to go kill some biter bases that moved into your space, but, it should be relatively easy.


I would also suggest learning how to make and use a Main bus.

https://wiki.factorio.com/Tutorial:Main_bus

Using this, Your inputs are always neat and tidy and uniform- And any time you get frustrated with a part of your factory, you can just rip it apart and rebuild it without affecting the Main bus.

This concept of the Main bus is also why I would suggest doing the above- Dismantle everything, and rebuild from the ground up with the components you already have, rather than just starting a new save. It's a pain to make a main bus from scratch in a new save, it slows down your progress considerably. But, In a world where you've got all the components, it's easy- You have all the parts already to make the bus, and start attaching things into it.


You already have your mines prepared- So next is smelting, putting Iron plates and Copper plates on the bus. Smelting is nice and uniform, and always goes at the start of the bus You can easily account for extra smelting space, and a smelting layout is very easy to optimize so it wont leave you annoyed with it later. -- You'll likely want at least 4 full belts of Iron and Copper plates here- So as you're building the bus, account for that space, even if you don't have enough ore input to sustain it and only use one belt of that space. This way you don't have to modify the bus later. Plan in your expected/hoped bus size so expansion is easy. :)

After that your first two shoots off the main bus will be Electronic Circuits, and Steel - Electronic circuits is something you'll need a lot of, And it's also a recipe that's pretty easy to optimize as far as space and inputs goes Just some copper and iron plates.

Steel is super simple- Just run some iron plates off the bus, and into a smelting setup like you would for ore to plates, and you'll get steel out.

Then put the outputs of the circuits and steel to the bus, and you're good.

If you do all of your factory to one side of the bus, you can freely expand the bus off the other side to add more and more as you go through the game- If you decide you want to pipe stone down the bus, you can. -- Or if you want to build off both sides of the bus, make sure you plan accordingly for most of what you want; And then when you build off either side of the bus, add a 10-15 tile gap before the factory you build; So that there is room for the bus to expand.


Hope any of what I say here helps.

[knighttemplar1960]

When I was first starting out I started over several times and each new base I started my initial start factory got bigger as I planned it out but I hadn't taken the game all the way to the conclusion and each time I did things differently using knowledge and skills gained from previous play throughs. I'm still making tweaks and modifications to the way I build my factories.

Taking apart an all ready built factory or section by hand is tedious and time consuming until you have powered armor and 2 personal roboports.

There were 2 different ways that I used to compensate. The fist method I tried was to build a starting factory in the starting patches and slowly do research and builds while I created technology to help expand. Then I would look for a coal patch that was near another resource especially Iron so that I could set up additional iron plate and steel production because that was the resource that bottle necked first. I would run power poles to the patch from the main base and surround it with defenses and then I would haul the plate and steel to the main base in my inventory until I got a car when I would use both my inventory and the car.

I would then do the same thing for copper and oil. By that time I had construction robots and I dis-assembled the start base and built a main bus in the start patch area.

My play through after that I realized that I didn't have to dis-assemble the start base. I just picked a different place to build the main factory and bus and brought all the materials by train there to make a bus and I left my small start factory where it was. When I didn't need any of the products it produced any more because I had duplicated it all with better assemblers and electric furnaces, I turned off the power to the start base and left it where it was.

Once my main factory was up and producing every thing I needed automatically I went back and dis-assembled my start base to make way for my nuclear power plant (because there was water where the start base was).

Now I build everything but the start base as modular mini-factories and haul what it requires in by rail and take what it produces out by rail. Figuring out how to build YOUR base the way YOU want it is part of the puzzle of the game. There is no "right way" there are only various ways. Build your factory how ever you are comfortable in what ever way that satisfies your desire to build and create.

[brian_va]

leave the messy base to build the things needed for the proper base and churn out some science until you can transition to the new one fully.

then do it all again

[arti_llery]

I'll say it's better to rebuild than start over. Sometimes I'll let the game run up a surplus of materials just to rebuild with.
Makes a bigger difference when you add mods, too. Angel's and Bob's mods add a bit more processing early on to make the basics.

[oldschool]

I have the same urges as op

however with this game i forced myself to continue with my 2nd playthrough, the base was a complete mess and at the end it was just mad spaghetti to launch a rocket

3rd playthrough the base was well organized until yellow science, then mad spaghetti to rocket launch

4th well organized until rocket parts, then mad spaghetti to finish

5th I set my eyes on a 1.35k spm mega base, main base was well organized but my rails where spaghetti, time to start over

and now on my 6th lightly moded, 1.35k spm attempt everything is well organized and its just doing the work, but im sure when i start to use circuits for my trains I will come up with a better way of doing it and want to restart

This is my experience with factorio, youll always think of a better way of doing things and be compelled to start over and do it right.....

so is it a mistake? meh, imo its probably best to push through towards the end and at least get a feel for everything, so you'll have a better idea of how you want things laid out in your next run

tips for making long term bases
Experience

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

been playing alotta multiplayer and fiddling around. Have some trouble too but i found some good strategies. Also been needing or wanting to restart my own factory since i did the lazy bastard achievement so efficiency wasn't a concern.
Some tips i've noticed or done myself:

1. First and foremost don't abandon your old factory. Just store everything if needed into brown storage chests using bots temporarily and rebuild. Maybe keep the same BUS line and nuclear power plant temporarily unless you wanna restart all over. If you really wanna restart from scratch get some friends and personal roboports so you can rebuild everything.

It takes alot of prepping but ultimately much less stressful and easier than restarting from scratch (you'll probably run into the same problem or biters will become a main issue if you try expanding too fast outside of peaceful mode).



2. pre plan ahead. For sure you wanna have a set smelting area that you never wanna move. With robots blueprints can be made faster and easier and hell you already got all your stuff made just gotta reroute them.

3. have a very organized electrical setup. If you're restarting make a crap ton of sub stations beforehand as it just makes connecting everything much easier and less troublesome

4. Same strategy with robot ports. Having them all connected orange edge to orange edge makes stuff much easier

5. make a crap ton of concrete so new rocks and trees don't reform or if they do not as fast. Makes walking around much easier

6. Now that everything is replaced build 2 sides on the bus. One will be completely for research/rocket and the other side for everything else. Bottom or top or the sides not building will be the long line of smelters.

7. Contrary to popular beliefs you don't need 100000000000 assemblers. Having a couple with modules and beacons will inc. production and save space much more than having the same amount of assemblers without the buffs. In fact later on having long lines of assemblers will probably ♥♥♥♥ up your resources.

8. If you don't want long ass lines of belts you can just put logic chests and have robots carry them across the factory to make it more compact and spacious

9. Have AT LEAST 8 nuclear reactors(all next to each other not space inbetween so 2X4) + the generators and turbines. 7 is a good starting amount and i got almost all my factory using speed modules at 1 MW each steam turbine and not all heat generators are making steam so i still got a ton of room leftover for adding more if needed. I say 7 because you get about 1k temp bonuses so you can make the heat generator lines much longer as opposed to just 1-2.

10. Trains are optional unless you used up all nearby resources. If not spread out.

11. Always have at enough room to add another 2 lines of assemblers if you need to expand. Though tbh some items like green chips use iron and copper plates like crazy so better to make separate lines instead of extending them.

12. Oil is probably more important for higher end items vs lower starter gear.

13. lazer turrets > machine gun turrets. You can sorta move up them up easier in addition to flamethrowers than machine gun turrets b/c pipes and electricity.

14. And last but not least make sure you have trusty experienced players help you out.

[Stryderunknown]

If you are starting over constantly, you should make sure you take blueprints from what segments work in the playthrough you intend to quit and port them into the next new game. This way eventually you'll get to a point where you don't need to start over anymore.

[Owl]

if you think you need 2 machines, build 4. if you think an acre of space, utilize two. if you think one of anything, use two. it is impossible to overkill anything in this game.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

Originally posted by Owl:

if you think you need 2 machines, build 4. if you think an acre of space, utilize two. if you think one of anything, use two. it is impossible to overkill anything in this game.

true.

though tbh some machines like turbines steam engines and power items only need 1 atm most since it's almost impossible to blow through an entire chest maybe 3 full chests of them in a short gameplay.

I'd say stick to the base items in mass amounts that you can never ever have enough of:
-circuits/chips blue red and especially green are the basis of all mid to higher lvl items
-imo steel >>> iron plates since steel is used for most higher lvl structures than iron plates. Debateable but it's just my own experiences always have enough iron never ever seem to have enough steel
-iron plates which i guess if you make a ♥♥♥♥ ton of steel then yeah iron is a higher prioirity
-copper plates mostly copper wiring for green chips and making red chips with.
-stone bricks and concrete
-petrol and sulfuric acid for things like sulfur and nuclear production for the drills to get uranium from.

everything else is cumulative but not really as necessary.

[Dragoon]

My base is a complete mess. Iron plates on the north side, copper on the south, it's very unorganized but it...works. I've thought about restarting but I've decided to just see how far I can get until I game over, if I can even game over lol.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

Originally posted by Dragoon:

My base is a complete mess. Iron plates on the north side, copper on the south, it's very unorganized but it...works. I've thought about restarting but I've decided to just see how far I can get until I game over, if I can even game over lol.

I know dat feel. Got like 1 million resources all for the taking easily

[Ragnaman]

40h are rookie numbers, its ok to start over.

When you think of creating something, take that something and scale it up at least 4 times, that should get you going somewhere.
One full iron belt ? nu'uh, 4 full iron belts? yeah.

If you end up in being in a mess, start thinking about Inputs and Outputs. Forget about what goes inbetween you will figure that out, focus on where does the inputs come from and where the outputs will go (reserve a chunk of space for the inbetween part), now you have approximate plan, fill in the guts in the middle that take the inputs and produce the outputs.

That is why bus design is so easy and logical, it helps this kind of thinking without causing insanity as you can always rely on where the inputs come from, only thing to figure out is how to organise outputs.

Next level is train modular bases which in a way is even easier than bus design, but requires a lot of resources to kickstart. (easy if you have well designed blueprints that just work).

Logistics bots trivialise everything, as long as you have a lot of energy production.

[Doctor Script]

Many young authors have this same issue. They have a good idea for a novel, they understand how to structure it, how to world build, where exposition goes and so forth...

but when they sit down and start actually writing it out, they either skip to the good fun Spectacle stuff or they work and drudge through the set up and struggle to keep it entertaining and fun to read and to write.

We call this "The Gap". The difference between knowing what is good practice and how to practice well.

It's time to roll up your sleeves and get swole like Sisyphus, friend.

Fortunately, there are many tricks to help you through this metaphorical gap.

First is identifying exactly what is the problem and solving it. If you're disinterested, why are you disinterested? Is your ore choked up? Things cluttered? Don't know how to get things where they need to go?

Usually, if I have a project that is choking me up, I write out a list of things I have an issue with on scrap paper and throw it in a milk carton and send it out to recycling. A symbolic washing the hands clean of my worries. This helps me focus on my technical issues and absolves me of many pathos issues (Anxiety, doubt, lack of self esteem, etc).

With technical issues, oft I find that I just need to jump the ledge and build my wings on the way down. I don't know what I am going to need, or how it is going to pan out, but these issues are temporary and the solution is permanent and improvable.

Also, you can learn from others (Like watching Let's Play series, I'm fond of Kathrine of Sky and Nihalus, for instance, but there are many YouTubers who play long series of Factorio.) and trust that their issues are similar in part to your own and by imitation of their solutions, you can find understanding of their problems.



And finally, if it's not a personal or technical problem, it may be a mastery problem.

Mastery is achieved when you have reached a point where you understand what you are doing, how you can do it, but you've started to chip away at the surface level of the game you've been playing and now are seeing the full depth of the game in front of you.

This is sometimes known as Analysis Paralysis. Realizing you have a choice with no guidance to a right or wrong answer Because there is no "Right" or "Wrong". This can be devastating to some personality types, because it puts the focus full bore on their own actions and accepting and predicting the incoming issues that arise as a result of your own choice can weigh in.

But... This is the boulder coming back down. This is a cleverly disguised emotional problem. Take a deep breath, grab a drink, and start rolling your boulder back up the mountain.

Tomorrow will be even easier then yesterday.