Needing a good iron layout

[DarNock]

OMG I love this game, need advice now :) so I'm up to tier 4, now trying to do things with steel and advance parts, but I want to redo my iron, what youtube channel can I find the best iron layout? I have a few questions like can one pipe feed 2 screw plants? Stuff like that, thank you very much!

[Kraft51]

just do the math, its not complicated. just start with your target output and work your way down the line to the miner. X has a recipe list you can use for quick reference.

[DarNock]

oh okay, I've not used X much, I will check that out, thank you

[DarNock]

got a question, so my smelter says it can do 30 part a min, and the iron rod is 15 a min, so one shelter can produce enough bars for 2 iron rod machines?

[Darksider133]

correct you need some help ?

[DarNock]

yeah I'm just trying to clean everything up, this is so much fun!

[Kraft51]

Originally posted by DarNock:

yeah I'm just trying to clean everything up, this is so much fun!

yeah well tearing down to rebuild a better version is a regular event once you start getting a bit of "muscle memory" involved with your layouts. and like i said, the math is easy and doesn't really get any more complex with higher tiered components. it just increases in volume, so have a calculator ready if doing the math in your head gets too much lol.

[grapplehoeker]

This Youtuber's playlist of efficient builds will be useful to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQYtFFvtRHA&list=PLxpToD1Are7gX-QGoY4OKW2D3rLHZeIs6

[GMC]

Originally posted by Kraft51:

yeah well tearing down to rebuild a better version is a regular event

Or use a bus layout. Slower to build (mostly because getting splitters/mergers to be correctly aligned in 3 axes takes forever) but you never need to tear anything down.

If you aren't familiar with the concept, you have a multi-lane highway of belts (getting close to 40 belts by the endgame) running straight down the middle of your base. Initially it's just belts of ores. Put a splitter on the iron ore belt and run the split-off belt perpendicular to the bus. Along that belt are splitters, each of which feeds a smelter which feeds a merger, with the merged belt running back towards the bus. So now as well as the ores the bus also contains a belt of iron ingots. Split that off to make iron plates, do it again to make rods, so now the bus has ores, iron ingots, iron plates, and iron rods. And so on. Every time you make something new, the bus gets another belt. If you need more ingots, you just add more smelters to the row; same with anything else.

Eventually you need a spreadsheet to keep track of which material is on which belt, and the stacks get so high you take damage if you fall from them. But everything you need is there on the bus, and when you unlock a new recipe you just add another row of smelters/foundries/constructors/assemblers/manufacturers to the end of the bus and another belt to carry the new item.

Some other tips:

• Your base will be huge by the end. Build the platform high enough to go over every small hill you might encounter. If it will (or might) end up going over poison pillars, ensure that it's above the cloud of poison mist.
  
• Don't remove belts from the bus. You don't need a belt for iron ore once you've made ingots, right? Well, maybe you'll need more ingots and for whatever reason there isn't space to extend the row any further. But if you've still got a belt of ore on the bus, you can just add another row of smelters and merge the new ingots onto the existing belt.

The "that'll do for now" approach should end once you have coal power. Running on biomass limits how large you can realistically make your base. A decent-sized coal plant removes that limit, so it's time to start planning a base which will last to the endgame without needing to be torn down. When you have a hundred machines on a few hundred foundations, you don't want to have a sudden realisation that you really should have built it all 2 meters higher.

[Kraft51]

Originally posted by GMC:

Originally posted by Kraft51:

yeah well tearing down to rebuild a better version is a regular event

Or use a bus layout. Slower to build (mostly because getting splitters/mergers to be correctly aligned in 3 axes takes forever) but you never need to tear anything down.

If you aren't familiar with the concept, you have a multi-lane highway of belts (getting close to 40 belts by the endgame) running straight down the middle of your base. Initially it's just belts of ores. Put a splitter on the iron ore belt and run the split-off belt perpendicular to the bus. Along that belt are splitters, each of which feeds a smelter which feeds a merger, with the merged belt running back towards the bus. So now as well as the ores the bus also contains a belt of iron ingots. Split that off to make iron plates, do it again to make rods, so now the bus has ores, iron ingots, iron plates, and iron rods. And so on. Every time you make something new, the bus gets another belt. If you need more ingots, you just add more smelters to the row; same with anything else.

Eventually you need a spreadsheet to keep track of which material is on which belt, and the stacks get so high you take damage if you fall from them. But everything you need is there on the bus, and when you unlock a new recipe you just add another row of smelters/foundries/constructors/assemblers/manufacturers to the end of the bus and another belt to carry the new item.

Some other tips:

• Your base will be huge by the end. Build the platform high enough to go over every small hill you might encounter. If it will (or might) end up going over poison pillars, ensure that it's above the cloud of poison mist.
  
• Don't remove belts from the bus. You don't need a belt for iron ore once you've made ingots, right? Well, maybe you'll need more ingots and for whatever reason there isn't space to extend the row any further. But if you've still got a belt of ore on the bus, you can just add another row of smelters and merge the new ingots onto the existing belt.

The "that'll do for now" approach should end once you have coal power. Running on biomass limits how large you can realistically make your base. A decent-sized coal plant removes that limit, so it's time to start planning a base which will last to the endgame without needing to be torn down. When you have a hundred machines on a few hundred foundations, you don't want to have a sudden realisation that you really should have built it all 2 meters higher.

i've been playing this game since the Closed Alpha, prior to that i also have a great deal of time in FortressCraft Evolved and a bit into Factorio .. i know what a main bus is, i just don't believe they are necessary in Satisfactory. i build focused output dedicated factories so endless spreadsheets aren't needed in my calcs ever, all i ever need is a calculator at best.

tearing down to rebuild more efficiently isn't affected in any way by employing a main bus, its only useful to those that choose to build out flat instead of vertically .... again, doesn't work with anything i design. i have over 1600 hours in Satisfactory between Steam and Epic so i think i have a handle on how i like to build and what options are available.

[Mojo]

Scalti on YouTube has some good basic layouts also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Bynd7eBOU

[DrNewcenstein]

N brings up an in-game calculator.

[Kraft51]

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

N brings up an in-game calculator.

wait, has that always been there? if so thats also good to know, learn something new everyday lol.