I feel a bit stuck as far as progression goes.

[Gimli]

I can't quite put my finger on it. I create a basic factory that takes iron plates, rods, copper wire and concrete to a storage area. Then I edit it to make reinforced iron plates (albeit very inefficiently I'm not too sure how to get that quite right.) and after that I kinda just feel stuck as far as progression goes. Not overwhelmed as the game doesn't rush you to do anything but just... stuck. I haven't messed with coal power since before the liquid update. I've never produced steel or beyond.

One of my biggest issues is tearing down a factory layout to update it. I hate destroying my work but I know I'll have to do it eventually. Maybe its the starting zone? I usually play on Grass fields. It has lots of iron but most of the nodes aren't pure so its hard to do anything efficiently and it irks my OCD. Maybe I'm doing things in the wrong order?

EDIT: And then I see all these massive elaborate factories on Youtube and its like... "How the f*** did you plan that all out beforehand? 0_o"

[sansee]

Yes, sooner or later you are going to have to rebuild and/or tear-down, or leave it there and build somewhere else. Personally, I don't like it either, but it have to be done in order to meet the higher demands later in the game. And trust me, you need A LOT :D

I usually build on the grass until I have enough to start building my Mark 3 belt factories. That's a nice starting point. I too are building on "Green Hill" and with shards you can get more out of each node. 150 (that's with mark 2 miners yes) out of each of them, which means 5 smelters on each lines. And with all of them you can get really much out of them. Coal is a problem though, if you plan to build big on steel AND generators (but with another node just a few meters East beside a sulfur node you can create compact coal, which burn slower).

Also, build many small factories (one for smelting in that place, and one for iron plates besides it et cet.) and if you need to combine something - build a new factory building. That might be easier, and as you progress you build a new one beside the old one, and can either admire the work you've done or tear it down. Alternate between building and exploring for more snails and pods and more. Your choice.

[Shiny cursed Potato]

"Reinforced iron plates inefficiently"
Why? Whats the issue in that production line?

[Dragonflight]

I'm trying to figure out how people carried the kinds of resources needed to build stuff like that in their inventory. Even with hypertubes, they must have spent a staggering amount of time just going back and forth from their collection points to the build zones...

[Gimli]

Originally posted by sansee:

Yes, sooner or later you are going to have to rebuild and/or tear-down, or leave it there and build somewhere else. Personally, I don't like it either, but it have to be done in order to meet the higher demands later in the game. And trust me, you need A LOT :D

I usually build on the grass until I have enough to start building my Mark 3 belt factories. That's a nice starting point. I too are building on "Green Hill" and with shards you can get more out of each node. 150 (that's with mark 2 miners yes) out of each of them, which means 5 smelters on each lines. And with all of them you can get really much out of them. Coal is a problem though, if you plan to build big on steel AND generators (but with another node just East beside a sulfur node you can create compact coal, which burn slower).

Also, build many small factories (one for smelting and one for iron plates et cet.) and if you need to combine something - build a new factory building. That might easier, and as you progress you build a new one beside the old one, and can either admire the work you've done or tear it down. Alternate between building and exploring for more snails and pods and more. Your choice.

Thanks this is actually pretty helpful. I think maybe I'm starting off too ambitious.

Originally posted by Shiny cursed Potato:

"Reinforced iron plates inefficiently"
Why? Whats the issue in that production line?

It just doesn't feel like its going fast enough. Production often halts and I think its because the inputs aren't being fed fast enough. Could probably solve this with higher tier belts and overclocked machines though.

[Dragonflight]

Harvest glowing slugs to turn into performance boosters for the machinery. I also discovered the boosters are removable. You're not locked into a decision if the factory's bottlenecks change later on. Just pull it out and use it somewhere else.

Edit: I found all of one coal mine so far on the grassy plateau, but I found that if I upgraded it to a Mk 2 mine with Mk 2 conveyors, I can split it into a pair of Mk 1 conveyors, and that gives me a steady stream of coal for two steel mills. That kind of planning works.

[Gimli]

Originally posted by Dragonflight:

Harvest glowing slugs to turn into performance boosters for the machinery. I also discovered the boosters are removable. You're not locked into a decision if the factory's bottlenecks change later on. Just pull it out and use it somewhere else.

I guess I'm going slug hunting :)

[sansee]

Originally posted by Dragonflight:

Could probably solve this with higher tier belts and overclocked machines though.

Just be aware that while it might give you more out of each miner, just be careful because the power requirements aren't linear, and thus, I don't recommend overclocking anything else other than the miners. It's better to build one more constructor/assembler f.ex. and underclock it if the ratios doesn't add up a whole building.

(These are taken on EA):
On 100% a Mark 2 miner uses 12MW, while on 250% it uses 52MW... (12*2.5 is 30MW if it was linear).

A constructor uses 4MW on 100%, while on 250% it uses 17.3MW.

[Shiny cursed Potato]

Originally posted by sansee:

Originally posted by Dragonflight:

Could probably solve this with higher tier belts and overclocked machines though.

Just be aware that while it might give you more out of each miner, just be careful because the power requirements aren't linear, and thus, I don't recommend overclocking anything else other than the miners. It's better to build one more constructor/assembler f.ex. and underclock it.

(These are taken on EA):
On 100% a Mark 2 miner uses 12MW, while on 250% it uses 52MW... (12*2.5 is 30MW if it was linear).

A constructor uses 4MW on 100%, while on 250% it uses 17.3MW

Knew it wastn linear, but didnt know it was such a drastic increase. Thanks!

[Gimli]

Originally posted by sansee:

Originally posted by Dragonflight:

Could probably solve this with higher tier belts and overclocked machines though.

Just be aware that while it might give you more out of each miner, just be careful because the power requirements aren't linear, and thus, I don't recommend overclocking anything else other than the miners. It's better to build one more constructor/assembler f.ex. and underclock it if the ratios doesn't add up a whole building.

(These are taken on EA):
On 100% a Mark 2 miner uses 12MW, while on 250% it uses 52MW... (12*2.5 is 30MW if it was linear).

A constructor uses 4MW on 100%, while on 250% it uses 17.3MW.

I'll keep that in mind thanks.

[Honorable_D]

Whatever you do, make sure you have over 1000 screws per minute being made. They are the highest demanded item in the game.

[Grandaddypurple]

I havent read the whole thread but one rule of thumb in Satisfactory is: don't be afraid to go big. When you get to quartz and you realize the closest node is 2km away you'll be like "uuugh". And sometimes it does take a long time to set up the logistics.
If it takes a whole game session just to setup your quartz/caterium/oil input, then so be it. There's no problem with that. This game can be slow.
Also you don't necessarily need to tear down everything, you cam just relocate. You can't run out of iron/copper/limestone nodes even if you max out the production of higher tier items, so you can leave your starting factory for the midgame, and come back to drastically upgrade it late game. Staying at the same spot can burn you out overtime

[Tipoff Giggots]

What I do is only overclock miners, and use pure nodes or normal ones if I have to, so I will pull out the maximum amount from the miners, build a ton of smelters and constructors, everything to process it all as much as I can get and build big factories on every node basically

[Gimli]

Originally posted by TipoffGiggots:

What I do is only overclock miners, and use pure nodes or normal ones if I have to, so I will pull out the maximum amount from the miners, build a ton of smelters and constructors, everything to process it all as much as I can get and build big factories on every node basically

So you try to have a factory for every node? Essentially squeezing as much out of one node as you can?

[Gimli]

Also is it true that a tamed lizard doggo has a chance of generating power slugs in its inventory?

[Tipoff Giggots]

Originally posted by Equinox:

Originally posted by TipoffGiggots:

What I do is only overclock miners, and use pure nodes or normal ones if I have to, so I will pull out the maximum amount from the miners, build a ton of smelters and constructors, everything to process it all as much as I can get and build big factories on every node basically

So you try to have a factory for every node? Essentially squeezing as much out of one node as you can?

Oh yeah. The world is your playground, go crazy. It took me ages to finally leave my starting area and get more but do it, it's worth it. I really don't touch impure nodes anymore, they aren't worth it really, at least the copper and iron ones.
But yeah I try to squeeze as much out of every node as I can and for my steel factory right now, im maxing out all sorts of nodes and bringing it to the factory and making a ton of stuff.

Originally posted by Equinox:

Also is it true that a tamed lizard doggo has a chance of generating power slugs in its inventory?

Yes you can get any type of slug, I think from my like 8 dogs I have gotten like 10 purple slugs, or more, but I have also gotten like 12 nuclear waste barrels from them too, but I just hooked up a storage container with a belt next to their enclosure to a farther storage container so it won't bother me,