Building vertically need help

[sheap]

Hello I just unlocked vertical conveyors and I dislike building on one plane (i could play factorio if i wanted that), but so far only way i have foundisss to stack 3 walls so i am able to build a constructor inside it, but even then all seems very messy :

I have to stack 4 floor tiles to be able to put walls around the constructor (one constructor = one floor tiles but without walls, if you wan,t walls you need to add 3 empty tiles and put the constructor at the center of the 4 tiles)

All in all very confused because the game is praised for its logic so I guess am i missing something anyone ?

[Mogges]

Yes, a constructor can be placed on one foundation, but there is no more space left for walls on the left and the right. So place the constructor in the middle of 2 foundations and you have room left. One constructor -> 2 foundations + walls.
Two constructors -> 3 foundations + walls
Three constructors -> 4 foundations + walls
Etc.
And don´t build a closed "room" and place machines IN it. First use the wide space, use foundations and build the whole set-up for this certain part of the production and AFTER this place the walls.
This is much easier as you may not forget you have to place conveyors as well and poles. And you want to move between your machines.
Don´t build to closely, you have all the space on the planet.

[sheap]

Originally posted by Mogges:

Don´t build to closely, you have all the space on the planet.

I guess that's my main problem, in all construction game I like to build small and compact, each time I try to do this with Satisfactory it's getting frustrating and not satisfying at all, I really dislike large factory (which seems to be 99% pf the videos out here), I tought I would be able to build a tower.

I have to admit from all videos i have seen, i haven't seen a single tower that fit what I am trying to do, they seems to always be quite large :(

[Mogges]

Don´t get me wrong; you can do whatever you want in this game; it doesn´t even have gravity ;-)
But I would get myself familiar first with the mechanics and construction modes. And yes: the i-net is full with fancy buildings, just use your creativity.
In the beginning there is no need to build huge factories, in most of the cases it is more than fine when you have one node and 2-3 constructors and smelters connected. Expansion can be done later.

[Procrastinating Gamer]

Nearest I've seen to tower-style factories have been some of the stuff in Scalti's videos. He has factories that start with the raw resource and turn it into the finished product, with each step of the process on a separate floor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Bynd7eBOU

Even then, they don't exactly have a narrow horizontal footprint.

[sheap]

Originally posted by Procrastinating Gamer:

Nearest I've seen to tower-style factories have been some of the stuff in Scalti's videos. He has factories that start with the raw resource and turn it into the finished product, with each step of the process on a separate floor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Bynd7eBOU

Even then, they don't exactly have a narrow horizontal footprint.

Yup that's what I was thinking, it's more a giant cube than a tower.

[Maehlice]

I think you're looking for something more akin to the "5x5" challenge:

https://www.satisfactorytips.com/guides/five-x-five-challenge-rules

If you compartmentalize each resource (like one factory for plates, one for frames, one for pipes, etc), you'll typically end up with a bunch of cubes.

But, if you force yourself to build on a specific footprint and/or work a raw material up to the final product, you go vertical very quickly.

I don't have a good close up and am not at my computer this weekend, so forgive the bad SS. Look in the background at the 200m circular tower. It takes in ingots at the bottom and spits out 13.33 Heavy Modular Frames at the top.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2495777806

[Metalhead123]

If you don't manifold smelters and constructors you will end with spaghetti like conveyor belts and Towers will be almost immpossible. One thing you could do is build smelters near the miner. Send the ingots into a new factory then floor up for the next tiers of Assembly and Manufacturing.

It will take hundreds maybe even thousands of hours to get it looking how you want.

A good tip to build vertical is to set up your constructors on foundations (no walls) pinpoint your output then build a conveyor wall. Build a Lift that attaches to the second floor and add another conveyor wall on the next floor up. The conveyor should attach perfectly. Then start adding like a floating 2nd floor thats attached to that 1 wall.

Build all the rest of the walls/windows/doors/balconies/roofs when you have a final product automated.

[Tenzek]

The most important part of an organized base is item conduits. Build a central spine or several 1x1 or 2x2 towers along the outside walls to move materials up. Feed a floor, then take the output back into the conduit up to the next floor for the next step.

You aren't going to end up with one narrow tower because of the sheer volume of things you need to make, but if you make a huge open floor, you can do a single grand tower and room things off as you build.

[sheap]

Much thanks, you helped me a lot make my first tower (Rotor factory) :
https://i.imgur.com/hBIPPES.jpg

I am still learning so calculations are not optimal but I am glad I could make the full production in one tower.

It's still sketchy but it's working.
That said I still struggle to find exemple of real tower (not big cube), so I feel like I am moving in the dark, lot of fun but I would like to see what more experienced plkayers have done with tower design.

Also going on the wiki I noticed in higher tier it'll be much more easier to do so (more production per machine, jetpack etc...), I struggled a lot to do this tier 3.

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by sheap:

... I still struggle to find exemple of real tower (not big cube), so I feel like I am moving in the dark, lot of fun but I would like to see what more experienced plkayers have done with tower design.

In most towers, each floor is a full process. For example, each floor of my Heavy Modular Frames tower "The Carousel":

1. 24 Constructors: Pipes, Plates, Wire
   
2. 12 Assemblers: Stitched Plates
   
3. 12 Assemblers: Steeled Frames
   
4. 24 Constructors: Pipe
   
5. 12 Assemblers: Encased Industrial Pipe
   
6. 6 Manufacturers: Heavy Encased Frames

Raw goods are taken in from along the exterior, and anything passed between floors goes up a central chase.

I don't have a good exterior shot yet; this is just the bottom floor:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2483579830

---

The other one I'm finishing right now is simply one floor duplicated over and over.

Each floor processes 30 Oil and 100 Water into 90 Plastic or Rubber.

Duplicated 5 times per tower results in 150 Oil per tower and just under one Mk4 belt of goods.

You can see in the middle pic a pipe chase just left of where I'm hovering which takes oil and water to each floor. In the back right is a lift chase for getting the goods back down from floor to floor.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2505228887

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2505228951

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2505229016

[Kalvix]

I would love to build using walls, but in this game I honestly don't think I ever will purely because everything is so talls and produces so much smoke that it just feels wrong to build it inside without a specific chimney to build that handles it. I know technically I could just leave a gap but that just doesn't feel right.

That said I'm making my first factory on the woody meadow planet so it's actually kind of awkward to get the open room for using buildings. without building a couple 100ft above the ground which I really don't want to do.

[Evilsod]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

I think you're looking for something more akin to the "5x5" challenge:

https://www.satisfactorytips.com/guides/five-x-five-challenge-rules

Yeesh, what a tedious challenge. Anything beyond Constructor tier almost requires a dedicated floor to itself.

The most 'verticality' I've used is compartmentalising single resource processing into one structure. Iron/copper smelting on the ground, then processing into plates/rods/screws over the next two floors, creating a long, 3-story building. I did the same thing with Solid Steel.

Then of course, I built a Pure Iron refinery setup next to it, which is already the same height as that 3 story building even without additional processing...

It's not much, but it does minimise the footprint for basic materials processing. You could always expand it if you wanted to dedicate entire nodes to the production of, say, Modular Frames.

[5n4k3d0cToR]

Originally posted by Procrastinating Gamer:

Nearest I've seen to tower-style factories have been some of the stuff in Scalti's videos. He has factories that start with the raw resource and turn it into the finished product, with each step of the process on a separate floor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Bynd7eBOU

Even then, they don't exactly have a narrow horizontal footprint.

Great videos from that folk btw - well worth watching!