What's the thought process behind mid-game items like computers?

[Qdude]

I'm struggling how to get over creating items that require stuff from multiple resource types, like computers, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. It's hard for me to articulate my questions clearly so bear with me.
I've never gotten this far into the game and it just gives me a headache trying to figure out how to get it done neatly. This also goes for steel, I've always made factories that create the higher tier iron items like Reinforced Plates at the steel factory itself, but most other people seem to create the basic steel items like beams and pipes and ship them off somewhere else to make stators and motors, etc. How do you go about making items that require multiple types of resources?

[Cubic John]

I think a lot of the point of the game is that there are a lot of different approaches that can be taken to solve these problems, and that each player can find their own way and/or try different methods in different save files. Personally, I tend to try to set up production sort of at the midpoint of the resources it requires, or near the middle of some nodes that have most of what I need and send in whatever I'm missing through trucks or some long conveyors. I just finished a big project to set up some fully-automated supercomputer production (with spare computers, high-speed connectors, AI limiters, and circuit boards also being made and stockpiled in the process); I set it up near my initial (and currently only) oil setup (the oil nodes near the NW of the grasslands area), bringing in a ton of caterium ingots from the nearby caterium nodes and using the caterium computers recipe so that all I needed was lots of quickwire, oil products, and copper sheets (copper sheets needing to be trucked in from further away). I think collecting alternative recipes and finding the right combination of them to minimize the number of different base resources you need for a particular production line is also important for practical production lines of advanced parts. But, as others have said, you COULD also highly-specialize each cluster of resource nodes for one or two basic parts, and then ship those basic parts into manufacturing centers to be assembled and manufactured into more advanced parts.

[Mogges]

Let´s stick to the computer example, which was asked for. What I do is the following when producing complex ( 4 items ) parts. Have a look what is the most seldom and complex part that is needed, for computers it is plastic. So place your computer factory close to an oil node. In addition you need a copper node for the coppers sheets ( circuit boards ) and the cables. The last thing are the screws, produced out of iron, that you find everywhere -> that´s it. In a +/- small circle around your oil node for plastic you will everything you need, a copper and an iron node. Do the production of basic items like screws and cables and transport the result to your plastic site. I have placed copper, iron and steel ingot "storage towers" all over the map. I harvest all the ores, smelt them and build cooper towers or iron towers, maybe 5-6 nodes together. Those towers are used as sources and support for complex items like the computers.

[Remnar]

I'm over 100 hours in my update 6 play through; and I haven't even started on computers or heavy modular frames yet. I recently finished building a tower that makes crystal oscillators; because I wanted them to be used in motor manufacturing which is next door. It's insane the amount of work I had to put into that one project just to spit out 12 per minute. What helped me is using the project planner at https://satisfactory-calculator.com/

I guess my point is, there are tools to help you plan for what you need. So let's say you want to make computers, you can use tools like the website I use to help you figure out how much you need of items for producing a certain amount. In my case I am using the maximum output based on local resources I can pull from. In my case I will have to use a train to bring in plastic and anything else for making computers.

[ShelLuser]

So, first... I'm a rather new player; only started this weekend. Still, also already 25 hours into the game, lol :) I just set up the space elevator, and unlocked coal as well as Logistics Mk3 (I think... with the tractors and such?).

Oprindeligt skrevet af Qdude:

I'm struggling how to get over creating items that require stuff from multiple resource types, like computers, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. It's hard for me to articulate my questions clearly so bear with me.
I've never gotten this far into the game and it just gives me a headache trying to figure out how to get it done neatly.

So for what's it worth... I think the biggest "mistake" one can make in this game is to try and do things "correctly". Instead of focusing on how others do things you're better of just doing things the way you enjoy doing them; don't be afraid to make mistakes, and also don't be afraid to try and correct those later (this holds especially true because you don't loose ingredients when you remove structures).

For example I started out like so many: autominer for my iron ore, then a smelter and then a constructor. Yaaay, it works! Only to later on discover that... why is all that ore lying on the conveyor? Maybe this needs some optimization? And so an extra smelter was needed, stuff like that. Of course that smelter got in the way with my copper production so I had to improvise with lifts and some "creative conveyors" ;)

Was it neat? Far from it, but it worked! If your contraption works... then that's exactly what it does and what matters.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Qdude:

This also goes for steel, I've always made factories that create the higher tier iron items like Reinforced Plates at the steel factory itself, but most other people seem to create the basic steel items like beams and pipes and ship them off somewhere else to make stators and motors, etc. How do you go about making items that require multiple types of resources?

Well, for what's it worth.... I just started with steel myself but can still somewhat relate though.

At first I had iron and managed to get plates, rods and screws and collect those in one container. That was obviously a mistake so I corrected this and stored them in separate containers. Which I'm probably going to eventually dismantle but that's besides the story.

So now I needed enforced plating, rotors and modular frames. So I set up a new separate section where I placed my assemblers, even feeding part of the output of the reinforced plates into the one for the frames. I also decided to power this area with its own 2 biofuel generators, especially since I got a chainsaw and can make personal containers (easy to store required biofuel nearby).

Then my copper production exploded: my containers overflowed. So I decided to apply the same strategy: separate the area. I removed the conveyor belt that moved all the copper ore into my main factory, eventually I also removed the smelter and constructors.

... and re-build them near the copper miner. This is also when I discovered that you can optimize your machinery; why settle for one smelter? Why settle for one or two constructors?

Now that I also created more room within my "iron farm" I decided to use my new experiences and improve on the iron production as well.


So this is where I am now: I just build a bridge to get to the coal area, and I've also build a ramp to have a more direct connection between the coal, and a new iron deposit I just found.

Now, coal means a new and more automated power resource. And while I may need iron to create steel I also discovered new iron deposits. So instead of re-using what I already have I decided to keep that for the more complex parts (like rotors) and instead make a new area.

SO I placed a workbench near the iron field (and a shop) so that I can do some manual mining, placed 3 manual miners to get the coal, iron and limestone from that area and I already placed an auto miner on the coal field (unpowered so far).

Because the eventual idea is to build a coal generator I'm going to build the power infrastructure, and start by fueling this with biomass, only to have it eventually replaced with automated coal power.

I just finished placing a waterpump, an electric pole and started with the water pipeline.


So basically I will end up with a central hub that makes iron, a small expansion where the 'modular components' get made, a separate section for my copper production (for now anyway) and I will soon have a fully separated area for coal mining and steel production which should also help to generate automated power.

Is this how it "should" be done? I don't know, and I don't care ;)

[Qdude]

I appreciate all of you for taking time out of your day to help me.

[TerryRosti]

As mentioned, the main point is to relax and do what you enjoy, it's a game for a reason :)

All resources are non-depletable, so there is no way to 'screw the game', just more efficient ways to build/create items. Something you learn by practicing different methods.
If you really fancy design/efficiency, you probably enjoy creating nice factories or builds running at 100%.
If you just wanna progress in the game, research and exploration might be more your thing.
Personally i would like to do the first, but tend to focus on the latter.

Initially most players will create 'spaghetti', and with more complex lines i still tend to have that in my factory. But at the beginning I want those items to research/build other stuff so don't care (yet).

When making dedicated factories it indeed helps to plan 'backwards', build your manufacturers first and align all needed machines going towards that.
Although for really endgame stuff transport by drones is usually a 'needed' solution.

Something that also helps is obtaining some harddrives to get alternative recipes. In some cases those really can simplify your setup by using different resources that you already have.

With blueprints (on experimental already available) you can help structure and scale-up your builds quickly. Or help out with common builds.

For example I made a 'starter-factory-blueprint', which I build on new 'resource-rich-spots' around the map. I only need to add 3 belts with iron/copper/concrete into it, creating all basic items (concrete/plates/rods/wires/cable). I just let that baby run and dump everything created into a few attached containers. So later, when I am ready to build a new factory there, I already have plenty of building-material and don't have to travel back-and-forth to get my building material there.

[Mr.America]

Oprindeligt skrevet af TerryRosti:

Although for really endgame stuff transport by drones is usually a 'needed' solution.

Those nitrogen wells are in awful spots. Almost never any water nearby, almost always in hard to reach places, where trains would look awful. But drones can get the job done so nicely, they can efficiently do a package-recycling delivery run. Just build a tower with packaging and another tower with unpackaging and cycle the liquid cylinders back and forth.

[>< V ><]

I want to be efficient with resource use and also make 780 belt lines to minimize my number of belts.

I create a bunch of satellite factories in the center of resource areas and then consume all the resources in a manner that produces 780 belt lines. I do only constructor items at these factories with some exceptions like making plastic and rubber with refineries.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2896196580


I then send all the 780 belt line of resources by trains to my main manufacturing hub. It's then just a simple manner of connecting my input lines to assemblers, manufactures and other to create whatever I need.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2896195060


I'm currently adding another 26 lines of 780 belts to the system as I just setup 2 more trains of resources coming in.

[Obz3hL33t]

Is that a Wall Bus with all the wall conveyor poles replaced with splitters?

Oh and to answer OP's question, I actually like to do a hybrid "local build" plus "resource bus".

For plastic I do the circuit boards on location then put the rest of the plastic onto the Wall Bus. That keeps the bus from hitting the belt speed cap.

For steel it makes sense to build stators locally rather than drawing steel tubes from the bus.

Rubber goes straight to the bus. It's used all over the place, but not by any one huge consumer (notwithstanding the "Recycled Plastic" recycling loop).

Finally one last trick is to put the biggest consumer at the terminus of two different sources on the bus, like cable built from two sources converging on the elevator for automated wiring. You have to smart-split everything upstream for this to work, though.

[Shahadem]

For some items I just load the blueprints I or others have created into the save file using the interactive map.

The first time I played, and the only time I used nuclear power, I had a huge tier 5 belt highway that transported everything into a central manufacturing hub. Some products were brought in already manufactured such as steel products, refinery products, etc.

It looked pretty cool but making any changes to it required hours as you'd have to chase each belt from its source all the way to its destination.

But I've started many saves since then and never made it to nuclear since. I just can't stand the recipies that need hundreds of units of inputs to produce a single output. For me that's the point where the game stops being fun.

[kLuns]

Get a notepad. Write down how much computers you want to make.
Make categories for distance, long medium and short. Decide what method you want to use and plan this out. Write steps down if you loose the overview.
Note that some milestones in the hub are unlockable by looting crash sites or buying the required items from the awesome shop.
So you can boost yourself an MK4 belt and Mk2 pipes from loot or the awesome shop. This means you can get more items out of the same resource. And if you make bulk items like screws you can fit more on a belt.

Also figure out what recipes you want to use for every step and don't be afraid to write things down if you think you're loosing it.

Another thing that keeps your factory clean and easy to overlook is making only tight turns with belts and pipes.

[Obz3hL33t]

@Shahadem: The "converge belts onto consumer" logistics approach is but one of many. The key to good design is to use the right approach for the right job.

It took me a couple of rounds of filling the Nuclear Pasta order various different ways to reach my current best practice, which is to build a bunch of underclocked colliders at the dual-terminus of a belt slot on the Wall Bus then start throwing more and more powder at it. Wherever the Wall Bus gets close to unused copper nodes that's where we crunch more ingots into powder and throw them at the wall.

When the powder starts to back up crank up the clocks. When the power starts to flicker toss more burners on the fuel complex. When the powder runs empty grind more Cu.

I had 6 colliders at 90% clock by the time the final cube slid into the Elevator. I had time to throw surplus ingots, which wasn't much, plus 4 normal nodes alloyed with spare iron, which was quite a lot, before I hit ~900 and saw I wouldn't have time to further boost production. Of all the schemes I've tried this one worked the best.

But this setup wasn't my first idea. I went through several stages of nuclear pasta production before I finally arrived at your plan of throwing stuff toward a central manufacturing complex. Building the colliders local and delivering pasta by drone took a LOT longer to set up than just tossing powder at the wall and feeding it into a collider complex.

But as you've discovered that's only a good idea for certain kinds of manufacturing. But for those situations? It's the best. In Satisfactory, "That didn't work," is often the wrong takeaway. Almost everything works sometimes.

I think if you gave the endgame a chance with multiple logistics approaches in mind you'd find it much more rewarding.

[lil' j-eazy]

OP, try a central bus system built on top of whatever spaghetto you currently have. You basically go ham on conveyors and stackable conveyor supports down a wide central lane (I have a 9 foundation-wide lane I just started) and just split resources off as you need them. For neatness, I use a splitter and a vertical conveyor to drop the connection below my foundations, run it across to either side as needed, and then bring them up to the production buildings I have lining the sides of the bus. I have one strip of buildings perpendicular to the lane, to which I can add to as my heart desires in a linear manner, for each resource produced and then I feed produced resources back to the beginning (again, under the primary foundation for cleanliness as it gets confusing if you keep the spaghetti method going) to enter the lane to repeat the cycle and feed whatever production buildings they go to. It's not very space efficient and doesn't leave room for fancy architecture by its extensible nature, but it makes it a bit easier if you're only after functionality & extensibility as you progress. Also works best when you have high-tier conveyors that can transmit enough resources after all the splits you'll have.

[Obz3hL33t]

@J-Eazy:
Have you considered a wall with conveyors stacked on both sides?
This is the original Wall Bus:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2793170103

This is the latest update, the Open Wall Bus:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2876135483

Access is from below, at least most of the time. The dotted and straight lines are address markers, so product X on the "dot" side of the white wall 2 belts up can be referred to as "Dot White 2". I don't actually use the system, since I kind of remember where everything is, but it's there if I need it.

Also the Open Wall Bus is shown at an early stage of the game. It's much easier to start high and build down when you don't have the hover pack. 3 walls high expanding downward will get you enough belts to get you to the hoverpack, then you can expand upward when you fill up your bottom 3 walls.