Trying to be modular

[SomethingCoolBro]

The scale of this game blows me away.

So I'm trying to make Heavy Modular Frames in the most sensible way possible. Done my oil things, computers, circuit boards, just got these damn frames left and it's a complicated beast.

This is my second play-through, I'm taking my time, because even though I progressed before somehow, my first factory was worse than demented, but this time I'm using blueprints, constructing wide roads, vast open spaces, snapping everything to world grid etc.

But this Heavy Modular Frames recipe needs a lot of resources, so I built a highway to new factory area somewhat central of the resources, I can put a monorail above it later. But this recipe needs bits of everything in weird amounts. I'm using an alternate recipe that uses concrete instead of screws but it's still weird, it needs bits of everything.

Should I ship-in the resources (doubling my existing factories) and then transporting them, or make a Heavy Modular Frames factory self-contained? I know this isn't even a complicated recipe compared to some things but I'm puzzled by the weird numbers these frames need.

[~\\Savarast//~]

To answer the question, you should do what feels right for you and what works given your current progress and future goals.

If I find locations which will allow for self-sufficient factories, I will use that in favor of moving materials around. For HMF, I was able to use a location in the grassy plains but the factory is only successful because of a few alternative recipes (stitched plates being the most critical).

Weird numbers are troublesome, but they are part of the puzzle that makes this game addictive imho. Between overclocking and underclocking you can usually get near-perfect efficiency. I know its blasphemous in this game but I'm OK if theres a small amount of inefficiency, especially early/mid game when I know I will be most likely gutting the whole factory eventually anyways.

IIRC theres some people who've compared the benefits of modular vs. mega factories on youtube if you are curious about the pros/cons. Also if you dont have a really powerful computer you might end up preferring modular factories since they tend to run smoother later in the game.

[Huren Ogeko]

the weird numbers tend more from the alternate recipes then the vanilla ones. but alot of the time the weird numbers sometimes do work out you just have to look at them differently. Sometimes pairing up one off ratio with some other odd ratio for an unrelated item makes up the difference. Also changing the clock so that you are outputting some nice number like 2.5 units instead of something like 2.814 or whatever it might otherwise be...recalling somethings I seen when making my HMF line a couple weeks back.

but you should do things the way you feel most confortable. that said here is what I do:
I build what I call the tech 1 items at the node, and I do this to the max capacity I can on the node given the current miner and max belt and fully overclocked. so say I have a normal iron node that I decide is going to make plates or rods...it does that and that one as many as I can on that node. this mini factory is basically just smelters and constructors and anything beytond that I do back at the main factory or some other hub factory location.
now back at the main factory I have these inputs coming which are simple items I can make with a single constructor on the node and these come in and I pull off whatever amounts I need for various assembler/manufacturer lines. and if a incoming line cant support the need of whatever I am building I go out and setup another node to make another incoming line of that product.
so things I made at the nodes include: concrete, iron plates, iron rods, screws, wire, cable, copper sheets, silica, quartz crystal, caterium wire, plastic, rubber and maybe other items in higher tiers I am not thinking of.
I also do steel beams and steel pipes like this only in places where I have pairs of coal and iron close as well as compacted coal where I have coal and sulfur near each other. for the most part any other thing that requires two or more inputs is done back at the base.

also at these node factories I setup a sink that accept anything that gets backed up on the belt using a smart splitter or my patented "poor mans" smart splitter I designed myself that more or less does the same thing but I can use before unlocking smart splitters. so any resources on the line that isnt sucked in by the base is sunk for coupons but in the end very little gets sunk this way as the main base eats more and more of the basic items.

[Huren Ogeko]

my main reason for doing things like that is I found it very troublesome to ship in high volume but low density things on belts like shipping in raw ore. if I take the time to process it through at least one constructor at the node I can reduce the belt capacity needed to transport it back to the base. the one exception to this is screws, they take up more belt then the raw ore does....but I spend most of my time finding ways to not need screws for anything and all I ever have is a single node that mostly used for misc things or filling storage at base.

also I tend to handle coal for coal plants by building the plants near the node or the nearest wter...power plant materials never clutter up my base...I burn it near where I extract it.

[Man's Best Friend]

Regarding screws, with the right alternate recipes it's possible to completely eliminate screws from your factory. Until such time though, you're best off waiting until right before you need them to actually make them. That way instead of trying to cart hundreds of screws around, you cart around a fraction of the items one step before they turn into screws.

[nfgman]

I usually prefer the alternative "bolted modular frames" with steel screws before heavy modular frames. Easy math and less footprint. Gonna need a lot for phase 4. Requirements are simple,,, iron. concrete and steel. The first two are everywhere but coal gets a little more isolated.

960 iron ingots > 6 heavy frames using solid steel recipe.

[NZ.Zero]

Originally posted by SomethingCoolBro:

The scale of this game blows me away.
So I'm trying to make Heavy Modular Frames in the most sensible way possible. Done my oil things, computers, circuit boards, just got these damn frames left and it's a complicated beast....

Im at the same stage actually, about to build my heavy frames factory, the location Im using is out near the top left corner, where there are tons of iron nodes but also very close copper and limestone. I started the location off with a big train station, and built around that (much as they did in the 19th/ 20th century IRL)... Im shipping in the plastic but mostly self contained (until the more complex frames later on anyway).

Im having it standalone from my other factories. No alternate recipes, dont need them when you can run so many smelters off one node.

Also bear in mind that you're going to have to scale it up even more later for versatile frameworks etc, also heavy frames are needed for making train stuff (Ive used LOT of them buildng my train network so far) so self contained allows it to churn them out at max speed.

I really dont see the problem with screws. We have loads of nodes and power to use, so why look for shortcuts? Challenges bring better designs IMO so bring em on!

Im making my factory modular - each building does a thing, designed in blueprint designer, bit of effort put into the visuals - Ii think its way better than those big 'factory floor type factories and scales better. The only problems come when you get the wrong thing on the belt, so be very careful with those logistics!

[SomethingCoolBro]

Great responses thanks. I'm going to make this self-contained somehow, I'll still need to transport resources to it, but once I figure out the final inputs they won't depend upon other factory bits.

I guess blueprint two versions, one self-contained, one dependant on other factories, but I'll try self-contained first. Might be a bit of a squeeze into that blueprint designer tho :D

[NZ.Zero]

I've uploaded my frame factory plan - this might help.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2931370512

Blue bold are the ones Im shipping in. - steel is from the centre of the pink forest and beams and rods are from the factory next door.

the factory will produce :
- heavy mod frames (20)
- mod frames (15)
- plates (10)

In the process of scaling up my plan to include versatile frameworks before I build it.

(Sorry didnt realise these dont actually use plastic at this stage, think that must be later)