Is it normal to destroy everything and redo them every so often?

[Crimson Butterfly]

Maybe I started with a space that is too small.... looking at other player~~ they seem to have enormous space. I just have to manually keep redo stuff... It's my first run and it's great fun.

I'm planning to destroy everything again next time i get back in...

[phillip_lynx]

Yes and no :D

It is totaly fine to dismantle and build new.
The other option is to only build new. Horizontally or vertically.

The decision is mostly about looks.

[orthostatic]

Yes, it's typical to refactor design and rebuild, especially if you're progressing the tiers in order.

[Wolfgang]

For your starter factory? Absolutely. That thing needs to go as soon as you have power automated.

[Gecko-[GER]]

My first take ended in the usual spaghetti factory. Shortly before V7 came out I dismantled all my production lines except for the power facilities. Then I made a plan for the new production lines. After V7 was out I rebuild all using this plan. When V8 is out of experimental I'll redesign all transport routes. So yes, it'll take a lot of build and rebuild before it meets your own requirements.

[Aven]

Yes, you can tear down your starter factory, but there isn’t much incentive to do so. You are better off leaving your existing production running and using its output to build the new factory, especially if you are scaling up production. When the new factory is up and running, then you can decide whether to dismantle the old factory or not.

Look at it this way, the time to dismantle and rebuild your existing factory elsewhere is likely in the hour or more range. In that same time, your existing factory can easily build the parts needed to rebuild itself at least once if not more.

It always works out that no matter how many plates, rods, screws, RIPs, and rotors I have stockpiled, the second I turn off production I run out of something. Dismantling an existing production should only be done if you have already duplicated that production elsewhere.

[NZ.Zero]

Theres no need to dismantle old factories immediately. Personally I just get on with building the new one and only go back to delete old stuff once the new one is up and running, so theres no break in production.

Or just leave it there - it might not be perfect but often its best just to leave it as a backup.

[DarkCarnage]

i rend to re-do my factories once i unlock tech hat make them run better, look nicer or new plans pop up from Hard drives.

[>< V ><]

I dismantled everything, every time, I got the faster belt and miner and I have to say, that was discouraging. Wondering why I'm spending hours building something to only take it down.

So in my second play through I decided for a new approach. Like a journey through history I was going to leave all my structures as is and just move to new territories as I got better upgrades.

There are plenty of resources on the map and as long as you are not totally wasting things like sulfur and coal early game, then it's fine to just leave those older structures and move on.

[Grandaddypurple]

Originally posted by >< V ><:

I dismantled everything, every time, I got the faster belt and miner and I have to say, that was discouraging. Wondering why I'm spending hours building something to only take it down.

So in my second play through I decided for a new approach. Like a journey through history I was going to leave all my structures as is and just move to new territories as I got better upgrades.

There are plenty of resources on the map and as long as you are not totally wasting things like sulfur and coal early game, then it's fine to just leave those older structures and move on.

I'm trying to do exactly that as well. I've realized I never really got far into tier 8 because I always teared down everything and building a gigafactory from scratch upon reaching it, even though I had decent factories running. And having no factories running for hours I usually ended up burning out of the playthrough

[Khalunka]

Originally posted by >< V ><:

There are plenty of resources on the map

I wish there were more.
I guess the idea is, indeed, to bring resources from far away to a spot you like. But I didnt develop yet a 'taste' for it. I know the whole idea of the game is to exploit the planet's resource as much as you can, but It still feels bad to leave so much traces/paths of conveyors here and there. So I liked more the idea of ''better spots'', which less I have to bring resources from far away, the better. But returning to my main point, these kind of spots are rare/only a few.

About the main topic from OP, I didnt get too much advanced in the game yet, because I can only play in the weekends for now, but I think there are a few ''breaktroughs'' which are justified to rebuild things.

For example, the first one is coal power and mk2 conveyors. Its totally acceptable to rebuild your factory at that point, at least for me, then you make it organized and self-sustained enough to be satisfied. At that point on, you can leave for a better place while it keeps running non-stop. There are other caps/breaktroughs later.

I am almost reaching a point which, I will finally stop building horizontal and learn by myself how to properly build vertical, that will help a lot to improve my usage of space. (I dont build sky/floating things).

[nfgman]

Rebuild is expected with progression but progression doesn't last forever,
Then it becomes resource management and your still rebuilding.

[tdb]

Originally posted by Frick:

but It still feels bad to leave so much traces/paths of conveyors here and there.

There are alternative modes of transport available. Since you seem to have coal, you're close to basic vehicles if you don't already have them. Those only need a station at both ends of the route, but you have to record the route by manually driving it once, and if either endpoint changes you have to re-record the entire route. Vehicles need fuel as well.

In later tiers you'll unlock two more ways to transport items over long distances, each with their own benefits and drawbacks.

[lauruswolfe]

If you leave space to expand you won't have to rebuild as much and if you use the manifold design you can just add more machines onto the end of a line.

[Khalunka]

Originally posted by lauruswolfe:

If you leave space to expand you won't have to rebuild as much and if you use the manifold design you can just add more machines onto the end of a line.

What is the benefit of manifold besides space? Either i didnt figure it out yet, or i dont think its efficient at all. I have been doing load balancing.

[Remnar]

Unfortunately, the progression forces you to do this, if you want to keep things organized. Of course you could choose to not do it at all. Usually you have to rebuild the moment you get foundations, then again when you get faster belts and miners. Usually you can just build ontop of your basics. Restructuring, however, I think is part of the game play loop. The more things you unlock, such as alternate recipes, the more you should restructure if the output isn't enough. You need to consider what is needed and where it is going.