Feeling a little lost in game. Please help.

[2we]

So, I recently entered phase 2 (or 3? Just unlocked oil), and everything seems so far away, in terms of time mainly. In the beginning, I wasn't really caring much about organization and making everything look neat but with every new item I unlock and need to automate it feels more and more important to plan ahead and have everything organized, partly because the factories need to be bigger and because if I just build anywhere it gets really ugly really fast.

I only have like 80-90 hours in the game but I love it, its just very overwhelming the sheer amount and scale of the things I have to build in order to get the amounts of items needed for each milestone and the next phase, because the way I see it I either do everything fast in a gigantic floating platform and try to keep things somewhat organized, or I take my time and try to make things very organized and you know... not floating in the sky.

So has anyone of you felt that way in this game at some point? I'm not even playing it because when I enter the game I don`t know what to do and I get frustrated.

[cswiger]

Take a break and go exploring. Find some hostile aliens and play hide-n-seek or tag.

As for building, some people have the right mindset to handle factory production games, and other folks find the complexity and scale to become a problem. You might find things to work out better if you start by making smaller self-contained factories somewhere else, and then scale up to bigger and more complex builds when you are in the groove.

[SourHammer]

I have 15 or 20 saves previously that I just up and abandoned because it got so out of control. But every save I started new I learned more and more about keeping things organized and the best ways to go about logistics. So yes, its common to feel that way in the beginning. Youll get better and soon youll be thinking in terms of thousands per min rather than hundreds per min.

[2we]

Originally posted by cswiger:

Take a break and go exploring. Find some hostile aliens and play hide-n-seek or tag.

As for building, some people have the right mindset to handle factory production games, and other folks find the complexity and scale to become a problem. You might find things to work out better if you start by making smaller self-contained factories somewhere else, and then scale up to bigger and more complex builds when you are in the groove.

Yeah, in terms of doing the math and all that it's fine, it's just that I tend to overthink these kinds of games a lot. Like... if I need to make a 1000 of a certain item, by doing X amount per minute then I'll have to wait let's say, 3 hours with the factory running to get that 1k, but then that's it? I won't use that factory ever again? Probably will in the future with some more complex recipes for an end-game item, but then, I'll probably need to expand because it will need so much more of it, so I have to leave space for expansion, but how much?

Among other things. It's like I have to study the whole game all the way to the end to figure out how much of everything that I can make right now, and how much I should be making and all that stuff.

I just need to chill to be honest, i have adhd and games like these make me go crazy sometimes.

[Remnar]

I've felt overwhelmed many times. First time is dealing with modular frames, then heavy modular frames, motors, and crystal oscillators. I have played the game multiple times to the point now, I no longer feel overwhelmed because I know what I'm doing now, up to a point. I actually made it to phase 4, using a modular system. But man, the train networks are spaghetti now. I just got aluminium ingots being produced today. One thing I noticed going from phase 2 to 3 to 4 is the time investment is exponential; meaning it requires a lot more time into each phase compared to the previous.

I use https://satisfactory-calculator.com/ and it helps a lot. There are some builds, it cannot help with. I was trying to figure out how to set up a the recycled rubber and plastic. I finally figured out a system based on some older Youtube videos, but the satisfactory calculator website was no help with such a complex system.

[DrNewcenstein]

For a "chill factory building game" this game sure does cause a lot of undue stress in folks LOL

Seriously, experiment with small layouts. Iron nodes are almost always arranged in pairs, trios, quads, or groups of six (and 5 if you count the one that's a stone's throw from the group of 4 in Grass Fields).

Use these to work out small-scale cooperative operation (nodes cooperating with each other, not online co-op).

There's nothing wrong with floating platforms. Fall off a cliff and you'll see the entire landmass is floating, so that absolutely negates any issues about floating foundations.
If it still triggers you, stack the thick foundations under the corners and pretend it matters. When you unlock pillars, you can waste resources on those instead to pretend it matters.

Another thing to note and overcome is that most iron node groups are on one line, while anything else (limestone, copper, etc) nearby is on another line. Stop looking at them as being in line with each other, but rather staggered. You can run parallel lines from them that are offset, which means each node can make a separate product. If you need them to pool their resources (like for screws), then you can do that with containers. Split the container outputs to a line of machines that rely on multiple miners.

Alternatively, you can run them in perpendicular lines, or even opposing directions, to maximize their individual production, and avoid having them interfere with each other.

With verticality, you can build towers over each miner, where each floor level focuses on a separate stage of production. Miners feed up to smelters, smelters feed up to constructors, constructors feed up to assemblers, etc.

[Schlappspaten]

I've experienced the same. For starters I'd like to suggest keeping things tight and simple. Just setup a produktion line and carry on, to see what's next. Once you've done this, you'll have seen enough to move to another areas and go bigger and better organized, and then carry on to another area and go for looks also. Leave the first and second production lines still running as they can provide goods you're going to need. You'll get more and more comfortable in the game and when you restart another save you'll surely know of where to go, what to do and what you've Like to achieve.

[Sirre]

These are very common thoughts in this game, dunno if this helps but my way of playing the game is producing every and each thing in the game that can be produced in smaller individual factory clusters and then directing it all to a massive warehouse facility.

Then I have a modular factory setup for making the "phase advancement" parts there, so those are temporary and just get from the warehouse itself.
I suppose there are a million ways of playing the game but for me this sort of compartmentalization of production along with a centralized warehousing just makes the most sense.

[WaterPiglet]

Originally posted by Sirre:

These are very common thoughts in this game, dunno if this helps but my way of playing the game is producing every and each thing in the game that can be produced in smaller individual factory clusters and then directing it all to a massive warehouse facility.

Then I have a modular factory setup for making the "phase advancement" parts there, so those are temporary and just get from the warehouse itself.
I suppose there are a million ways of playing the game but for me this sort of compartmentalization of production along with a centralized warehousing just makes the most sense.

You see this is where I get confused because you have all products coming in but then to make more advanced items you then would have to send them out elsewhere and its like visions of spaghetti belts and transport everywhere and it then looks a mess

[kLuns]

Make a seperate production line for every production step. One for ingots, one for rods, one for plates etc.
If you leave room to grow at any seperate production line you can easyly expand the existing lines without trouble to the demands for the next complex part.


Another thing that helps is looking how machines match the next step:
Iron ingots to Iron plates is 1 smetler into 1 contructor
1 solid steel foundry feeds exactly 2 steel pipe constructors
3 Caterium circuit board assemblers feed exactly 1 Caterium Computer Manufacturer.

This means a little more individual belts and less splitting merging, makes it easier to overlook things.

[JokeryEU]

get the leg upgrade and learn how to crouch jump same time and you will save a lot of traveling time. After you set up your oil factory you can just use trains to travel faster or get scout car

[EdibleSponge_]

My 2c - just think of building your factory and having fun with it instead of thinking of how you can reach the next goal.

By this point, you're used to how you can sorta power through the early game by getting milestones pretty quickly and making minor additions to your setup. It's fun to make quick progress. But then you hit the mid game and everything seems to be increasing in complexity and you have to plan ahead, and you don't want to tear everything down because that means it will be a while until you achieve the next milestone.

So I suggest a simple mental shift. Don't think about achieving the next milestone, just think about producing a lot of stuff in a cool factory. Build multiple sites like others have suggested, go the spaghetti route, make a mega-factory, it doesn't matter. Just have fun figuring out how to produce lots of things instead of trying to achieve milestones.

I really get it, I felt that way when I added oil to my factory and started looking at aluminum recipes. I also realized I'd have to increase computer production and felt like all the work I had done was useless. But I just left that factory running and started building somewhere else. I played for maybe another 200 hours before even returning to aluminum at all, and I spent that time instead setting up a cool fuel plant, multi-level iron production, a nice looking steel factory... etc. It was a lot of fun.

Originally posted by t0we:

It's like I have to study the whole game all the way to the end to figure out how much of everything that I can make right now, and how much I should be making and all that stuff.

If you want a certain kind of factory with a certain kind of efficiency, yeah that's what you'll eventually have to do. But if you're focused on making "progress," doing this will feel like a chore, and I'd recommend people in that mindset /not/ doing it. Just focus on exploring and making little ad hoc setups instead. But if you /do/ want this kind of efficient factory (and it seems like you do), forget progress. Just have fun experimenting with ratios, setups, how to use space, how to transport materials, and it will work itself out in the end.

tl;dr: Building an efficient factory requires that the goal be the construction of an efficient factory, not to achieve milestones or make "progress." You'll make progress, but you'll be a lot less frustrated if you think this way.

[Vectorspace]

I've felt overwhelmed too.

What I have done, is left my early spaghetti factories where they are, and build bigger, better planned replacements elsewhere.

Now that I'm in late game, I only play infrequently because I get burnout planning and building big factories. So my process for the last while has been:

* Decide on what the next big factory will make
* find a place on the map that has most of the requires resources
* Plan the production using the SCIM tool
* think about ideas for what the structure will look like
* build it
* stop playing Satisfactory and do other things, until I feel like I've mentally recovered and I feel the itch to do the above over again.

This is what has worked for me, but then I'm a casual gamer - I've never been one to play the same game every day for thousands of hours. No game, not even Satisfactory, can hold my attention continuously for that long.

[Bookslayer10]

Leave space for future expansions. There is so much empty room, but it can be easily restricted by buildings if you don't plan ahead. Every single production line you make should have an open line you can continue it from infinitely, so if the next tier needs more or you unlock better belts and miners you can easily add more production power.

[Howerdlhaufa]

!) Don't hesitate to knock down your starter factory.
2) If you feel like a little cheating then get the "progressive trains" or any other early transport mod.
3) You have to go and explore once you unlocked oil.

[Mojo]

Yeah is daunting especially if you haven't unlocked some alt recipes.
Like if you wanted 600 screws a minute, you would need 5 smelters, and 25 constructors (10 for rods, 15 to make the screws) is a bit overkill in my book.
Then when you realize 600 a minute is just a spit in the bucket.
It is what it is, have to adapt and overcome.

When I first started the example above drove me nuts having to set up. LOL