What is your method of supplying production lines?

[Sully]

I reached tier 8 and in the process I built the sloppiest base imaginable. Now is the time to focus on creating an atheistically pleasing, and efficient, base. The problem is I don't know how to begin the production lines. My previous method was using conveyors and manifolds. Describing my conveyor system as spaghetti is an understatement. I could clean it up, but I would still have conveyors all over the place. I am thinking about smelting everything in one factory and then have tractors shuttle ingots to various production lines. The issue I see here is the tractor cannot drop some ingots at one production system and then drop ingots at another system located at a different area of the base. The tractor just offloads everything at the first truck station that feeds the first system needing iron ingots. I may not produce enough ingots to saturate the first system so that the remaining ingots go to the second system. I suppose I could keep every system requiring iron ingots in one area, but that might be difficult depending on what is around the area. My preference is keeping production systems by item in one place. Anyways, any ideas about how to supply productions lines, and even what you chose as your production layout, will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, everyone.

[Wolfgang]

I sticked with belts and manifolds. It makes you not having to worry about throughput since what is being merged onto the belt is what will get to the first splitter.

I would recommend to tear it down, calculate your lines through and then start building from the start. Miners, smelters etc. until you are at the finished product. Make heavy use of the stackable conveyor belt supports.

Edit: Here are some screenshots:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/526870/discussions/0/3595590330320021756/#c3719440044285243043
There is also a link to a save file from my base. Outdated since I added quite some stuff and changed other things but for the most part still accurate.

[Sully]

Oh that's neat. Your base has me thinking that I could have raw resources brought to a central location that feeds into conveyor/manifold lines that then feed the production lines - each line beginning with the necessary raw material processor, such as smelters and foundries. I can use conveyor stacking poles to maybe have a central conveyor line that branches off to feed a production line with the appropriate raw material. And if a miner is close enough to the central conveyor line I can have it feed directly into it. Now to figure out how to have a central line supplied by multiple input locations.... This sounds like fun. Thank you for the inspiration!!

[nfgman]

Before you tear down, build another factory somewhere else. A specialist factory, producing as much of a single high tier item as can be supported by local resources with overclocked mk3's. Plan on going vertical. What you learn from that will help.

[Zak]

Belts are by far the most reliable and the fastest, but they're not always feasible, or too much of a pain to run across the landscape. They may also make your factories look ridiculous if you care about aesthetics. But they are the real deal for automation.

Trains work well once set up but they're way too annoying to build.

I had good luck with Trucks and Drones too for delivering smaller amounts of stuff across large distances. The seem reliable too but throughput is low.

But belts are always my #1 choice if possible.

[Sully]

Originally posted by nfgman:

Before you tear down, build another factory somewhere else. A specialist factory, producing as much of a single high tier item as can be supported by local resources with overclocked mk3's. Plan on going vertical. What you learn from that will help.

Uh-oh. I didn't quite consider this. I just tore it all down thinking I will work with a clean slate. I did stockpile at least two industrial storage containers for a wide range of items. I am somewhat amused at my decision to build a floating platform way up in the sky and put all the storage containers there so that they aren't in the way. It even has smart splitters sorting everything for me. If for some reason the PAK Utility fly mod stops working, I am in trouble haha. I am beginning to think that I am the worst player of this fantastic game.

[Sully]

Originally posted by Zak:

Belts are by far the most reliable and the fastest, but they're not always feasible, or too much of a pain to run across the landscape. They may also make your factories look ridiculous if you care about aesthetics. But they are the real deal for automation.

Trains work well once set up but they're way too annoying to build.

I had good luck with Trucks and Drones too for delivering smaller amounts of stuff across large distances. The seem reliable too but throughput is low.

But belts are always my #1 choice if possible.

Although I have one truck doing lord knows what, and I haven't tried trains or drones, I do think conveyors are the best options for scooting items around. But, yeah, I think over very long distances I will use trucks that will feed conveyor lines. I do like the truck I have and the highway I built for it. Man, if only the workday would end already so I can put these suggestions to use!

[Wolfgang]

Originally posted by Sully:

Originally posted by nfgman:

Before you tear down, build another factory somewhere else. A specialist factory, producing as much of a single high tier item as can be supported by local resources with overclocked mk3's. Plan on going vertical. What you learn from that will help.

Uh-oh. I didn't quite consider this. I just tore it all down thinking I will work with a clean slate. I did stockpile at least two industrial storage containers for a wide range of items. I am somewhat amused at my decision to build a floating platform way up in the sky and put all the storage containers there so that they aren't in the way. It even has smart splitters sorting everything for me. If for some reason the PAK Utility fly mod stops working, I am in trouble haha. I am beginning to think that I am the worst player of this fantastic game.

Then I got bad news for you: Your mod will stop working when Update 8 hits the Early Access branch tomorrow. And it will take quite some time before it gets updated as even the Mod Manager is not yet compatible with that version.
The good news is that you can do most of the stuff from that mod by activating some settings in the game. Forgot which exactly they were but with them you can use fly, no power, no cost etc.

Just make sure to deactivate the mods before playing Update 8.

[Sully]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Originally posted by Sully:

Uh-oh. I didn't quite consider this. I just tore it all down thinking I will work with a clean slate. I did stockpile at least two industrial storage containers for a wide range of items. I am somewhat amused at my decision to build a floating platform way up in the sky and put all the storage containers there so that they aren't in the way. It even has smart splitters sorting everything for me. If for some reason the PAK Utility fly mod stops working, I am in trouble haha. I am beginning to think that I am the worst player of this fantastic game.

Then I got bad news for you: Your mod will stop working when Update 8 hits the Early Access branch tomorrow. And it will take quite some time before it gets updated as even the Mod Manager is not yet compatible with that version.
The good news is that you can do most of the stuff from that mod by activating some settings in the game. Forgot which exactly they were but with them you can use fly, no power, no cost etc.

Just make sure to deactivate the mods before playing Update 8.

WHAT?! That is terrible news unless update 8 does have it's own option to fly. Well, regardless, I know what I will be doing tonight. I am moving everything to an accessible height from the ground.

[Abstract]

Through some experience and problem solving, I've deducted that getting to tier 8 is possible with semi-slop, but you'll need some organization.

My suggestion is to branch out and attach as many miners as you can to make as many base resources as you can. Gather as many hard drives and worms as you can in the process, using them all to research important and useful recipes.

Super factories are difficult to build and maintain. It's better to build outward for various nodes, since it's not like factorio where you can build a main bus and just kind of tap ♥♥♥♥ off of it. You'll definitely want to build OUTWARD rather than UPWARD if you're building additional functionality.

Smelters in, count the input, count the output, mark a sign, buffers out.
Constructors in, count the input, count the output, mark a sign, buffers out.
Assemblers in, count the input, count the output, mark a sign, buffer out.
It's also a good idea to keep a sign for worm battery counts in case you need to track a bunch down.
Main bus and buffer overflow is my thing. I truck in, monorail in, and fly in materials. Everything builds towards the goal, so even the original starter factory can bring in ore or ingots depending what you want to do.

Organizing internal logistics within the super factory usually involves out of sight out of mind, so you'll want a logistics section where you can conveyor materials out of the main movement and assessment area. Potentially on the walls or ceilings. Organizing is key.

Walls, colors, label signs, and count signs help separate different functionality (rotors, iron plates, rods, etc). Building upward to add additional capacity to a function is very useful and saves space.

I've read that using buffers is a bad concept, and I completely disagree. This game's mental stack requires a copious amount of time, so keeping buffers with allowed overflow is a way to alleviate that mental strain and save time. It's not as optimal as say a perfect factory via power and optimization, but it doesn't matter since there's an insane amount of accessible resources on the map.

Requirement too high? Add more. Assess count.
Have a little extra? You're good. I go by the 20% rule. After about 20% it gets excessive. You can min/max this to produce more optimization if you want. Be sure to update your signs.

You're going to need overflows for all item types if you want to run this concept, and looking at the huge buffer clump is going to hurt your brain if you don't have signs. You'll likely need multiple buffer widths if you want to maintain a super factory, which is even more logistically painful. You can't buffer ores to "The Grand Smeltery" without a certain level of absolute headache. You'll need multiple boxes and mark 4 or higher.

[Wolfgang]

Originally posted by Sully:

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Then I got bad news for you: Your mod will stop working when Update 8 hits the Early Access branch tomorrow. And it will take quite some time before it gets updated as even the Mod Manager is not yet compatible with that version.
The good news is that you can do most of the stuff from that mod by activating some settings in the game. Forgot which exactly they were but with them you can use fly, no power, no cost etc.

Just make sure to deactivate the mods before playing Update 8.

WHAT?! That is terrible news unless update 8 does have it's own option to fly. Well, regardless, I know what I will be doing tonight. I am moving everything to an accessible height from the ground.

As I said you can enable fly via AGS (Advanced Game Settings). However, your save will then be a permanent AGS save and if I had to bet on why it is because that will disable achievements on this save for 1.0.

[Zak]

Originally posted by Sully:

Although I have one truck doing lord knows what, and I haven't tried trains or drones, I do think conveyors are the best options for scooting items around. But, yeah, I think over very long distances I will use trucks that will feed conveyor lines. I do like the truck I have and the highway I built for it. Man, if only the workday would end already so I can put these suggestions to use!

Trucks are weird, but like I said "I had good luck" and I only run 3. Even if they collide, they manage to reset their position and to keep going and in the end they seem to work well enough. And they need some roads and bridges, may not work well on bare terrain.

Drones work more or less like trucks, except you have to provide their ports with batteries, not fuel, and you just tell them where to go, no need to drive them and record the route, like with trucks and they don't need roads and bridges which is a big plus.

Originally posted by Sully:

WHAT?! That is terrible news unless update 8 does have it's own option to fly. Well, regardless, I know what I will be doing tonight. I am moving everything to an accessible height from the ground.

Yes, it has a native fly mode option, no need for console codes or mods for that any more. It works well. So no worries, you'll be fine, no need to modify your game.

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

As I said you can enable fly via AGS (Advanced Game Settings). However, your save will then be a permanent AGS save and if I had to bet on why it is because that will disable achievements on this save for 1.0.

This may be true though, but I don't care about achievements. If anyone does so yeah, bummer.

[Sully]

Originally posted by Abstract:

Through some experience and problem solving, I've deducted that getting to tier 8 is possible with semi-slop, but you'll need some organization.

My suggestion is to branch out and attach as many miners as you can to make as many base resources as you can. Gather as many hard drives and worms as you can in the process, using them all to research important and useful recipes.

Super factories are difficult to build and maintain. It's better to build outward for various nodes, since it's not like factorio where you can build a main bus and just kind of tap ♥♥♥♥ off of it. You'll definitely want to build OUTWARD rather than UPWARD if you're building additional functionality.

Smelters in, count the input, count the output, mark a sign, buffers out.
Constructors in, count the input, count the output, mark a sign, buffers out.
Assemblers in, count the input, count the output, mark a sign, buffer out.
It's also a good idea to keep a sign for worm battery counts in case you need to track a bunch down.
Main bus and buffer overflow is my thing. I truck in, monorail in, and fly in materials. Everything builds towards the goal, so even the original starter factory can bring in ore or ingots depending what you want to do.

Organizing internal logistics within the super factory usually involves out of sight out of mind, so you'll want a logistics section where you can conveyor materials out of the main movement and assessment area. Potentially on the walls or ceilings. Organizing is key.

Walls, colors, label signs, and count signs help separate different functionality (rotors, iron plates, rods, etc). Building upward to add additional capacity to a function is very useful and saves space.

I've read that using buffers is a bad concept, and I completely disagree. This game's mental stack requires a copious amount of time, so keeping buffers with allowed overflow is a way to alleviate that mental strain and save time. It's not as optimal as say a perfect factory via power and optimization, but it doesn't matter since there's an insane amount of accessible resources on the map.

Requirement too high? Add more. Assess count.
Have a little extra? You're good. I go by the 20% rule. After about 20% it gets excessive. You can min/max this to produce more optimization if you want. Be sure to update your signs.

You're going to need overflows for all item types if you want to run this concept, and looking at the huge buffer clump is going to hurt your brain if you don't have signs. You'll likely need multiple buffer widths if you want to maintain a super factory, which is even more logistically painful. You can't buffer ores to "The Grand Smeltery" without a certain level of absolute headache. You'll need multiple boxes and mark 4 or higher.

Wow. This is a huge plate of tips to digest. Honestly, I don't understand about half of this haha. To the internets!! Or YouTube, which I guess IS the internet anymore. Anyways, slop will definitely get you to tier 8. I made sure to prove that concept. I did start playing with signs. They are useful as long as I remember to update them, which isn't always. So, and perhaps this is a bit cumbersome, I keep an excel sheet to track where resources are going. I just label a resource line and production line with a number and in the spreadsheet I put the quantities of whatever that is pouring into and out of that line number. This spreadsheet is arguably the most organized part of my game and it is not even a part of the game! Anyways, thank you very much for your insights. Extremely helpful.

[Sully]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

Originally posted by Sully:

WHAT?! That is terrible news unless update 8 does have it's own option to fly. Well, regardless, I know what I will be doing tonight. I am moving everything to an accessible height from the ground.

As I said you can enable fly via AGS (Advanced Game Settings). However, your save will then be a permanent AGS save and if I had to bet on why it is because that will disable achievements on this save for 1.0.

I just watched a video on this! Exciting. I couldn't care less about achievements so fly mode is the first addition I implement.

[>< V ><]

My method was to look at the entire map at satisfactory-calculator.com and then break the map into regions on what looked like clumps of resources. Each region represents one factory and then all the resources are sent to a main manufactory plant, where the green ‘X’ is.

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

For the most part, I kept to that.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3049944537

I designed each factory to produce 780 belts from the resources in that region. Then trains take everything to the main plant.

The factories produce low tier items or items that don’t require a manufacturer. Higher tier items or items that need a manufacturer are all produced at the main plant.

I’m a math guy, so I did plan much of this in advance. Meaning, I looked at the resources of a region, determined how to get 780 lines from those resources and then counted how many lines I will get from my various factories. I needed 63 train cars, so I built my main plant to support 65 train cars which then unload into this belt system.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3037289736

From this belt system, I then pull off whatever I need for the higher tier items and manufacturers. This was going to be my end game strategy, but that has changed since I decided to turn all the uranium into power. This is so resource intensive that I switched from the main plant strategy of having low tier items sent to one main area, to a factory having a singular purpose. For 101 overclocked nuclear power plants (2100 uranium ore), I have one factory that just produces the nuclear rods and then another factory that just produces the items needed to deal with the nuclear waste.

Overall, I would argue that the main plant strategy is more flexible and can adapt to whatever you want to build compared to the ‘each factory has a purpose’ strategy. But when you know exactly what you want (I want to turn 2100 uranium into power) , then you can determine exactly what you need and then the single purpose factory is better.

Overall, overall, if you want to mine much of the map, then I would say use a main plant strategy. If you just want to get through the tiers and ‘finish’ the game, then I would say use the single purpose factory strategy.

[Sully]

Originally posted by >< V ><:

My method was to look at the entire map at satisfactory-calculator.com and then break the map into regions on what looked like clumps of resources. Each region represents one factory and then all the resources are sent to a main manufactory plant, where the green ‘X’ is.

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

For the most part, I kept to that.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3049944537

I designed each factory to produce 780 belts from the resources in that region. Then trains take everything to the main plant.

The factories produce low tier items or items that don’t require a manufacturer. Higher tier items or items that need a manufacturer are all produced at the main plant.

I’m a math guy, so I did plan much of this in advance. Meaning, I looked at the resources of a region, determined how to get 780 lines from those resources and then counted how many lines I will get from my various factories. I needed 63 train cars, so I built my main plant to support 65 train cars which then unload into this belt system.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3037289736

From this belt system, I then pull off whatever I need for the higher tier items and manufacturers. This was going to be my end game strategy, but that has changed since I decided to turn all the uranium into power. This is so resource intensive that I switched from the main plant strategy of having low tier items sent to one main area, to a factory having a singular purpose. For 101 overclocked nuclear power plants (2100 uranium ore), I have one factory that just produces the nuclear rods and then another factory that just produces the items needed to deal with the nuclear waste.

Overall, I would argue that the main plant strategy is more flexible and can adapt to whatever you want to build compared to the ‘each factory has a purpose’ strategy. But when you know exactly what you want (I want to turn 2100 uranium into power) , then you can determine exactly what you need and then the single purpose factory is better.

Overall, overall, if you want to mine much of the map, then I would say use a main plant strategy. If you just want to get through the tiers and ‘finish’ the game, then I would say use the single purpose factory strategy.

Like a nobelisk to the face, my mind is blown! I can't even begin to imagine how you imagined this layout. I need a minute after seeing this. More than a minute. Right now all I can say is a humongous thank you for sharing!