General Planning Tips?

[darkscaryforest]

I've played about 100 hours and haven't finished the final techs. My biggest problem in the game is simply planning facilities to make products, like spatially seeing what would fit

Blueprints kind of helped when I got to them, but tearing down mistakes was time consuming. I started to spend alot of time out of the game on floor planner software and with a janky resource calculator I made to see how things would fit.

I'm certain there's better software out there, but I didn't want to spoiler myself. So I'm curious what are your methods for planning complicated builds? Is there good spoiler free software you like to use? or perhaps there are great methods in game I am overlooking

[Wolfgang]

Here is how I do it: I just build. I generally know how much of which machine I need (as I calculated all that stuff before building) and then I just look for a good spot (in terms of needed resources) with ample room and build the stuff. Simply wing it.

Sure, my stuff looks jank as hell but that is its charm for me. No one will have a factory that will ever look even remotely like mine.

[Fenix]

An option is to build backwards
I did this for phase 4, using sign walls and billboards to let me know what I needed and how much, and which belt needed what item.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3158137888

[nfgman]

How did the 19th century industrial age prepare for the 21st century? They didn't.
Progress is retrospective.

[PsYcHo_O]

It's super easy to build modular factories with the blueprint designer. I usually produce 1 product per footprint and go vertical to scale the amount of machines. This creates several towers of different heights which can be arranged to either create a certain look or to optimise the distribution of goods.

For example to create basic screws I would have one tower for Ingots, one for Iron Rods and one for Screws. It's a good idea to leave at least 1 foundation of space between the Towers for movement and logistics. This means that each product will be created on a footprint of 5x5 foundations independent of the amount you need.

This is a screenshot of a factory for adaptive control units
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005180680/screenshot/2314349938662810931/

[kLuns]

If you calculate back from the end product to the source, decide how much items per minute you want to make.

[The Big Brzezinski]

I whip up a spreadsheet that lets me select whatever machinery I wish for the production line and calculate what it makes, what it consumes, and how it all needs to be distributed. This way, I can build with some idea of what the final result should look like.

I do the actual layout freeform each time, usually with an eye towards making it look cool to travel passed. The landscape is my canvas, the math my palette.

[That Fish Guy]

Build more building space than you need, build on platforms, use containers as buffers, check in on containers occasionally, if it's empty add more input, if it's filling up add more sinks to the output. Watch for hiccups in your belt lines if your replace them. An entire 1km mk3 belt (why aren't you using a train?) will only move at mk2 speed if there's a single mk2 belt piece anywhere along the line (maybe into a splitter)

[Doc✪Hollywood]

Never use software, its like shooting in your own knee cap. You bereave yourself of the fun part. After all caluclating, planing and exploring is is the best part of the game, while tedious mind-numbing pocket management is the dry spell.

About planing, first the shocker:
Man proposes, God disposes. It always comes different than you planed.

The best thing you can do is to plan your layouts and blueprints with Mk.5 belts in mind = 780 items /min.. This might well save you a few teardowns!

[Remnar]

My latest play through has been overwhelming, even at the thought of what I wanted to do. I am using trucks to bring in simple resources. I will do everything else at the main base. The way I've been doing things is just fill 3 containers of what I manually need then scrap those machines and move on to the next thing I need. Right now I am working on steel items. Just create a large area of platforms and decide on an area that does something. Adjust as necessary. Ultimately your goal is to make elevator parts, and I am thinking it is the only thing that should be permanent.

[Anatolius]

Just build however it fits, don't try to perfect it from the get-go, and definitely don't go around rebuilding it all just because it looks messy - you'll just tire yourself out.
There are few tips to factory building, but your best teacher is still going to be your own experience.

[Doc✪Hollywood]

Originally posted by Anatolius:

Just build however it fits, don't try to perfect it from the get-go, and definitely don't go around rebuilding it all just because it looks messy - you'll just tire yourself out.
There are few tips to factory building, but your best teacher is still going to be your own experience.

Very nice statement

Indeed, when you wanna build better, nicer, whatever:
Go to new nodes and build anew (old factories still contribute. tearing down too much burns out).