How this game is meant to be played?

[Charlemagne]

I'm having a hard time trying to learn how to play this game, at first i thought about building one giant factory for iron then i tried to look up any guides and every guide that i saw were using advanced materials that you unlock at the end of the game. But what's the point of building these mega factories if you already unlocked most of the stuff? Are people playing this just for the pleasure of building rather than completing objectives?

[Fenix]

Everyone is going to play for a different reason., and there is no right way to play.
But Some are going to play just to build, for building sake. Some are going to play to Complete the Tiers and Phases of Project Assembly, When 1.0 hits and we get the story, there will be that too work thru.

[Whizer]

From my own experience, I always start with a temporary factory for some material, than when I unlock more things with tiers and with the coupons, I start real factories with clean look, etc. Thats my personnal preference.

[kind713orange]

ya, theres on wright way of playing, i started with placing the stuff on the ground than slowly over time put a foundation down, putting a building over, and organized my iron production. i play the game by harvesting and producing some basic parts from outposts and shipping them to my main mega factory but the thing with this game is that there's multiple ways of completing the same thing, don't worry to much about "doing it right", just do it and improve later when you can

[Wolfie_]

There's also the Advance Game Settings which has options for changing the conditions of the game. For example, in my current playthrough, I used AGS to start with everything up to Teir 4 unlocked in order to skip over much of the early game build temporary factories just to get tiers unlocked and then re-build them because have access to more recipes / materials.

Like has been said already, play the game your way, there's no one specific way it "should" be played, the only way is whatever way is fun for you.

[nfgman]

Jeff will tell you.

I have about 4X the production I did when completing elevator phase 4. It never ends.

[The Big Brzezinski]

Aside from meeting your milestone and project parts orders, building for QoL is probably a good idea. It's nice having boxes of things you need already waiting for you.

Beyond reaching the embedded goals, though, i think the game is just too much work to be enjoyable. Setting up a production line isn't snappy enough to be satisfying or expressive enough to be interesting on its own. It's fun to solve the math puzzles that give you packaged fuel, computers, and aluminum ingots, but, it's not much fun just doing the same solution a second time.

[mattdog77]

My initial iron setup changes drastically throughout a play thru due to upgrades and stuff..I'd suggest spending minimal time with walls and whatnot till later. Leave the area open for expansion...when you have that area up to full speed, close it in and make it look pretty :)

[Ryzilynt]

I eventually built a 22 floor 14x16 skyscraper tower factory that did nothing but turn oil into plastics and turbo-fuel. 166 reactors, plastic waste recycling.

Also did a 7 reactor nuke plant in a building built around the arch in the grasslands. Only raw materials in , all waste recycled.

Turbo fuel plant :

https://imgur.com/y422f7u

Nuclear plant :

https://imgur.com/nFOahoz

[mackster]

If you want a focus, which I did when I started, then follow this:

- Build factories that will supply your materials to build more stuff - like concrete, wire etc
- Work towards building factories to supply the space elevator parts needed at every stage. This is the progression of the game, and its the only way to open up new tiers (unless you cheat)
- Build a good network, like trains, to connect your factories that are too long for conveyors or to get to different parts of the maps/biomes - note that rail carries power so this is the best way to extend your power grid as well
- Try to build efficiently, that is only supply the materials needed to make your x amount of product. Any excess, use sinks to get those tickets to open up more options in the shop
- Explore to find crashed ships and those needed hard drives to open up alternative recipes that can make your factories run more efficiently
- Finally express your creativity, make factories look awesome with some interesting building techniques and designs - youtube helps here

Hope that helps you out!

[Rezznor7]

Personally I build individual facilities that make only 1 product, usually ~20 machines per floor, and adding more floors as demand requires. I leave a very large amount of space to separate each facility, because as alt recipes and upgrades roll in I may need to re-design the floor and add in more machines as upgraded belts and recipes allow for more product to be made.