Factory management (getting overwhelmed :(( )

[rental cat]

So i've just unlocked logistics 3, have automated power through coal, and I've just began producing steel to finish my unlocks, and I just have to say that i;m getting super overwhelmed. The spiderweb of automation needed to produce something like motors stresses me out thinking about it, and the wide variety of resources needed for each different part is getting difficult to manage. Does anyone have advice for how they manage juggling all these things at once? or overall factory managment tips that have helped them out?

[Deadly Peanut]

-make a LARGE platform
-run power to said platform
-drop a line of storage boxes along the edge of said platform
-run belts with T1 products to storage boxes ( screws, rod, plate, beams, pipes, wire, etc.. process these at the resource sites)
-make a few constructor and assembler lines on platform with attached storage
-drink your coffee, make stuff
-stack four wall, build second platform
- etc

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2489594152

( chill dude, just play around and redo your factory as you learn new stuff )

( btw, this little factory is not the most SUPER efficient factory, but it works just fine for me. i'm not in any big hurry... after all, this is not a job, it's a game and you should be having fun not being OCD :)

[Maehlice]

Volumes could be written to answer this. I'll try to be brief.

For efficiency's sake, create for your factories a "template" you can easily reproduce -- preferably something that can be stacked on top of itself ad infinitum. That way, if you need to double your production, simply make note of what you did before, then add another floor and mirror it.

Don't try to squeeze everything into the smallest footprint possible. There's a lot to be said for being able to actually walk around your factory.

Always create separate factories to make ingots; don't do that in-house.

Similarly, create separate factories which each do a certain specific thing. One factory for Rotors, one for Stators, one for Motors.

For ease of calculations, consider creating factories that use 100% of a given belt.

Use external tools like satisfactorytools.com to help make your calculations and keep track of what you've done and are doing.

EDIT: And if you haven't already, learn what a manifold is and how to build it. You can use a balancer system, but it gets exponentially complicated as you grow. https://satisfactory.fandom.com/wiki/Manifold

[DrNewcenstein]

There's enough land and elevation that you cannot run out of room to use, only run out of room you want to use.

Stacked factories are the way.

Miner into smelter, smelter into splitter, conveyor lifts up to a platform with constructors on it. Constructors feed into a merger, conveyor lift drops down to a container which is facing the smelter, leaving enough room for the output belt to feed a truck station, and later to a train depot.

As for managing the various components, think of how things are made in reality. Nobody makes everything for their product in-house, they get parts from suppliers. The current automotive chip shortage is one example. Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, they all get their chips from someone else. Same with your factory. You want to make a motor, you need rotors and stators. Those are made from other things. Take those things to an assembler that turns them into rotors and stators, and take those to an assembler that turns them into motors.
Tractors and truck stations prove their worth at this point. As does planning ahead, scouting terrain locations that can hold several assemblers on a platform surrounded by truck stations.

I built an elevated platform directly above and out of the range of the poisonous gas generators in the big clearing in grass fields. It's surrounded on all sides by 12 truck stations (3 per side), I bring iron ore and coal to make steel there, as well as sulfur to make black powder and bombs, copper wire to make stators, and concrete to make encased beams. These drop down as needed to the other truck stations which carry those products to other truck stations at other assembly locations.

I make rotors centered between an iron node and a copper node, so they can merge easily. Those get trucked to the motor maker. Vehicle routes take a fair amount of pre-planning. You want them going and coming without crossing each other if you can help it.

[Tenzek]

1) You have no time limit or pressure to move forward, so take your time.
2) You can build up extremely far, so space is never going to be an issue.

Make big floors with plenty of room. All you need is a lot of concrete.

[twiggie]

What helps me is to set up smaller factories spread out. Then when I know it's working well, I don't have to go back to change anything. I can just use it's resources to the next small factory. Do the same with more complex components.

[nfgman]

It gets easier when you get to the point where you can define the quantity of end product you want and build the supporting stuff to need. Almost mundane. Unfortunately, you're a long way from that. So, you're going to underestimate and tear down/rebuild and run out of space and come up with solutions eventually. That's the satisfactory part.

When you feel overwhelmed, step back and mull it over for a while or go exploring and hunting for slugs or crash sites and take your frustration out on the local fauna.

[Grandaddypurple]

Don't pressure yourself. When you start a new project it's easy to feel overwhelmed, but once you get started you'll be eager to fire up your new factory, although it's a slow process.
What I suggest is you dedicate a game session just laying down your foundries and either iron and / or coal input. If you're satisfied with it and feel like taking a break, take a break.
Then work your way to the end of your project line, bit by bit. If it takes 2 weeks, it'll take 2 weeks, if you're binge playing and it should take 2 days, it'll take 2 days.
People have been giving good tips so far. I'll throw mine here:
1) Take notes of your projects on paper. Some might prefer excel or anything on computer, but I personally feel like alt-tabbing is more clunky than anything. To each their own, but either way keeping track of what you want and need to do is important is this game and the end of the line will feel much more reachable once you write it down
2) as said above, don't pressure yourself. There no time limit. If you don't feel like starting your motor project right now, go out and explore far away. The first time I got out of my tier2-3 factory to explore other biomes I had one of the best otherworldly gaming experience

[Kalvix]

The way I've done it is setup enough fuel to have 2 versions of production going at once, so I have my messy one I want to get rid of working and at least making me materials, and then I've setup a flat area to create a new one that's cleaner and easier to see what's happening / can be expanded on more easily.

This allows me to then keep on creating and destroying everything in the new area without having to worry about not having a factory running in the meantime so I can just try new things and see how it works, while also then having enough spare power and materials to be able to keep expanding easily after I've got a setup I like.

But ye the don't rush is also good advice, I spent like 4 hours last night in my coal power plant slowly dismantling and rebuilding it to be cleaner and easier to expand on, and testing out the absolute limit that each coal source with a fully overclocked miner could supply.

Basically experiment a lot and see what works.

[ghostrider]

find somewhere that iron, copper, and coal are relatively close to each other. then stack some belts alongside so you can insert/remove/insert resources and parts so that at the end of the line you have all the assembled products you need to manufacture the end products

[Dragonman440]

If you have a friend who is a veteran at these types of games, visit their factory, let them visit yours. a second set of eyes and hands means double the work gets done and new ideas can be evaluated. i did 8.8 hours total with a guy who has 100+, and i learned how to make all kinds of specialty micro-factories.

[Vormina]

I think that overwhelming feeling is what makes this game so good-so many options to choose from on how you want to accomplish things.

Don't let it frustrate you, it helps me to write down a to-do list and work on one item at a time. Believe me, I've deleted my entire starting area and rebuilt 3 times.

I built a miles worth of basic constructors on one side.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2490204257

A centrally located storage warehouse with room to expand.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2490204621

And an area to setup assemblers on the other side.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2490205166

I set up double stacked storage containers in a way that constructors feed both of them but the assemblers will only pull from the top one leaving the bottom one for me to use when needed.

Also, I've read a lot of negative comments on the vehicle auto-delivering but I've got several set up and haven't had any problems, I just make sure their path is fairly smooth.

Take your time and don't treat the game like a job (although it feels that way sometimes!) and it will stay fun. Hang in there.

[rental cat]

thanks for all the ggood advice!! I appreciate it :) <3

[Rezznor7]

When overwhelmed, go at it slow. Stop for a while and just explore the area. Don't concentrate on getting hard drives and slugs, but if you come across one, great!
When you are calm in mind and soul, return and decide what it is you need to produce. Start with your "end product" and work backwards. "I need 10 " <item name> " per minute. To make that I need 45 " <item name> " and 30 " <item name> " per minute. To make those, I need.... Write it down on paper. See what you can do and start building up. My "factory" is a lose collection of individual facilities where one product is made and then stored in a container right there. If that needs to go out to make another product I put a splitter and run a conveyor belt to the next facility.
But mainly I go slow so I don't get overwhelmed.

[Bainen]

One tip I wish I figured out sooner - the foundations going varying directions bugs me, and there's no way for the game (yet) to have a global grid or give me a laser line-up tool to align foundations at the same angle or uniform distance, so I do this - look at the compass, orient yourself north (or south) and align the foundation with the single vertical line facing as close to north-south as you can eyeball. This has helped me when I had buildings close to one another. When running a bridge between them I would have overlap since the foundations don't end in the same spot, but generally not too bad and not way off-angle as some of my earlier buildings.

I wanted to automate super computers, and WOW is that a large project. So I built a campus. First building? Circuit boards, 2nd - AI Limiters 3rd High-speed connectors, 4th - computers, 5th - super computers. I ran components with belts between the buildings (use stacked supports!) I needed a ton of cable, so I built a plant next door solely to make cables from several iron mines (alternate recipe, iron wire); I needed quickwire, so I created another plant solely to make quickwire - it maxes out at 1440 quickwire per minute (also alt recipe, I forgot the name, 90/min per constructor and I'm running 16) - I'm sending it to the factory campus with (3) mk4 belts, with some splitting/merging magic, plus some overflow smart splitters.

I needed silica (alternate recipe for circuit boards) so I truck in quartz from two mines that feed six constructors, which feeds the campus direct.

I needed lots of copper sheets (steamed sheet alternate recipe), I'm feeding the campus from a 15 refinery plant making them. They're fed from (4) foundry (alternate recipe, gives me 100 copper per machine a minute); needed water, so I got water from nearby and fed a huge tank and ran the line a long distance to the plant. Needed more capacity so I went mk2 pipes and added another water extractor.

All told that was around 3 weeks of work. incredibly overwhelming at first, but I whittled it down a little at a time.

I STILL need to automate plastics and I'm working on that at the moment.... slowly, I've set up four oil extractors and am planning out the oil tower where I'm going to run the line and place a tank so i only deal with headlift once.

I need more power because I'm ovsersubbed on power at least 2:1 so I hope to mix plastics/rubber and power (hopefully with turbo fuel, I have the recipes) .

To top that, I just unlocked tiers 7 and 8, if you think you're overwhelmed now wait 'till you see what is needed to handle nuclear (a recent post on here has the tree involved with making the fuel)

The game is incredibly addictive, I can play 5+ hours with ease, yet I can barely sit and watch an hour show without taking two or three breaks. In my first week I'd play 'till 3am and get right back up at 7am and continue.

You start to feel overwhelmed because you try to do too much at once. As others have said, enjoy it, take your time, do a little math, read the wiki, use the satisfactory calculator site, and take advantage of the fact you can save at any time and walk away.

And last... try to avoid that voice you hear from Satisfactory when it insists you come back and play more, or not to play other games because it will become angry and that satisfactory is life.

[Shahadem]

It just gets worse from here on out.

Heavy MOdular Frames will make you want to stop playing the game. It is excessive and unfun. The recipie really needs to be reduced.

It should require ONLY steel inputs and should not require any more inputs than the Modular Frames did. It should be a steel version of the iron modular frame.