T8 and now the game is becoming a real chore

[F4lc0n]

Up until now, I have set a factory for more or less 1-2 items all the time. So one factory produces all basic iron items, one produces copper items and so on. Because I constantly need materials to build stuff.
Then one factory for all the advanced stuff, like motors or bolted frames. Of course all these factories basically require one of the smaller previous factory to be build again. And this keeps on going over and over again.

Build Adaptive Control Units for the space elevator - ok setup a whole chain again from the ore to the finished product. Oh now I need computers for research, ok set up a separate factory to only produce computers.

I dislike having to repeat the same thing over and over again. And now I need Radio Control Units and much more. So build even more of the already existing factories again.

I wonder if it would really be better to just build one factory where I produce everything in excess for easy storage and pick up and also try to use as inputs for more advanced stuff. But that seems daunting as well. Building such an elaborate network sure isn't easy. Or I could try to build like a main belt network with smart splitters to distribute items.

Even setting up a train network seems very difficult because I struggle with the terrain too much. Still haven't figured out how to even get belts down from mountains. I just build ugly looking ramps everywhere and have half clipping belts.

I tested using trucks but I don't think it is good. The main problem I have is that I can't easily transport different ressources at the same time. And also it was easy get clogged. Basically I tried transporting between two factories where each factory needed one resource from another. And the output from the truck station had two lines but without smart splitters it was completely useless - I guess it would be similar for trains. So I can always transport only one type of item, right?

In any case, I need some inspiration please. I really don't want to setup a factory to build the radio controlled units only to find out I need another factory which is exactly the same plus one added manufacturer at the end.

[PopinFRESH]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Liquid Todd / Slash:

The game is becoming a real chore eh? At least your not 1 of the 350,000+ players currently clicking a banana.

no one is actually clicking the banana... its just the bots clicking the banana

[Evilsod]

Honestly, my biggest obstacle to enjoying this game is trying to make things look nicer. Creating stuff and making it work alone isn't enough.

I've started building small outposts for various things around tier 7/8. That's slow enough in its own right cos I want to do more than just slap things down on a flat grid, and the ingame tools for decoration are frankly just ♥♥♥♥. Yes, people can do incredible things with it, but they rely so much on creative clipping, which in turn relies a ton on knowing how to make this stuff work and a colossal amount of planning in advance.

I spent the better part of 1-2hours just trying to make a short belt line surrounded by metal frame that fed Petroleum Coke into 7 coal generators (stacked 4 with 3 on top of them), along with the foundation, catwalk and pipework. It was looking good, but the end result was kinda ♥♥♥♥ just because of how much of a mess the belt/pipe inputs were.

I'm also fast closing in on the point where I'm going to need to start setting up trains to transfer material to a centralised location so I can build more advanced products. Trying to make rail look nice is a chore like none other. Curves in this game are mindnumbingly tedious, even using blueprints. 5x5 gets you nothing.
It was enjoyable the other week when I had it booked off, but in the evenings, it takes so damn long to get anything done that it's spoiling the experience somewhat. Feels like its taking forever to get anything done and not in a good way.

[Crunchy[Daz]]

Why are you "Setting up" again? If you already had infrastructure in place to produce the parts then why did you tear it down?

The map is HUGE. There are resources everywhere. You don't have to keep building off the same factory or location.

You could go to the other side of the map, a whole new biome if you want, start building a new factory for the new parts you need. Yes you might have to make more machines that are making something that are also being made elsewhere but thats kind of the game.

[][-Stormshadow]

I'll echo most of what others have said, but to the point, it seems logistics and planning are points you should probably work on, but I can see that being a problem any new player would run into. The "Oh, well crap.. I need 3x more than I thought" factor is a constant in any factory/automation/logistics game."

As a general rule of thumb, if you think you need Y amount of something, plan for 4x that. This changes toward late game, as there is an eventual end to the chain of recipes. Similarly, plan your production to where you can come back and add more. Unless you're using a calculator like SCIM, your idea of what is 'enough' will get dwarfed pretty quick.

In terms of big-picture planning... eh, I started playing around update 6, so I've settled into a pattern. I don't try to build everything in one place, but I also don't make an endless chain of small factories all over the place.

If you're not going to look up stuff on the wiki (Use GG, not fandom) and you're not going to use SCIM or equivs, the "build at least 4x what you think you need" is the best advice I can give when it comes to "I don't want to keep building the same stuff over and over." Beyond that, don't try to build everything in one place unless you absolutely have to. I split my production across 3 facilities, two of which are specialized for the resources they're near -- namely the oil base does rubber/plastic/fuel and the one near quartz/bauxite/caterium does all my electronics and aluminum.

Other than that, alt recipes can be your best friend if you structure things right.

[chuckberts]

I felt a big slowdown at tier 8 as well, but unfortunately 9 is even worse. T8 was at least adding new construction lines. T9 is starting off w/ me needing to complete the tedious task of doubling my power grid just to expand on making tier8 parts in significantly higher numbers. Add in the T9 buildings I haven't even unlocked and I don't want to think about how much more power this is going to take.

[shoopy]

Get dimensional storage and unlock concrete foundations. Make concrete, pipes and beams and shove them into dimensional storage endlessly. Build sky bridge across the map with rails on it with your infinite bag of holding. When you need to get down from a cliff use 2 meter ramps. If it's too long just make a turn in mid air.

Or put a bus on the sky bridge if you prefer.

[black]

then learn from RL. they dump all resources into one spot and distrubte. literally logistic hubs.

monitor the incoming amount, know the outgoing amount and you will know if you need new basic resources. dont calculate for many small factories. calculate for factory clusters, then move the wares in quatities needed.

to make it easier, use blueprints. if you build blueprint X then you know you will need additional resources in amount X

[>< V ><]

For inspiration.

One of my main manufacturing plants and the central belt system I pull everything off of.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3037289736

My main board. I'm at 54 train car inputs from 7 different train rails. I built the system to hold 70.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3037289814

[Air Bear]

so part of the reason we get increasingly better miners and can use power slugs is so that we can expand production in one location when we learn we need more stuff. And those systems are not intended for you to build a whole new factory, its meant for you to expand on the existing factory and chain the outputs from the existing stuff into the new stuff. I've played several factory games and all of them do this same thing. Early parts are components of later parts. The whole game is going to be like that.

Anyways, back to the example. Early on your first really quite complex thing you need to make is probably modular frames. Eventually you're going to realize you need more of them. 2/min of the default setup just isnt going to cut it. One conclusion (which you've drawn) is to go make a new line at wherever else you've decided to build the heavy modular frames that requires them. Another conclusion would be to ramp up production where it currently is and to ship off excess to wherever they are needed. Thats why you get trucks about then in the unlocks. The game wants you to have the option to send these things long distance, or to bring the raw materials to your main base and build there.

Later, you start to need computers. And as you've just realized, you're going to need a lot. When I've played with friends, we usually have a computer base burning all the source materials they can get just to make as much as possible, for two reasons. 1) we're going to make a bunch of train stations (which needed computers, not sure if they still do) and 2) sending excess computers into the awesome shop is fantastic for coupons.

Which leads me to my last point: The game rewards you for overbuilding by letting you send excess materials into the awesome sink. Use it. Use it liberally. The only downside is that you need to ramp up power generation to keep the whole factory running all the time.

After about 3 or 4 runs with friends over early access, we've basically all come to the same general play style, which is what the people in this thread are encouraging: overbuild (because you will need it later), ship complex products across the map using the logistics options available, send excess into the awesome shop. It works out really really well because you get breathing room. In the early game you get extra parts for belts because instead of stopping at one production line making parts, you've got 2 or 3, or extra parts for power generators because you have extra production making rotors and all the things you need for coal generators. If you continue that philosophy throughout your whole playthrough it will go so much smoother.

In short, dont just build to meet the bare minimum amounts you need to progress. Overbuild a bit and plan to send excess products around later, because you will need to. It will add breathing room.

[NoClicksOnMe]

Might be some light spoilers in here but should be good since you're in T8? I'll skip on some of the T9 stuff.

TL;DR: Make more power, overclock, oversloop, belts>drones>trains, make blueprints of production machines with connections attached, only one item type per belt, rail spirals>rail ramps for train elevation changes, conveyor lifts for belts up or down cliffs. Also, the MAM is your friend.

My suggestion would be to be to make sure the factory has a lot of extra power. To increase output without building more factory use power shards and somersloops. Overclocking the miners and beginning production steps can pretty easily double item output from most nodes. Use the sloops to double the output of difficult or slower items without increasing the input requirement. For example I used them on oscillators, radio control units, high speed connectors, turbo motors, super computers, cooling units, and all of the space elevator parts. Some of the parts needed the earlier steps of those items are overslooped as well.
Also with overslooping its easy to double the number of power shards per slug using the constructor.
T8 cost us about 25k power, 45k for T9. Could probably be about 5k less but ran out of space and didn't want to build up yet because lights cause lag, or about 15k less without slooping the space elevator parts. Turbo fuel is alright, but annoying unless you get some alt ways to make it, turning turbo fuel into rocket fuel is easy enough and worth it imo since you can run 3x the generators by adding nitrogen.

Its much much easier to just make basic fuel for gens, its just a lot more generator building and oil "wasted" for the same power. I made a blueprint with 4 fuel generators, so worth it. Went from 40 gens to 100 mid game to 175 by the end. The nuclear power is a lot of work if you don't want waste to pile up, days spent building most likely and hundreds of buildings for it to be standalone. More without overclocking and alts. Not for the feint of heart and not required for getting to the end of the game.

The alt recipes can help, but its a lot of RNG unless leaving the "bad" or alts not planed for use in the mam so the next drive does not pull up the same alt again. A few good ones to look out for are Steel Rotors, Solid Steel Ingots, I think its Copper Alloy Ingots (Iron + Copper for more copper), all of the pure ingot alts, all of the aluminium alts, and maybe Iron Pipes + iron wire + encased pipes. There are more, but those got us a fair bit more progress without having to look around the entire map for more resources. The last iron ones aren't exactly needed, but allow for a lot of recipes that require multiple resources to be made with iron only or iron+water/limestone. Alts for fuel that make for a better power plant experience are the Heavy Oil Residue and Residual Fuel/Diluted Fuel or Nitro Rocket Fuel. Just in case, alt recipes are researched in the MAM using harddrives that are found in crash sites scattered around the map.

To make building less of a chore, make (or download) blueprints of production lines with the inputs and outputs with the connections already made. For example I made one with 5 smelters, power lines attached, input split into every machine from a single belt from the left, and outputs all merged to a single belt to the right. Made it a lot simpler to place down the blueprint a few times and just connect them together rather than build 15 machines and do 75+ connections.

It wasn't mentioned, but using and upgrading the dimensional depot and having all items go into an uploader is well worth it. Saves a lot of time from having to go collect everything you need to build. We did inventory uploading first, then the 300% stack limit then maxed out the upload speed for reference. Uploading from the inventory is very convenient when exploring, allowing for longer searches of sloops, spheres, and harddrives.

For transportation, IMO there is nothing better than good ol belts on a sky bridge that spans the entire map. It can be a lot of work, blueprints can help, but its still a lot of connections to go long distances. My pre 1.0 had a foundation sky bridge across the width of the map with 9 belts, 3 pipes, and a hypertube with another across the height of the map with 5 belts. My 1.0 save has a short distance to cover between sections of my factory (about 1/5th of the map) but theres a skybridge with about 15 belts on it. The world grid is your friend for sky bridges, using control key to snap a foundation to the ground locked to a global grid so all foundations line up no matter where the building starts.

On that note, everything going to a single location with all production is a lot easier in higher tiers as the later items all require each other in some way. The only issue is that its very easy to get spaghetti belts. Its possible to use the 4m foundations and switch to top and bottom 1m foundations with a 2m crawl space between to hide all belts under the floor where needed. Conveyor belt floor holes can be unlocked in the awesome shop using coupons from putting items into the awesome sink. Then use the conveyor lifts to move items up and down from the crawl space. The conveyor lifts can also be used for cliffs or multi story factories. They can also be clipped through the ground if floor holes arent unlocked.

I wont do belts with multiple different items on them. Not worth the hassle imo, and to get them to work without worrying they need a sink at the end. They are possible, but to me not worth the time and troubleshooting, and watching a final product go into a sink because of some small backup of items doesn't feel too good. I would only touch them in methodically thought and mathed out builds where everything is already running constantly, not the "make a stockpile and turn off" style I'm currently using.

I would avoid trucks unless you only need a single item a short distance, too much work for them to just stop completely when there is a conflict with another vehicle. I also had an issue where it would stop recording before I closed the loop. Wasted hours trying to get them to work. One worked fine enough, as soon two drove near each other, they would get stuck on each other and never move again.

Trains work very well, even for short distances, but the stations take a lot of room and figuring out the rail signs can be confusing. For reference, we had two bases literally across the map with 9 freight cars and it gave us enough item throughput and still had an extra cart by the end, but we also were mostly transporting completed parts. The train carried multiple different items with each freight car used for a single item or fluid/gas.
My tips for trains through trial and error is to have two tracks, one for in and one for out with the in rail connected to the out rail after the station to make a complete single direction loop. Do this for all stations if the rail signs are annoying. I spent hours trying to get multiple trains from 3 different stations to use a single track, it was much easier with a send and return track. The basic rule I followed for signs was to put a path sign before an intersection, and a block sign on each track after the exit of an intersection. I also put a block sign before and after each station. I made sure there is enough space between each sign to fit the longest train and for it to have some extra track length to slow down. Use spirals for large changes in elevation, they take about a 10x10 foundation space to make a full rotation using 90 degree turns. Trains also have the bonus of power transfer though the rails between stations so no need for power poles. The hover pack can also connect to powered rails, which is a nice QOL touch. Technically its possible to do a single rail with an engine on both ends, but the since the stations are facing opposite directions the freight cars are mirrored, too much thinking for me in an already complicated process.

Drones are much easier to setup, but giving them fuel could be problematic. IMO the best balanced fuel is either batteries or packaged rocket fuel. It is possible to fuel the drones from only one of the two docks, but a stack of fuel has to be enough for the trip there and back. This is why I don't recommend packaged turbo fuel or regular fuel, but it should be fine for medium trips. On that note, drones have about a minute docking animation which uses fuel and it does this at each station so there is fuel cost minimum regardless of the distance.

[Schobbob]

Oprindeligt skrevet af F4lc0n:

I like the idea of a central hub and usually I like train sim games where I have to build a network. The biggest problem I have that I can't easily build roads or similar for my train tracks. Because the terrain is just not flat enough.

Maybe blueprints would help - I tested some for roads but even these are only really usuable on really flat terrain. So either I build over the whole world with a lot of 4m foundations or what I did instead, was to build a road that is floating in the sky. I really don't know how to make a normal looking build for tracks or roads that look natural.

My base is in the south west (I choose the gras fields as starting point) and I expanded a long the west coast where I just build over the water.

Just out of curiousity - where did you build your main hub?

unlock concrete pillars from awesome shop, build a large pillar at max distance and place traintrack on top, makes building traintracks super easy and if there's a lot of stuff in the way just go above it.

[Ray Garraty]

Oprindeligt skrevet af F4lc0n:

previous factory to be build again. And this keeps on going over and over again.

Bluerprints FTW

I need Radio Control Units and much more.

Duplicate high tier items output yield using somersloops

better to just build one factory where I produce everything

It's not as easy as it might seem in theory

main belt network

The main problem is you have >30 production items. Imagine the size of the bus transporting them

[F4lc0n]

There are some really good suggestions in here. Thanks everyone for contributing. I guess I will have to build a sky train then. Good suggestion with the pillars.

but I think it is probably a good idea to just leave the factories alone and collect more harddrives for the time being. Explore the world. Though that also has become a pain in the a... since the enemies are extremely deadly now. :

Up until now, the game was quite chill, but now even after playing several hours I feel like I didn't made any progress at all.

[xjoepacx]

Oprindeligt skrevet af TH3R4BB!T:

I am now at T8, but more running around the map to collect the spheres and sloops, along with HDD and slugs. I do not want to think about the production process that needs to be done. Also the things it unlocks do not interest me, although I need to pass it to get further and finish the 'story'

If you are tired of running around looking for HDs and other items, you could always cheat and unlock the whole MAM and all the alt recipes by modifying your save using Satisfactory Calculator website

[proXimo]

I use the sky train to transport everything. Starting with the computer factory and the heavy frame factory, my building strategy changed to this:

I use a Petrochem Plant to refine oil into all it's products, and use trains to supply those products to the factories that need them. I also make an Ore Refinery that takes in all ores, including quartz and limestone, near the coast because most best refining recipes need water (pure ingots, wet concrete) and then send out ingots, concrete, silica, crystals and copper sheets to the factories that need them. One train per factory.

Organization is easy, factories don't need to be built near any resources at all. I also build up factories as higher tiers are unlocked. For example: Heavy frames gets expanded to become a fused frame factory, computers is expanded to super computers, radio control units is expanded to be a turbomotor factory.

Really there are many ways to tackle the full game, and it's something I plan for from the beginning. Good luck with your future factory!