How do you do math?

[HumanMirthquake]

I'm serious; I can't figure out how to calculate how many constructors I need making screws and how many I need making iron rods to make rotors, and how much to over/underclock things so it's always flowing; stuff like that.

Thank you!

[Dreadlow]

Work out how many of a finished product you want/need and go from there. if you want 10 rotors per min you'll need 50 rods and 250 screw per min.

In the early game I'll make more than needed and either store items in a container because they'll end up being used with expansion, or fed to a sink to earn coupons.

[LostME]

https://u6.satisfactorytools.com/
https://satisfactory-calculator.com/

[Kage Goomba]

I just "Guess" and watch the factory segments do their thing and reach my own conclusions.

Too many variables to track - but you can get very close.

Sometimes pushing it all to spreadsheets isn't going to do much.

[Vegas Doc]

When your head is fuzzy you could use the built in calculator to do the 'computing" for you. If you type in the keyboard command N, instead of searching the encyclopedia (quick search), you can use it to do the math for you, arithmetic functions.

THE DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS (after you type N to get into the encyclopedia/quick search)

/ for division 50/15
*(don't use x) for multiplication 88*17,
- for subtraction 307-28
+ for addition 289+184

NOTE: you can even type in several functions in a row, but I think that you will have to play around with it for that, syntax stuff, order of operations etc.

Using the above example by Dreadlow, you could type in the numbers, so you need 50 rods and 250 screws per minute to make 10 rotors per minute, a constructor makes 15 rods/min, so type in 50 rods / 15 rods/min to get 3.3333 you'd need 3.3 constructors on an impure node to make 50 rods/min (not sure how accurate that is, it's just an example) to make 50 rods/min, Happy Pioneering!

[kLuns]

Always decide how much items per minute you want to make and what recipes you want to use.
Calculate backwards from the storage, start with last machine and go back to the resource. Any item used can be looked up using N, and the bar works as a calculator as well as mentioned above.

[phillip_lynx]

I do build more. And if this is not enough I build more. Rinse and repeat.

My rule of thumb : if the conveyers are not packed I have to build more.

[Shurenai]

Start with your desired quantity of final product and work backwards until you reach the base ore input.

EG: If you want 10 assemblers producing Smart Plating at 100% clock speed, not using any alternate recipes:

You will need 2 Reinforced Iron plates per minute per assembler, and 2 Rotors per minute per assembler
So:
2x10=20 Reinforced Iron Plates per minute
and
2x10=20 Rotors per minute.


Step down 1, Reinforced iron plates:
These craft 5/min at 100% clock speed, so you need 4 assemblers making these.
So you will need
30x4=120 Iron Plates per minute
and
60x4=240 Screws per minute

Step down 1, Rotors:
These craft 4/min at 100% clock speed, so you need 5 assemblers making these.
So you will need
20x5=100 Iron Rods per minute
and
100x5=500 Screws per minute


Step down 2, Screws:
These craft 40/min at 100% clock speed, To meet our needs we need 240+500=740 screws/min. So we need 18 assemblers at 100% clock speed, and another underclocked to 50% totalling 19.
So we need
(10x18)+(5x1)=185 Iron Rods per minute


Step down 3, Iron Plates:
These craft 20/min at 100% clock speed, and we need 120/min for Reinforced plates,
So we need 6 constructors making iron plates.
So we need
30x6=180 Iron Ingots per minute.

Step down 3, Iron Rods:
These craft at 15/min at 100% clock speed, and we need 100/min for Rotors.
We also need 185 iron rods/min for Screws. In total, we need 19 constructors making iron rods.
15x19=285 Iron ingots.


Step down 4: We need 180+285 Iron Ingots, for a total of 465/min.
These craft 30/min at 100% clock speed. So we need 15 smelters, +1 smelter at 50% totaling 16.
So we need
(30x15)+(15x1)= 465/min of Iron Ore


So, in total, to perfectly feed 10 100% clock speed assemblers making smart plating we need:
10 Assemblers making Smart Plating
4 Assemblers making Reinforced Plating
5 Assemblers making Rotors
18.5 Constructors making Iron Rods
6 Constructors making Iron Plates
19 Constructors making Iron Rods
15.5 Smelters making Iron Ingots
At most 15.5 Mk1 miners, if they're all on poor nodes.

[Bruteforce]

i tend to build the complex things from the end to the beginning

[GobboKirk]

Originally posted by LostME:

https://u6.satisfactorytools.com/
https://satisfactory-calculator.com/

This, I am lazy so tools are a helpful little miracle :D

[Shurenai]

Almost forgot.

Regarding under/overclocking, Assume the vast majority of your assemblers/constructors/etc will be operating at 100%, if you get a value like the 18.5/15.5 ones I concluded above, then you match the whole number in assemblers, and then place one additional assembler underclocked to that remaining value- So 18 at 100%, one at 50%; or 15 at 100% and one at 50%.


Power slugs are rare and essentially finite, so If you really want to optimize things, the best(and only, really) place to use them is in Miners(and oil pumps maybe).

Shards In power generators only make the machine run faster- no benefit or detriment in fuel usage, so you may as well just make more of the generator. instead of wasting shards on it.

And using shards in crafting machines makes them take more power than the benefit it provides
EG: An assembler takes 15mw, to overclock it to 200% takes 2 shards and raises the power cost to 45.5mw- Over 3 times as much power for only doubling output. You're much better served to just make a second assembler than to overclock it.

Miners, though, There's a finite number of ore patches- Once they're all filled, overclocking is the only way left to raise their output. So it is the single best place to use shards.


Since there's TONS of space, it's better to just build more of the things and use shards on miners. Don't fret over using one or two spare shards in cramped spaces if you really need to, though.

[Mr.America]

Extra recipes make it more difficult but the basic idea persists: Take a product you want, figure out the entire chain it is made from, then take a simple instance of running one production building at the end and see how man ressources that takes at the very beginning. For example, a part requires higher level parts which require mid-tier parts which require low-tier parts which require xyz raw ressources. Figure out how many raw ressources you need at minimum, then multiply it to whatever your lowest maximum extraction rate is. There you go, that multiplicator is how many of the final parts you can make. Then go to the end again, put down (theoretically) your final buildings and go backwards from that.

Otherwise you can also just apply overflow mentality. Just produce whatever you can produce, ship it to wherever you need it and just produce as much as you can until stuff starts to go idle.

[DivineEvil]

Pretty much as fellow engineers have said - work your way from the desired product down toward the source of raw materials. Usually you would have all smelters on the mining site producing ingots, which are then moved towards the associated factories one way or the other, with the best conveyor belts at your disposal. Your goal is to connect that goal to a production chain which results in a finished item.

Place the production module and see how any components it needs per minute to run the process seamlessly without breaks. Then, place one module that produces the component and count how many of these modules you'd need to satisfy the preceding demand. Find a suitable area and place that amount of modules in a row, linking their inputs with Splitters and outputs with Mergers and driving an output belt into the original module. Rince and repeat, until you reach the point of the raw material (ingots etc) and link the appropriate belt into the production line.

A note about items such as Wires and Screws - don't produce those at the level of other components delivering with a shared belt, but instead build Constructors for each Assembler that requires them and supply the ingots instead. These are rare cases where you'd get more products from fewer components, and running those as a shared belt will clog the delivery.

In some bases you can just multiply the amount of final outputs to remove the need to overclock things. For example, if you need 60 Screws to make 5 Reinforced Plates, instead of overclocking the Screws to 150% for 60x output, you can build two Assemblers for Plates that will require 120 Screws, which is 3 Screw Consructors with one of them dividing its products evenly between the other two.

[kLuns]

For rotors you can put 6 constructors in a row.
Let the first 3 make rod, the others screw. Feed all the rods through the screw manifold for simplifying the beltwork
Set the clockspeed of the screw constructors to 250/3
Feed the output of the manifold feeding rods to the assembler making 4 rotors per minute.

Once it's running, fill the screw constructors up with iron rods, this will make the manifold work directly. Else it takes very long before the system runs efficiently.
If you build the splitters/ mergers above/ under the constructor you can feed the output of your constructors in a straight line to the assembler, with minimum beltwork

[Brakxel]

Originally posted by phillip_lynx:

I do build more. And if this is not enough I build more. Rinse and repeat.

My rule of thumb : if the conveyers are not packed I have to build more.

My man. This has worked for me just fine. Stack it. Pack it and rack it. The factory must grow. Don't fight the inevitable.
Another trick I use: If I need X number of items to finish a milestone or something else, and the items are cranking out too slowly, I let the game run over night. Wake up in the morning and all the items are made. Works great.

[The Big Brzezinski]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2827896615

Spreadsheets are the magic circle you draw to contain and control mathematical power at scale. Sure, you can do small jobs in your head, but trying to do the same with higher tier production lines will destroy your mind.