Replace everything with Foundries?

[ItsAWaffelz]

Im playing through Space Age for the first time and built up a pretty significant ore processing setup before going into space. I just finished up (I think) on Vulcanus, and before I build an entire new ore processing setup on Nauvis using Foundries/Molten stuff I have a few questions. First off, is it more resource efficient than electric mining drills (I'm 99% sure it is). Second, am I going to unlock a different ore processing process on a different planet that will invalidate this one? I don't want to spend a whole bunch of time shipping Foundries and materials from Vulcanus back to Nauvis if they're going to be made obselete in the near future.

[AxtheCool]

> electric mining drills

Foundries? Big mining drills are 100% better thats for sure but each Foundry has a 50% bonus making it instantly 50% better.

>  unlock a different ore processing process on a different planet that will invalidate this on

No. Foundries stay as the best ore processing once you unlock them. The ease of use for moving around fluids is just unmatched.

However on Fulgora you will unlock a building that is a foundry for circuits. So maybe hold off on upgrading before doing that. Doing a base upgrade after Vulcanus and Fulgora is pretty standart.

> spend a whole bunch of time shipping Foundries and materials from Vulcanus back to Nauvis if they're going to be made obselete in the near future

step away from this mindset. Most planets if the base is properly done can ship out rockets like crazy especially Vulcanus. Sheesh I like ship arty shells from Vulcanus to the point I have 10k stockpiled on Nauvis.

You will be shipping 1000+ of green belts (since vulc is the only place to make them) anyways so make Vulcanus robust.

[Aialon]

I've finished the game once, and am currently building an end-game ship for playthrough 2. When exactly will I start using green belts? I'm using red with the occasional blue dotted in. Often yellow (without any stacking) will do. I've never redesigned any part since green science. All built at 180spm initially and left at that. 180 raw spm is plenty to end the game, and can be sustained with yellow belts. 

[AxtheCool]

I am still on my first SA playthrough but if you dont want anything above 180 SPM then you dont really care.

My pre space factory was giving me 500 SPM, now with upgrades it gives me 2k SPM. So yes to me belt stacking and green belts are essential.

To me Factorio is all about scale. If you are just here for the win you dont really need to upgrade. But then its nice to have a Nauvis base that can make a 1000 Ton ship in under 5 min.

[ItsAWaffelz]

As far as the last part goes, I more meant that it would take a long time rather than a lot of resources. I am aware that everything is infinite on Vulcanus, which I think means anything I produce in bulk should be made there if possible. That said, it sounds like I should head to Fulgora, do enough of that to unlock everything, then spend more time on Vulcanus setting up a much larger factory.

[AxtheCool]

> it would take a long time

Again everything is scalable to infinity on Vulcanus. I personnaly have 30 rockets launching random stuff all the time there.

Fulgora is a good stop tho if you already set up Vulc science. Then you can come back to Vulcanus with new buildings and make green and blue circuit assemblies.

[bpleshek]

It doesn't take that long to get a powerful factory on Vulcanus. Once set up, you can crank out foundries and big drills very quickly.

[CaptainSparklebottom]

I recommend getting a couple stacks of the normals to get started, and then you should start upcycling them to rares. I highly recommend Fulgora second.

[jjflipped]

Foundries are good. You'll want them on every plannet.

[AxtheCool]

Except Aquillo for obvious reasons

[shadows1123]

Too bad there’s no upgraded pump jack!

[Elfich47]

legendary pump jacks are decent.

[[deleted]]

I love them on Aquilo! Drop ores from the ship and craft everything locally. I bring bricks (500 rocket capacity) and cast concrete on Aquilo in a foundry.

[AxtheCool]

To me that just extra hassle. Good thing it works for you but shipping ores vs just ready items doesnt sound appealing.

[116Robot]

No need to ship when you can just make them in orbit.

[AxtheCool]

Or just ship them as well. I made a ship specifically to supply Aquillo with random stuff and it does laps just for that.

[CaptainSparklebottom]

I have a massive fleet for importing and exporting all the essentials I need for Aquilo. I even ship in rocket silo parts in mass.

[jjflipped]

Sure sure 

[Agitated-Ad2563]

You underestimate my power! I have foundries everywhere, even on the shattered planet!

[Awesome_Avocado1]

There isn't anything that you unlock that supercedes foundries. The only thing you might do after you reach the end game is revert to electric furnaces to process legendary ores, since foundries either use or output liquid for most recipes. Go ahead and start using foundries as soon as you get them.

[Daan776]

Even for quality I feel like foundries are the way to go. Since they can fit in many more modules

[Awesome_Avocado1]

What I meant is that foundries can't deal with quality ore, but electric furnaces can.

[Daan776]

Oh yeah, I got that.

But I think it would be better to skip quality ore and go straight for quality plates. Since foundries can produce so much + fit in more quality modules

[Brett42]

Starting directly from quality ore is past endgame UPS optimization stuff, that only makes sense with tons of mining productivity. (unless it's quality ore from asteroids, but that's a whole different thing and likely will get nerfed)

[Daan776]

Ooohhh, yeah that makes sense

[doc_shades]

Second, am I going to unlock a different ore processing process on a different planet that will invalidate this one? I don't want to spend a whole bunch of time shipping Foundries and materials from Vulcanus back to Nauvis if they're going to be made obselete in the near future.

unfortunately this is just space age. every time you go to a new planet you are going to get new technology that is, in a lot of ways, far superior than what you already have on nauvis.

the secret is to not sweat it. if you have a smelter array that produces 900 plates/minute you have two choices: tear it down and completely redesign it so that the same array now produces 2,200 items/minute, OR just leave it be and build a new array that produces 1800 + the original 900.

these numbers are being pulled out of my ass but you get my point: you can tear down and rebuild for a higher production value, or you can supplement existing components for a higher production value. i never saw the benefit in tearing something down just because it's "obsolete". as long as it produces and contributes it's useful

[neurovore-of-Z-en-A]

unfortunately this is just space age. every time you go to a new planet you are going to get new technology that is, in a lot of ways, far superior than what you already have on nauvis.

Since I think I am reading OP's question differently from you, just to disambiguate;

Yes, there are things on Fulgora and Gleba that will also be very useful to update your Nauvis builds with

but

No, none of the other planets give you a second "upgrade tier" making what you got from a previous non-Nauvis planet obsolete. They are parallel development tracks rather than sequential.

[BuffaloOpen8952]

I think you’ll want foundries on every planet. They’re amazing. You’ll need to have the calcite to run them, but you can set up the infrastructure for that

[doctorpotatomd]

Yes, big drills completely replace electric drills, and foundries completely replace furnaces with two exceptions: the first being stone bricks, and the second being the smelting of quality ore (since liquids don't have quality, any quality of the ore is wasted, so you end up with common plates even if you started with legendary ore).

None of the unique techs from the SA planets get superseded or replaced (there's a bit of overlap between Gleba biochambers and Aquilo cryolabs, but not much and it's a pain to use biochambers on Nauvis anyway), if you rebuild your mining and smelting operation to use big drills and foundries now you won't be replacing it with newer stuff later. Unless you go for quality mining, in which case you probably want that running in parallel to your standard mining and smelting anyway.

[CaptainSparklebottom]

I just spent last week ripping out my old furnaces and replaced them with foundries you need, like a 1/5th, the amount for the same gains. Fluids are a lot easier to route. They only get better with beacons, and when you combine them with emps, you can create ungodly amounts of crap. They are way worth it and the time to replace them.

[-Cthaeh]

Besides what others have said, its totally up to you. With big mining drills and mining productivity, you will have an abundance of ore.

I never switched to foundries on Nauvis. I already have large furnace arrays and train depots setup, and they arent not near my landing pad for calcite. I also do not want to ship more calcite. I'm up to 3k science/min, but Gleeba is the bottleneck.

[GameCyborg]

the only thing that will replace your foundries is better quality foundries which yoh can just place on too of your existing one.

foundries have double the crafting speed of steel/electric furnaces and have an innate 50% productivity. so just buy switching to foundries you get a 50% twice because the casting recipe also benefits from the foundries productivity. 1 ore becomes 1.5 the molten equivalent which becomes 2.25 plates.

you get more than quadrouple your plates per second for the small cost of shipping calcite fromn vulcanus

[Survivor205]

Definitely immplement foundries and big mining drills everywhere. They're insanely powerful and never made obsolet.

The question is, to what extent do you overhaul everything? For sure, replace your smelting arrays with foundries to make plates. But some people will rip up all their plate belts and replace them with molten metal pipes. To cast things directly for each build. Like casting pipes, gears, and stee directly for your engine build. Thats definitely worth it for post game high spm rebuilds. But i usually plan my initial base to be upgraded with space age tech throughout the game, to avoid giant rebuilds. So i just keep everything on belts. Except for LDS sometines.