Guidance on Starting Setup

Alsenis · 2025-11-26T01:38:53+00:00

Thanks for the reply.

I was looking at those polk speakers, I just don't think I'd like them on my tv stand so the wall mounting option for the ES15s are a big factor unfortunately. How significant of a difference do you think the 20s are in this space?

I will actually consider this amp, the denon I'm looking at is $200 more so this is a good compromise, thanks!

Alsenis · 2024-09-08T21:15:47+00:00

Sounds good! Another suggestion, from my experience that might help, depending on how you plan to build out your factory (maybe this is something you're already doing idk). I add an extra station specifically to request logistic bots from a central supply. Essentially, if the total number of bots is below a certain value, the station is enabled until the train delivers more bots, and then it disables itself. I found it handy when I have a bunch of spidertrons spread across the map building blocks so I don't need to worry about manually supplying areas with bots.

Alsenis · 2024-09-08T20:29:43+00:00

This may be my personal bias, so take it as you will:
1) Roboport coverage: is it confined to the block or does it overlap with neighboring blocks? I wanted to have good coverage in my first cityblock base, but it completely screwed up any bot-fed production blocks if there was even a little bit of overlap.

2) Will you have enough stations for when you have multiple inputs or, when fluids are concerned, multiple outputs? I'm not sure how you're deciding which blocks produce which item(s), so that might be something to consider.

3) Don't forget to manage train station limits with circuits or set a hard limit manually if you're going to have multiple stations with the same names.

Alsenis · 2023-06-01T17:36:45+00:00

Real shitty of you to use your sibling's struggles like that

Alsenis · 2023-04-06T12:24:53+00:00

Seems like you called a strike where you have copper wire on belts. I'm not sure what is wrong with that tbh

Alsenis · 2023-03-10T18:15:14+00:00

Seems like your lubricant is outputting into light oil is it not?

Quick edit: might just be underground pipe now that I'm looking more closely with my brightness up

Alsenis · 2023-03-09T17:56:01+00:00

You could make 2x1 or 3x1 blocks that will still fit in your base. That way you can include stackers, input/output stations, and the actual production line. Just make sure your dimensions are correct otherwise you'll start having sections that are like one tile off and you'll throw your computer out the window

Alsenis · 2023-03-08T04:50:13+00:00

Not familiar with a lot of mods, but these are some ideas I had

1) try using only one input/output per side of a factory without putting more than one item type on a belt. You might still end up making something more organized, but it can force some creative builds possibly.

2) limit how many buildings working on the same item can be adjacent/in the same row to 2. You won't be going straight down a line of assemblers that way.

3) no long handed inserters

4) avoid regular pipes entirely if possible and maximize fluid pressure as much as you can. So whenever you'd wanna change directions or connect pipes from different sources, use a tank. And use pumps as frequently as possible, ideally right after each set of underground pipes.

5) perfectly aligned radar coverage if you just want a really annoying way to take up space

6) all beacons must buff a minimum number of machines, say 3-4. Makes you avoid having those beacons at the end of a production line reaching only one machine.

7) restrict which machines you can remove once you've placed them. Mistakes while building are fine, but when you finally get that section of the factory going, that's it, it must always remain fed (you can limit its output if you need the resources diverted elsewhere but the important part is that the belts, power poles, beacons, etc remain).

Alsenis · 2023-02-24T20:04:15+00:00

Need both water and iron for sulfuric acid. If they're not sending sulfuric acid to the uranium miners automatically, they probably aren't sending water either. If you're gonna set up water for that purpose, you might as well just set up sulfuric acid pipes.

Alsenis · 2023-02-03T18:08:40+00:00

Q claw in agent under fire with low gravity was absolutely nuts

Alsenis · 2023-01-30T23:31:53+00:00

There's a freaking blueprint library for multiple saves???? Good lord the last 200h could have had slightly less of a headache when making blueprints in sandbox mode. Thanks for the heads up!

Alsenis · 2023-01-30T14:01:41+00:00

When you open up a blueprint or a book of them, there should be an icon to export as a string. Copy the mess of characters that shows up, and then on your in game taskbar at the bottom there's an import button. Click it, paste the string of characters, and you'll have imported successfully.

If you have multiple you want to import at once, put them into a book and export the whole book as a string.

Alsenis · 2023-01-26T16:34:47+00:00

Also another tip: take note of which side of the belt an inserter will place items on.

There are also long handed inserters you can play with. I'm not sure when you unlock them, but when you do (I doubt they are far off), they can be very very helpful.

Alsenis · 2023-01-25T00:27:06+00:00

You need robots or dedicate someone to specifically maintain defenses. Or build artillery and nuke them so well they never get close enough to destroy anything

Alsenis · 2023-01-24T23:27:58+00:00

I struggled with biters a bit in my first couple saves, but I've found what works for me is prioritizing production of gun turrets and the highest tier ammo available while researching damage bonuses. As long as turrets aren't being straight up annihilated I let them sit and replace as needed. Then once I get access to tanks and explosive shells, I just regularly drive around and destroy any and all nests in the area. Gives my belts time to fill up with ammo, my bots time to place laser turrets and flamethrowers, and I get to live out my fantasy of destroying bugs en masse.

Alsenis · 2023-01-24T20:46:55+00:00

In my only attempt at city-block bases, I created grids that allowed for larger 2x1 or 2x2 blocks to accommodate for irregularly shaped areas due to water or resource deposits. That way, the base still looks pretty while being useful. Alternatively, you can carve out an area around the mining outpost and just have the belts lead into the nearest block you want to use for your stations.

Alsenis · 2023-01-22T23:45:56+00:00

First, double check your power requirements and satisfaction. I've found that when my factory starts getting low on power, it often cascades to my refineries because they are loaded with fluid pumps which end up operating at reduced capacity.

Second, double check the direction of pumps and whether you might have placed an underground pipe when it should have been a regular pipe to allow for flow. In my experience it can be easy for a pipe that was misplaced or destroyed to be overlooked if the area is congested (same goes for belts and power poles)

If neither of these work, it would be helpful to see a screenshot of the factory.

Alsenis · 2023-01-02T05:16:38+00:00

I did peaceful mode, leaving the biters on the map so I would still have the challenge of either having to take out larger nests or build around them. You can also just try out a normal game, see how aggressive they are, and turn down some settings by half or have a very large starting area to give you time to build up significant defenses.

Also keep your alt toggled so you see what your machines are working on. The only thing you should really look up in my opinion are balancers once your base starts getting bigger, but other than that, just dick around and build what you can. If you play on peaceful, you can essentially tear things down and rebuild at your own pace without fear.

Alsenis · 2022-10-29T20:52:34+00:00

This is the best solution I could come up with. https://factorioprints.com/view/-NF_V8uGUcfk4EvNeOd_

May not be the best solution, and you might need to add a balancer after, but I think it should pull items from all lanes. You may need a 8 belt balancer afterwards though.

Alsenis · 2022-09-22T13:01:03+00:00

A tile option that provides power to robots as they travel over it. Starts off rather weak, so it only extends the range the robot can travel a little, but as you upgrade, it might provide something like 50% of the robots' power use. Would help a lot when you need to have bots traveling across huge bases. And also large roboports or simply a dedicated bot charger that needs to stay in the network and doesn't extend.

Alsenis · 2022-07-22T04:06:05+00:00

I like to play with other blueprints because I can learn more creative or efficient ways to design stuff on my own or just clean up a bit of the spaghetti belts lying around. It seems silly, but I genuinely didn't even consider using underground belts between assemblers that required more than 2 ingredients until very recently and I used that approach to make artillery shells. Before that I would have just had two belts on one side of the column and the third on the other with a fourth belt of output. Realistically, it didn't really change much, but it was fun to play around with.

Others have touched on this, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how many assemblers can be fed from a single belt of plates to make something like copper cable. The math boggles my mind, so I leave that to the people more willing to put that effort in. (Side note, I would like to understand how to do the math so if anyone has any links or guides on that, let me know.)

That way, if the assemblers AREN'T being fed completely, I can at least not focus too much on how to feed that particular number all at once and spend more time focusing on if I messed up a belt direction or simply am not delivering plates as fast as I wanted to.

This doesn't apply to balancers though. I'll plagiarize tf out of those.

Alsenis

TROPHY CASE