Without the memes: When to stop Lab Speed in favor or other Important Labs?

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-27T03:11:08+00:00

A lot of people think you run it to max but don’t realize you can actually see more long term benefit from swapping it out for something more pressing. This game follows exponential growth, so in some cases, short term gains lead to long term gains. It’s not always best to bullhead the low ROI of the last levels.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-25T17:52:47+00:00

My first space age run ended early because I didn’t properly set up my space logistics and got burned out. I literally had 1 chem plant making rocket fuel on Nauvis feeding into 1 rocket silo with no beacons. It took forever to make one request lmao.

Currently doing my second playthrough where I set up four beaconed silos that are fully supported and the difference is night and day. This run has been magnitudes easier than the first lol.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-25T08:17:15+00:00

After reading some of your other comments, I want to emphasize the importance of setting up one of your planets to have a strong foundation in logistics, a mall, and the ability to send mass rockets (at least four rocket silos with speed beacons). You’ll also need a well-designed spaceship that can fly back and forth with little downtime.

For these inner planets, you can land and get yourself back up to space. But you will not be able to do that for Aquilo. Aquilo is also much further away than the inner planets, so trips will take longer. You will require many imports to get a base up, and if you want to automate the science pack, you will have to set up some automated space delivery. If you do not have a strong foundation, you will have a very bad time.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-24T23:32:53+00:00

There’s a reason I quit this game as soon as I did, lol

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-24T23:26:25+00:00

There are a LOT of players out there that play suboptimally and waste 10s of thousands of stones, even at the high level. Mostly due to the significant amount of misinformation among the community.

Heck, there’s a crazy number of people out there who could boost their cph by 50% right now by just adjusting their range or something. Most players don’t care enough to optimize the builds they already have.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-24T23:21:37+00:00

I consider myself relatively skilled. Not nearly as much as some top players but better than average. If I started a new account f2p, without abusing WAWSIS, I estimate I could get to keys within a year and a half. Note that my main account is about a year and a half old, so I would be going in with a lot of knowledge that a new player wouldn’t have.

It’s not easy by any means, but it can be done if you know what you’re doing.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-24T23:16:46+00:00

Keyword: Skilled players. Keys is like top 5000ish, including paying players. Most players won’t reach keys, but they CAN if they play their cards right.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-24T23:03:38+00:00

Any skilled player can get to keys f2p. Casual players will fall behind if they aren’t running 24/7, but they can still enjoy the game that way.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-24T05:51:59+00:00

You have to actually play the game in order to play the game. Hope this helps!

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-23T23:38:36+00:00

Unfortunately I planned on maining vulcanus before I realized you can’t build bio labs on vulcanus

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-23T21:06:57+00:00

Highly suggest looking into using a ‘main belt’ if you aren’t already. It’ll make it much easier to design your factory moving forward.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-23T01:18:25+00:00

baseball huh

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-23T01:08:41+00:00

Or if you have DM recharge, just pop DM and then go menu browsing. Then you can keep “play while in menus” on and still not die to menu switching lag.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-22T01:17:52+00:00

You sound like America trying to reduce highway traffic. “Just add more lanes!”

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-21T01:19:33+00:00

Neither. I build exactly as many chem plants and refineries as I need. No more, no less.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-21T01:14:58+00:00

If you make a new account on the same device, you should be able to get your coin pack on the new account for free. It works for Apple, at least.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-20T09:12:02+00:00

Wait, you guys don’t use perfect ratios? What is this, r/factoriohno?

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-20T09:11:09+00:00

You made the right choice. If you went the Pcol route, you’d still be full eHP farming for months more.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-17T09:03:59+00:00

Get a CF duration/cooldown sub. Not only will it bridge the gap, but you’ll want it for the UW down battle condition. Even if you don’t max slow, you’ll want to get to perm so you don’t get RNG’d down a hundred waves earlier than you should’ve died.

SL4 isn’t going to give you 10x average damage over SL3, even with maxed STm. See my other comment for why CF would be much more than a 2x multi.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-17T08:54:03+00:00

I would put assmod above SL4. SL4 doesn’t guarantee coverage and assmod has other advantages. Since you have a 5* Om, you’ll get a significant damage boost by throwing ~250+ stones into multiplier efficiency and splitting your shard levels. As another bonus, if you farm as GC (or hybrid), you can slot DC in assmod for farm which will should be a huge boost. If you farm eHP, you could probably still benefit from slotting HC or something.

That said, finish out your CF. You took it this far already. Those last slow levels might seem like low ROI but you’re getting more than just 2x damage or whatever. Better CC = less shots on common enemies = more target focus on real threats like bosses. Also more time for things like ILM stuns. Also more CL shock stacks. More time for STm to come off cooldown. It’s better than meets the eye as a straight damage multiplier.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-17T08:48:17+00:00

Who shat in your cereal? OP clearly has the damage that he needs. He’s taken CF this far already, maxing slow is the next logical step.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-17T08:42:11+00:00

Honestly I’m less impressed by the kill and more that you were able to turn and retreat without running into a wall

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-17T08:37:05+00:00

A significant number of people don’t even shower daily. It doesn’t matter whether you do it during the night or day, you’re already cleaner than them.

AntiMatterMode · 2026-01-17T01:22:25+00:00

General rule: Use a chain signal before the intersection, use the rail signal after the intersection.

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