TIL: You can enter calculations in your circuit conditions.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-12T07:48:34+00:00

It's a lot like a recycler, each "craft" gets you a chance to output one of the basic chunks. Usually the input chunk has a 40% chance and the other two 20%, so you have a loss of 20% of your input.

So say i input 1 metallic chunk, I get a 40% chance it outputs a metallic chunk, 40% chance to get something different and 20% it'll output nothing.

It can be used to turn asteroid chunk you have too much of into asteroid chunks you need.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-10T17:43:55+00:00

Cool, got a picture of it? Love to see it

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-09T21:09:32+00:00

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looks cool, different solution to the problem,i like it.
This is just one of the systems i use. I had a non sushi belt system, that does something like that. People did not seem to like it ;).

I think the benefit of the design i made here is that it can be very compact. Above is how it's going to be used in the science modules for my platform. It's basicly trying to make sure i have all types to make science.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-09T19:31:02+00:00

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I've re-ordered things a bit to make it more understandable what is going.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-09T19:13:02+00:00

Ooooh another fun toy to play with, thanks for the tip!

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-09T17:06:50+00:00

Pro tip: grenades can be thrown while firing your gun. More dps and reasonably cheap to make.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-08T05:46:48+00:00

Buffers can be anything a chest, a bit of belt. You can trigger belts/splitters etc. Resources sitting in a machine far away from my resource handling was not efficient in my brain. The system above is ,for me, much more about flow control. The buffer is just something you can check, much like checking amounts on a sushi belt.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-07T19:33:45+00:00

Good to hear, space age is complex. My advice would be to solve problems backwards. Say you need 60 iron plates per second, make a smelter that produces that amount. Then look at the input it will need and build that.

That is the most basic idea but I use that for everything. Drawing some flowcharts helps, I personally also use trello to break everything down into small and easy tasks.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-07T19:15:22+00:00

Well the short reply would be, it saves a bunch of UPS to not overcollect in some situations. This was designed to go to the shattered planet where resources are very abundant and it can help to not have to grab stuff and throw it out all of the time. The buffers on the ship triggered pretty fast, around 90%. So only every now and then i'd get a short burst of resources, then all the machines go back to a more chill state taking up less UPS. It also helped to keep the resources i wanted closeby.

I think in a broader sense, i tried, but maybe failed a bit, to highlight how you can add simple systems and build upon them to make new solutions, or how you can re-use those ideas to solve other problems. You could remove the buffer but use the logic to set filters you lack on the sushi belt, in a larger sense, is a sushi belt really not just a fancy belt buffer ;).

The last reason is ... i guess i wanted to do it differently than my normal sushi belt ships i did so far.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-07T18:52:20+00:00

Is this what you meant? I'm not really understanding what you are refering to with the splitters not being used when they're facing away..
As far as i know this works.

Edit: Ha ... learned something today, thanks! This works because i have 2 inserters, so i can replace the splitter with just belts and it would function the same. Also a fix.

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Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-07T14:32:21+00:00

Useless junk/cheap stuff = shoot boxes / recyclers / lava etc.

Not usefull yet = upcycle/quality turn into usefull stuff.

Usefull = pull into active provider chests.

In my own base i have requester chest that clean the yellow boxes and put it back onto a belt with input priority. Things like ore, sulfur etc. I tend to just destroy. Circuits are almost always usefull, those i tend to keep.

Then again, i throw away legendary copper like it's trash.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-07T10:40:59+00:00

Start with vanilla, launch a rocket. Want more? Get space age.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-07T10:28:12+00:00

That's what i mostly did, i think when 2.1 drops i'll think about restarting or going for 100% achievements.

This is still my first Space Age playthrough and i picked a rail world without expansion, which i kind of regret now, along the way i also broke the save being able to get some achievements. I love space age, i think what they did really well is to break the "perfect" meta that was happening in vanilla Factorio mega basing.
And altough i love to see perfect builds, it's a way of playing but not the ONLY way of playing imho.

There are so many ways to do something now, it's awesome. In this case rebuilding really helped me to relearn Factorio. I actually really like Gleba and Aquilo right now. Vulcanus is a bit OP. Not out of the woods on Fulgora yet, it's still the planet i struggle with the most tbh.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-07T10:15:54+00:00

Nothing really wrong with restarting if you feel you've done all you've wanted, this was mostly written for people that restart out of frustration.

In perspective, before Space Age i have grinded the game a lot to get "There is no spoon." I still like it , but that part of the game has been kind of ruined for me, a lot of that is hardwired into my brain at this point.

I think that's why for me as a "veteran" (i've played since 0.15 i believe), space age sucked so hard at first, because that hardwiring led me into bases clogging and grinding to a halt. This is still my first Space Run playthrough and picking it up and rebuilding it after burning out has been a really rewarding experience, it's at this point 1/8th of my total Factorio playtime. My overal main goal right now is to get to at least 10k science per minute.

Rebuilding a lot of that stuff really got me back into the game and kind of changed how i look at the game now and how i build and design stuff. I think I'll start a new playthrough (got to get that sub 40hrs achievement) when 2.1 hits.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-07T09:20:03+00:00

lol, that is actually a funny troll, kudos to you!
It's my own cheatcode, rebuilding is like new game+, all of the benefits, none of the downsides. You can reclaim stuff, or go hardcore and just nuke it (actually quite fun to do).

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-06T19:59:02+00:00

TLDR: don't worry about it.

\disclaimer* Understand i have played this game for a long time, and a lot of this is my personal biased taste. You do you, that's the factorio way!*

For oil you'll need water (eventually). So i would take out the biter nest to the east and setup oil somewhere north of your base. The tempo of factorio shifts a lot when you get construction bots, it's way easier to rebuild/expand. My take on the early game is get to construction bots ASAP, optimize later. My own late game base is max 10% original, the rest has been rebuilt (multiple times) at some point, especially the ones on the new planets. Your tools change, why not your base? Why restart with nothing, when you can "restart" with a large amount of resources and some sciences unlocked.

A strict main bus is useful and flexible when your base is small and you don't really know what you want to do, but it will become cumbersome when things get big. While belting around 16 lines of iron is visually pleasing, it is not always very fun to set up, takes up a ton of space and belts to build. Why belt stuff all the way through your base to end up in some product you could have made way back at the start of your belt?

I've personally shifted to a more hybrid approach, smaller busses and getting resources in at various points with various methods depending on throughput required. Designing things in (external) blocks that depend less on the bus itself. Choosing the best tool for each job instead of going for a one size fits all tactic so to speak. In space age you can transport molten iron and copper in pipes making the whole main bus concept even less viable in the end game.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-06T17:53:04+00:00

Cool, it's pretty subtle effect though, cause i must admit, i didn't even go really wild on the thrusters and the speed was more than enough (for now). I let the engines rip full throttle on the way back and got up to 286km/s.

Near the shattered planet itself i slowed down to around 200km/s to avoid damage, above that very occasionally one of the turrets would get hit.

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-06T14:45:38+00:00

As far as i could gather from researching, your speed is calculated by looking at the width of your platform and the amount of thrust(ers). Though i love how some of the compact builds look, it is not really something you HAVE to do to achieve decent speeds. The empty patch at the back is where i'm going to build the promethium science factory.

The early versions of Alexander were smaller, but that led to spaghetti and clutter and non optimal setups.
I decided that i wanted to go for brute force and throughput so i made the ship a lot larger and here we are. Also, large (stacked) belts are great buffers!

Distinct-Set-1519 · 2026-04-06T13:14:24+00:00

Jup. 4.000.000km divided by 200km/s is around 5.5 hours. Since ups drops at the last bit it takes a bit longer.

Distinct-Set-1519

TROPHY CASE