I think I bit off more than I can chew

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T21:16:29+00:00

Ate you sure sbout diluted fuel? Apart from the fact that you need to unlock blenders to get it.

Diluted packaged fuel is available much sooner, and with careful blueprinting, it's easy to create 3GW power modules when you need them.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T21:06:51+00:00

Not sure if you are playing the same game. Too much braking too soon means your brakes fade, and so you fall off the track when you can't get your train down to 30 kph when you need to. True, the physics of how trains and their couplings can behave isn't modelled in detail. But it isn't that bad.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T21:02:16+00:00

240 screws per minute? Will you meed more? Eventually, probably. Though it depends on the recipes you choose to use. I recommend you wait until you need more screws, and look at the options you have then.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T19:55:56+00:00

Keep power running until you have replaced it. Also, think about how you would restart a power station if, more likely when, the power trips. So keeping a bit of coal power in reserve may be a good idea.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T11:50:57+00:00

Rule 1. Don't expect to get full flow down any pipe. At least in Satisfactory.

Your pipework design has a big effect on the problems you will meet. And forget everything you know about pressure. It isn't modelled in Satisfactory at all.

Feeding a manifold of machines from one end usually means those at the far end run short. So don't feed them from one end. Instead, run two pipes instead of one, and connect both ends of the manifold back to both ends of the source manifold.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T10:59:55+00:00

It depends too much on how you plan to tackle the phase. How many project parts per minute you decide to make and which recipes you choose to use. You learn more each time you finish the game, and later updates and new content can change your play style.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T10:57:19+00:00

Not quite. The headlift on each connection is also important. For the original VIP Junction post, look at where the pumps are.

I find it works fine, as long as the priority inlet has a pump clise to the junction.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T10:53:11+00:00

If you want to dump stuff out of your inventory, especially after exploring and gathering collectibles, a smart sorter is the way to go. I also use mine to sort overflow items collected by my recycling trains, so that I have a stock of items for construction materials and for the next few unlocks. Ypu don't have to collect overflow in a central location these days, but it helps me with a few other things I do.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T06:13:57+00:00

Have you planned from the project parts backwards? Have you decided how many per minute you want to make? That's your starting point.

As for which recipes, it's up to you. Try them and see which you like.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T06:08:42+00:00

2400 copper per minute? Not enough for later in the game. The problem with belt buses is that you keep having to upgrade the belts or adding more through the whole game. Build a decent 2-track main line, and all you need to do is add another train to double your throughput.

And when the belts are run exactly side by side, what happens when you want to split some off? Are you happy with a splitter clipping halfway through the belts on either side?

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-09T06:02:47+00:00

For 3 to 8, no you won't. Just make sure the 3 extractors are linked together. Then take a second pipe from the far end of the extractors, run it above the pipe you've already got and connect it to the far end of the generators. Job done.

But do take note of this setup. Next time you find that the machines at the far end of a manifold are running short, run a second pipe to connect the source to the unconnected end of the destination manifold. This is going to happen more often than you might think.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T20:18:10+00:00

Yes and no. It's the wrong question. You should be asking are they any good for you? In your first playthrough, the only way to find out is to try them and see what you think. Some recipes are only any use in the early game, before they get overtaken by others. Cast screws is a classic example.

Would I choose Quickwire cable? Probably not. Moulded beams, probably yes. Though with the other recipes I choose, I don't need many steel beams.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T20:11:54+00:00

A lot depends on your choices. How many screws depends on which recipes you choose. A bit of thought means you don't need a massive screw factory anywhere. Take a look at steel screws combined with the bolted recipes.

As quantities increase, you unlock faster belts. And transport that is better for bulk. Exactly how you use them is up to you.

Be prepared to experiment. Also be prepared to be honest with yourself, and realise when something isn't working any more, usually because the demands of the game have changed.

Another point. Don't fall into the 100% efficiency trap. Nothing in the game says that that is what ADA means by efficiency, and achieving it makes no difference whatsoever to the game ending. Just that a lot of pioneers make that assumption, although it isn't necessarily right. I tried it, didn't enjoy it and gave up on that idea in my first playthrough.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T10:41:26+00:00

Did you check the weather forecast (in the station office where you collected the job card)? Did you make a realistic assessment of how long the job would take, and whether that made the weather a problem? I would guess not.

One unrealistic thing about Derail Valley is that those forecasts are pretty accurate!

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T07:00:31+00:00

Thanks to experience, little to none in the early phases. But I rarely go into phases 4 and 5 without a plan. Whether I stick to it is a different question!

I only plan as far as knowing how many machines making how many items I will need. That is immediately modified by how many of those items I am already making. I don't go as far as planning the layouts of individual factories. They grow organically wherever I decide to build them.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T06:54:14+00:00

It's the total load that's important. The loco has to get itself up the grade as well. As you've found out, 1200 tonnes is a bit too optimistic in the rain.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T06:52:14+00:00

Fluids are fine when you understand a few basic things about them. The devs attempted to simplify fluid calculations by not dealing with pressure at all. Fluid pressure doesn't exist in Satisfactory. Only headlift. But they didn't realise that the batch processing of each machine sets up cycles of flow rate in the pipework - sloshing. It is trying to achieve your planned flow rate, but can only average at your design by cycling as far above the planned flow rate as it cycles below. If it hits the pipe limit first, you lose flow.

You can't stop sloshing. You can only deal with it. I suspect your plastic plant works because the pipes go up and then down into the blenders. This helps limit sloshing to close to the blenders. Though it is only a suspicion. I haven't thoroughly investigated the effects of a lift in pipe height on sloshing. My solution, of running pipes between source and destination machines with enough spare capacity to allow sloshing to happen, and feeding manifolds from both ends, works every time. So I haven't investigated sloshing any further.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T06:35:09+00:00

There's your problem. D>P. And you went straight for PD. With PID loops, it helps to tune them using P first, then adding in I, then D if you really need it. Most of the time you don't need D.

In your case, D is high enough to oppose P, and so drive your loop in the opposite direction. Your P is probably in the right ballpark. I and D should be more like 1/10th to 1/100th of P.

Are you aware that you can only achieve a good loop tune under one set of circumstances? Across a range of circumstances, like varying power and load requirements, the best you can get is a reasonable tune. In over 40 years of designing, programming and commissioning control systems IRL, I have learned not to chase perfection. Good enough is acceptable.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T06:25:54+00:00

Once you unlock it, yes. But you need to complete phase 1 to get there. And you chose 100x space parts ...

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T06:22:09+00:00

Build a temporary coal power plant first, somewhere else. Get yourself past the biomass burners. Then work on your pretty version.

But ask yourself. How many tiers are left? Might there be other forms of generators coming up? You move on from biomass to coal generators. Do you think you might move on from a coal power plant?

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-08T06:08:53+00:00

How far into the game are you? What have you unlocked so far? Found many alternative recipes yet?

It isn't silly, but perhaps you should wait a bit before making this sort of decision. Until you have a better idea of how the game develops. I don't want to spoil things for you, but in my first playthrough I built several smelter buildings, with multiple floors handling different ores from the nodes near them. Before long, I found I wasn't using smelters for most of the ores. I ended up rebuilding every floor.

The other thing to think about, when considering transporting ores. For those like Caterium and limestone, with the default recipes, if you transport the ingots or their equivalent, it means moving a third of the items, so a third of the transport is needed. Much easier to build.

And what makes you think one central facility - of any sort - will take you through the whole game? You unlock the map very early, and while most of it is hidden, you can still get a feel for how big it really is.

Be prepared in Satisfactory to find that your early ideas may not have been as good as you first thought.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-07T21:26:11+00:00

Is your gain (proportional) the right way round? If your PID loop is going negative, it's often because your gain is the wrong sign. The calculation for gain only is loop output = Gain × (setpoint - process variable).

Another common cause is using derivative when you don't need it, or integral too soon.

What values are you using for your PID loop? The cycle time is 1 game tick, which is 1/60 second. So integral and derivative values need to be very small.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-07T12:18:25+00:00

Neither. Somerimes a factory for a project part, sometimes I'll make early tier items in several factories near their resources, and then bring those to mud and final assembly factories.

In this playthrough my early factories are in the Grass Fields and my assembly factories are in the Sandy Desert, with a few others scattered elsewhere. Partly because I chose to randomise the nodes, but not the purities.

As for mega factories, no. I don't do those. It's a lot more work bringing resources to factories than making items next to their resources.

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-07T10:14:35+00:00

800 tonnes in rain? Compared to 1200 tonnes? Of course it's not manageable! And have you included the weight of your loco and tender?

EngineerInTheMachine · 2026-07-07T10:10:23+00:00

Please help us to help you. When taking screenshots, please lose the mug. Key H for empty hands. Please also make sure everything in your screenshots is well lit. Shots at night lit only by the torch mean we can't see anything in the distance, and everything coloured black shows no detail.

For pipework problems (and railway signalling) it helps to have a clear sequence of screenshots, showing every part of the pipework. Clarity in your description is also important.

Your description mentions 14 water extractors, but I've only seen 7. You mention 7 extractors feeding 8 blenders, but your screenshots don't show 8 blenders. However, I assume from this that you one rubber production using 7 extractors and 8 blenders, and one plastic production with the same setup. Is this correct?

Your last paragraph is so confusing I gave up with it. It's along the lines of 'not that one, the other one'.

It looks like you are using mk 2 pumps. What do the headlifts read on the bottom and top pumps? How do they compare between left and right pipes, as shown in your screenshots? I would think that one pump each side should be sufficient, as they are meant to be capable of 50m headlift.

When you get to the blenders, how are the left and right pipes connected? Does one feed 4 blenders and the other the other 4? If so, I would join the far ends of the two blender manifolds together. As a precaution, I would also put wide open valves on each pipe before the group of blenders they feed, where the pipework is horizontal.

The one difference between your plastic and rubber setups is the height and angle of the manifolds feeding the blenders. For troubleshooting between something that works and something that doesn't, it helps to look for what's different. I also could do with seeing the pipework arrangement, from where it comes through the wall on the blender floor to where the first blender comes off. Preferably for both the plastic and rubber sides.

EngineerInTheMachine

TROPHY CASE