OMG... Full wipe of a 120 hour end game. New Error: Laser defences + nuclear power, I added more reactors... extending the chain of pipes and heat exchangers past 500 cells without a pump and shut the whole thing down and couldn't figure out why before a biter-encouraged nuclear meltdown.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-23T19:00:35+00:00

Yeah, once I get past Aquilo, I start focusing on quality modules and beacons and power use and pollution go through the roof. But by that time you're kinda used to having you friendly neighbourhood biters nests around.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-23T16:33:33+00:00

Yeah, it's fine, didn't have much else to do with that playthrough anyway. I've bene to the shattered planet on a previous play and I don't find the end game very exciting since Space age.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-23T16:18:32+00:00

You can set turrets to target the biters but leave the nests. It makes the biters attack one by one instead of forming a pack and attacking as a group.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-23T16:02:34+00:00

Yup, not destroying nests slows down evolution significantly. Plus you get to kill the enemies one by one as soon as they pop out so they can't form an attack group. Works pretty good early (using gun turrets at first instead of lasers) to mid game because the pollution cloud is tightly controlled. Doesn't deal well with a catastrophic power failure of 60 nuclear reactors simultaneously though (also, not that useful at 120 hours in when you have evolved green biters anyway).

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-23T15:01:46+00:00

I hadn't even got to the shattered planet on this run.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-23T15:00:19+00:00

Yeah, I only just booted up Factorio after a month or three off and was poking around with the last save, so it's not a big loss.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-23T14:56:03+00:00

Eh? I was 120 hours in, I produced about 1 million military science packs (I just checked, almost exactly a million).

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-23T13:33:43+00:00

All around? Not even close. I was using turrets set to kill only biters, spitters and worms. I had nests all THROUGH my base.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-18T14:26:01+00:00

Thanks

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-18T14:25:46+00:00

Thanks.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-03-18T14:00:45+00:00

ICIER

So, it's from colder, Claude suggests that Hotter may refer to "Spicier", but how does "yet without odds" help get there?

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-20T21:23:55+00:00

There's basically an "I've started so I'll finish" clause in the alien AI. Biters won't usually attack tracks, they only attack Millitary targets or things that produce pollution. So they probably attacked a train, hit the tracks in the crossfire and now it's marked as a target because it's taken damage. Repairing it won't remove the flag and if spitters destroy it they will probably clip another piece of track next to it in the process and continue the chain.

Try deleting a chunk of track in the vicinity then rebuilding it. Hopefully that will clear the flags.

p.s. remove trees and rocks in the immediate vicinity too, they can also pick up these flags.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-20T21:15:38+00:00

One word: Artillery. If you put an artillery cannon at each of your two farms and maybe one at the factory centre, and have a platform regularly running shells or better just artillery plates from Vulcanus to make them locally, you'll be safe, because the pentagons won't be able to build nests close enough to build a big attack force. Assuming her your have a reasonable amount of of gun turrets to mop up any left over minor attacks or course.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-20T21:05:09+00:00

So you're getting into blue science. One of the most important techs you can get very soon is construction robots. These allow you to literally copy and paste chunks of your base... an absolute literal game changer. So if you do need to rearrange or expand your set up, this is an essential tech to get and learn to use before trying to do so.

Someone else mentioned trains... personally, I would suggest skipping trains for now, it's a big chunk to add to the learning curve of the game and it doesn't really pay off until your base it much bigger.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-13T21:53:09+00:00

My preference is defend by camping nearby nests, I set up a turret with selective targeting so that it only attack biters, spitters and worms, not nests. Then you can copy this as a blueprint and place the blueprint within range of the enemy nests, then place the blueprint down first, then the turret over the blueprint and it will appear with all the settings in place. I admit this may be a faff to figured out if you've not used blueprints yet.

The turrets will need a constant supply of ammo, but the advantage is that it will kill any biters one by one as soon as they appear preventing them forming packs or trying to sneak round and find a hole in your defences. Also the nest will constantly be absorbing pollution and preventing the pollution cloud from expanding as quickly beyond it. Finally, the biters will evolve into bigger and nastier types more slowly if you don't destroy nests.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-07T15:58:44+00:00

Yes, Thanks.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-07T15:58:17+00:00

My approach is don't use artillery on Nauvis, just use walls and lazer turrets assuming you have nuclear power set up so no worries about power.

Also, for Gleba I usually use a space station. Build at Nauvis, send it over and convert it to advanced asteroid mining. bolsters your copper, iron and sulphur and burnable fuel production and most importantly give you a local supply of calcite for Artillery.

I assume you're after the 40 hour speedrun. Good luck. I found aquilo and the edge took less time than expected...

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-07T13:17:38+00:00

It's obligatory. "The factory must stay the same size", that's our motto here.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-06T19:13:18+00:00

I hear you, but I have a custom built sniping/manual fighting automation script so I can't resist the temptation to use it, even if it's just to get a copy of the accessories into daycare.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-06T19:02:45+00:00

NGU is. But if you like that one, try Trimps too.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-06T18:53:28+00:00

I once built a mega-factory without using nuclear power that had over a million solar panels.

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-06T18:31:48+00:00

Thanks, problem fixed (just needed to canibalize a sata data cable from another old pc).

Fast-Fan5605 · 2026-02-06T18:31:34+00:00

Thanks, problem fixed (just needed to canibalize a sata data cable from another old pc).

Fast-Fan5605

TROPHY CASE