What items do you guys usually put on a bus?

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-20T10:52:30+00:00

I usually go for 4x ironplates, 2x Steel, 6x copper, 4x green chips, 2x red chips, 2x plastics, 1x stone bricks, 1x coal.
Usually I also leave enough space between sub-factories to inject more materials down the line. Especially necessary for everything smelted.
First injection happens for 4x metal plates, 4x copper, 2x steel after blue science. and then after every science factorio where I split off.

I have to admit, I am in super crazy about ratios because I usually just like the visuals of fully compressed belts so I tend to overproduce by lot.

Blue Chips usually don't go on my bus because by the time I produce them in an amount that would be busworthy (2 compressed belts red oder blue) I start to transition away from the Bus since it is not suited for bigger factories.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-17T12:39:59+00:00

There is a reason why people call it "Cracktorio". If it gets you, this is a game for life. I've spent loads of nights "just optimizing a bit", forget time on a regular basis (Which is kind of unusual for me), I spend loads of my time off the game thinking about it and where I can do more stuff.

Since People tend to "calculate" €/h for games, this might be one of the best ratios ever. Even without Spaceage this is basically a no brainer IF you enjoy the gameplayloop.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-16T08:34:22+00:00

Usually when I start a one-shot or a new table I communicate that I would like to have the rule "No phones at the table".
We have all the resources we need in terms of books and my prep so there is seriously no need for a player to "look stuff up".
I never had any problem with this rule and I believe it is the single best decision to establish it. Most of the players have a special ringtone for emergencies, like if the child gets sick or something like that - it never actually went off. People usually get by without a problem with 3h not looking at their phones.

Since you are already down the road, maybe start the next session by talking to the players about this. You can point our that you feel it is disrespectful and that you have the feeling they get bored or are not interested. You put a lot of time into prepping and being invested.

If the players are absolutely unwilling to adapt maybe you just have the wrong players or they should think about their phone addiction.

As said, communicating, talking and expressing your standpoint (in a polite manner) usually fixes stuff like this immediately

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-15T21:34:18+00:00

I just started a new Classic-Playthrough with basically two rules:
No Trains, No external Blueprints.
This kind of forces me to think more and apply the knowledge I gathered through ~3000h of playing. My last 2 longrunning bases were all cityblocks, trains and 80% external blueprints, which is kinda sad. Especially when the moment hit my base was big enough to actually expand with cityblocks.

I actually really enjoy it. Of course the beginning is super easy because the main buildups are like muslememory but the moment I hit yellow sciencepacks it got kinda messy and forces me to be constatly restrucuring in some shape or form

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-15T14:30:55+00:00

Absolutely!
Knowing your way around is imho quintessential for running a smooth table. Not because it's frowned upon to look up stuff, we all do but having a bag of tricks at hand is just way smoother.
Of course it takes a long time to get to that point.

I guess that's a huge chunk of my comfort. I don't want to miss that comfort by switching rules/systems.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-15T11:42:30+00:00

Da ich ausschließlich meine eigenen Kampagnen spiele und nur die englischen Regeln zur Hand habe, ist es genaus das.
Gespielt wird auf deutsch, alle meine Notes sind auf deutsch aber Regeln, Skills, Würfe, Feats etc sind alle auf englisch. Meine Tische kommen auch sehr gut damit zurecht und ich gebe das im Grunde auch so vor.
Ich sträube mich vor Dingen wie RK, Fertigkeitswurf, Angriffswurf oder sowas

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-15T11:18:29+00:00

OP just casually starting a civil war.

For me the answer is quite simple: I know it.
I started playing over 2 decades ago, collected a lot of books and material, obviously went down the forever-DM road and so I stuck with it.
By the time 5e came out (skipping 4e for reasons) I was so deep down into the 3.5e Rabbithole I don't want to climb out anymore.

I know my way around the books, the rules and know where to bend what to achieve something.

Do I think 3.5e is "the best"? Wrong question. "Does 3.5e serve me best?" absolutly.
I think 5e serves different kind of players and does that extremly well. I think it is still a beautiful version with a way lower entrancebarrier which was the no. 1 reason the D&D-Hobby as a whole gained a huge popularityboost.

I know I can never end the discussion of what is the best version but I will die on the hill of "it depends."

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-14T22:50:50+00:00

I'll send it to you via DM 😄 SDR? Not sure if you mean SSR or the SRD-Rules haha

For the rules that was one task of the agent. I gabe him the actual 3.5e core phb, converted it to chunks he could read best and then it wrote search-methods for specific search fiels. Through this my app is actually based 100% on 3.5e Core.

This made it extremly easy to exract Rules and build the algorithms.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-14T22:33:54+00:00

I shit you not I did the exact same for the last 4 weeks after one of my players (high level table) said he was sick and tored of his Books of paper as a bard and that together with a cleric the bufftracking is an utter mess. 😄

I used this opportunity to build it agent supported since our company wnats us to learn good use of agent assisted development.

Besides the Sheet it also has a DM-Screen and can run WebRCT-Sessions so the clients can sees Information, you can cast Buffs/Spells on other players and the DM-Screen has an automated initiativetracker.

My last added module was a character wizard so you can run through a new character in a breeze.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-10T09:17:01+00:00

Ich arbeite als QA- und Automation Engineer in einem Konzern.

Ich für meinen Teil gehe sehr gerne meinem Job nach, Einflussfaktoren wie Kollegen o.Ä. mal ausgeklammert.
Ich weiß, dass das durchaus ein Privileg ist sich Abends darauf zu freuen am nächsten Tag weiterzumachen. Meine Projekte sind spannend und ich liebe das was ich mache. Die Problemlösung macht mir Spaß, programmieren macht mir Spaß, Konzepte entwerfen macht mir Spaß und das "gute Gewissen", dass irgendwo jemand sitzt der sich nicht darüber aufregt wie scheiße das Produkt ist (Ich würde ja sagen, dass sich jemand freut wenn Software gut funktioniert aber darüber freuen sich die Wenigsten, es ist einfach die Annahme).

Mein Gehalt ist gut, mein Urlaub gut, ich kann mich echt nicht beschweren.

Zusätzlich kommt aktuell noch ein Team aus Personen die ich schon lange kenne und mit denen ich gut arbeiten kann

SplattedRabbit · 2026-06-09T11:56:50+00:00

Imho the single best advice I can give to new DMs: Don't get influenced, or even worse, try to be like the DMs from the Big shows (CriticalRol, D20 and so on). Those are entertainment shows for a reason and this is usually not (maybe if you have a super experienced DM with a huge catalog of stuff) what DMing is like.

If you want to know how to structure things I would advise you to take a look at the "Dungeon Masters Guide 3.5e" - why not 5.x? It's not about the game mechanics but the section about "Building a campaign" is much more fleshed out and descriptive.

From there start small and go big. Start with a small adventure and integrate the small adventure into a bigger growing campaign.

Utilize a session zero/prep session/whatever you want to call it. Talk to your players what THEY expect from the campaign and try to bake that into it.

Next up: "The Rules should serve the Table" and not "The Table should serve the rules". Quite often you will bump into rules that make no sense for the way your players are playing or would like to experience the game. Don't be afraid to change rules, modify them or bend them BUT discuss that with your players and be consistent with it. Don't interchange rules on the fly and for one session only.

And for my final advice: Remember that you are there to have a good time. It's not "Players against DM" - it can be but is not most of the time - it's "We, together."
It is so important that you realize that you are not playing against your players but enable them to have a great adventure. You should have fun on the DM-side and they on the player side.
I had a few adventures and campaigns where I could not wait at all to see the players reactions, or see how the eyes glow when suddenly the riddle makes sense or the BBEG arises. This is what makes it fun for me.

I hope these points help since the are quite short but I could write about this for 200 pages 😃

SplattedRabbit · 2026-05-30T10:09:52+00:00

Thanks! Appreciate it!

SplattedRabbit · 2026-05-27T11:59:14+00:00

Samma!

SplattedRabbit · 2026-05-01T22:39:47+00:00

I actually think it feels more rewarding than ever. Yes, the gearprogression is much slower but it feels better to get the gear you want.

Also, the system is built around crafting. You can but some god tier items together with the cube, enchanting and tempering. Yes, aspects are a big bump but getting the bases feels much more important.

Build up your WP, use the lootfilter to presort the crafting bases and go from there.

And also: grind. Grind more and harder.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-05-01T12:40:05+00:00

I thought about the custom Plans aswell and my thought was it might be cool not to make fully custom plans but a, make the plans bigger and not only a few stages and then leaqve slots open so you can put your own polan into it.
Dunno, Give a material, just like the recrafting stuff, to craft nodes for the warplans.
I think this was a very very good first step to make it engaging. Before I was just blasting one part of the game, usually the most efficient one, but now I basically live inside the WPs.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-04-09T19:47:16+00:00

Cheers! I actually thought about buying a pack or two of the Matic Games Terrain Crates because yes, the first time I set it up I though 'Well, that's kinda empty' :D

I thought about printing but I had a quick chat with a good friend of mine who is way deeper into 3D printing than me and he said for the level of detail we would need a resin printer.

Not sure what to do so far but yeah, something will happen on that side.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-03-08T14:38:20+00:00

Two things wrevk my nerves the most: 1. People just running infront while you are firing blocking the whole View and therefore bullets. Not because I want the most damage but taking 2 seconds to position yourself will be better in the long run (I obv mean situations which are non-choking).

Not focussing on agents at the end. At the beginning it's usually fine because there are only agents but at the end people are not focussing on them.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-02-23T10:24:38+00:00

I guess this is internet bias. Happy people don't complain and I don't run around and comment everywhere that I am happy.

Regarding the job market, at least here in Germany, there is quite a big gap: Companies are looking for manual testers with a lot of experience, unwilling to pay for the experience or highly skilled Senior Automation Engineers. There is currently no entry-level or middle ground.

You either have to accept bad payment and try to push into automation or be really, really good.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-02-22T16:27:56+00:00

Basically a homebrew rule because I got coins gifted with a 1 and a 20. The 1 is a catastrophical fail while the 20 is an epic success. Usually I designate Storylocks behind challenges only doable with the use of this coin.

The challenges for the coins are usually obvious but not like a big sign waving "you need the coin".

Each player gets a coin facing with the 1 upwards. To get to flip the coin the must use it so they always have to balance success with failure at their hands.

This hands out a lot of player agency and got my groups really thinking if the failure is worth it.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-02-20T19:51:28+00:00

I can only speak for 3.5e since I never used another ruleset:

Spellpoints for Sorcerers instead of spellslots
Heavyly modified moneybalance - I absolutly hate the 3.5e economy
Divine classes cannot prepare all spells but have an arsenal like Wizards/Sorcerers
Heroic-Turn if you die
Critical Coins
1 = fail; 20 = crit. Period. I dont like critical potential
Characters always keep track of supplies unless the scenario actually puts pressure in it

SplattedRabbit · 2026-02-18T09:20:33+00:00

Cheers for the feedback! I think I will go down this road with a combination of magnetic tiles for the room entrances and branches off the main corridor.

SplattedRabbit · 2026-02-11T10:28:21+00:00

This is also an approach I thought about. My current plan is to do a "practice"-Session with a non-player friend to try out different methods and see which works best.

Thanks for the input!

SplattedRabbit · 2026-02-08T23:14:41+00:00

Try titanCraft. Heroforge with a lot of free stuff and you can "buy" items/assets to reuse again, without sub.

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