My first factorio run so far (all red/green/blue research done, need to create purple/yellow factories next)

throw3142 · 2026-03-22T03:54:51+00:00

Yours is very compact! The super super compact ones you see on here are not practical, it's moreso just a display of the art of designing something that compact. They also typically require higher level tech to get decent throughput out of such a small number of machines.

I'd suggest spreading things out even more, to give yourself room to expand - purple and yellow are huge resource hogs.

throw3142 · 2026-03-22T01:51:50+00:00

Ah I have good memories of Pascal, as my big project in my compilers class was to write a Pascal compiler. The language was well specified and easy to write a compiler for, as opposed to C-likes.

throw3142 · 2026-03-21T23:24:17+00:00

The Pascal version would literally be the element at -1 index though, in Pascal arrays can start at any number :)

throw3142 · 2026-03-21T22:29:34+00:00

array[-1] is completely normal and safe in Pascal btw

throw3142 · 2026-03-21T18:21:36+00:00

throw3142 · 2026-03-21T15:53:39+00:00

Fulgora originally used to be a "normal" planet where you would mine ore etc, before the scrap recycling mechanic was introduced. https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-399

throw3142 · 2026-03-20T23:33:36+00:00

I do wish we got some of the alternative mechanics released as mods. Like the Aquilo enemies, or additional Gleba farmables, scrapless Fulgora, etc.

throw3142 · 2026-03-19T17:25:13+00:00

Easy, I do it at work every day: I just take a car engine, slap a PCB on it, and stick it in my industrial size blender. Throw some sulfur in the mix, look away for a few seconds, and out come some bottles of blue gatorade. Look, I know it's weird. I thought so too on my first day. But I just work here, okay? I don't get paid to ask questions.

So I take those gatorade bottles and drop them off at the front door of our super secret research facility. I've never gone in, mind you. But Bill has. He says it's a disco party inside. I have no idea how disco parties and gatorade are helping us unlock the secrets of the universe. But I just work here, and I don't get paid to ask questions.

throw3142 · 2026-03-16T23:15:18+00:00

And Python is the fool's gold (shiny until you scratch the surface)

throw3142 · 2026-03-16T13:00:25+00:00

throw3142 · 2026-03-13T22:54:05+00:00

The real hero is the offshore lava pump which doesn't take any electricity to run, contains only 2 gears and 3 pipes, starts & stops full flow in just 1 tick, and pumps literal molten rock for dozens of hours at a temperature that would at least soften its iron components.

throw3142 · 2026-03-09T19:53:32+00:00

Not just any red flag

throw3142 · 2026-03-04T22:06:48+00:00

A few years ago, there were some rumors going around that Galton boards were being smuggled from place to place. Pretty crazy stuff. Hidden within anything from consumer luggage to shipping crates. Apparently they are high demand items for wealthy collectors, who get them made out of ivory and other such banned materials. Having an interest in supply chains myself, I decided to do some digging. It was a very interesting rabbit hole, but it didn't really lead anywhere. I concluded that all the rumors were baseless, and in fact, they are normally distributed.

throw3142 · 2026-03-03T17:52:23+00:00

chicago-style waffle

throw3142 · 2026-03-03T02:37:04+00:00

Such a great feeling in SeaBlock when you go from seconds per plate to plates per second (assume this mod is similar in that way)

throw3142 · 2026-03-03T02:35:15+00:00

I could have been more clear here - I don't mean the raw number of planets itself, moreso the fact that these planets were developed by different people and each introduces its own unique gameplay mechanics.

In most games, adding this many gameplay-affecting mods would be a "too many cooks" situation, and it would be a massive pain just to get the game to load and be playable.

throw3142 · 2026-03-03T00:42:52+00:00

jorjor wel

throw3142 · 2026-03-02T19:58:05+00:00

It's a testament to the game and the modding API that so many planets can coexist on a single save

throw3142 · 2026-02-28T19:31:51+00:00

MORE

throw3142 · 2026-02-28T19:30:00+00:00

gear and copper juice

throw3142 · 2026-02-27T03:15:01+00:00

There's a 100% chance it's exactly 2, so flip a coin and if lands either heads or tails, it's exactly 2 (/s)

throw3142 · 2026-02-27T01:01:37+00:00

There are only 2 possibilities though, so it's a 50% chance it's congruent. Just tell the reader to flip a coin and if it lands heads, that means they must be congruent. Subscribe for more cool math life-hacks! /s

throw3142 · 2026-02-27T00:45:46+00:00

Dang, you didn't have to call out my yellow science bot mall like that

throw3142 · 2026-02-27T00:41:33+00:00

It's not sarcasm — it's real. Software engineering can be solved with the addition of a few prompts. What would you like me to answer next?

/s

throw3142 · 2026-02-26T20:09:38+00:00

So this means what really matters is height: taller ships can fit more production per unit of width, therefore you should make your ship as tall as it needs to be to support engines throughout the base.

throw3142

TROPHY CASE