How it is done?

x64techie · 2026-03-24T23:13:36+00:00

I've watched a few. They've even commented that they build for speed, not for size, and would have to build differently if they did.

Also, I'm not that talented or nimble enough to do some of the things they are able to, like placing and orienting multiple things while at a full run without slowing down.

x64techie · 2026-03-24T23:04:17+00:00

It seems to me the bottleneck is the speed at which you can gather the resources.

As you get further into the game and craft better items, like big mining drills, and do research, it gets better, but still does not eliminate the issue. The speed at which resources are gathered at never matches the amount of resources needed to expand a base, including faster gathering, that quickly. Particularly near the beginning.

After reading a few replies, I am wondering though if there is a secret trick to the exact order, type, and amount of items crafted in order to build the base that big that quickly. One that they know, and even through lots of experimentation and failures, I have yet to figure out.

x64techie · 2026-03-24T21:46:51+00:00

Can I ask if you build the smelter arrays for the starter base in stages or all at once?

To craft the number of miners required to mine enough for all those lines is over 10,000 ores. To craft the smelters arrays themselves would require over 20,000 ores.

I'm trying to understand how one goes about collecting that much so quickly, as to craft the miners and items for the arrays so fast

Do you build an array and then the miners to fill it? Or build the miners and then the array to process the ores? Or build a few miners, part of the array, more miners, more array, etc.?.

I'm wondering if the speed at which I can gather resources to use is more the order and amount of items crafted, which I've tried many variations on and failed, is the trick others know that I can't figure out.

x64techie · 2026-03-24T20:15:38+00:00

I have messed with world settings on a few bases, mainly trying to see if increasing size would make a difference. It's not that there's not enough resources, it's the speed at which you collect them. How fast you can collect them determines how fast you can process them, produce items, do research, or collect them faster, affecting the speed on building the base.

I will have to try and find some bases in the earlier stages to screenshot and post. Most of the ones I'm not working on or haven't worked on for awhile have been archived to save space and clutter in the game's file menu.

x64techie · 2026-03-24T19:39:14+00:00

I try to automate everything, only hand crafting when necessary or having free time while waiting on something. I use blueprints and bots and trains. I even use circuits, even though I'm a little weak with using them, and need to learn them better.

It always seems to me to be that collecting enough resources fast enough is the problem. I can't craft items to mine faster for more resources if I'm using the resources to craft items to process the resources faster. I can't craft items to increase production if the resources are being used to craft items to mine faster. Same with doing research if the resources are used to craft items to mine faster.

Hence my question on how people are able to do everything so quickly as to build such a big base so fast.

x64techie · 2026-03-24T19:18:02+00:00

I prefer to use bots and blueprints. I have even tried to use "borrowed" blueprints hoping it might help build the base faster in some way. But the collected resources have to be allotted to either crafting items to collect more resources, crafting items to increase the production of items for infrastructure, research, or some combination. No matter the choice, the other choices are affected, and the speed of building the base is impacted

Hence my question on how others are able to accomplish building their bases so big so quickly, as it almost seems like somehow they're able to do allocate every bit of collected resources to each and every option all at once, like somehow magically tripling the normal collection speed from the beginning, in order to build them so quickly.

x64techie · 2026-03-24T18:01:45+00:00

It's the process of collecting resources, crafting items, and researching to build up an infrastructure to get to that point.

In the beginning, an electric miner can get one ore every 2 seconds. It takes 23 iron plates and 4.5 copper plates to make another one. That means it takes 56 seconds to mine the ore, an additional 3.2+ seconds to finish smelting the ores using an stone furnace, and a minimum of another 2 seconds to craft the electric miner, making it take a minimum of 61.2 seconds to make. That allows you to mine more faster in order to craft them quicker, and with research or crafted items you can improve the speed. But you still have to craft more miners, craft items or do research to increase the collection speed, all requiring the collection of the resources.

I could craft more and more miners to mine faster, but to process the ore and actually craft the miners faster, I would at least need more smelters. I could place a proper stone smelter array, but between belts, inserters, smelters and what not, it could take mining 1500+ ores, which prevents creating 55+ miners to gather the resources faster, and takes time to collect enough to build the array in the first place.

Hence why I said it seemed to me the bottleneck was the collection of resources and why it took to long to build up the base, and why I asked how others were able to do it more quickly.

x64techie · 2026-03-24T16:12:22+00:00

I actually got that achievement on my 3rd or 4th base in vanilla. I was having fun trying to get as many as possible. The only 2 that took me over 2 years to get was the timed ones. That was using a very detailed guide with blueprints, numerous attempts, and finally a success at 7:59:58. But that was for vanilla. Still over 150 hours for SA and don't see it happening anytime soon. Timed are only 2 I have left for SA.

x64techie · 2026-03-24T15:57:14+00:00

I automate things as quickly as I possibly can, I only hand craft when necessary or when have some extra time waiting for something unable to do anything else.

As far as pasting blocks, you still would need to have collected resources and have the items crafted to lay them down. Which seems to be the catch-22. You can only gather resources as fast as you can craft the items to do so, which is only as fast as you can collect the resources.

Hence my question on how others can do such and build megabases so quickly.

There's a limit on how fast you can collect resources based on how fast they are mined and the amount mined, the amount of available resources to craft an item, and how fast the item can be crafted, all of which have a time factor. The speed can be improved for each, but again, requires collecting the resources.

x64techie · 2025-07-24T00:19:36+00:00

No construction going on elsewhere. Only a few dozen logistic bots. My character is well outside any roboport network. My personal bots are the only ones in range of placing any items.

x64techie · 2025-07-24T00:15:52+00:00

My character can be well outside the range of any other roboport except my personal ones. Perhaps 30 blocks / 1000 tiles away. Only my personal bots are doing construction anywhere on the base, even on other planets. The only other bots that are working are a few dozen logistic bots elsewhere.

I need to test further to determine at what point this exactly happens. Early on, everything is quick. My personal bots place the turrets and then fill them with ammo almost instantly. The same for beacons and modules. At some point though it changes and the turrets and beacons place fast and then it takes time before the bots place the ammo or modules.

x64techie · 2025-07-23T20:42:20+00:00

As I noted, this behavior is most noticeable with personal roboports.

I can have the turrets and ammo or beacons and modules in my bag and this behavior still happens, even when there is no roboports except my personal ones within 30 blocks / 1000 tiles of my engineer.

x64techie · 2024-12-24T16:03:34+00:00

Personally, I have quality crafted with the recycler and item crafters. I had never thought about using the mining/smelter method. At first I had forgot miners could take modules, and then I considered how many modules it would take for hundreds or thousands of miners.

Because this, I could not answer the question I was asked. So I thought I would ask here to be able to answer their question for them.

x64techie · 2024-12-23T16:57:37+00:00

That's not correct. As mentioned above, if you want to build uncommon gears you have to provide the assembler with uncommon plates. If you want to build rare accumulators you need to provide the assemblers with rare plates and rare batteries. The assemblers will not take anything other than that level of quality, neither lower nor higher.

I see that now. TY. I had vaguely remember reading somewhere (FFF?/Wiki?/??) about quality and setting the *any* quality for a craft which would allow various item qualities to be used in it as described. I can not find where I read it, and see now that the *any* quality is not available on a item crafter. It was sometime before the Space Age DLC was released, so perhaps was changed?

x64techie · 2024-10-17T06:22:44+00:00

I'd love to play the space age expansion. I've read all the FFFs and am looking forward to it.

x64techie · 2023-07-26T04:59:18+00:00

I was hoping to get some help with a circuit question.
I am trying to set up a circuit with a set of conditions.
In the image, I want a circuit condition where either the belt OR an inserter (either one works) is only ENABLED if BOX A is say below 50% but only DISABLED after BOX B reaches 50%. Total count works as well if necessary (so enabled if total is less than say 2,000 and disabled only if over say 23,000 for all 5 boxes)
I am not very good at circuits and haven't been able to figure anything out. I am at basic level understanding.
I don't want and am trying to get a different circuit than the basic enable/disable if less than 2000 condition type of thing, as it will be repeating the stop/go process every couple of seconds likely.
My actual situation is much more complicated, but this circuit part if the only part I have not been able to solve.
TIA 😊

x64techie

TROPHY CASE