Stupid question?

[Otterbear]

So, I don't like the idea of building huge buses and massive production lines. I like to role-play it a bit.(Like I actually am one guy on a hostile planet). I tend to fill storage chest with products, one at a time, with small factory setups. Admittedly, my production is slower, but it seems more "legit" to me, and keeps cost and pollution to a min.

Question: Can you play to the end using this (stock-pile) approach or, do you HAVE to build large buses and massive production lines in order to fulfill late game objectives? *I'm not in a hurry to get to space...

[NateDangerous]

You can certainly play that way, it will just take longer. I was thinking of trying something similar at some point, where I'd have a rule that I could only have one production facility for each item type. Then I'd just let it run and see how long it takes to finish the game. Though I imagine someone has done the maths for that calculation already.

[aka13]

It depends really on what your "goal" is. If your goal is to reach the rocket, launch it, and be done with the save, sure. You might run into biter-related problems, but setting the starting ressources accordingly should fix that, too. I myself enjoy large factories with an automated approach, where my role is reduced to taking out biters, and placing new outposts, but I think the first time I "completed" the game in the times where we had rocket defence instead of the rocket launch I went exactly with your approach.

[LazyLoneLion]

So, I don't like the idea of building huge buses and massive production lines. ... Admittedly, my production is slower, but it seems more "legit" to me, and keeps cost and pollution to a min.

Conveyors don't add to pollution anyway. Except you'll need little more inserter cycles to load/unload from them than from a chest to an assembler and back again.

[Xterminator]

Yeah you can definitely play that way and probably reach the end goal of launching the rocket, it will just take much longer. But hey, if your enjoying yourself in the process then that's totally fine.

[steinio]

In the midgame you can also use logistic bots to support you.

Maybe you can use belts as pathway for you to go faster from a to b.
Maybe it's faster as laying complex belts until bots are researched.

[legion_2k]

To me.. the way to get to where you want to go part of the game. You can choose to do it anyway you like. In fact it would be neat if there was a low impact mode or score bonus for less resources wasted. I did have a bit of guilt in the beginning about 'abusing' the planet.. lol but I got over it.. I'm not really a main bus guy, but I automate a much as I can.

[Otterbear]

Thank you all, for the help.

You can certainly play that way, it will just take longer. I was thinking of trying something similar at some point, where I'd have a rule that I could only have one production facility for each item type. Then I'd just let it run and see how long it takes to finish the game. Though I imagine someone has done the maths for that calculation already.

I had the same idea. (I don't ever want the game to end...lol!) I decided(if possible, and it appears it is), to use your "rule" and see how it goes.

I've limited the bitters. However, I'm worried that this may lead to a boring game. We shall see.

My(our) approach could lead to a rather large layout, and I'm using the "dude", so moving from one production area to another could take awhile...even with concrete, trains, and pavement. I haven't gotten far enough to see what the ranges are for robots. While I assume they would help. Moving around these "infinite" maps could prove tedious.

[KatherineOfSky]

You are certainly welcome to play any way you wish. However, I would definitely advise against this method because of sheer quantity of items. It will take you ages to cart stuff around on your person, putting things in chests, and then carting those materials to other areas... and walking speed is pretty slow without exoskeletons. The amount of carting around is just massive once you need to make a quantity of blue circuits, and rocket parts are going to be a pain in the socks.

If you're really up to it, have a go, but please feel free to change to a more automated design if it starts to become unfun.

In my universe, my guy was the ship's engineer... and he hates to craft things by hand and wants everything automated... oh, and like me, he LOVES conveyor belts (It's his dream come true to launch 4 rockets every 10 minutes....)

[Otterbear]

Good point(s). When I first stated playing, I was thinking I could do just about anything. Turns out, thats not quite true. It seems I'm going to be making similar setups every game. I often wondered why every play-through I watched looked roughly the same. Its too bad, that there are no other alternative end-game scenarios atm. Perhaps as things progress they will add more stuff to do...or modders can.

Man I hate using the Dude. He is constantly running into some dang obstacle, or sloooooowly trudging from point A to point B. (*I really need to research the car.) Also, the range at which he can do most things is ludicrous. *I have a mod that allows me to pick inventory up and put it down within my sight range, but quite a few actions require you to stand right on top of said action. What to do, what to do...

[KatherineOfSky]

It is true that certain setups work very efficiently. However, there are RP reasons to change it up -- Bentham has an interesting YT series called Towns, where he allocates specific items to be made in each "town" and ships it all by rail to the other towns. (e.g. green circuits are made in one town, science in another town, weapons/military stuff in another).

After playing several games, I find that a few scenarios can be interesting:
1. A ribbon world -- (I chose a max map height of 100 tiles). Forces you to build and plan differently

2. World with lots of lakes -- again, an obstacle world.

3. Mega Factory!

Building a mega factory requires some serious planning and thinking, since you are trying to create a massive throughput of ingredients. A lot of people create a goal for themselves of X number of rockets per minute, etc. However, I still like the challenge of figuring out how many ore train stations/trains I need to supply 1000+ smelters, and how big circuit production should be, etc.

As for the Dude -- exoskeletons! At end-game, I wear a constructor suit for building -- 2 reactors, 6 exoskeletons, and the rest roboports. He runs fast!

[Otterbear]

Thanks Kathrine!
I will have to try a few of these. Thanks for the links as well.