What do I actually do (now)?

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Valhalla
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What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Valhalla »

New member and first post, joined to ask this question...

I'm a few hours in now and while I love the idea of the game, I'm a bit baffled by what I'm supposed to do. I have got to automated mining/smelting, and now have hundreds and hundreds of iron and copper plates, basically infinite coal... I've got my Steam power working, but that's about it. I don't know what to do next. I've tried a few of the guides on Steam, but they all seem to end where I am (or they branch off into explanations of more complex items that I can't access just yet).


What would a seasoned player do in my position? If you had the 4 main/starter resources sorted, what would you do next?

Loewchen
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Loewchen »

Have you played the tutorial?

Valhalla
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Valhalla »

The ones within the game (I mean literally, from the top right menu bar)?

I'll just add, because this might not be answered right away and it's currently driving me insane...

I've started watching Xterminator's video tutorials and he has done EXACTLY the same as all the others; showed a detailed play-through of the first part that I have also successfully done, got to automated mining/smelting, and then out of nowhere (episode 3 onward) is explaining all sorts of complex productions and systems. There is no transition, no "next step", just a jump from basic resources to "look at all my amazing and complex systems..."

Right now I'm wandering around my map with infinite coal, iron/copper plates, stone, more power than I will ever need... and no idea what to do.

EDIT: I think I've just found the tutorial. Playing now.

Mr. Tact
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Mr. Tact »

You start producing all the science packs, do all the research, that should keep you occupied for a bit longer...
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Koub
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Koub »

Mr. Tact wrote:
Fri Oct 12, 2018 1:12 am
You start producing all the science packs, do all the research, that should keep you occupied for a bit longer...
Exactly that : your goal is to get all the way down the research tree and launch a satellite with a rocket. For that, you need to do a lot of research, thus automating the production of research packs.
And if you have biters on your map, automating military (grey) science packs will be necessary to conduct more military oriented research (to defend yourself, and conquer new resource-covered lands).
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by zOldBulldog »

A fairly normal progression might be:

- Get red and green science production going.
- Produce basic supplies automatically (like belts, undergrounds, splitters, assemblers, power poles, trains, etc)
- Produce green circuits.
- Find and process oil.
- Produce red circuits.
- Military and blue science going.
- Robots and solar power.
- Purple and yellow science going.
- Nuclear power.
- Rocket and win the game. But don't stop.
- Expand far, while getting the benefits of space science.

Of course, somewhere along that path you start learning about designs, rail layouts, etc. You also realize that your earlier designs are sub-par so you tear them down and replace them with something better. You discover that biters get nastier and nastier so you must upgrade your defenses. And so on. Before you notice you've played thousands of hours and have so many things still to do.

Valhalla
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Valhalla »

Just to update -

I've now set up a 12-lab automation system for science. Red science is running perfectly (only takes a very short time to fully research anything that is red science only), and I'm in the planning phase for green. I kinda "get it" now... knowing what needs done next and then that sense of achievement when I connect the power and watch it happen perfectly.

For what it's worth I'm still on the same map I started the game with. 10 hours logged and I *almost* have green science working :D

Mr. Tact
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Mr. Tact »

Cool. I'm sure space science is just around the corner! :mrgreen:
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Valhalla
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Valhalla »

This is my little science "farm" so far.
20181014130721_1.jpg
20181014130721_1.jpg (941.39 KiB) Viewed 2967 times

You guys will probably cringe at how messy it is, but it's my own invention and I'm proud of it :mrgreen:


Just after this image, I redesigned a little to bring iron plates down from another area as these ones were all being stolen by iron gear maker #1.

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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Greybeard_LXI »

Looks pretty clean to me.

Mr. Tact
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Mr. Tact »

For a first game, that is very organized. My first science setup was no where close to looking that good. :P
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Valhalla
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Valhalla »

Thanks guys, it's reassuring to know I'm on the right track.

I just want to mention that I built my science facility in reverse - it's the only way I could make sense of the process. Set up the Green Science assembly machines, then a single belt to carry belts and inserters to them, split up to assembly machines for each of those... and so on. For all I know that's how people usually do it anyway but it's how it made sense to me :D

Mr. Tact
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Re: What do I actually do (now)?

Post by Mr. Tact »

As you get further along you'll probably need to try to envision the entire thing needed before you start placing assembly machines, but for now there no need to worry about it that much. :)

Half the game is "re-doing" things.
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