Factorio Forums

I have been playing for 20 hours now and have a decent sized factory. now I am completely blocked from progressing due to a lack of oil. I have explored a large area and have had scanner running for hours and have only found one small bit of oil. I am still a beginner. is this amount of oil normal? how can I find more? i have attached images for factory size and area explored. [img]

The idea is, that you check the map preview when starting the game to make sure you have what you need. Without knowing your settings nobody can tell you if this is exceptional or not, either way would not help you now.
You could start a game with the same seed and look for oil in the preview so you know where the oil is if there is any in range, or you could spawn oil per command.

Generally you do have more oil than that.
Also, a small piece of advice, if you don't know it already: press alt. You may find it helpful.

If I remember right you should be able to get the map string from the saved games screen. Then you go to "new game" and enter it, and hit preview *without changing anything*. It should show the map you are playing.

In the preview screen pay attention to where the oil fields (and uranium) are.

Then go back to your game and head in the right direction. Chances are that you will have to clear some nests to get to it. If you are not yet familiar with the "turret creep" technique, Google it, as you will need it.

Once you reach it, setup some walls and defenses, and have fun.

I ran into the same problem with a map I once had. I couldn't find oil anywhere, and if I did, it was such a small amount that I couldn't do anything with it. I had to use some cheats to spawn myself some oil. From then on, I made sure I cranked up the frequency/richness settings of oil on every map I generated.

xZippy wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 28, 2018 1:19 pm

From then on, I made sure I cranked up the frequency/richness settings of oil on every map I generated

Yep, I always crank up the freq/richness of oil too.

OP, good luck. zBulldogs instructions should help you find more.

Another tip, you can use modules to extract more oil from the pumps you already have. Not sure you have those researched yet, but you can place a "speed" module in the pump, and it will work faster (extracting more oil per second). You can also use beacons, and place speed modules in them. Beacons apply the modules they have to other entities around them.
Alternatively you could use Productivity Modules in the Pumps (to get more oil output, per oil used, if that makes sense), and then use Speed beacons to make them go faster.

Good luck!

On one map in particular I played, first oil was about twice as far as is on your map. While it is uncommon with standard map settings, it can happen. Before you scrap that game save, you should explore more land around you. If you like adventure, hop into your tank and go exploring. If you just want to be sure fast, there is cheesy way too - on "Load game" screen there is button bottom left "Map exchange string". Hit it (have right save selected), copy it. Now go to "New game" and last input is "Map exchange string". Paste it here and then click "Generate preview" - you will see large area around your spawning point explored.

Hammerchief wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 28, 2018 7:09 pm

If you like adventure, hop into your tank and go exploring.

No oil means no tank. You can use a car though!

Or worst case scenario do more oil research, produce some oil from the little field you found, then use the heavy oil to prime a coal liquefaction refinery.

your best chance (without cheating) is to go for coal liquification.
You just need a really small amount of heavy oil to get the process started.

Anyway getting enough science to research it can be tedious.

If you have default settings you seem to be little unlucky but that is nothing exceptional. You have discovered quite small area and should find more oil when you explore more.

If you have even one oil well you can research much nice options to conquer more land and oil fields or ability to make oil products from coal (coal liquefaction). It just takes few hours more time. Many youtubers seem to build huge production facilities from beginning, because game's balance allow it and it is more entertaining for viewers, but it is not the only way to play.

Can you provide your map string ?

Koub wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 31, 2018 12:57 pm

Can you provide your map string ?

*That* is the right question!!! I feel dumb for not thinking of it myself.

If you need help with the map generator, I wrote this a little while ago.

AyleeJenn's Map Generator Guide

Hope this helps and happy factorio-ing