Question: what settings are used to start game to make mega base?

[SilentLight]

I completed the game only once so far on my second try (after dozens of hours - I re-started my first base after 8 hours feeling things were too much of a mess once I figured out a few things). But the resource areas really only take about 40 mining machines and seem like they won't last all that long if I was to try using this map settings to go further to create a mega-base with huge production. I see mega bases where the resource "patches" are far greater.

Are people picking "rich resources" for example to play for making a mega base?

If you use one of those alternate options, is that considered "cheating" or being "cheap" in some way?

I notice if you change one of the settings it adds "modified" to the type you've selected. Is this in anyway also considered being "cheap"?

I see many achievements - are they all deactivated unless you play the "default" map type?

Just curious as I don't understand the ramifications of it all and looking for opinions and feedback.
Thank you in advance.

[Impatient]

This should answer your question about achievements:

https://wiki.factorio.com/Achievements

There is nothing like cheap in factorio. Factorio is about what you make of it for yourself. Some want to build absurdly big bases, others want to fight, others work on smart setups others play heavily modded games and others only multiplayer. Factorio is in a lot of cases able to deliver the challenges you want.

[Nemo4809]

I believe megabases are build-able on Default settings. Many players use the Rich Resources setting and/or turn off biter expansions so they don't have to deal with the hassle of getting more resources or reclearing bug nests.

Additional resources are acquired by exploring the map for new resource patches and bring the resources back by rail or belt.

There are quite a few Youtube videos detailing the process of building a megabase - some are quite old though; with the increase in aggressiveness of biters in 0.17, doing so might have gotten harder.

[coppercoil]

Are people picking "rich resources" for example to play for making a mega base?

If you use one of those alternate options, is that considered "cheating" or being "cheap" in some way?

It is possible to build a megabase using almost any resource richness. What kind of challenges would you like? If resurces are not rich enough, you will need much more train stations that would last not very long; setting up ore patches will be more frequent and repetitive task. Do you like it, or not? Adjust ore settings according your preferences.

Keep in mind, your decisions may change during gameplay, e.g. boring tasks can be solved using standardized setups and BP. Mining bonus research can also change things in the late postgame. Or, you can "turn off" resource problems and concentrate to more interesting tasks.

You can use any cheat if you need it to enjoy the game.

[planetmaker]

I completed the game only once so far on my second try (after dozens of hours - I re-started my first base after 8 hours feeling things were too much of a mess once I figured out a few things). But the resource areas really only take about 40 mining machines and seem like they won't last all that long if I was to try using this map settings to go further to create a mega-base with huge production. I see mega bases where the resource "patches" are far greater.

Are people picking "rich resources" for example to play for making a mega base?

If you use one of those alternate options, is that considered "cheating" or being "cheap" in some way?

I notice if you change one of the settings it adds "modified" to the type you've selected. Is this in anyway also considered being "cheap"?

I see many achievements - are they all deactivated unless you play the "default" map type?

Changing settings does not affect your achievements - you gain them just as fine. Using console does disable them.
As to settings for mega base: use whatever suits you. Have a look at a few videos from people who build mega bases, and you will find various settings being used. Often they increase ore abundance / ore richness to get along without constantly re-building the supply lines.

There is no cheating as long as you have fun - and none of the settings is cheap One person tries to beat the game as quickly as possible, no matter the settings, some tune their settings for that, some want to build as compact as possible, others output as much science as possible, others enjoy building complex train networks or fiddling with getting all ratios exactly right...
You just have to be aware of settings being used when comparing different games, e.g. in terms of effectiveness or whatever measure you want to apply. Settings have possibly a large influence on what you can do or get along with and what not (also and especially on how plentyful and active the biters are).

You can use any cheat if you need it to enjoy the game.

This cannot be stressed enough

[coppercoil]

You can use any cheat if you need it to enjoy the game.

This cannot be stressed enough

Some things are just boring

[Bauer]

I have an OCD problem to build on ressources. And since a mega base is going to be big, I need large spaces without them. So I set the density low, size rather large and the richness to max. Take into accout that you won't need the amount of uran on the map, so set that lower. And there is also too much coal. Same with stone if you don't plan to fill up a lot of water.

[mrvn]

Note that some settings disable some achivements. Like setting aliens to never attack first. But that's for specific ones, not across the board.

[Serenity]

Some people like to have all resources close to the start. Some find that boring. Since richness increases with distance you don't need to set everything to super high. You just need to get out far enough. Ultimately it depends on your personal preferences

[Amarula]

I confess that one of the "cheats" that I use all the time is turning off pollution. That way there are still biters, so I can zoom around with my artillery wagon taking out biter bases, but I don't have to worry about being attacked. I love that Factorio gives me the option - I can choose to fight biters, or I can choose to have them leave me alone until I am ready.

I strongly agree with others who have said to make the choices that make a game that you enjoy: if you love the challenge of beating off waves of biters, choose settings that provide that challenge. There are no wrong choices so do what makes you happy.

[mergele]

I think if someone wants to go seriously megabase big turning off biters is recommended for the CPU savings?

[rgx]

What I use for large bases

Biters off
Pollution off
Evolution off
Expansion off
Railworld settings - Frequency low but with larger, richer deposits
Water turned down, and larger scale. Much less water.
Cliffs off
Trees off
(Yes, it's possible now that you start with one wood and can make two power poles to get science going. Slow start but very rewarding to not have to deal with trees later.)

[SilentLight]

Thanks for all the useful replies! Was just curious to make sure I wasn't missing something with the thought of tweaking settings. Thank you again!

[T-A-R]

While there are different strategies most megabases only start after the first rocket is launched, and most science is done. Having a well fed mall is vital here.

A known tactic is to drive out, making the longest track you have ever made, until you find ore patches that you have never seen before. Continue the tracks until you are comfortable with the size of the ore patches. Then make your base there. The further you go out, the more dense ore you find.

Changing map settings only changes for far you have to travel for new ore to meet your preference. Also how many biters you wanna meet on the way.

And you can spawn/remove ore patches from the surface. All depending on how you like to play the game.

[Freddie Chopin]

A known tactic is to drive out, making the longest track you have ever made, until you find ore patches that you have never seen before. Continue the tracks until you are comfortable with the size of the ore patches. Then make your base there. The further you go out, the more dense ore you find.

Actually I've tried this tactic second time yesterday, and - again - I felt that I'm playing a different game than the people who recommend it. I was attempting to find these mythical "large ore patches" with my tank. I was trying to go as far east as possible. I took me an hour driving around biter bases so big that they don't fit on my screen. During the process I got killed at least 10 times and drove myself into a dead-end-biter-infested-peninsula at least twice.




After I reached my final point I decided that I will not attempt to go back, just load the game from the moment I departed the base. After all that time I was still not so far away - I could max-zoom-out the map view and still see everything. During that trip I found two oil fields with combined yield of ~10000% and _ONE_ ore patch that was 96M (and just a few patches in the 50-70M region). This was a complete disappointment, as right next to my walls I have several ore patches that are 20M+ (and quite a few oil fields around 3000-4000%). I cannot imagine how much more time it would take to relocate (or build outposts so far away) instead of just making 4 or 5 outposts right at my gates. I also cannot imagine how much effort and resources it would take to go that far in a train. I guess I would have to shell the whole path out with several artillery trains and possibly also need a few hundred thousand landfill to build the tracks over water. And then some more artillery shells to clear space for the base. I would estimate that it would take me at least 20 hours to go that far in a train. Factorio is interesting and engaging, but doing something like this would definitely feel boring and pointless when 10% into the task... Especially that I estimate that I would have to go ~3 times further than in this tank-trip.



So either I got an exceptionally bad map seed (default settings, just disabled cliffs) or this tactics was maybe fine in some older versions of Factorio, which did not have so many biters and had bigger ore patches. Or maybe I just don't understand how you do it?

[azesmbog]

I have the most standard, most vanilla map. no value is changed. Ka conceived by the authors. With a standard amount of resources, deposits, bitters, respawn, rocks, trees, etc., etc.)
I have said this repeatedly.
My first main base is conditionally speaking at a point with coordinates 0, 0. the next base, which produces ONLY shells - with coordinates (conditionally) - 100,000, 0. Then every hundred thousand conditional cells - huge storage for shells.
At around 500,000, 0 - I have the second one already mega a base on which you can produce everything, or almost everything), including another plant for the production of cannon shells that are transported further along the storage facilities along the railway to the final stop, relatively speaking, this is at around 1,200,000 cells To get from the last station to the very first - I think it takes about 6 hours of real time and 2-3 refueling
So, the largest deposits that I have seen are 8 million units on the very edge. I emphasize - with standard settings.
At the edge of the map, some physical laws do not apply, and you have to do a lot with your hands, cut down trees and blow rocks But these are features, so to speak, features of Outland
So mega-bases are small Long live Giga-bases !! ))))))))))))))

[Freddie Chopin]

To get from the last station to the very first - I think it takes about 6 hours of real time and 2-3 refueling

So it's very safe to say if you would venture to establish such base right now it would take you 100 hours at least to do so (including all the intermediate stages). What's the point, when during these 100 hours you can establish 1000 outposts easily, which would be the same level of "boring" and "repetitive"? (;

[coppercoil]

Actually I've tried this tactic second time yesterday, and - again - I felt that I'm playing a different game than the people who recommend it.

I guess they use very popular RSO mod that changes resource (and enemy) distribution a lot. I recommend this mod if you start new game (not sure if you can add it in the middle). Keep in mind that resource frequency, richness and size settings will work differently than Vanilla, so you may want to explore them first.

[Serenity]

The thing with RSO is that you can adjust the distance exponent yourself. Whereas in vanilla there is distance scaling, but it's a hidden variable. It can some fiddling around and revealing a lot of maps to find out something that you really like

[TaylorItaly]

I have another way :
At the start of a new map , i go straight in one direction , for about 5-6 hours and kill every Biter-Base with the Axe.
To do this , i place myself near the Nest and hit {Space] and put something on the tastatur , so that the {Space]-Bar is pressed down ; wait 2-3 Minutes and go on.
So after 5-6 hours you will find REALLY BIG ORE Patchhes to start Building your Base ; and you have killed Biters in one Direction , so after producing shells , go to the 3 other directions around your Base and kill all Biter Nest as they are small ; about 30 Minutes in every direction ; in a Circle.
After doing that I have a lot of time to build up Production and Defensive-Structures till Arttillery Research...