100x Research Increase Review (first 80 hours)

[Labinopper]

Hey guys - I read a post somewhere about this dude who was playing on expensive mode, with a 100x research requirement, so I thought why the hell not, that sounds like fun... Whacked on KS2/SE mods and went for it

(Now, I want to say I'm no Factorio expert, I get as far as launching rockets and I'm usually bored by that point, so this was always ggoing to be an insane challenge, and I hoped for something fairly idle too so when I get bored I could leave it running and just come back to it)

I don't remember well, but I made a few changes, I think 6x more resources per spot, 2x the size, but also half the amount of resources spawning. In hindsight, with a 100x requirement for all research I shouldn't have halved the resources spawning.

Spent the first few hours cutting down trees until I got to the greenhouse - that wasn't so much fun., and I'm now trying to figure out what to do about the Biomatter situation as I need 15k Military cards to research bioprocessing, which is 3k biter research/30k biomatter... I currently have arounud 1,000 from the various bases I've destroyed so far in the game, so I might cheat in 29,700 biomatter (making the requirement 300 as per 'standard'), just so I can start to progress with the military branch of the game without having to destroy some 1,000 enemy bases without any military stuff...

I strarted with some QoL perks - I can't remember what anymore, but I started with 50 construction robots (which has been life changing, because 80 hours in and I still can't make them)

I reduced the biters evolution but I think I messed that up still as I'm fending off around 5k biters/spitters per 10 minutes at the moment and can't really wipe out alien bases particularly easy, and the pollution I'm producing is causing issues. But I haven't switched to solar panels yet, so that'll help, equally I need over 2k of them just to power my base, so presume 4k to cover nighttime too... and a whole lot of Accumulators to go alongside these.... Yikes

I've only just started researching blue, but because of the resource situation mentioned above, I've had to be clever in allocating resources to specific places, it's made me learn how to use combinators which has been fun - an automated research storage line that roughly balances the amount of each research tech card is my proudest achievement so far - can't produce enough blues yet to keep up with the others, but it only produces two/three of the four at any given time depending on needs and what I've set it too. This is partly required because I inadvertently made it more of a resource management game too since I can't just get a tonne of mining bases up at this point in the game, because I don't have the gear to get out and explore, and I have to go deep into alien territory to find anything, and I usually wind up dead in short order.

I also haven't got a clue what to do about the coronal mass ejections (and neither have I ever played long enough for these to be a factor) - I haven't even tried to mitigate those yet, I've just taken them and rebuilt afterwards if it hit me (thankfully hasn't hit anything too important, just an oil field and some turrets so easily repairable.. I dread it hitting my production lines) - with how far behind I am in terms of research I don't think there's anything I can do but I'd be keen for advice on that?

The pure infrastructure required to produce 30k research cards to research anything is just beyond insane...

I have to say, this feels how the game is supposed to be played. I struggle to pick which research options to take, I haven't really had any to waste on doing all the research yet at this point of the game. I also need to mass produce everything, so the planning and the size of my base really doesn't warrant where I am in the game - I have what can only be described as a mega-start base

Overall, if anyone wants a new, and long challenge, I'd definitely give it a go... I'm not sure what I'd suggest around the biters though, they can be a bit overwhelming and I've had to spend hours just walking around the perimeter of my base just rebuilding things constantly

Maybe don't include SE though, I'm 80 hours in and so far away from my first rocket (Equally I'm sure most people would be ahead of where I am 80 hours in)

If anyone has any suggestions or questions, feel free to pop them my way

[Qon]

Post some screenshots of base and map. How big is a mega starter base?

[Abarel]

I reduced the biters evolution but I think I messed that up still as I'm fending off around 5k biters/spitters per 10 minutes at the moment and can't really wipe out alien bases particularly easy, and the pollution I'm producing is causing issues.

I don't know how much evolution you got at 80h, but still 5k aliens every 10 minutes seems a lot to me. On my current SE+K2 play with default settings, I am right now at evo 16.8%, 28h playtime, and I killed in total around 5k aliens, 99% of them by expanding myself and 1% from day 3 visitors.
About the pollution, and even being 100x expensive, I guess that Air Filters are still worth the cost (and you will need just a bunch, then restore the used pollution filters into clean ones). Just in case you never messed with those, for each chunk just one Air Purifier, like in this screenshot:

Air_purifiers.jpg (149.69 KiB) Viewed 706 times

I start using purifiers near the mines, and later use it just near perimeter defenses, being the walls out of the pollution cloud. The savings on ammo is worth in my opinion.
About biomatter for your first bio lab, I think 30k would take some time; I got around 6k at the moment, 300 consumed to research Bioprocessing, 1800 used to craft 9 biolabs, 4200 stored in a box. Then I have more now in a different box, since Biolabs started to produce. I was clearing towns just with 30 turrets, and yellow ammo, wearing a Heavy Armor only. The key for me was to research first 2 upgrades for shooting speed and 2 upgrades for damage bonus. The only problem for me is when I find several medium worms in a town (I am researching now Combat Rockets for those, but it needs military science).

I also haven't got a clue what to do about the coronal mass ejections

To counter a coronal mass ejection you can use an Umbrella (requires rocket tech card, aka yellow science, so you need to launch satellites to collect telemetry data). It consumes 10 MW while idle, and eats lots of power while active. A typical CME would last around 2 minutes, so 150-200 MJ needed in accumulators for a typical Nauvis (depends on settings). You can press "i" to bring the Informatron, then select "energy beams" to see not only a description but a reminder on your next coronal mass ejection details:

cme_details.jpg (29.17 KiB) Viewed 706 times

I could try to rush the research, but even so, I would not use an Umbrella until I get a big enough power plant, plus a decent amount of accumulators, so I will just deal with any possible damages for now.

EDIT: I forgot to say, if you are struggling with pollution, I guess that you already used a few measures to reduce it, but just in case:
- I am using 2x tier1 efficiency module in the most busy and power-eating machines, plus on the coal miners that are near a lake, so pollution there will not spread too fast.
- I am using processed fuel everywhere, not only for the +10%, but to get a lot less pollution (Coal 250%, Processed Fuel 90%).
- I built a bunch of extra Greenhouses to absorb pollution (-3.27/m) while I get processed fuel from wood from stone+water: 1 Crusher (stone to sand) + 11 Greenhouses + 1 Fuel Processor, 538 kW consumption in total (with 12 x 2 x tier 1 efficiency modules), 436 wood converted to 60 processed fuel /minute.
- I use tier 1 productivity modules just on labs, and I use just 6 labs in total (I have 12, but using just 6 since I added modules).
- My whole bootstrap base is powered by 9.4 MW power plant, so I pollute as less as I can.

power.jpg (242.36 KiB) Viewed 703 times

[blazespinnaker]

I think this would be doable, but yeah, you'd have to have to go very heavy on green modules and zero out biter spreading and/or biter evolution.

Unless you are a very talented speed runner, biter evolution would get ahead of your ability to deal with them. Spreading might be OK, but you'd really need zero evolution.

Maybe in peaceful mode it would make more sense.