The game needs advice.

[LouieSchaefer]

Hello everyone

I've been playing for these two days and I'm about to go crazy, after hours of exploration and planning I was barely able to build my first automated lab.
Since I cannot play the game constantly, I cannot progress. but after watching a two-hour sprint, I feel it was possible in this game.
What do you think can be done? Do you have some ideas to enjoy the game more without having to build a huge factory by playing for hours or having to disable the bites? If so, could you please share it with me? Thank you from now.

[burninghey]

well, do the tutorial

You have the freedom of choice, how to play this game. If you don't like to be in a hurry, turn off biters or enable peace mode.
Congrats for your first lab running. You could turn your spaghetti into a blueprint (make a copy) for later games, then move on to green science.

Don't worry if it takes you hours until some automation. That's normal. Don't believe Youtube. Speed running factorio involves a lot of planning and you are just not ready for that. Doing some progress takes time. Took me weeks until I was able to do the 15 hour achievement.

If complex automation is too much for you yet, try some other people's blueprints. Warning, it could ruin the fun.. or teach you how things work

[eradicator]

Many people don't even reach the end (the rocket) on their first map. They start a new map after a few hours to build things differently/better. Reaching the rocket for the very first time can easily take 30~50 hours or more. Factorio is not a short or quick game to play. If you're short on time then disabling biters is the best option - they easily make expanding the factory 2-3 times slower due to time spent on building defenses and claiming terrain. People who get from start to rocket in 2 hours have spend hundreds of hours learning and planning before making those videos.

[Serenity]

Don't watch speed runners. If you want to learn something watch some normal playthroughs. Maybe once with an explicit tutorial focus. Otherwise they tend to hurry through the early game. Sure, you want to progress and get to the automation, but you also need to figure out how to get there quickly.

Your first base is not going to look organized and pretty. That's fine. You also don't need to build a huge base to launch a rocket

[ptx0]

in my current map i'm at 710 hours playtime and counting, haven't finished it. i'm having fun just plowing along slowly.

[blazespinnaker]

Disabling the biters is very common and is the most popular way speedruns are done. Increasing the richness of all the ore patches too, though I doubt that's an issue for you just yet.

That said, about the playing for hours, I think that's the beauty of the game. So much entertainment for so little money.

[5thHorseman]

I (somewhat) humbly offer my "Factorio For Beginners" tutorial. I play an entire game up to Rocket Launch in the 0.18 version of the game, which is essentially the same as the current game. Really the only differences are graphics and user interface, plus some very late game arachnid type things that may be more fun to learn on your own.