fairly new, need advice

[leonhart18]

factorio.png (2.69 MiB) Viewed 4825 times

been playing for about a week now. just wanted some feedback, advice on my build so far in a random map

[Shokubai]

That my friend is a very tidy little base.

It looks like your are about to start on Red Circuits and Blue Science though you are probably going to need to start cranking out a few engines for trains to bring in new resources by the looks of things. Though you could belt in the iron and copper ore from N & W.

Also you are making standard ammo. Im not sure where the biters evolution stands (don't see spitters i don't think) but you will want armor piercing very shortly.

Another thought here...You have a very defensible position with the water to the west. Using the small lakes and some more walls, you could capture all the land to the West for expansion. Instead of a gun every other space, you could group them in 2s or 3s and space them out a bit more. You will quickly find where the biters like to come from and beef up those areas.

[leonhart18]

trains are in the works, and there arent any spitters yet, thank god. im trying to get production ready to set up elec. furnaces to eliminate most of my coal dependency and free up space, then ill be cranking steel for ap rounds

[Shokubai]

You have enough coal, and moving to electric will likely force you to build more power. Don't be in a rush to switch.

Also made some edits to my last post while you were posting.

[leonhart18]

i was thinking about leaving this base for science, and setting up elsewhere on a train network for other production....but yeah power is brutal

edit- the turrets are a space a[art for my autoloading pattern

[Shokubai]

You should also explore a bit. There may be natural choke points you can build off of. I'm very curious of whats North of you there.

Now that I think of it, I dont see any Radar....get at least one running.

[leonhart18]

factorio2.png (2.85 MiB) Viewed 4812 times

one radar complete. larger area also check. just loading ammo now lol

[Shokubai]

i see you built some solar panels. As these produce no pollution they are generally safe to place outside your base so long as biter can find a path to where they are going. Solar power likes LOTS of room. Again...you could stick with coal for a while yet.

[British_Petroleum]

Hi,

Factory looks great. I am liking all that extra space. I would suggest storing any excess iron in a chest so your smelters/drills are always working, you need loads of iron later on so it's nice to have lots stored away. Also I would automate ammo production and make a conveyor feeding it into the turrets so you don't have to do it manually. Later when you have logistic bots you can replace this belt with requester chests.

Bots are very good, so they're a good thing to aim for. Many players find belts more fun though.

[ChurchOrganist]

im trying to get production ready to set up elec. furnaces to eliminate most of my coal dependency and free up space, then ill be cranking steel for ap rounds

I usually wait until I have a lot of solar panels going before I switch to electric furnaces as they're very power hungry. I also wait till I have logistic and construction bots, as I personally think that running the furnaces with passive providers and requesters is more efficient than using belts, as you can take advantage of the inserter stack size bonus when shifting the ore/plates to/from the furnaces. This of course is particularly relevant to your steel smelting as 5 iron plates are required for each steel one.

HTH

[Frightning]

im trying to get production ready to set up elec. furnaces to eliminate most of my coal dependency and free up space, then ill be cranking steel for ap rounds

I usually wait until I have a lot of solar panels going before I switch to electric furnaces as they're very power hungry. I also wait till I have logistic and construction bots, as I personally think that running the furnaces with passive providers and requesters is more efficient than using belts, as you can take advantage of the inserter stack size bonus when shifting the ore/plates to/from the furnaces. This of course is particularly relevant to your steel smelting as 5 iron plates are required for each steel one.

HTH

Considering that Boilers are only 50% efficient, Steel Furnaces are more energy efficient than Electric Furnaces, which means the only real reason to transition to Electric Furnaces is because they can accept modules. So there's no reason to 'upgrade' from Steel to Electric until you're ready to start using modules in your furnaces.

[siggboy]

I personally think that running the furnaces with passive providers and requesters is more efficient than using belts, as you can take advantage of the inserter stack size bonus when shifting the ore/plates to/from the furnaces.

That does not matter a single bit, because the crafting speed of furnaces is way lower than the speed of even a standard inserter. Having the inserter bonus makes no difference at all.

If you feed a mixed belt (one half coal, one half ore), one normal inserter is still enough, because coal only needs to be inserted occasionally. With such a layout you need two inserters per furnace (one for input, and one for output).