My Smelter + Research Factory

[OuchThatStings]

First off, I've been completely hooked by this game. I'm a sucker for crafting/survival games and the automation this game allows is simply fantastic.

After completing the demo and quickly buying the game afterwards so I could do free play, it was clear I had a lot of things to learn.

I've pretty much reached endgame on my first map, all there is to do is research everything else, all the resources are there. I decided to start another map on the side and try to be more organized with my factories from what I've learned on my first map. Here are some of the results, I'm still working on a good oil setup to start blue science pack production. As far as red and green, they're well covered:


http://imgur.com/QRCHfGJ

Here is my smelting setup:


http://imgur.com/nDgN93j

I just.. can't stop playing this game. I see a lot of people with more space efficient designs, but I enjoy watching everything move. I don't ever plan on building the rocket defense to end the second map, simply expand and secure as many ore veins as possible. Then connect everything by train...

[OuchThatStings]

Update:

Still addicted. New additions:

Blue and Purple science packs come into production.



Starting to keep a collection here:
https://imgur.com/a/j1ykK

Edit:

Quick thought/idea. Why not show estimated ore yield on miners when info is toggled?

[BurnHard]

Yes, nice compact layout. One tip I can give to you: Look at the production times of the different items, this helps to keep the ratio between the different assemblers in a good range. I would say you have far to much iron gear assemblers, even in absolute endgame (with 20 labs aud 12 science pack 3 assemblers) I have no more than one or probably two assembler for producing belts or inserters. The throughput of these recipies are enormous, even in one assembler.

The bottleneck in 90% of the games of new players, is that the assemblers stand still 80% of the time because lack of supply of raw material and too few inserters supplying and emptying the assemblers.

[OuchThatStings]

Thanks for the advice. I do tend to over produce things, but I like it. If my belts aren't full at all times then I'm not doing it right.

[ssilk]

The right way is to produce exactly so much and perhaps a little bit more, that it fits the needs. This rule is the more valid, the more advanced the produced item is.

The difference in game progression is gigantic, if you follow that rule.

[Zourin]

The right way is to produce exactly so much and perhaps a little bit more, that it fits the needs. This rule is the more valid, the more advanced the produced item is.

The difference in game progression is gigantic, if you follow that rule.

There's only one real exception, and that's when it comes to core materials (iron plates, copper bars, coal, and crude oil). There's no shame or harm in overproducing these, just in overconsuming. Combine high throughput with the fact that smelters act as resevoirs (up to a full stack each) and you can handle heavy spikes in resource consumption.

Not overproducing processed goods (like solid fuel) definitely is something that adds some elegance and efficiency to game progression. The key is using chest-limiting (and later smart inserters) to create realistic thresholds for your end products.