What to do when the starting area runs dry?

[0verThink3r]

(This is my first post on these forums, so please let me know if I'm posting in the wrong area or doing something wrong! )

So I have sunk almost 70 hours into Factorio now, and i've just returned to it after many months of letting it collect dust in my steam library. I finally got a good game going (finally!) and just as I was gaining momentum, the ore in my starting area was beginning to dry up. I was extremely alarmed at this fact, and I managed to solve it later by driving out the natives occupying a local resource patch not far from my base (How I made it all work is a story for another time ). But it got me thinking, how would other players, most of which are infinitely wiser than me, solve this problem? What would you do when your starting area resources run dry, and the nearest ore deposit(s) are a good distance away? Would love to hear your answers!

-0verThink3r

[steinio]

I would just put a train line up.

[0verThink3r]

Why do I get the feeling that's gonna be the main answer to this topic?

[Hannu]

I make outposts with solar electric system, mining drills and defenses and bring resources to my base with trains. I put also roboports and repair bots to the outposts immediately or later depending on the research situation. Later I conquer larger connected area, typically couple of square kilometers at first time, connect outposts to my central electric network and disassemble roboports.

[OdinYggd]

I push back the biters at regular intervals to keep them from attacking my main base, and put up self-defending outposts to aid in this goal by securing a perimeter so that the biters can't bite.

In the process of doing so I'll usually locate multiple resource deposits of each type, and build defenses near them.

Later on I'll return with a railway to bring those resources back to my main base for processing. the same railway will then send finished goods out to the outposts to keep them expanding.

[rbrucemtl]

The new train layout tool make it super easy to run long tracks too... just have your logistics robots supply all the necessary track and run with it... Literally.

[Mehve]

While you can always run a massive conveyor belt, those are sluggish and inferior over long distances. Whereas trains really doesn't have many downsides once you get them up and running. And since version 0.13 was introduced, their setup is much easier as well. The most important is to not leave it until the last moment - if you find yourself saying "Huh, I'm out of resources. Guess I should look at building a train", you waited WAY too long.

In particular, be early and aggressive with your steel production. You'll need TONS of it for all the engines, rails, wagons, and big electrical poles. And once you get those built, you can start using it for piercing ammo, oil processing equipment, and blue research potions.

[golfmiketango]

In general, I find that it is surprisingly difficult to paint yourself into a corner, from which it is impossible to emerge, by depleting all your resources.

In human history, quite the opposite seems to be the case for primitive societies, but modern globalised societies are seemingly -- at least let's hope so, for our own sakes -- more capable of adapting to natural resource scarcity. So, perhaps this is not so unrealistic.

How bad the problem is depends on how severely you've underemphasized military development, and how far biter evolution has progressed in the meantime. It is definitely possible to f u n d a m e n t a l l y (sorry, for some silly reason the forum software wants to censor that word) doom yourself; the only foolproof plan is to stagger your saves so you can go back in time, having learned the hard way from your mistakes imo.

[Frightning]

Short answer: Find a new deposit, (clear biters if any), and setup a train route from it to my base. Trains are the ultimate tool for moving large amounts of material over large distances efficiently and automatically.

I'm actually about to face a serious challenge in this regard in a max biter game I started recently because I only had 15k Iron in my starting area. But there is a large deposit right where the sea of red begins and the bases there only have Small worms and spawners galore, so I can take that on w/ Gun Turrets and Military 1 level weapons.

[Thegrover]

I aim to have my trains set up and running for each resource before the first drill stops. Stone being the exception since I use it to build a chest full of rails (more than enough for me) and the excess goes to landfill, if the stone brick production stops and I have to set up a new outpost before I can start making electric furnaces, so be it, most of the work is in making my main incoming goods depot anyway, since I future proof the hell out of it

[0verThink3r]

Thank's so much for all these responses! These are all so interesting to read, and see how play styles differ. Keep them coming!

[hi_impact]

Choo choooooo

There's two inevitable reasons to make trains. Either your starting patch runs out or you need more miners mining stuff.

Feeding just 10 labs nonstop takes up over half a yellow belts worth of iron and copper plates. If you intend to use that other half for anything else you're going to be hard pressed.

26 miners can fill up a yellow belt. That quickly happens and sometimes you just need MOAR

[Tricorius]

The first thing I do, before I've even dropped a burner-miner is to quickly survey as much as I am comfortable with (depending on my biter settings...you don't want to run into a surprise nest without some military tech). Once I find a good spot with iron, copper, stone, coal, and water, I dig in.

My first research is Military (for armor), second is turrets. As quickly as possible I setup a minimal, but expandable power array (I like to keep pollution lean until defenses are in). Immediately after the first steam engine is up, I plop a temporary radar dish next to it (to scout out resource patches and biter nests).

(It sounds like you might have been missing radar since you mention having to scout out the resources yourself).

At this point, I prioritize military offense and defense (automated ammunition and turrets). Once I have a few turret arrays setup (3 - 5 turrets) in key biter paths (you can figure out where you're likely to get biters from the radar scans and where you're putting out pollution), I head toward Modular Armor. (I know many people don't like modular armor, but in the late "early game" it's *very* useful for clearing out biters.

*IF* I can, I move toward basic oil research, flammables, and flamethrower and siphon off extra light and heavy oil into flamethrower ammo packs. I have been able to clear smaller biter bases with just basic armor and the flamethrower if I've been able to be super fast, but it's a challenge.

I'll usually have trains done by this time as well, if not, that would be the next research. This generally sets up a pretty good expansion opportunity. Once I have a basic Modular Armor suit outfitted with some portable solar, batteries, and shields, I go after the biters that are guarding the most needed resource (usually iron, then copper).

Of course, as you're working your way through this, you should be automating the items you're going to need lots of (turrets, ammunition, rails, signals, mining drills, etc). I generally push toward roboports as quickly as possible too, but it can be a bit overwhelming on oil resources if you aren't adept at managing them. (I've currently about 1000 hours across 10 bases in factorio, so I have gone through these steps repeatedly to refine them.)

*IF* you're lower on oil, or don't want to move quickly toward roboports, you can just use a bit of copper and setup very basic green or red wires between inserters and chests to limit early production. (For instance, in the beginning I limit turret production to 5 or 10, since they are quite expensive. By the time I'm in full production mode with a railway connected, that limit is raised to a few hundred so that I can stamp down a fully-walled two-roboport outpost with a trainload of goods.)

TLDR: Military (Offense and Defense) Tech, Radar, and Trains

[Overene]

I usually use mods to make it so resource patches can be depleted but never be used up. When I'm not using mods though, i simply expand my base to keep up with how far out the resources are, since I'm still not really good with trains

[AutoMcD]

Don't forget you can set filters on train cargo cars (middle click the cargo squares).
This makes it easy to have the train bring ammo and repair packs out to all the stops, x number of empty barrels, reserve space to pick up full barrels, etc. A few filter inserters can handle it without crazy fancy logic.
For the ore I tend to just do full cars of each type but whatever works for ya.