So here's what I do:
1) I use angels infinite ores (https://mods.factorio.com/mods/Arch666A ... finiteores). This introduces oil-like behaviour to ore patches, but in the default settings a depleted field is still mostly useless, so you either need to tweak the config or increase the size/yield of patches manually (step 2)
2) I use lua to remove ore and add a larger and deeper patch of infinite ore:
removing ores
creating ores
You can adjust n (radius), ore, and m (depth) as desired.
Note that I don't claim originality here, both scripts are adapted from scripts I found on the Internet. Also, lua is not my first language so it's quite possible I'm doing something silly in there, but the code seems to work ok
3) And finally, if you use the same radius as I, this is a blueprint for plopping down 118 mines outputting into 4 red belts:
mines blueprint
screenshot
What I do is use RSO, and replace generated patches by large infinite patches. This still forces me to explore and claim territory, but without the frustrating chore of constantly tearing up and building rail+station+mines.
(Is this cheating? What does that even mean in a sandbox game
)
