When you're making a factory, where do things most commonly go into grinding halt for you?

[Artman40]

Where do you usually have main bottlenecks? Ore patches, furnaces, basic products, circuits etc.?

[AndrewIRL]

Well first you notice that your oil patch is dried up so you build more
Then you note your labs aren't consuming packs fast enough so you build more
Then you see that green science is a bottle neck so you build more
Then you see that your copper line can't keep up so you build more
Then you realize the problem was your trains aren't keeping up the copper deliveries so you build more
Then the biters overwhelm some remote outpost's turrets so you build more
Then you look at the clock and see that it is 2AM and you have to work tomorrow.

So I'd say the main bottleneck is sleep.

[Shokubai]

I think my first real bottleneck occurs in one of two places (sometimes both).

1) I feel like requester chests come far too late after opening logistics and I push for that research before the base is ready.
2) Occasionally, I forget to check my starting Ore and run low/out before I've set up my first remote haul.

[Aeternus]

Typically things grind to a halt when my initial iron ore patch runs out and I've not paid attention to the need for an expansion point. That... tends to cause me to focus fully on rail for a little bit.

[userasd]

Usually, my bottlenecks are when I go to the next step of the science pack... Currently, I am stuck on Production Science Pack because it requires lubricant (for the eletric engine) and my lubricant reservoir is a bit far from my science pack factory so I am still thinking how I get lubricant there: Pipe or barreled in conveyor?

[Matthias_Wlkp]

My last 0.15 game came to a halt after setting up blue and black science.

I realized that my science setup is crap and I need to rebuild it in a nice way. As I already have access to all science packs, I'm working off-game to come up with a solution for self-sufficient science complex, that will need only ores delivered by trains.

I know there are probably blueprints out there, but for me figuring out this stuff is where the fun is. Besides, this is closely related to what I do at work, so I _should_ be able to figure this out .

[Shokubai]

Usually, my bottlenecks are when I go to the next step of the science pack... Currently, I am stuck on Production Science Pack because it requires lubricant (for the eletric engine) and my lubricant reservoir is a bit far from my science pack factory so I am still thinking how I get lubricant there: Pipe or barreled in conveyor?

A liquid only rail station only needs to be an engine and 1 car to supply enough lubricant. A small station close to your production or at least close enough should solve the problem.

[5thHorseman]

Yes.

[nemostein]

So I'd say the main bottleneck is sleep.

Added to my signature...

[Vxsote]

Red circuits. I never build enough red circuit production. In the past, this has partly been a consequence of not enough plastic, which itself was usually a consequence of not enough oil. With my current 0.15 game, however, I'm swimming in plastic and drowning in oil. I just didn't build enough red circuit production.

[Zourin]

Usually when I experience neurological breakdown right around the tier 3 science/oil phase.

[BenSeidel]

It's always the mining for me. Especially around that point where I want to train the ore in but my original patches have not been mined out yet so I can't build over them.

[Permittivity]

I normally run into a bottleneck with the amount of stuff I'm doing manually.

I start off with some cluster of assemblers building something for me, probably science packs. I'm still at the point where I've got burner mining drills feeding straight into furnaces, so I'm picking plates up from the furnaces and dropping them into chests that feed the assemblers. Suddenly it's a few hours later and those couple of assemblers have turned into a larger factory, but I'm still running around trying to pick up plates and drop them in all the various feed chests. Then my power plant starts to run low on coal so I have to go pick up coal to put in those chests, and by that time all my iron and copper chests need minding again.

I just keep building things that are only partially automated and need regular minding until I reach a point where all of my time is spent running around keeping things running.

[Ranakastrasz]

Generally, everything is a bottleneck.

I find Circuits, Gears, and Oil everything to be the most common bottlenecks.

That said, my most common bottleneck is the actual belts, because I don't really use Buses correctly yet.

[Leuf]

The biggest bottleneck is the %^&#ing trees. I can build an oil refinery in my pocket but I run around shooting trees down with a shotgun. I really don't like to use the construction bots, but sending a swarm of them to make a forest disappear in seconds is the real victory in this game.

Then it's usually lack of petroleum leading to lack of plastic leading to lack of red circuits.

[ChoMar]

I play on a Multiplayer Server where at least one constantly connects new Ressources to the Network. We do run out of something sometimes, but not really for long.
Same was before trains, we just used really long Belts.
We reach a long pause when our Main Bus couldnt keep up with demand anymore and i decided, instead of fixing it, to do everything on Trains. Now we have a large Iron- and Copper-smelting installation, large refineries and connect local busses to the Rail network.
But a real block? Nahh. the fine thing in multiplayer is that you can get several things done at once. The not-so-fine thing is that everyone has his unique building style, and they dont always match. The Blueprint Sharing does help - at least our Train Network consist of Standard Components.

[Lav]

Raw resources. I build a sprawling factory and suddenly discover I need a few more belts of *whatever*. And all nearby patches are already being mined, so I need railroad. And I didn't bother building one until this point, so I have to build it from scratch. And it's bo-o-oring, cause I could be doing so much more other things instead.

So I said "screw that" and now I'm playing a dedicated rail game from the start.

[purdueme91]

The biggest bottleneck is the %^&#ing trees. I can build an oil refinery in my pocket but I run around shooting trees down with a shotgun. I really don't like to use the construction bots, but sending a swarm of them to make a forest disappear in seconds is the real victory in this game

Real easy to get rid of trees now with blueprints available immediately but you need the Upgrade Builder/Planner mod from klonan. Raw wood-->deconstruction planner. Boom no more trees.
Learned it from Steejo's Bob's Big Rocket series. He's doing his new series with no mods and continually complains about the trees.