My latest factory

[Boogieman14]

So I've been building a new factory, 81 hours in now.

Mods used:
- Automatic Rail Laying Machine (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =14&t=4287)
- Advanced Radars (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... 62&p=39071)
- Landfill (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =14&t=4973)
- Resource Monitor (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =14&t=2855)
- The Fat Controller (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =14&t=4504)
- Resource Spawner Overhaul (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =14&t=4761)
- Bob's Power (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =51&t=4831)
- MoreLight (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =14&t=6082)
- Larger Inventory (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =14&t=5891)
- I had actually loaded Roadworks as well, but since I just don't use cars at all I removed it at about 60 hours in so I wouldn't have to deal with limestone.

For this factory, I set myself a few groundrules:
- No solar power (except for a handful of self-powered radar stations)
- No ore handling using bots
- Initially I had planned to have just one incoming goods station (multiple stops) and build a big ore sorter, but at some point this ran into some scaling problems so I abandoned that concept and went for dedicated unloaders instead.

So I actually have two stages of the game to show:
1) the game at 60 hours, just as I removed Roadworks and started the switch to dedicated unloaders
2) the game at 80 hours

Note: to view the full images, right-click and open in new tab/window


First the factory at 60 hours

The world map at maximum zoom

A map of the factory

On the right the beginnings of the dedicated unloaders are already taking shape.
In all my recent games, I've always had a personal train to get around and lug goods around with me to build new stuff. That's the one parked at Worktrain. It's a bidirectional train with 3 wagons. On the Factory-SVC track just below that, is another bidirectional train without wagons to get around even faster. I also use this train to quickly push out powerlines along a newly laid track. Turns out that thanks to the larger inventory mod, I didn't need the space on the train wagons, so I axed the Worktrain somewhere between hours 60 and 80.

An overview of ore sorting, storing, smelting

Incoming mixed goods station

The ore sorter

Overview

Close-up

Ore buffering

Both the sorter and the buffer were inspired by posts from O_Prime (https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=8&t=5588)
Both lines of chests have a smart chests as the 5th from the left which is connected to a circuit network. This network leads all the way to the mining outposts and tells the smart inserters there to only load the trains if there's less than 4000 units of the specific ore in the network. This way, there's always room for storage of anything that's in transit, and there's also always some reserve while the ore in transit is coming in.

Science area and some pre-bots production

Circuits

Yes, that setup in the top right was nicked from -root's Hydra setup to collect rocket defense materials

Misc modular production

Steam engines

120x Bob's Power Mk3 Steam engines at 1MW each.
There's also about 100 accumulators (Bob's Fast Mk3) to cover brief peaks in demand due to biter attacks

Oil

- All heavy oil is cracked to light (except for a tiny bit going toward lube)
- Light oil is turned into solid fuel to run the trains, the rest is cracked into petroleum

The balance on this setup is probably way off, but I have full tanks of sulphuric acid and lube, and plenty of plastic going around, so I'm happy.

[Boogieman14]

So, just shy of 82 hours into the game. The world map actually isn't that much bigger than the 60 hour one, guess much of the 20 hours was spent refactoring the base and hooking up some already discovered resources. I also just re-enabled Roadworks, because it turns out Resource Spawner Overhaul can't handle removal of ores from the game. It crashes when a new chunk needs to be generated.

80 hour world map

An overview of the entire factory

For copper and iron unloading, I now have numbered stops which the various trains cycle through. Each train will go to its respective mining outpost, then to Fe1, then outpost, Fe2, etc. A bit of a pain to set up, but this way all stops are used evenly and the unload chests can act as buffers before heading into the smelting area.
At the bottom is 10 stops labeled "Parking", this is where trains get parked after I decommission a mining outpost and have no need of them yet. If I ever need a new train somewhere, I can control it using Fat Man and get it going straight away, regardless of where I am.

Iron Unloader

Double-sided unloading, just under 10 seconds to empty a train (provided there's room in the chests of course). I have one or two outposts that also have a little bit of oil near the ore, so I just mix the filled barrels in with the ore and filter those out into the logistics system. The third wagon ferries supplies to the outposts. Not necessarily the most efficient setup, but I like it that way

Ore smelting

What can I say? I like to think big

Plates storage

Room for about 230k plates. This is all iron, there's an identical setup for copper and a smaller one for steel. All stored in logistics chests because I can get an easy count and it's all available for bots to pick up for the factory.

Production and consumption numbers

Electric network

I made a start placing efficiency modules into the furnaces, power consumption will drop a bit as I progress on that.

A typical mining outpost loading station

The bottom track is for my personal getting around train, so I can get somewhere by train and not block the regular operation.

A typical mining operation

That's a massive 3 million iron ore in this field. The goal is pretty much to set it up and forget about it. I only want to think about a mining operation when resource monitor notifies me that the field has been depleted So this may not be the fastest possible setup, but that's fine as long as it keeps my trains full (this particular operation currently has three trains servicing it)

Resource monitor

Some of the resource fields that are in the currently discovered area. Not all of this is being serviced yet and this isn't even everything, just the ones I came across unlocking other resources. The numbering is roughly the cardinal direction followed by a sequence number (and a/b if they're really close and of the same type). Train stops use the same numbering.

All done

[Devildog]

That's so cool!

[Boogieman14]

That's my story for this factory so far. I must admit, I'm at a point now where I usually get a tad bored and start a new map, so chances are the story won't progress much further.

If anyone wants to take a look around my factory, feel free

Save: https://www.dropbox.com/s/az4mbyl7eoucz ... M.zip?dl=0
Mods: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ht9vb6dzgyk71 ... s.zip?dl=0

[Devildog]

Thank You, I cant wait to see it !

[n9103]

Interesting naming/numbering system for the resources/stops.
Could just use C instead of Coal, since it's mostly Carbon
I'm usually a little more verbose, but my fields and stations tend along the same lines.

[Boogieman14]

Could just use C instead of Coal, since it's mostly Carbon

Good point, I guess C for Coal is in fact closer to reality than Cu for Copper ore or Fe for Iron ore (ore is of course nowhere near the pure element)

Just before bed last night, I figured I could give F-Mod a try, that looks like a nice bit of a resource sink to keep the game going for a while longer.. I can already see myself building massive science pack setups

[Boogieman14]

So to keep the game going for a while longer, I've added all of Bob's mods and added and removed F-Mod. After fiddling with all the new metals Bob introduced, I've decided I'm going to set up a new base somewhere faraway to do a proper systematic attempt at mod production. To that end, I've seriously beefed up my wall production:



This is the machinery I've set up for that, using Bob's Assemblers:


6 Speed 3's in each furnace (just for shits 'n giggles):


Packed express belt wasn't able to bring stone in fast enough, so I just dropped some requesters in (crazy, I know)
The factories are still waiting for bricks

[O_Prime]

My designs is alive)))

[Azeltorn]

Where do you have the windows of "Production and consumption numbers" i can't found it in the game, that a Research or a mod ?

[Florian]

Where do you have the windows of "Production and consumption numbers" i can't found it in the game, that a Research or a mod ?

click on an electric pole

[Azeltorn]

I do that but i just see the picture of "Electric network"

[BurnHard]

Press "P" or look into the key binding settings.

[Azeltorn]

Thank you it's okay now

[-root]

edit; nevermind.