scenario-pack/supply scenario - need help

[pmnox]

Did anyone manage to finish this scenario?
After a few tries I manages to to get to level 18, but I'm unable to get any further.
I'm unable to finish researching technology required for building logistic robots :/

[pmnox]

After a few tries I managed to get to lvl 20 xD

However, I doubt I will be able to finish it, because the requirements are just too high for me :/
I could finish it if those 50 alien science packs weren't required :/

[MF-]

How large was your base by then?

[kovarex]

I admit, that I also didn't finish the last 2 or 3 levels, maybe it needs little bit of balancing
Any other comments, critics of the level?

[pmnox]

How large was your base by then?

I had 3 factories producing electronic circuits.
5 factories producing copper cables
2 factories producing gears.
1 factories producing basic belts
5 - factories producing science pack lvl 1
10 - factories producing science pack lvl 2
4 stone furnaces producing steel
2 factories for rockets
8 factories for science pack lvl 3

I also like 25 stone furnaces dedicated to making iron
and 16 to making copper
+ enough burner mining drills to support that industry.

factorio lvl20.jpg (1.15 MiB) Viewed 15361 times

factorio lvl20_2.jpg (1.19 MiB) Viewed 15360 times

By that time I starting running out of iron as half of the iron in the north-east, south-east was depleted. It was just too far away to get to next closest iron deposits.
I took a picture of my factory xD

[kovarex]

Interesting ... I used electric mining drills from early levels, I will try it once more and look if it needs some balancing.

[pmnox]

Interesting ... I used electric mining drills from early levels, I will try it once more and look if it needs some balancing.

I'm using one little trick, for example if you put two burner mining drills on coal next to each other then they will both supply coal to each other until both have 64 coal inside.
That makes them work like a perpetuum mobile, and they don't require any action.

I use burner mining drills on other sites because they take twice less space (4 vs 9) than electric mining drill so I can put two burner mining drills instead of one electric drill.
They also cost twice less iron to produce, that makes it much easier to expand early on. Oh, also I have excess coal from my perpetuum mobile mining drills xD.

The only downside is that I have to pick the coal manually and distribute it to either chests, that supply stone furnaces, or to burner mining drills. So this solution doesn't scale too well for larger factories, but it helps to start the factory quickly.
Deposits are rare on this map, so this approach works fine.

[ssilk]

Interesting ... I used electric mining drills from early levels, I will try it once more and look if it needs some balancing.

I'm using one little trick, for example if you put two burner mining drills on coal next to each other then they will both supply coal to each other until both have 64 coal inside.

Whoaa.. cool. I experimented yesterday with that, but I thought always "I need a burner inserter between them, that they put the coal from one to the other, but the inserters also need coal, and I can feed the inserters only with inserters..."

The only downside is that I have to pick the coal manually and distribute it to either chests, that supply stone furnaces, or to burner mining drills.

Nice. This type of problem: How could I get the coal automatically out with burner inserters, which needs coal?

So this solution doesn't scale too well for larger factories, but it helps to start the factory quickly.
Deposits are rare on this map, so this approach works fine.

Exactly.

[pmnox]

I was able to met every condition except for "Alien science pack 50".
Here is a picture xD

factorio lvl20_v3.jpg (499.64 KiB) Viewed 15338 times

[kovarex]

Is the alien science pack so problematic? You just need to get 5 alien artefacts, that is one or two alien shelters.

[pmnox]

Is the alien science pack so problematic? You just need to get 5 alien artefacts, that is one or two alien shelters.

Getting 5 alien artifacts would be possible, but in order to get alien science packs I would need to research Alien Technology and Advanced Chemistry, which costs total 375 science pack 1 and 375 science pack 2.
That is equal to 938 copper bars and 1688 iron bars.
I had to stop doing research at level 15-16, because I had not enough iron/copper deposits to support fully the production.
If iron/copper deposits were bigger then I would be able to get the research done in time.

Every Creeper Spawner is surrounded by 4 Battle turrets so it can be destroyed easily with 28(6*4 + 4) rockets.I noticed that Creeper Spawner can drop 2-5 Alien Artifacts so it is doable after a few tries.
However, I'm not sure how to improve my economy any further, because of rarity of those resources.

I was actually able to get 5 alien artifacts during level 20.

I checked the number of items that I didn't use, you can see that on the third picture, I wouldn't be able to make 375 sc1 and 375 sc2 out of it. I guess to solve this level I would have to figure out how to boost my production.
Any ideas?

[kovarex]

I was able to connect quite large iron deposit on the south to the factory (I use it to produce steel).
For the next version, I lowered some electronic circuit demands (100 less in total) and added 1 minute to 3 different levels.
I guess that making the iron deposit little bit more dense and little bit larger might help as well ....