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I played Factorio last year and got about 38 hours into my save. I had started working with petroleum and plastics, and I was producing blue (chemical) science. What discouraged me was how slow my research was progressing and how often I realized that I needed to make materials more efficiently, but fixing it usually meant reorganizing large parts of my base. The idea of tearing things apart and rebuilding got me discouraged, and eventually I stopped playing.

I'm curious to play it again now, and I’m sure this is a common issue for newer players, so I’m wondering: where can I find good tips or guides to help me get past these game roadblocks without feeling overwhelmed by redesigning everything?

Part of the issue might be the effort involved in the teardowns and rebuilds: Having to uproot everything one-by-one and then having to carefully place each item one-by-one in the new spot.

If that's the case, you might consider a mod that gives you construction bots from the start.

Below are just a few examples of such mods on the portal. I'm partial to Nanobots myself. It lets you create a nanobot gun with ammo, and the building happens when the gun is equipped. I find it a bit less "cheaty" than some of the others because the ammo gets consumed, so it still costs you something to get this early ability.

But there are plenty of others that just give you e.g. early armor and a few construction bots to tide you over till you have full access to them.

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Nanobots2

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/FasterStart

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Updated_C ... ion_Drones

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/early_construction

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/BuilderBotStart

My problem at game start was that I didn't know where to place buildings and how many of them, and how to rearrange to make space for factory extensions. Doing this manually is very tedious.
Some time into the game, you will research a technology called logistic network. This includes logistic and construction robots that will automate all this manual placement and removal of items, so you can kind of copy+paste factories. It seems you didn't proceed that far. It's a real game changer.

I also created a new save with map editor enabled, and I started to design my current and intended factory in map editor. In this mode buildings can be instantly built and you have infinite items available, so you're able to concentrate on designing your factory with no item shortage. You can also copy+paste whole factories, this makes it very easy to split something and extend the thing in the center. Time can be stopped so you're never in a hurry.
If you're somewhat finished, you can create a blueprint of the design and build this on your real map (blueprints are a feature connected with the logistic network). Or you just create a screenshot and try to replicate this on your real map.

It's not easy to "think big" as a beginner.

What can help you is to try a mainbus concept: https://wiki.factorio.com/tutorial:main_bus
A big space of belts and pipes straight through your base that carrys most of your materials.

I usually reserve ~16 spaces for the belt in the middle.
On the left side of it I produce all kind of materials. On the right side science.

PS: The oil refinery is very far away from the main factory. That thing is it's own mess

JohnnySebre wrote: Thu Apr 23, 2026 1:26 am I played Factorio last year and got about 38 hours into my save. I had started working with petroleum and plastics, and I was producing blue (chemical) science. What discouraged me was how slow my research was progressing and how often I realized that I needed to make materials more efficiently, but fixing it usually meant reorganizing large parts of my base. The idea of tearing things apart and rebuilding got me discouraged, and eventually I stopped playing.

I'm curious to play it again now, and I’m sure this is a common issue for newer players, so I’m wondering: where can I find good tips or guides to help me get past these game roadblocks without feeling overwhelmed by redesigning everything?

You don't need to tear anything up (ever). If something is a bottleneck, you can build a whole lot of whatever you need to fix this bottleneck somewhere else, entirely, and pipe/belt/train it in to where you need it. You don't need to tear anything up unless you're in a tough position with biters and you're out of space (which is generally a temporary problem). You have unlimited space. There's no reason to have to reorganize a base... just build another one or part of one somewhere else.

The mechanism of needing more of something continues throughout the entire game. That's a basic game mechanic... you need x of an item, but after you do this or research that, then you need y of that same item. Often, there's a more efficient/faster/easier way of building something as you progress, so you'll want to re-do (or add to) the production of that item. Your factory will always be growing and changing. That's the whole game. Although, to be fair, I have read about some people who will build something, and then just want to sit and watch it work, but those people are few and far between.

I asked a similar question to you last year having also found myself getting stuck right around the time of Advanced Oil Processing. Check out the advice people gave me here: viewtopic.php?t=125044

Biggest thing that is helpful is coming up with a Science Per Minute you want to build toward (45 is a good number to start with). Then use a calculator tool to figure out how much of every raw and intermediate resource you need. Then just build the appropriate number of machines that the calculator tells you to build.

Do not rebuild. It is time consuming and mostly useless. Ineffective base is still better than no base. Just find a good place near resource patches and build whole new base. It will take some time, maybe several hours. And during this period your old base will continue to work and supply you with items and science.

Nosferatu wrote: Thu Apr 23, 2026 7:17 am What can help you is to try a mainbus concept: https://wiki.factorio.com/tutorial:main_bus
A big space of belts and pipes straight through your base that carrys most of your materials.

I think main bus is interesting only from historical point of view. It is not good idea to suggest outdated concepts to new players.

angramania wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2026 10:42 pm

Nosferatu wrote: Thu Apr 23, 2026 7:17 am What can help you is to try a mainbus concept: https://wiki.factorio.com/tutorial:main_bus
A big space of belts and pipes straight through your base that carrys most of your materials.

I think main bus is interesting only from historical point of view. It is not good idea to suggest outdated concepts to new players.

Oooh. What’s the latest alternative?