Totally lost with oil & fuel production! Please help!

[Hogweed]

Hi,

I am finally getting my hands dirty with oil, but I am totally lost. I tried to find information on the web and UTube, as well as reading posts here and looking at images, but I cant find any kind of explanation as how to it works. I know the basics, but I cant figure out how to get the refinery moving. I have oil in the pipes and plugged the pipe into the back of the refinery, in one of the two in arrows. But that next? I put some pipes in the three going out, but nothing happened. (Yes - I have power!)

Is there some kind of tutorial on how this works? I want to get the chemical plant to start plastics, but I cant figure out what to do. I would think that there would be some kind of tutorial on this, but I spent a long time trying to find anything that might help.

Would appreciate any assistance!

Thanks!

[ssilk]

Oh, that happened to me once for no reason. I rebuilt everything as it was and then it worked.

When I think over it: it might have been able, that there was a little drop of wrong oil in one of the pipes...
It's important to know, that if one of the 3 outputs of the refinery is blocked/full, the refinery stops.

@ devs: make a pipe red, if two different liquids are in one pipe. Make it visible, that a liquid output is blocked, this is quite important information.

[Hogweed]

No, thats not what happened, there is nothing being produced! I have the oil from the Pumpjack plugged into the refinery, but nothing is happening! What do I do next?

Is there any kind of tutorial on oil processing that shows the steps to product the fluids?

[immibis]

Did you select the recipe on the oil refinery?

Also to any developers reading this: maybe oil should be an optional thing - if you use it you need less of the other resources, but you don't have to use it.

[ssilk]

Also to any developers reading this: maybe oil should be an optional thing - if you use it you need less of the other resources, but you don't have to use it.

You are eventually right. The mass of new stuff is eventually overwhelming for new players...

[slpwnd]

Did you select the recipe on the oil refinery?

Also to any developers reading this: maybe oil should be an optional thing - if you use it you need less of the other resources, but you don't have to use it.

This was one of the options we have considered. But in the end the decision was to make it a core part. Yes, it can be tricky for new players but it is not in there since the beginning. One should get the science pack 2 automated first before moving to the oil industry. Anyway we will definitely be adding some campaign mission focused on the oil industry to introduce the concept.

[Xerath]

I hope oil stays core, the key to this type of game (in my opinion) is to have that tiered progression defined by a very specific bottleneck. That is to say that new players should not even need to know oil exists until they have automated science pack 2, because the research costs of using oil are initially prohibitive without an automated supply. This allows the player to saturate themselves with the concepts needed for the initial part of the game, setting up basic factory lines, resources, defence, etc.

Being a new player, I've found the progression quite nice in the sense that I'm not overwhelmed. I haven't given 9.0 a try yet (waiting for today's bug fixes, plus tutorial wouldn't work on 9.0 lol), but I'm hoping oil will feel as organic to use as the rest of the resources.

[Hogweed]

Did you select the recipe on the oil refinery?

Also to any developers reading this: maybe oil should be an optional thing - if you use it you need less of the other resources, but you don't have to use it.

I did figure it out, I just didnt realize that it had a menu like an assembler. I really like the whole fluid idea, and I think it works really great. I would definitely stick with it, not make it an option.

All that you need to do is get a short tutorial up where people can see basically how it works. Just like an illustrated schematic. Its not that hard at all once you know the simple basics, its just that you dont have anything available on it at all, at least not what over an hour of searching on the web was able to provide.

Even a quick youtube video just quickly showing the basics would easily alleviate this problem. Just post a topic - maybe make it a sticky for the new add-ons so they are easy to find, and I am sure that the confusion will stop.

[Hogweed]

Also to any developers reading this: maybe oil should be an optional thing - if you use it you need less of the other resources, but you don't have to use it.

You are eventually right. The mass of new stuff is eventually overwhelming for new players...

Well, it all boils down to having a source to help when you get stuck. After setting up both the refinery and chem plant, I took a long time plugging pipes back and forth, trying different things, before I gave up in frustration. I spent some time on the wiki, but it never gave any clear illustration as to how the system worked. I also spent a lot of time searching the forums, doing all kinds of google searches, and finally watching many of the latest YouTube videos trying to catch a glimpse of someone setting it up. I found Nothing!! You just need a permanent post that as some guidelines or videos where people can easily find them, problem solved!

The simplest thing is make a 5 minute youtube video showing quickly how to get it going. Once I saw the menus (kind of it dawning on me that it had them!), it took me an hour or so to get it sorted to where I was setting up sulfur and then batteries. Its not hat hard, but unless you realize that those buildings behave like assemblers, and how the pipes fit (I was confused about all the entry and exit pipes) you can have your game literally stopped waiting to find it out.

Again, I suggest making a sticky in the forum for new stuff, and making a short video, and put the links so its easy for anyone to get the newest updated add ons without pulling out their hair!!

[Hogweed]

Did you select the recipe on the oil refinery?

Also to any developers reading this: maybe oil should be an optional thing - if you use it you need less of the other resources, but you don't have to use it.

This was one of the options we have considered. But in the end the decision was to make it a core part. Yes, it can be tricky for new players but it is not in there since the beginning. One should get the science pack 2 automated first before moving to the oil industry. Anyway we will definitely be adding some campaign mission focused on the oil industry to introduce the concept.

Thats a lot of work to introduce something that a 4 minute video could easily do. I strongly recommend doing the short videos and putting them in a sticky as I mentioned. It would have saved me hours of searching and waiting for a response, since it took almost 12 hours before someone even mentioned to use the menus on the buildings!!.

[ssilk]

I spent some time on the wiki, but it never gave any clear illustration as to how the system worked. I also spent a lot of time searching the forums, doing all kinds of google searches, and finally watching many of the latest YouTube videos trying to catch a glimpse of someone setting it up. I found Nothing!

Hm. That makes me a bit frustrated. Why do I make me the work:
https://forums.factorio.com/wiki/inde ... Version0.9

Big Z's guide:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=5&t=2381

And what really turned me down is the sense of entitlement, which shimmers thru these lines. You haven't even tried to explain your problem exactly.

We are talking of an alpha version game and a software essentially made by 4 persons and a major release, which introduces things, that nobody ever tried in a game. And you want a docu!

I just say no!

It's the players task to make the docu. The players task to find the rules. We tell the developers how we like to play the game.

It would be absolutely wrong, if the developers tell us, how we should play it. Some hints, some rules, the algorithm of some function. But the rest is part of the game.

[Sedado77]

I spent some time on the wiki, but it never gave any clear illustration as to how the system worked. I also spent a lot of time searching the forums, doing all kinds of google searches, and finally watching many of the latest YouTube videos trying to catch a glimpse of someone setting it up. I found Nothing!

Hm. That makes me a bit frustrated. Why do I make me the work:
https://forums.factorio.com/wiki/inde ... Version0.9

Big Z's guide:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=5&t=2381

And what really turned me down is the sense of entitlement, which shimmers thru these lines. You haven't even tried to explain your problem exactly.

We are talking of an alpha version game and a software essentially made by 4 persons and a major release, which introduces things, that nobody ever tried in a game. And you want a docu!
+1, like, and agree!
I just say no!

It's the players task to make the docu. The players task to find the rules. We tell the developers how we like to play the game.

It would be absolutely wrong, if the developers tell us, how we should play it. Some hints, some rules, the algorithm of some function. But the rest is part of the game.

[Hogweed]

I spent some time on the wiki, but it never gave any clear illustration as to how the system worked. I also spent a lot of time searching the forums, doing all kinds of google searches, and finally watching many of the latest YouTube videos trying to catch a glimpse of someone setting it up. I found Nothing!

Hm. That makes me a bit frustrated. Why do I make me the work:
https://forums.factorio.com/wiki/inde ... Version0.9

Big Z's guide:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=5&t=2381

And what really turned me down is the sense of entitlement, which shimmers thru these lines. You haven't even tried to explain your problem exactly.

We are talking of an alpha version game and a software essentially made by 4 persons and a major release, which introduces things, that nobody ever tried in a game. And you want a docu!

I just say no!

It's the players task to make the docu. The players task to find the rules. We tell the developers how we like to play the game.

It would be absolutely wrong, if the developers tell us, how we should play it. Some hints, some rules, the algorithm of some function. But the rest is part of the game.

I see your point ssilk, you are right, having the gamers contribute some help is a great idea. Thats why I always go to youtube for videos, since I can usually spot my issue there. I think I was quite clear with my problem though, not knowing how to get the refinery started. but I did figure it out, but it took a long time and I wanted to get on with the game. Alright, call me spoiled, but my time is limited and I dont have so much to spend trying to figure things out when a tutorial could have given me a push!

I hope people will want to contribute, if you can open a permanent spot on the forum for that, maybe it will motivate people to contribute. I say that because I dont see a spot for donating tutorials or links to helpful videos in one spot. Just my suggestion! When I get more proficient I would be happy to make some tutorials for you tube, but I would think that having one location to put any links or docs would be important.

But the game it self is coming along beautifully, I am excited to see what else is in store and what you all will be doing.

There is still so much to learn, I am just getting to Sci 3, so all the things with the logistics and robots I will have to experiment with. Also, I am going to have play a few games to learn about the insect creatures. I had built a base and surrounded it with dual layers of turrents fully upgraded to Sci 3, as well as many more all around the processing areas, and still I got hoarded by a large group who tore everything apart. I didnt yet use walls, I didnt realize you can surround the turrents with them until I watched Malkasphia's Utube videos, where he just started a series on the new upgrades.

But thank you for all your input, I appreciate the link to Big Z's guide, that was exactly what I needed. I still believe that putting that kind of information in one location where it is most easily seen will really increase new players abilities to know what they need to, and not have to ask.

[ssilk]

Well, I don't want to waist your worthy (play-)time too much , but things like docu and tutorial can never grow in a good direction, without qualified feedback from the newbies.

When did you have problems? What was I thinking? What did I tried? Such questions are soooo important.

[Hogweed]

HAHAH! Not that worthy, just precious time!! The problem I had was I didnt know the refinery and lab had a menu like the assemblers, I thought when you plugged the oil in, it would do its thing. I realized about the menu later on, and from there it was easy!

Hopefully as more players contribute the newbies can get up to speed, as long as there are very helpful people such as you, the playing experience can only get better!

[LoSboccacc]

couple of examples:

plastic states requires gas and coal and its made at chem plant.

there is no pet gas in the e menu, where is that made? steel it is there, and states it is made a furnaces. that's one missing link.

then there is the limited flexibility of the setup: barrels only move crude oil, plus you have to put them in a chem plant for both filling and dumping, so no train shipping of intermediate products

then then you have this mixed stuff about everything working with pipes, except when it doesn't, like plastic: you get some stuff in with pipes, no output pipes, and couple item moved via inserters.

fluid and recipe handling should be more uniform all around; i.e. make all petroleum transformation happening in facilities that only works with piping, allow barrel of any fluid, make a specific barrel creating building and allow storage to accept barrels.

then move the plastic and all mixed recipes to assembly machines/furnaces/chemical factories/whatever which only accept inserted input, with barrels for fluid

and remove barrel as resources, just have them happen automatically.

suddenly everything plays as expected and it is uniform with the other parts of the games.