A little bit of science...

[Trepidati0n]

Spreadsheets and tools to calculate optimal ratios are nice math. However...that doesn't really help me "understand" things. One thing that i've noticed is that certain areas tend to "block up" really nice...especially science. In short..the inputs are VERY limited. This first part is going to deal with the magic ratio of 5/6/12 and what it really means and also how it actually used. My assertion is that 5/6/12 might be an albatross in terms of reasonable game play. If my math is abhorrently wrong...i'll correct it.

Factories have a production rate…why blue isn't 1 annoys me. What this means is that a blue factory is only 75% of the listed value in the tool-tip #

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Gray Factory  	0.5
Blue Factory	  0.75
Yellow Factory	1.25

When producing science, the ratees are per below; I will assume blue factory from now on
Item Default Rate Modified rate

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[name]   [sec/item]  [items/sec] [items/min]
Red         5           0.15        9.00
Green       6           0.125       7.50
Blue        12          0.0625      3.75

"Based upon above, this means to produce ""evenly"", which is end game we need a factory ratio of
5/6/12 (RGB). This means we will produce"

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Item       # Assem     Base Rate   Total Rate
[name]   [sec/item]  [items/min]  [items/min]
Red         5           9.00         45
Green       6           7.50         45
Blue       12           3.75         45

In the beginning of the game, there are some 15 sec per unit research items…but for the most part it is either 30 or 60 seconds per unit part it is 30's and then to 60's. So how many "science" can this thing support! The answer…A LOT! But what this also tells you as you move from basic to advanced science...if you build a 5/6/12 factory...you can support 45 1-minute facilities @ end game!

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   Research Speed    Sci Facil
   [sec] [Min]          [#]
   15    0.25          11.25
   30    0.50          22.50
   60    1.00          45.00

"But what does this ""really mean"". Most games ""normal people play"" are in the 40+ hour range. We obsess over little things. Which goes back to the notion of ""one does not simply play factorio for 20 minutes"". So lets say…other than rocket defense..we want a research item to be
10 minutes or less"

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   [# units]   [min/unit]  [# Sci Facil]
      100         0.5             5
      200         0.5            10
      300         0.5            15
      100         1              10
      200         1              20
      300         1              30
      400         1              40
     1000         1             100

Rocket Defense with 45 facilities is 22 minutes. The odd duck is robot follower count..which is 6-18 at 18900 units…with 22.5 facilities (all a 5/6/12 facility can handle @ 0.5 min units) is about 7.2 hours. So what does this "really mean". The answer is three fold

1) how long do you want rocket defense to take
2) how long much R&D do you plan on doing (the whole thing...or just to rocket defense)
3) How long do yo plan on playing any specific map

What I do know is that 5 red assemblers will produce 10,000 red potions in 3.7 hours. Therefore, in theory you could do all the research (excluding robot follow count 6-18) in 3.7 hours! If just the min for rocket defense...you are looking a couple of hours! Therefore while 5/6/12 is "ideal" I think for anything other than "super end game" it is overkill beyond belief. I will be adding at least 3 more parts to this

1) Evaluation of the LUA files to get more exact numbers (e.g. how long would 3/3/6 and 2/2/4 factories take to "complete" a normal game
is this a way to manage the "I've researched way beyond my expansion state issue? Secondarily...yellow assemblers can "kick this up"
2) Evaluate the ratios of assemblers need to produce 5/6/12
I really want a way to sort of a make a "self contained" science factory with minimal inputs
3) Evaluation of what that means to in terms of "ore" to "plate" in rates
How many miners and furnaces do you need to run @ 5/6/112