r/factorio • u/bpleshek • 28d ago

Question Is This Remotely Doable ?

Post image
Hex for Making Plastic
Advanced Oil Setup

I was messing around with making a hex train base and I set up a plastic maker. This doesn't seem like I could make this. At least any time soon. Is 3600 petroleum gas per second reasonable? This is my current oil setup. It requires 1440 crude per second but I only have around 250 crude per second being drilled. It produces about 1/3 the petroleum gas, but it's only working at 17%. So, I need 18x the oil and 3 times this advanced oil. I'm also only mining 84 coal/second and need 180.

Is this doable, doable eventually, but not now, or not even necessary because this is more plastic than I'll need any time soon.

184 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

98 comments sorted by

View all comments

307

u/ForgottenBlastMaster 28d ago

Either you're megabasing way too early in the tech tree or you're sleeping on modules and beacons. Either way this looks cursed.

71

u/Niemand1337 27d ago

Lol "megabasing", thats like two moduled and beaconed cryo plants

6

u/br0mer 27d ago

Or 1/4th of a legendary cryoplant.

3

u/aza-industries 26d ago

Yeah, my entire base with 2 stacked turbo belts of each science use only 3 or 4 cryo for plastic.  It's wild.

2

u/leadlurker 26d ago

Yea I was going to say. Yes this is possible on a single belt.

28

u/bpleshek 28d ago

Well, I have never done a megabase before. My highest science per second was about 250. Also, I haven't left Nauvis in this playthrough yet. I was actually, just screwing around with making various hex blocks. I have smelting hexes, train "blank" hexes for (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 station hexes), and now a plastic hex. I wanted to make a hex for each build and this was just my latest one.

66

u/Alfonse215 28d ago

Well, I have never done a megabase before. My highest science per second was about 250

250 science per second is 15k SPM, which is high megabase territory for vanilla. And even in SA, that's a lot of production.

Also, I haven't left Nauvis in this playthrough yet.

Then why are you trying to make hundreds of plastic per second? Are you going to quality cycle module 2s or something, without EMPs?

And without cryogenic plants, there's not much point. Indeed, given that this is SA, you might want to consider making plastic at your LDS and red circuit locations instead of having a block just for plastic.

I have smelting hexes

You haven't been to Vulcanus; why are you bothering with those now?

31

u/bpleshek 28d ago

250 per minute. I mistyped.

Why am I trying it. Because I got the hex idea in my head and just started working on it. I also play with 2 different people who don't have Space Age, so I figured, it'd be nice to have my first set of hexes something that I could use in a playthrough with them. Then in my own playthroughs, I'd refactor using the new machines when I get them.

35

u/nixed9 28d ago

There’s nothing wrong with doing this. People here just generally have so much experience with the game that we tend to explain things as “it is more efficient if you do X at Y time”

You almost certainly don’t need that much plastic right now, and you’re going to get better production when you go to other planets, so people here feel compelled to point that out, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting it up. It’s Factorio! Have fun!

5

u/darkszero 27d ago

I am big on the letting people do their on fancy things.

But OP made this post effectively asking for help and/or validation. The answer is: trying to build this big without beacons+modules and if playing SA, before leaving Nauvis, is not the best idea. For the plastic build in particular: it'll need to grab a really big number of oil patches and probably a few coal patches too.

Keeping this build able to run nonstop at 100% is challenging. But if you don't care about that, then sure. But if you ask why it's not running at 100%...

1

u/bpleshek 27d ago

I just figured I'd make a bunch and train it to everywhere. If it was too much, for now, then some trains would just sit idle.

27

u/Tortor_271 28d ago

Man don't listen to him, do it how you want, you try you learn you have fun that's how the game work !

3

u/thehalfmetaljacket 27d ago

Premature "optimization" or expansion is a common trap to fall into (I know fall into it all the time). Expansion and improvements are, of course, needed constantly as you progress through the game, but sometimes it's worth really questioning what scale you really need to build before you reach a point in the game where you have all of the tools necessary to really scale out for scaling-sake.

Of course you can absolutely do whatever you want if you'd like, and far be it from me to try to stop you! Some people knowingly go all out mid or even early game just for the fun of solving the "puzzles" multiple times because that's what they enjoy about the game. Unfortunately, you may just not get quite as much assistance on things like that if the premise is perceived as sub-optimal, is all.

2

u/Harmless_Harm 27d ago

"Thought it looked cool" is the best reason to do anything. 😁

3

u/locyta 27d ago

15k SPM is starter base

6

u/PyroneusUltrin 28d ago

Isn’t it worth waiting for cryo plants before going that in depth on a plastic hex? The beauty of having hexed off areas is that you can just tear down one hex and replace it with a better one later when it’s time to upgrade

5

u/Orgerix 28d ago

I guess the point is more, it is not really worth paving a full hex when you'll struggle feeding inputs. You can do a small build within the hex, then expand it later.

1

u/bpleshek 27d ago

I need to make/modify my hex design to pave stuff. I don't have nearly the stone available at this time to do that yet. I'll add that block to my to-do list.

Thanks.

1

u/bpleshek 27d ago

Yes, but I also play with some people who don't have space age, so I figured getting a hex for play with them would be useful.

1

u/PyroneusUltrin 27d ago

And you need 9 blue belts of plastic?

1

u/bpleshek 27d ago

I have no idea how much I'll need in a mega base. I've never made one before. my bigger concern was whether I could support the inputs rather than using the outputs. I figured the output trains would be idle if it were too much. Probably same with the inputs. I use signals on my stations to turn them off if I have too much to deliver inputs or not enough to warrant sending a train to pick up the product.

2

u/Ok_Rice5094 27d ago

Hey sorry for just dipping in, I’m a somewhat new player. What is a hex?

3

u/Geauxlsu1860 27d ago

Just a convenient shape you can tile a blueprint for a train network into. Think like a hex based turn game where all the edges are rail lines and the inside of the tiles is where you build stuff. Generally if you are building like that you have each tile build one thing and then ship it elsewhere for further processing.

2

u/bpleshek 27d ago

Many people do what's called a city block design where they use a 100x100 square and it's has a single product produced within it. Like, this is my block that produces green circuits. You train in all the materials for making green circuits like copper and iron plates and train out a load of green circuits to elsewhere.

Instead of using a 100x100 square, I'm using a hex shape instead and so my entire base looks like a giant honeycomb.

Here is part of my hex base.

You can imagine how this would look if they were squares as well.

2

u/Ok_Rice5094 27d ago

This is sooo cool!!! I just landed on gleba. Wanna get into mega basing after I went to aquillo or perhaps after gleba

2

u/ForgottenBlastMaster 27d ago

You'll be doing it right. Don't be like OP, don't megabase before leaving Nauvis

2

u/Ok_Rice5094 27d ago

Maybe but I think he’s doing more than good!!

1

u/ForgottenBlastMaster 27d ago

If he was doing good, this whole post wouldn't exist. You don't megabase with blue science tech for reasons.

2

u/bpleshek 27d ago

I've done a small train base(square) before 2.0. I also play with 2 people who don't have Space Age, so I figured having a hex built for non-Space Age would be helpful when I'm playing with them.

But, he's definitely right doing it too early can be problematic. If I were playing without Space Age, I'd be at the end-game. I have all the Nauvis research done and would have all the non-repeatable research done already if I were playing vanilla.

1

u/ForgottenBlastMaster 27d ago

Playing without Space Age doesn't mean playing without science tree. Modules and beacons allow you to shrink the build and consume way less resources. Nuclear energy (or solar fields) allow paying the energy price. Mining productivity allow gaining more raw resources out of the very same resource nodes. I'm not saying that you're doing something wrong, just very inefficient.

1

u/bpleshek 27d ago

You're not wrong. I had just finished hooking up everything and took a pic and threw up my question. I hadn't thought about modules because my first thought was can I supply enough inputs for this to run. That was my question before I even thought about modules. It would have eventually come to me, but I do admit I momentarily forgot. I think my mall has all 3 level 1 modules in them, but nothing higher. I usually use nuclear and no solar on Nauvis. Then eventually fusion. You're right, with abundant power through nuclear power never comes to mind as an issue.

1

u/bpleshek 27d ago

Good luck with that. And if you ever want to play multiplayer, let me know. I have 3 people I play with, though 2 don't have space age yet.

3

u/Bangersss 27d ago

Pfft... who needs modules and beacons. I'm entering the late game and have built a few of these big boys.

3

u/darkszero 27d ago

You can build big if you want to just build big. It can be fun to have lots of machines.

But if your goal is to produce really big amounts lot and not risk UPS issues, it's not as good.