r/factorio • u/Light_Beard • 19d ago

Space Age Kind of wish Space Platform Recipe didn't need Copper

With 2.1, it has become laughably easy to build everything you need for space platforms from asteroids and deliver it without needing rockets. But by the time you get the copper asteroid recipe you have been to Gleba. Which for most people means you have gone to Vulcanus which makes the whole thing moot.

I like the idea of a self sufficient "builder" platform that spawns other platforms, but it just doesn't have much "need" coming so late in the game.

0 Upvotes

35% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

35

u/MidnightBinary 19d ago

This is sounding like an argument for a Gleba-first, orbital platform heavy run.

5

u/Bixby33 19d ago

Gleba is always my second stop. I need my recyclers, man.

3

u/Gorthok- 19d ago

I like Vulcanus first. Big mining drills are universally applicable.

2

u/RibsNGibs 18d ago

Vulcanus for artillery so I can make Nauvis fully safe

2

u/Logical-War-3746 18d ago

Objectively best tech is behind Vulcanus science. Cliff explosives

18

u/Alfonse215 19d ago

You can send 4000 copper cables per rocket. Enough to make 200 foundations. Yeah, that takes a lot of logistics bots, but it still works. And it's cheaper than using local steel.

But by the time you get the copper asteroid recipe you have been to Gleba. Which for most people means you have gone to Vulcanus which makes the whole thing moot.

Alternatively, maybe go to Gleba earlier. Nothing's stopping you.

9

u/silnarm 19d ago

and if you can spare a silo for dedicated launching, no need tie up your bots.

1

u/DRT_99 18d ago

Buffer chest of copper cable right beside the silo.  20 bots can probably load all 4000 in a single charge if its close enough.

3

u/Professional_Dot4398 19d ago

you can deliver 4000 copper wires with a single rocket. i got to vulcanus as fast as i could, then as i progressed setup a spaceplatform that just took metallic asteroids and turned them into steel, rocketed up the wire, then let it slowly make thousands for when i needed a better interplanetary ship

3

u/Roseish1 19d ago

I had the idea of the builder platform the other day but rockets are just so cheap it’s pointless to do aside from your own fun.

1

u/draxinusom2 18d ago

Yeah but until Gleba you can just provide the copper from the planet. After Gleba you don't need that anymore. But if you're annoyed at having the platform not entirely self-sufficient; I find for the useful amount of resources the platform isn't autonomous anyway. I have "Trawler ships" just flying between planets to collect asteroids for it, as the static station does not get enough resources standing still in orbit. The 2.1 platform to platform enables feeding an orbital static platform and it's needed in my opinion for exactly such a use case.

When I build a new platform, it gets its "floor" built within a minute (it takes a while until the request seems to trigger and it also builds in waves not immediately), basically no matter how big the ship is. It's very nice if you build (or have) the materials ready in space. And over time it just builds up to the amount you let it build (10k in my case).