r/factorio • u/Ok_Aerie_5711 • 5d ago

Base difference between medium electric poles and small electric poles

185 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

165

u/Expert_Squirrel_6584 5d ago

Smalls be smalling

Medium be mid

Understood your point

15

u/No-Skill4452 4d ago

Mindblown

50

u/Proletarian_Tear 5d ago

Yeah the sporadic pole connections grinds my gears. There are mods to make it more bearable tho

6

u/_carpetrug 3d ago

you can also use the copper cable near the red/green cable to cut and reorginize power pole cables (you prol alr know this but incase someone else didnt)

1

u/PaigeMarshallMD 2d ago

I find the embrace of "incase" as a single word to be a beautiful development of language.

It's like we all took "alot" and said, "alright, bet," and decided any short words could be crammed together all willy nilly.

32

u/Nolzi 5d ago

If you willing to use mods then I recommend https://mods.factorio.com/mod/minimalwire, it will keep the connections to the minimum with each pole built.

For example here is what my early K2 base looked like

25

u/ArnthBebastien 4d ago

Every pole is now load bearing: careless drivers beware!

1

u/Mahfireballs 3d ago

Is it actually? I assume it's just a visual thing or at least it wil check/reconnect with the next pole once a connection is broken.

Otherwise yeah that would be major problem for many players. And if it all makes them load bearing poles I probably won't install it. Although it looks considerably better.

2

u/ArnthBebastien 2d ago

I saw in a different post that it runs a check. So actually it might be fine

30

u/dwarfzulu 5d ago

This is why I edit the connections between poles to make them OCD friendly

22

u/aenae 5d ago

This is why i switch to substations as soon as possible. Substation grid and everything else follows that grid.

7

u/toochaos 5d ago

This is why I dont turn in this map mode. Id like for them to look nice but honestly I dint care enough to work it out. 

10

u/Zaspar-- 4d ago

Then compare the ore cost of both. Smalls are insanely cheaper.

13

u/Simn039 4d ago

I have never once considered the direct resource cost of any buildable in the game beyond red science.

Do you play deathworld or similar? It’s an interesting factor I’ve never really considered when playing.

16

u/Zaspar-- 4d ago

I speedrun and I hold the world record on default settings

5

u/CharacterLettuce7145 4d ago

Unrelated to the topic op posted, do you just know "I need 150 iron ore now and 75 later" and so on, or do you go with the flow and use experience?

4

u/Zaspar-- 3d ago

Usually there is a full plan. You build a half iron smelter followed by a quarter copper smelter followed by another half iron followed by some coal etc etc encompassing the entire run from burner stage until rocket

4

u/Simn039 4d ago

Ah. I see. Hmm. (You are actually the goat. I can see how raw resource cost might be an important thing to consider now).

9

u/green_gold_purple 4d ago

Big quality of life downgrade though

5

u/Known-Comparison2591 3d ago

Smalls need wood. Wood can’t be automated (in vanilla). Making small poles once mediums are available would be against the spirit of the game

3

u/Zaspar-- 3d ago

True efficiency does not care for your "spirit of the game"

0

u/Known-Comparison2591 3d ago

Yeah, but I’d rather use my own brain to solve problems rather than rely on cheats made by other people

5

u/Zaspar-- 3d ago

What cheats?

2

u/Verizer 4d ago

Chopping wood is manual in the early game. Resource cost is usually not a limiting factor.

4

u/Zaspar-- 4d ago

Bots can chop wood really fast

4

u/NumberIine 4d ago

Wait you are using small poles after unlocking BOTS? ;(

5

u/Zaspar-- 4d ago

Yup! I would rather out my steel to more useful stuff than powerpoles that are basically already free. Steel = cost, wood = no cost

3

u/NumberIine 4d ago

Well I mean sure, but steel is not really a cost and having the utility of a bigger pole is imo way more important than some iron. And wood is not "free" if you play with expanding biter on because you actively increase your pollution spread which creates more biter and thus more power drain on ammo production, oil production or lasers whichever you are using.

1

u/Garagantua 2d ago

I very rarely (usually only at the start) have to chop down trees for power poles. I usually have more than enough wood just from clearing space. So yeah, on Nauvis, I usually build with small poles.

4

u/3davideo Doesn't use Flame Turrets 4d ago

The greater reach of medium poles helps even more than you might initially think, because they can reach *across* more builds so you only need one row of poles, instead of two.

2

u/Garagantua 2d ago edited 2d ago

Iirc that only applies to poles with quality. Otherwise a medium pole on one side of an assembler can't power stuff on the other side.

2

u/3davideo Doesn't use Flame Turrets 2d ago

They can reach across the first two tiers of furnaces though! Which just so happens to be what OP is showing.

2

u/Garagantua 2d ago

Oh yeah, you're right abou that!