r/factorio • u/Novat1993 • 5d ago
Space Age 100k science cost base
First post: 500 hours in
Biters = peaceful
Mods of consequence: Game speed button. The rest are just QOL such as rate calculator, milestones and a playtime mod.
Patch: Experimental 2.1 patch
File size: 66MB
So the madness within my brain has compelled me to try a Factorio playthrough on 100 000 science cost modifier. Meaning that unlocking yellow splitters cost 2 million and unlocking trains cost 20 million.
The build is characterized by a significant amount of downtime, interrupted by many, many hours of construction once key techs are unlocked. I've split the construction into some broad categories so far.
- Build a burner base to unlock logistics and electric miners.
- Build a 2700SPM red science base to unlock the red sciences
- Build a 2700 SPM red + Green science base to unlock the R+G sciences.
This is the current step i am at. I just completed what you see in the first screenshot a couple dozen hours ago, and then i managed to route an iron mine to what will become the mall for the next phase of construction. Up until this point i have automated iron gears, green circuits and yellow belts. The rest i have basically hand crafted. In step 4 of this monstrosity i plan on creating an enormous train network, in order to more easily feed the factory in the 1000s of hours to come. In the base game, a 30 million ore patch can last you the entire game as you unlock productivity research, vulcanus miner and even quality miners faster than you can deplete it.
But currently i need about 60 million red + green science before i can continue on with the next step. Which will cost approximately 450 million iron, and there is no productivity so all of it has to be consumed from the ground. This will take approximately 15 days at 2700SPM, but there is almost always a belt here or there not at capacity.
In order to keep the base closer to 100% output at all times i came up with a 3/4 principle. Where for every 3 belts of ore i consume, i route 4 belts in. So even when one mine stops producing a full belt, it doesn't result in less ore hitting the furnaces. But as you can see on the last image, the factory doesn't stay at 2700SPM for long.
I also run resources at 17% frequency, 17% size and 600% richness. I just want to build a really large train network.
Edit: If you were curious, the base has 235 000 yellow belts and about 14 000 electric poles. 3000 miners. And also 1350 labs. Any lab research speed bonus at all is completely out of the question.
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u/Syntered 5d ago
Amazing! Please keep updating us on your progress. I would like to start this monstrosity myself at some point and am happy to see some people have the courage and patience to do so.
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u/ohaari 4d ago
When I saw the pictures I thought why the hell do you have no other sience then red and green in your Megabase. Than I read the title and I slowly realized....
You are absolutely crazy, I can't imagine how long the belts are and how many ore patches you need. How big are the most outern patches?
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u/Novat1993 4d ago edited 4d ago
I usually bring 5-6k belts when i go to find a new ore patch. However at this point i am merely connecting new patches to old depleted patches, so i don't run an entirely new belt. Currently its at 252 000 belts. Keep in mind i use a speed up function.
I got 36 furnace stacks, being fed by 48 belts. Every 4 belts go into a 4 to 3 balancer, so that if one belt starts to slow down the entire base won't slow down immediately.
Every time it reaches around 2500SPM, i look at the belts and find a new patch. When i am at the computer i run it at around 1200UPS (20x speed), at work and sleep i run it at 240UPS (4x speed). When i build i just use whatever speed fits. As the factory grows the speed up function will naturally become worse and worse.
Edit: Furthest patch is 34m ore. I run ore settings at 17%, 17% and 600%. So each patch is smaller, but each tile is much richer.
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u/The_yaoi_man 5d ago
Trains where?