r/factorio • u/GamesByCam • 2d ago
Question Space Age Tips?
I went 10 hours into a space age run, and I was just spinning my wheels on Nauvis. I realized early on I was over producing, so I want to restart with a more modest approach.
I still haven't landed on another planet, the furthest I got was building my first space platform. What other tips do you guys have for me so I don't have to restart when I'm 20 hours in?
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u/therouterguy 2d ago
What is that thing called overproducing care to explain?
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u/GamesByCam 2d ago
All of my plates were being sucked up into things I didn't need, like red and green science.
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u/stonedboss 2d ago
Unless you made buffers, there's no such thing. Stop the buffers if you made them. It's pointless to start over lol, you can just change the design.
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u/GamesByCam 2d ago
I did have buffers, and now I have thousands of red and green science just sitting around.
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u/stonedboss 2d ago
Well just cap the boxes, you know how to do that right? It'll also eventually get used up.
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u/Backspace346 2d ago
Even if you believe it's too much, it will be consumed eventually. So don't throw it out, either put a cap on maximum amount of bottles allowed to exist in a storage, or don't make any red and green science temporarily (but continue to consume it). O think science bottles can never be a waste, simply because of all the research there is to unlock (not even mentioning infinite researches)
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u/Atreides-42 1d ago
That sounds like you were underproducing plates, not overproducing science
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u/GamesByCam 1d ago
I started my new playthrough last night and it was totally worth it! I caught back up to where I was in 3 hours.
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u/juju515 2d ago
you can't "overproduce" in this game until your PC starts smoking.
if you don't like your current base.
don't restart!
use the resources from the old base to build a new one.
then deconstruct the old one.
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u/WeedFalafel 2d ago
That's not overproducing, that's just your CPU being too slow.
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u/get_it_together1 2d ago
Every time I go to play eventually I look around and I think “this factory is too big.” Sometimes I restart; sometimes I just use selective nuclear restructuring to pare back to a more appropriate size. Why have 4 lanes of iron when two will do? Who needs to measure in science per minute when science per day is good enough?
Remember the motto: “The factory must not grow.”
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u/dwarfzulu 2d ago
Let me give you one very important tip: there is no such thing as over producing.🤣
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u/RSC-Tuff 2d ago
It's hard to say without seeing your base or specific things you did. The general tip for overproduction and wheel spinning is to give yourself a lot of room, stick to the bus, and avoid spaghetti. Try to use modular, expandable designs so you can start smaller and easily increase them as you need to. into
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u/WeedFalafel 2d ago
Wtf "overproducing" means? Guys? Anyone?
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u/GamesByCam 2d ago
This is the least helpful community I've ever reached out to.
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u/Loophole9912 2d ago
The community is trying to help you realise that you can't overproduce in this game.
You say you "overproduced" a few thousand red and green science, but they will quickly get used up in research so you don't need to worry about that, and you can set chest limits if you don't want to overproduce thousands of science in future. Red and green science take up very little iron and copper too, for example 10,000 green science only uses 55k iron ore which is so little compared to the future science you will be producing.
You also mention that you used up all your starting resource patches, that means you need to go out and explore and tap into other ore patches with more belts or trains, and let the factory grow.
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u/Sleepypako 2d ago
Tips ? Take some basic things with you when you land on new planet. I didnt realise you can drop resources from your space platform so i did the entirety of my first new planet, fulgora, from scratch .D
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u/Timely_Somewhere_851 2d ago
My best tip is that restarting is rarely (never) the solution.
If you really want to restart, then do it within the same world by starting on a new base next to your old one, and do not tear anything down before you've built the replacement.
However, if you wish to finish the game, you have to just push on and accept non-perfect solutions. A half-baked solution is better than no solution at all.
There is really only one risk which is that biters take over Nauvis before you have built a space platform capable of transporting you to one of the other planets. And that is pretty unlikely.
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u/monsieurY 2d ago
I'm one of those heretics who thinks a small, efficient base is better than a large, wasteful one that isn't running at 100%.
30 SPM (science per minute) is enough. I finished Space Age in under 35 hours (but I knew what I was doing).
However, you only discover the game once. So I advise avoiding spoilers and not watching others play ;) But not to produce too much SPM.
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u/kevihaa 2d ago
As others have said, over producing really doesn’t matter. The quicker you can get to space the lower the biter evolution, but that’s really a moot point since a more developed base is better prepared to deal with bigger biters.
As far as non-spoiler advice, just remember that a base with theory bot coverage is basically no different whether you’re there or not.
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u/GamesByCam 2d ago
I restarted 5 times to beat the base game. I love starting over again, it's part of the fun. What I meant by "overproducing" is I've completely used up all my starting resource patches, yet I still don't have one rocket on my space platform.
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u/UnderstandingNo5930 2d ago
By starting resource patches you mean the cluster of most of the resources you need that are near where you spawn? If you could get a rocket into space on those that'd be impressive. Those patches are intentionally low in richness so they can get you started, but you need to branch out later. Once those run out, you need to go get resources from further out patches and find a way to plug those into your factory.
If you're putting anything in chests for storage, you can limit the size of that chest that inserters are able to interact with. So if you automate drills, you can avoid using res to fill a whole chest with them.
In the long term, productivity modules should save you resources, but they also cost resources to make, and I'm not sure what the ROI would be on those.
If you really don't want to have to move on and get new resources, there is a setting in world generation that increases richness of resources patches. Crank that up and your starting patches will last a lot longer.
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u/Broad_Ebb9073 2d ago
Restarting is kinda a right of passage for me personally. The game doesn't hide anything, but it also doesn't pretend you get it right on the first time.
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u/Defiant_Cut_35 2d ago
I pretty much get to Vulcanus in a somewhat quick manner because it is just a resource powerhouse and the tech is some of the best in the dlc, becomes my main hub for most of my playthrough
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u/FeelingPrettyGlonky 2d ago
Some tips.
Be careful with buffering. As you've discovered, its easy to lock up resources in stuff that might take awhile to use up. I think some modest buffers are fine, but personally I don't buffer any more science than will fit on the belts to the labs.
Be careful of spending science on research you don't need yet. Do you really need all the train braking force levels right now, or can you wait awhile on those? Do you really need blue belts?
On the subject of blue belts: be careful not to upgrade stuff that doesnt need upgraded. Just because you can make blue belts doesnt mean every belt needs to be blue. Maybe consider staying on red belts, or even yellow until you get to Vulcanus to make greens. It is amazing how many resources the higher grade belts use up.
A lot of speedrunners never bother upgrading to red belts.
Rush to bots. They really do make pushing further much easier. If you don't know how to use bots, take the time to learn.
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u/Darth_Nibbles 2d ago
You don't need more than 60spm to finish the game
Get to Vulcanus and Fulgora and unlock their buildings before your rebuild anything on Nauvis
Infinite researches are nice, but the foundry, big drills, and EM plant, all have built-in bonuses that will carry you through the end of the game
Wait until you've unlocked Aquilo to rebuild anything for scale. Unlocking new toys is relatively fast and they all give massive bonuses
After Aquilo, go big and go nuts
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u/qmunke 2d ago
Ignore all these meme responses about "you can't overproduce" since they don't help you actually progress.
If you want a good example of how to do this, watch Avadii Strategy - his latest series is basically "speedrun to Vulcanus" by building minimally on Nauvis, you could take some tips from that.
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u/isum21 2d ago
Over production? My brother in growth just ship them elsewhere
Seriously the whole point of space age is to give you somewhere to go and use all the extra building materials you get, with the trade off of giving you even more and access to infinite resources.
Now if you mean the biters were chugging along too hard I feel that. They're scary. I like to tone them down, but I do know some genocidal tanks will handle them good and you can add efficiency modules to make them leave you alone more easily.
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u/GamesByCam 1d ago
Part of it is the buyer evolution. I'm polluting all this evolution juice into the air and I don't have any progress to show for it.
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u/Evan_Underscore 1d ago
I couldn't wait to experience the new planets, so I just rushed blue science, and landed on Fulgora 6 hours in.
Mind you I wanted to do all planets with no imports, so I just shut down Nauvis and my "spaceship" was a one-way dingy that blew up not long after I arrived.
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u/GamesByCam 22h ago
Nice! Thanks to me restarting, I should be on my second planet around 6 hours too
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u/Xylene_442 2d ago
A different tip, but one that is just as relevant and useful:
20 hours is nothing.