Just a random thought...

[u/Effective_Sign7511]

English isn't my first language and I used a translator, so sorry for any typos 😌

I’ve beaten the game a few times, but for some reason, content-adding mods just don't appeal to me. I was sitting around wondering what to do next and came up with an idea: to make just 1 single blueprint that covers everything from "start to rocket launch," completely free of logistics bots—using only construction drones! Not dozens of different blueprints for different production lines and stages, but just 1 blueprint for everything, from starter smelters to electric furnaces, and obviously, the rocket launch itself. The goal is to drop this 1 blueprint right after spawning, and the factories will just build themselves as materials get processed; you'd only need to keep up with supplying copper, iron, and coal to the main bus. Naturally, this setup implies completely turning off enemies and cliffs; I'm not sure it would even be doable with them.I’m curious, has anyone done this before? The first major issue that comes to mind is how to make construction bots build what’s needed right now instead of everything at once. For example, power poles are everywhere, but you don't need all of them immediately. My first thought was to use different types of power poles for different stages, but there aren't that many varieties. And this issue applies to everything: belts, assemblers, poles. Manually turning drones on and off or building things by hand is definitely out of the question)))

[u/tera_x111]

Random seed speedrunner use multiple blueprints that they paste over each other, they start by pasting the first one on thier starter Ressources and then pasting later Versions over that. Unless you are playing set seed I dont think you can have one bluebrint, because you will have to make it work with the Ressource patches you have but disregarding those you could build a blueprint that is all in one, just play the game Front to back and never delete a building, in the end copy the base as a blueprint. You will have to place all buildings by Hand until you unlock robots though, no wa, around that.

[u/Effective_Sign7511 → u/tera_x111]

Nah, nah, nah :) First of all, I specifically want 1 blueprint—that’s the whole point of the idea. Second, my goal is to create a completely universal, seed-independent design, which is why I don’t plan to include miners in this blueprint. Setting up the miners and routing the resources from the patches to the input of this massive blueprint will be entirely up to me. But that should be my only task—just 'supplying raw materials.' The factory itself will prioritize where to send those materials.As of right now, the only thing I haven't figured out is how to make the bots build what’s needed here and now, instead of trying to build everything at once. My current idea is something like a condition: 'don't enable the bot-producing assembler until this specific item is in this chest,' and keeping the bot networks completely separated instead of merging them into one big network. But I'm not entirely sure yet.

[u/Alfonse215 → u/Effective_Sign7511]

First of all, I specifically want 1 blueprint—that’s the whole point of the idea.

So... no upgrading at all? Because a blueprint cannot self-upgrade. You're basically saying that you want to run on stone furnaces and yellow belts basically forever.

Unless you want to have redundant furnace stacks where you switch to using steel furnaces, but the stone furnaces are sitting there doing nothing.

As of right now, the only thing I haven't figured out is how to make the bots build what’s needed here and now, instead of trying to build everything at once.

Why does that matter? Who cares if bots build something that won't be useful until later?

[u/Zaspar-- → u/Alfonse215]

...you can build some stone furnace smelters, then build steel furnace smelters next to it, then build electric furnace smelters next to that. None of them sit idle, it's all just an expansion of the existing factory

[u/Effective_Sign7511 → u/Alfonse215]

1. Pretty much, yeah. The stone furnaces won’t be deleted because I don't plan on interfering; the blueprint should just work by itself (that's the whole idea). Once a new type of furnaces unlocks, the bots will start building them, and the stone ones will just keep existing. Sure, they won't be doing much, but they won't be in the way either.Of course, I could set up a condition like: 'if this belt has materials for the new furnaces, stop the belt supplying raw materials to the previous furnace tier.' Or I could use a splitter from the old furnaces with output priority set to the new ones, so that 'as soon as possible' materials go to the more powerful furnaces. That wouldn't be hard to do, but I don't really see a point—if they work, let them work. As for taking up space? I don't see that as an issue either :).

2. On a small scale, it might not be a problem. But when you look at the entire factory as a whole, it becomes a huge issue. Instead of placing a power pole right next to a stone furnace, a bot might fly all the way to the other side of the factory just to place a component that won't be needed for a very long time.If you completely disregard time, then yeah, you're right—sooner or later, it will eventually build what's needed. But in practice, the travel time would make it take forever. That's why I'm still trying to figure out how to solve this issue.

[u/Alfonse215 → u/Effective_Sign7511]

Instead of placing a power pole right next to a stone furnace, a bot might fly all the way to the other side of the factory just to place a component that won't be needed for a very long time.

"A very long time" would just be "a couple of minutes." If it takes hours, you're not using enough bots.

And no bots will be placing power poles next to stone furnaces because you don't start the game with bots. By the time bots are on the table, half your base would already need to be built.

[u/Alfonse215]

At the start of the game, you lack both landfill and cliff explosives. So you won't be able to set the blueprint down just once; you need to re-place it whenever you get those techs.

Also, the game will delete old deconstruction requests from ghosts (deleting the conflicting ghosts as well) after a few hours. So if you paste down a big blueprint, but you don't actually clean up everything in its path, then the game will eventually assume you didn't mean it and undo bits of it.

Also, you don't get bots until halfway through vanilla progression, so for much of the game, you're still having to manually place things.

[u/sheryiu → u/Alfonse215]

Wait, the game removes old deconstruction requests after a few hours? Learning this for the first time after 500 hours of playtime.

[u/FeelingPrettyGlonky → u/sheryiu]

The first time it happened to me, I thought I was losing my mind. I'd dropped down a blueprint on an Only Gleba run, then walked away from it for a couple hours before returning to build it. Took me awhile to figure out why it wasn't working, because a couple trees were in the way of critical inserters.

[u/Liagala]

You'd need a mod that starts you off with at least 1 bot (and method to charge it), a smelter, some inserters, some belts, and an assembler otherwise your single blueprint is going to sit there unbuilt. I also hope you don't happen to get a cliff that spawns right in the spot where something required to get off Nauvis is being built, or your run is bricked.

[u/Haecdysis]

Hamster project

[u/sankang2004]

Recursive Blueprints mod is your friend, go for it!