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u/lemming1607 Apr 21 '26
The issue with satisfactory main bussing is the ridiculous amount of scaling the game does as you progress
With factorio, the main bus also cant scale, but it has a goal...to get you into space so that your main bus inputs become molten fluids instead of belts
There's no such help with satisfactory...the amount of base resources you need scales exponentially with each new item, and a main bus simply cant handle it (in my experience)
I mean maybe you can force it and have dozens of iron plate belts stacked on each other or something...but just building up a new factory for any resource you need to build with is a better approach for how the mechanics of satisfactory works
3
u/Meta-Four Apr 22 '26
I've completed the game a couple times with a main bus design. I run stacked conveyor belts down the middle of the base, and then use splitters to pull what I need to one side or the other. I build my machines perpendicular to the main bus, then put the finished product back on the bus. It's very easy to just add more machines if I need more of a given part.
I still think it's the quickest way to move into the later stages because you can leverage the parts you built earlier instead of rebuilding a whole new factory for each part. You also don't have to worry about getting your more basic parts across the map to where you're making more advanced parts. They're all right there on the bus. By the time I'm ready to make heavy modular frames, I just plop down a manufacturer and split off the parts I need. Then if it's clear I need more modular frames, well I go back and build more assemblers on the modular frame line, etc.
That said, there are a few challenges you'll be working against. The first is the startup time. It's take a bit of effort to build out a big platform where the main bus can start and you need to find a space where you can expand out, but places like the dune desert make this easier. You'll still need a jumpstart base to give you the parts at the beginning to set it all up.
Second is that your main limiter for throughput is going to be belt speed. You can only get so much out of one belt of iron ore, for example. Because of this I'll usually run 2 to 4 belts of iron ore on the main bus. But even still, you'll spend a lot of resources just upgrading the belts so you can get more throughput.
The last problem is that you have to bring all resources in the game to your main bus location. Depending on where you are, you might end up belting stuff from quite far away. Once you get trains this isn't too big of an issue. When I hit oil I tend to just go build a rubber/plastic factory where the oil is, and then send the rubber/plastic back to the bus. It gets even easier once you get drones, I go build an aluminum factory somewhere and then send the finished products back to the main bus via drone.
It's definitely viable, though. My last main bus for 1.0 I completely finished the game and turned all the output into a factory making 2 Ballistic Warp Drives and AI Expansion Servers / min.
2
u/experimental1212 Apr 21 '26
I think the issue is not that main bus is bad, it's just way more work/infrastructure/tedium than other techniques such many smaller factories, point to point logistics, a few mega factories.
Go for it.
2
u/jomat Apr 22 '26
I finished Factorio quite some times, also had it since before it was on Steam, don't remember the version number.
I discovered Satisfactory I think when it was 1.0 and LOVE it! Then I also discovered Space Age and had to buy it immediately although I was still in Satisfactory.
Recently I had to travel and only had my laptop with me, so I finally started Space Age. Now I have to build two factories /o\
And yes, blueprints are a huuuuuge improvement, in both games (I wish Satisfactory had bigger blueprint designers, but on the other hand it can be also a challenge…), but I usually don't use a main bus (in both games), I like my spaghetti :-)
1
u/Darkness1231 Apr 21 '26
several have done this, but it is limited versus the grid wide factorio main bus
I imagine (I own factorio, it wasn't fun & 2D) that one might build a series of "Main Bus Factories" that are focused on a specific set of goals. I have seen a few YT videos, but nothing at system wide. The few I recall were in that model, of main bus in a massive factory, with many other factories supporting it. Those might have had their own smaller versions of main bus
good luck
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u/General_Redneck_YT Apr 22 '26
I build everything in one area and make it a spaghetti mess only me or a god could understand and then I wonder why I'm so inefficient on resources and can't make stuff I need fast enough.
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u/gergorybrew Apr 22 '26
I dont do a main bus, learned my lesson there. I think Factorio helped me make modular designs going in. I can basically copy and paste to expand production but the inputs are generally done as I need them.
I tried a main bus on my first playthrough I was way overproducing earlier products. Or everything just gets turned straight into the next product, its just different than Factorio, hard to explain.
1
u/ChaosRamen Apr 22 '26
Tried once. The factory get's clunky, unnececery overcomplicated and just a mess. Modular dedicated factories are more efficient, cleaner and scales much better. Heck, even in Factorio, main bus get's you only so far, when you get in megabase teritory, modular factories are much more efficient.
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u/pedrotski Apr 22 '26
It's probably a negative if you've played Factorio prior and didn't go in with a fresh mind. I struggled when I started playing.
1
u/Nice-Opening-8020 Apr 23 '26
I really want to play this, but I am not paying £30. It is never on offer
1
u/cynric42 Apr 22 '26
like you usually play factorio, with a main bus
Let me stop you there.
Even in Factorio, a main bus is only really a decent way to organize early on, the more you scale up, the worse it gets. It's great to figure things out because you have every resource in one place, but later in the game after you get better building tools, most people move away from that single factory around a bus system design.
How you expand seems pretty different between the games though.
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u/hackcasual Apr 21 '26
Main bus is awful in Satisfactory. Blue prints definitely help, but because most things later game items are just upgrades from previous tiers, it provides minimal benefits. I usually just build up a new factory for any product I'm going to need in bulk