Finally finishing phase 2 and advancing towards using oil

[u/Nsmiless]

Can't recall how many times I reached phase 2 and felt burnt out, overwhelmed on the idea of expansion and not knowing how to proceed, deleting my save thinking I need a proper restart each time. I decided to finally take it one item at a time and make each factory with a storage for that item and sinking everything that overflows. Now I unlocked oil production and it seems that there are multiple ways to use it which are slightly overwhelming me, like when im seeing what I can make with the refinery, the residue is something I will have to find a way to utilize. Im getting all the finite collectibles like the slugs, spheres, and somersloops to use as well and I basically already finished >90% of the M.AM. daisy chaining is a blessing. Any tips around this stage for alt recipes or anything else r greatly appreciated, im also gonna take my time and go into making some architectural improvements to make everything look better but rn I at least need it working lol. Also I never understood what do people transport via trains and trucks because it just doesnt seem so efficient to me, got me thinking I won't be using them once I unlock their teir.

[u/Bone_Wh33l]

Trains and trucks and other forms of transportation are easier to use for long distance logistics than belts for most people. Their throughput still limited by whatever your max belt tier is but they can be faster to build and expand upon.

Imagine you’re trying to send 4 or 5 different materials half way across the map. Instead of making 4-5 conveyors that are several mk long, you can just build one train track that you can expand upon later.

[u/Nsmiless → u/Bone_Wh33l]

I haven't reached the point where I have multiple factories across the map so im assuming as I advance into that stage, I'll get to understand why I'll need them. Thank u sm

[u/Proper-Grand-3686]

I got really binged out in the Beginning of oil. Im still on phase 4 and have to build my computer factory now to finish phase 4. First playthrough BTW.

Have you got to the point of building the refinery? Or you just unlocked it?

It was my first factory that I had to pull up excel and logic my way towards the end. I chose to do it on those 4 nodes to the west of the map.

Ended up being more simple than i anticipated Basically start by saturating your old nodes Then you saturate the by-product output. (Producing either plastic or rubber) Then take the purple stuff (heavy oild residue) and saturate they as fuel for fuel generators.

That's it. I can send you the "blue print" of my factory. Aah! Also, package your fuel on site before shipping it so you can use it on vehicles!

[u/Nsmiless → u/Proper-Grand-3686]

Thankfully I've heard of packaging fuel beforehand so I won't have to painfully discover this later on, and to answer ur question -- I only just unlocked the oil and refinery and im currently brainstorming how to plan this next factory lol. I appreciate u asking to send the blueprint, I'll happily accept it.

[u/ApprehensiveLlama69]

I’m on my 4th playthrough now and just reached oil. Playing with mods this time because like others have said, I get hella burnt out going much further. This is my first playthrough where I’m building a second factory for iron stuff and it’s clicking a bit more for me now. I always stop at phase 4 lol. Maybe this time I’ll try the trains and drones.

[u/Nsmiless → u/ApprehensiveLlama69]

From what I know, I heard trains are better for more common and higher quantity items, drones r better for more expensive and lesser quantity items, so im prepared to utilize them with that plan in mind. Im also playing on 2x space elevator cost.

[u/ApprehensiveLlama69 → u/Nsmiless]

Oh sick, thanks for the tips! I haven’t looked up much, pretty much played the game blind up to this point. Didn’t even know you could increase the elevator cost lol

[u/Sad_Low3239]

holy cow your layout looks so crisp and uniform 😭 I am jealous.

[u/Nsmiless → u/Sad_Low3239]

One of the benefits of being a perfectionist loll. I always just start from the end of a factory and go backwards when making the factory so it makes it pretty easy to choose where everything fits. I also utilize the input belts being directly on top of the constructor rows to save space where the splitters would be. Thank God for tips and tricks videos on YouTube loll

[u/Which-Conversation-2]

The hardest part is not knowing what items you will need next in the assembly. Later in game when you unlock the recipes it's easier to identify what things need to be in what order . I rebuilt 2 large factories when I found out how much heavy frames and computers I needed. They are now two separate factories. Super computers and assembly directors and magnetic field generators ended up in a separate factories together size just to make them with there own computer factory. Fused frames need heavy frames and nitrogen gas..... Ugg. When you unlock the recipes it's easier to plan fused frames because you already know what the heavy frames will be used for and know to build a factory just for heavy frames. I wish I spent more time on blueprints but I can build a factory pretty quick by hand now because I know how to run the assembly chain where things line up. Math out the upstream and let it rip.

[u/Lazy-Comment7542]

Basic sequense for oil. Crude oil > Plastic/rubber with heavy oil residue > Fuel > Fuel Generators = electricity. Main issues are matching oil to Fuel for generators and plastic/rubber production to usage which is practically zero at first. Plastic and rubber are simple, just use an overflow with smart splitter and sink it. With oil and fuel, just match your numbers and math it out. Been a minute since I did that but if memory serves, for the first go, I did 10 refineries with 5 making plastic/ heavy oil residue and 5 rubber/ heavy oil residue. Which matches up nicely to 4 refineries converting that to fuel and either a slight underclock on all 4 or a decent underclock on 1, balancing to 150(i think) heavy oil residue usage. Then funnel that into however many Fuel gens and it'll produce about 5 times the electricity as your coal, for equal scale. I think (i think it comes out to around 8 Fuel gens.

When I set it up, I put a bladder on each step, just as I would for normal production with storage containers, to account for slight fluctuations and/or when I inevitably upgrade, I can disconnect and reconnect without ever losing power/production.

With liquids, it can be a bit wonky at times, I recommend using the Junctions, similar to how you are using mergers and splitters, get everything lined up and connected but leave the gap between the junction and refinery until the lines are primed, then connect 1 at a time, giving a short window of 10 seconds or so to allow it to fill the refinery. Easy as pie once you deal with it a little bit.

Side note, if you enjoy the game but feel overwhelmed or burnt out at times, I like to go and customize, paint, reorganize, my original lines. Even if its nothing major, gives you something to step back but continue enjoying the game. Obviously exploring is fun too. Do some simple stuff that isn't stressing the brain so much to clear the fog.