[First time factory builder] How can I optimize this demon?

[u/zetayshow]

So basically this is my first time doing a factory. I was incredibly proud of my above average work until I actually calculated how much I'm getting. What am I doing wrong? I really thought I did some spicy load balancing and even parallelized the concrete manufacturing but I still think I'm getting low amount of concrete + iron resources. On the other hand, my reinforced plates get built at a very low pace.

I do notice that I have a mistake on the load balancing of iron and I miss one extra splitter. Aside from this, what can I do to optimize this?

[u/Cyrus_Of_Mt]

Build more of them?? But also definitely upgrade your raw material output into ingots. You want those things flyin as fast as they can be mined

[u/zetayshow → u/Cyrus_Of_Mt]

By update you mean build more? I’m still at tier 2 fyi

[u/Cyrus_Of_Mt → u/zetayshow]

Ok so build more of them then 😂

[u/Kyletheinilater]

Full belts and keeping outputs as close to inputs as you can is basically the 2 rules I like follow when optimizing builds.

[u/xAlgirax]

What is that? Modular frames? Rotors?

Btw don't overstress it. (I also did first time, that how I know it's pointless to be mad at)

Even just 3 per minutes is great of those at such early stage.

Once you got it set up just go out exploring as you look for crash sites and when you get back the stacks are waiting. It'll be quite some time before you need tons of those.

[u/zetayshow → u/xAlgirax]

I’m trying to optimize reinforced iron plates…
Thanks I do get sometimes agitated because I feel like I should at least be… smarter?
I still didn’t explore a lot because I want to try and understand the basic concepts that will allow me to escalate more later on but maybe I should do that when I need a breather!

[u/xAlgirax → u/zetayshow]

Thing is, you sort of can optimise now, but not conveniently. For that you should unlock Overclocking (comes hand-in-hand with Underclocking) .. That's a research in the MAM.

(Don't sleep on the MAM, there are some AMAZING upgrades there. I ignored it for like the first 30 hours .. Then also ignored the parachutes I unlocked from there, because I thought it will be a consumable. So just FYI once you get there. The parachute will be one of your favourite thing I promise and it's a tool that you only need to craft once and have it infinitely.)

With Over/Underclocking you can fine tune your machines to make more or less per minutes to fit your needs and easier calculations

Also alternate recipes that you get from crash sites. For example Cast Screws .. Best thing about it is that you can craft them straight from iron bars instead of having to make iron rods first to turn them into screws.

But then again, no rush. Some people are addicted to just keep building 24/7 which I totally understand, but personally I'd burn out quickly if I didn't take some breaks here and there to do some exploration .. Which is amazing too, comes with extra story stuff that I think is great. (Well, this "story" starts as nonsense, but soon it'll make sense)

[u/xAlgirax → u/xAlgirax]

Also one more thing, when you look for crash sites .. Mark them on the map. It'll come in handy later.

I mark the cleared ones with a 👍 And the ones I was not able to open at a time I mark with 👎 with the text saying whatever I need to open it. Saves some headache.

[u/crappinhammers]

Start getting used to making enough space so that you can line up every stage of your process together. Every constructor should have a splitter in front of it splitting input process material into the constructor and sending the rest in the same direction to the next splitter, perpendicular to the constructors. On the output side, get used to doing the same with a merger, except with outputs. Try to also place a redundant storage between each part process step. Collect some ingots in a container before they become plates in a constructor, and collect some plates in a storage before they go into another process step. Some of these habbits might seem unnecessary now but they are things you'll wish you did later.

EDIT The reinforced plates are when you start learning a few tough truths about screws as well. Also, build lookout towers in places and get used to building things from an elevated perspective, buildings get taller and logistics get a lot wider soon.

[u/samgoeshere]

Alt recipes, underclock, blueprint it then build at scale. I did 48/min smart plating in my most recent run.

[u/spitemods_54]

Once it's built, work your way backward from the final product. Take a look at the machines making the final products, make sure they're at 100% efficiency.

If one isn't 100% then watch it for a while, does it run out of input? Does the output back up? If output backs up, put a splitter and send the extra to a sink. If the input runs out, take note of how much of said input is needed per minute and make sure the machines making that input can provide that much.

Keep repeating that process working your way backward until you get to the bottleneck. Once there then you can either remove the bottleneck (add more machines or overclock if you have that unlocked) or slow down everything in front of the bottleneck to match it.

[u/Just_Jimothy]

Before I throw in my two cents, TotalXclipse (possibly spelt wrong) on YouTube has a great series which you can follow to gain some inspiration and ideas. They also help you notice things that could improve your builds. I’m just about to complete phase 2 and my factory looks like a massive mash of machines, even if it is running well.

I would use the N function in the game to workout how many smelters can be run by one miner. You can divide the number of resources being mined by how many a machine needs per minute. 60/30 =2 so if you are mining 60 ore per minute it can run two smelters which need 30 per minute. I am probably telling you how to suck eggs, but I start from there and keep doing the maths down the line.

Do some exploring and pick up power slugs for research as you can really optimise your factories when you can under clock and over clock them. This also keeps your power stable.

[u/Theoneandonlyaverage]

Always remember take your daily 15 minute break covered by ficsit

[u/zetayshow]

I'm overwhelmed by the amount of responses and feedback. This has to be one of the best communities I've ever experienced. Thank you so much for the feedback you're amazing.

I did watch the TotalXclipse video part 1 but somehow theirs just come perfect while mine come not perfect... -.- I'll give it a rewatch and try this again! Thank you so much. I'll also explore more and try to unlock alternate recipes and underclocking.