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Arcturas posted:I honestly haven't bothered with T3 assemblers. I probably ought to, to cut down the size of my green engine factories, but it doesn't seem that worthwhile for the higher tier stuff where I'm really more limited by inputs than building space, so I can just slap down a few more T2 assemblers instead. Yeah, T3 assemblers seem largely not worth it unless space is a premium. It's more than 2x the power drain for only 1.5x speed, plus a much more intensive resource cost. But the real downside is that it complicates ratios. The x1 speed of the T2 is nice since it's easy to match up number of machines to required inputs/desired outputs. And with good planning, you can expand a factory pretty easily in space. And T1 assemblers remain fine for anything that is just building a stockpile (like your mall for assemblers/belts/sorters etc.), since manufacturing speed and ratios aren't very important there. Gully Foyle fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 18:56
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Gully Foyle posted:And T1 assemblers remain fine for anything that is just building a stockpile (like your mall for assemblers/belts/sorters etc.), since manufacturing speed and ratios aren't very important there. Generally I agree, but sometimes I run out of belts or sorters when I'm doing big construction projects. I imagine that copy/paste mod will make this worse. Actually, maybe I'll just throw T3 belts, T3 sorters, splitters, smelters, mines, and T2 assemblers into an interstellar logistics tower so I can request them from anywhere in the universe and leave random stockpiles of a few hundred everywhere wasting space because the logi tower slider is annoying.
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Feb 16, 2021 19:10
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Arcturas posted:Generally I agree, but sometimes I run out of belts or sorters when I'm doing big construction projects. I imagine that copy/paste mod will make this worse. You could also just clear the logi tower and dismantle it once the vessels make their supply drops if you expect to be done building on that planet for a while.
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Feb 16, 2021 19:13
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so what is a good focus after figuring out red cubes? I travelled to a nearby planet that had silicon and smelt it (first offplanet factory yaaay) then set up a green turbine plant at home I suppose logistics is the way to go?
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Feb 16, 2021 19:35
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dead gay comedy forums posted:so what is a good focus after figuring out red cubes? I travelled to a nearby planet that had silicon and smelt it (first offplanet factory yaaay) then set up a green turbine plant at home yellow cubes then logistics
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Feb 16, 2021 19:36
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Are the starting systems generally similar? My starting world is a regular Earth-like one with Crude Oil and plenty of the regular resources (iron, copper, stone, coal). It's actually a moon around a gas giant planet. The other non-starting planets in the system: - Gas giant with Hydrogen and Fire Ice - Lava planet with some Titanium and a tiny amount of Silicon - Desert planet with some Titanium Overall the system doesn't seem great -- no rare elements other than Fire Ice, and only my starting planet has oil. I just now unlocked purple science and haven't made any yet. Should I look to move to another system as soon as possible? Can logistic vessels go between systems? Other than this thread, I've been avoiding reading anything about this game because I want to discover most of it on my own, but I feel like I'm approaching a crossroads. WhiteHowler fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 19:50
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WhiteHowler posted:Are the starting systems generally similar? Starting systems are generally exactly like you describe, but with a few minor variations. Some folks have Hydrogen and Deuterium in their gas giant instead of Hydrogen and Fire Ice. Sometimes they'll get more Silicon than Titanium on the lava world.
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Feb 16, 2021 19:52
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I really like this, as my first actual factory game, and I went and played Satisfactory instead. Not sure why, DSP is more polished and it's easier for me to plan out placement at a bird's eye view, but I do wish DSP didn't feel like I was constantly fighting the conveyor belt systems... I also don't understand why I have to have a picker and a conveyor belt. If there are 3 inputs, just display them instead of hiding them behind a picker being placed...
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Feb 16, 2021 19:55
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dead gay comedy forums posted:so what is a good focus after figuring out red cubes? I travelled to a nearby planet that had silicon and smelt it (first offplanet factory yaaay) then set up a green turbine plant at home Yellow cubes first. Half of it easy - diamonds are just made from graphite, super easy. The other half requires titanium plates and organic crystals to make. So in addition to the offplanet silicon factory, it's a good idea to do the same with titanium. If you are lucky, it can be the same planet. The organic crystals require a decent amounts of oil - about 5/s for a 1/s yellow cube factory. Try to find a place on your starter planet that has 3-4 crude oil seeps in relative proximity. After yellow cubes, then logistics - first major goal is to try to get that offplanet silicon and titanium back automatically so you don't need to do personal delivery.
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Feb 16, 2021 19:56
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Seems normal for a starting system not to have any rare resources beyond maybe the gas giant. Also T3 assemblers are great, if for no other reason than saving player time to set up a factory. That is the most valuable resource in the game, after all. As for ratios, they tend to be pretty even still, I got everything automated en masse in two giant circles around the equator of two worlds, and just about everything fits into nice even ratios of 10, 15 or 20 factories in a row. Just take the production you'd expect from T2 assemblers and cut the number of assemblers by a third. Or use a calculator Example:  Smelting is less clean but then I got that up by a pole. 
Eschatos fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 20:25
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Arcturas posted:Starting systems are generally exactly like you describe, but with a few minor variations. Some folks have Hydrogen and Deuterium in their gas giant instead of Hydrogen and Fire Ice. Sometimes they'll get more Silicon than Titanium on the lava world. I don't think a lava world is "normal" for starting systems. I wanted to make a bigger plane filter production line and after filtering through stars for like 20 minutes hoping to find one with an ice giant, optical grating crystals, and water (a combo I couldn't find) I settled on one that had the crystals and water, plus mineable fire ice and decided to just hope for the best with the quantity. When I got to the system...  The outermost planet had literally everything I needed right next to each other for an easy production line.  Emphasis on line
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Feb 16, 2021 20:40
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Does the fractionator use power for every hydrogen it attempts to convert or only for those it successfully converts? Based on a 1% conversion chance it looks like it’d use more power than particle colliders per unit of deuterium, unless it only spends power for a successful conversion.
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Feb 16, 2021 20:59
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A GIANT PARSNIP posted:Does the fractionator use power for every hydrogen it attempts to convert or only for those it successfully converts? Based on a 1% conversion chance it looks like it’d use more power than particle colliders per unit of deuterium, unless it only spends power for a successful conversion. The wiki claims fractionators are five times more energy efficient than particle colliders.
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Feb 16, 2021 21:03
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Yeah, fractionator loops are so ridiculously profitable versus particle colliders I can't imagine the devs won't nerf them at some point.
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Feb 16, 2021 21:12
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Fractionators only consume the hydrogen they convert, so it's a straightfoward 1:1 hydrogen:deuterium reaction. If you're running a t3 belt through it, you're getting 0.3 deuterium per second per fractionator, on average. It's very energy-positive, especially if you're cramming that deuterium into fuel cells.
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Feb 16, 2021 21:53
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I wish there was a way for me to tell my towers to only refill a resource when they drop below a threshold so I could more easily manage my fractionator loop without relying on liquid storage tanks
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Feb 16, 2021 21:57
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I have two fractionator loops at each pole connected with overflow splitters for the hydrogen, which are themselves looped in and out of the logi tower. I found that managed to stop logjams until the deuterium itself filled up, at which point who cares if the hydrogen backs up?
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Feb 16, 2021 22:05
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Strawberry Pyramid posted:I have two fractionator loops at each pole connected with overflow splitters for the hydrogen, which are themselves looped in and out of the logi tower. I found that managed to stop logjams until the deuterium itself filled up, at which point who cares if the hydrogen backs up? ok but my solution is way easier. My loop has like 40 fractionators in it and it still backs up eventually
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Feb 16, 2021 22:43
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Note that long fractionator loops are less efficient than groups of shorter ones. This is because every time a fractionator successfully converts a unit of hydrogen into deuterium, that spot is empty to every fractionator down the line until the loop hits the start again. If you've got blue belts (30 units per second) and your first fractionator triggers, every subsequent fractionator will only get 29 units in a second. Your 40th fractionator is only going to be pulling about 0.18 deuterium per second on average if I did the math right. That's only a little more than half the first one in line.
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Feb 16, 2021 22:51
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Can you just make the loop cycle through a tank and have the tank partially full of hydrogen? As long as your belts are crammed full at the start of the loop you should be able to have a T intersection right before the tank that feeds from a logistic tower and the intersection should only let through hydrogen that is replacing hydrogen spent in the last trip through the loop, so you should stay stable at the amount of hydrogen in the tank? Also per the above comment you could put a T intersection before each fractionator?
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Feb 16, 2021 22:53
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Shorter ones clog faster though, I'm not going for hyper efficiency I just want it to always workA GIANT PARSNIP posted:Can you just make the loop cycle through a tank and have the tank partially full of hydrogen? As long as your belts are crammed full at the start of the loop you should be able to have a T intersection right before the tank that feeds from a logistic tower and the intersection should only let through hydrogen that is replacing hydrogen spent in the last trip through the loop, so you should stay stable at the amount of hydrogen in the tank? The tank will eventually fill up, as will all the fractionators, which will completely jam the line.
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Feb 16, 2021 22:54
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Does the game pause in the research menu?
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Feb 16, 2021 22:55
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Mayveena posted:Does the game pause in the research menu? it doesn't you can actually click on what you're currently researching to see how long it's going to take to finish at your current research rate (it'll spike up and down as your research towers empty and fill if you don't have them running at constant capacity)
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Feb 16, 2021 22:56
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I've never had my 8-unit fractionator loop clog unless the deuterium storage tanks are full. Make sure you set the input priority of the splitter so that it prioritizes the loop over wherever you're shipping the external hydrogen in from.
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Feb 16, 2021 22:56
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Zurai posted:I've never had my 8-unit fractionator loop clog unless the deuterium storage tanks are full. Make sure you set the input priority of the splitter so that it prioritizes the loop over wherever you're shipping the external hydrogen in from. as far as I can tell this is what I'm doing too but I guess I'm just dumb which is why my requested solution is still better than whatever it is you all are doing
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Feb 16, 2021 22:58
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So with no circuits how do you guys control outputting oil to cracking? I have a splitter set up on my tank output line but I don't see a way to send refined oil to cracking only if oil is full or backed up. Basically I'm trying to get more than 1 belt of output coming out of my tank and only send extra oil to cracking. In factorio is was just a simple circuit on a pump saying only turn on if oil is over X. I was thinking maybe a splitter coming out of an unused port that feeds back into the tank and only outputs extra, but tanks don't evenly output from ports right? It's just random? I tried doing something similar to output to a second tower of tanks when the first is full but it ended up having the reverse effect of filling the second tower and leaving the original empty that's hooked up to my factory proper.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:16
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Yeah, I'm not sure what you mean when you say your fractionator loops are clogging. If they're not moving while there's still room on the deuterium belt, it almost certainly means you're either (a) not running enough fractionators to reliably generate a gap along the line for hydrogen to get pulled into, or (b) not setting up your splitter priority correctly to prioritize the loop's output over outside input. If it's freezing after the deuterium output is full then that's probably fine (though I guess I don't know how well it restarts after deuterium drops again once all the hydrogen is full up, I haven't really had that problem.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:19
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Xinlum posted:So with no circuits how do you guys control outputting oil to cracking? I have a splitter set up on my tank output line but I don't see a way to send refined oil to cracking only if oil is full or backed up. Basically I'm trying to get more than 1 belt of output coming out of my tank and only send extra oil to cracking. In factorio is was just a simple circuit on a pump saying only turn on if oil is over X. Tanks don't have priority (something I hope will change eventually) but splitters do. I think if you just put everything on one belt coming out of the tank and then feed it through a splitter with output priority to whatever non-cracking use you're using it for and put the unprioritized line towards cracking, that should work? Arcturas posted:Yeah, I'm not sure what you mean when you say your fractionator loops are clogging. If they're not moving while there's still room on the deuterium belt, it almost certainly means you're either (a) not running enough fractionators to reliably generate a gap along the line for hydrogen to get pulled into, or (b) not setting up your splitter priority correctly to prioritize the loop's output over outside input. If it's freezing after the deuterium output is full then that's probably fine (though I guess I don't know how well it restarts after deuterium drops again once all the hydrogen is full up, I haven't really had that problem. I had that happen last time I played, it should restart with no issues as soon as a gap opens up in the output.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:20
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Arcturas posted:Yeah, I'm not sure what you mean when you say your fractionator loops are clogging. The belts, fractionators, and logistic towers are completely full of hydrogen so nothing moves.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:22
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IcePhoenix posted:The belts, fractionators, and logistic towers are completely full of hydrogen so nothing moves. If your loop is setup right it should only stall when deuterium backs up. You need to prioritize on splitters so the hydrogen comes from the loop before your outside hydrogen input. I've never had my loops back up due to hydrogen.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:26
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IcePhoenix posted:The belts, fractionators, and logistic towers are completely full of hydrogen so nothing moves. This is why all the loops that I have fractionators sitting on are fed with a T junction only, not a splitter. The input is the "base" of the T, as the game logic dictates that the belt moving straight has priority and will always be moving, as such the input belt will only add until the loop is full. I've only had it clog when the deuterium output is backed up. Once I grabbed some off just to test it they all started running again without issue.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:28
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necrotic posted:If your loop is setup right it should only stall when deuterium backs up. You need to prioritize on splitters so the hydrogen comes from the loop before your outside hydrogen input. I've never had my loops back up due to hydrogen. IcePhoenix posted:as far as I can tell this is what I'm doing too but I guess I'm just dumb
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Feb 16, 2021 23:29
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Xinlum posted:So with no circuits how do you guys control outputting oil to cracking? It sounds like the issue is you don't want the tank oil to go to cracking, right? Something like this, maybe? code:
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Feb 16, 2021 23:31
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IcePhoenix posted:it doesn't Hmmmmmmmmmmm I accidently left the game on all night, it was in the research screen. Should I restart?
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Feb 16, 2021 23:43
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Arcturas posted:It sounds like the issue is you don't want the tank oil to go to cracking, right? Something like this, maybe? Genius! I never thought to put the splitter before the tank!
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Feb 16, 2021 23:46
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Yeah, the only reason you even need the weird setup is you don't want the tank output to go to cracking. It's pretty common to use a pair of splitters and a tank to give yourself some buffer (first splitter outputs to the tank, priority is down the line; second splitter inputs from the tank, input priority is from refineries and not the tank - this way the tank will fill if your output is backed up, and will drain if your supply is less than a full belt). It's also common to use a splitter to direct overflow to cracking/thermal generation (splitter outputting to cracking/thermal, output priority is down to the main bus/line/use). Merging the two just took some finagling. e: I actually think in my example up there you probably could just drop the first main line splitter. Two main line splitters, one with output priority down the main line, the second with input priority from the main line. Your spur line has a splitter with two outputs, one for the tank and one for the cracking, with priority to the tank. The tank's output feeds that main line splitter. code:Arcturas fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 23:48
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DelphiAegis posted:This is why all the loops that I have fractionators sitting on are fed with a T junction only, not a splitter. The input is the "base" of the T, as the game logic dictates that the belt moving straight has priority and will always be moving, as such the input belt will only add until the loop is full. Yeah this is what I was imagining with T junctions so I’m glad to hear it works.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:48
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Mayveena posted:Hmmmmmmmmmmm no you've probably consumed more coal than you needed to for power, if you were using that, but for everything else it will have just filled up whatever it was consuming and then just sat there
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Feb 16, 2021 23:53
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I've probably been way overusing splitters now that I think about it. With no individual lanes on a belt it should be safe to just jam in T junctions as long as I don't go over 30 items a second? I've built my entire titanium planet with every single miner being fed into a series of splitters to condense down for no reason other than I guess pulling evenly from the miners.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:55
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Xinlum posted:I've probably been way overusing splitters now that I think about it. With no individual lanes on a belt it should be safe to just jam in T junctions as long as I don't go over 30 items a second? There's no penalty to using splitters other than a slightly larger footprint and the resources to make them. You can assign explicit priority in and out, so they'll always function the way you want them to.
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Feb 17, 2021 00:01
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