Satisfactory (Early Access)

[Art Blade]

hehe And yes, it is way more fulfilling and satisfying than anything I played in the past decade or more. And a lot of fun, too

controlled container madness
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[Dweller_Benthos]

Final review:

"Nice factory. Needs more containers though"

[Art Blade]

you may have nailed it.

[Art Blade]

OK, big update.

First I want you to recall this:

And this is what I had been working on for the last couple of days: I rerouted all conveyor belts from all nodes that I'm using from all across the map. Only the quartz and oil nodes are coming from the far right of the pic so you can't see those. Now I've got all the stuff coming in from one side towards the factory.

Conveyor Main Stream
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reading the above I want to add that copper is literally an in-house source so that's not in the main stream and I rerouted caterium ore. The conveyors coming from the caterium node were just so close to the copper smelters that I set up caterium smelters next to the copper smelters and routed the caterium ore straight into that room rather than deviating it almost full circle around the compound. That reduced the amount of conveyors of the main stream by just one. Which turns out to be perfect because.. you'll see in the pics that the space available on the main stream was just enough to fan out all the remaining conveyor belts.

Which is why, just like magic, it now all falls into place.

Main Stream magic
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[Dweller_Benthos]

It's nice when something lines up like that, those belts going from the stacked configuration to flat is very satisfying.

[LowPolyOWG]

"Nice factory. Needs more containers though"

Once he gets to nuclear tier, yes

[Art Blade]

I wonder whether I'm actually going to need nuclear power. So far, I've been doing all my stuff at the YellFac within some 400-700 MW. That is less than those 900 provided by one of my two coal generator modules with 12 coal generators per module. I've got a lot of buffer considering my 1,800MW power production vs like 500-600 average consumption. The trick is using my modular setup efficiently.

Here's how it's going along: All the iron ore and coal for steel production, sulphur for gunpowder, limestone for concrete. Took some time to set up all of that And of course I had to rearrange the containers once more, mostly to arrange them in some kind of logical order like copper ingots next to copper wire next to copper sheets. So I don't have to run around guessing every time where to find corresponding stuff.

Main Stream magic
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And something new.

Today I had an epiphany how to solve a problem that had always bothered me. And it works

The problem is as follows: Take any resource, it could be ore or a higher level product, but it has to be something that is required by more than one production process.

You'd usually run a conveyor belt (or a pipeline, depending on what it is, but let's stick to conveyor belts) from that resource/product to the machines that need it. Like, feed coal to the coal generator. It means that you cannot use that resource for anything else any more because it is bound to a production process.

So you'd have to find a new coal node and drill up coal for a new conveyor belt to the next production line that also needs coal. The coal generators are kind of different from other production lines as you keep using the power they produce so that's kind of OK but you do need coal if you want to produce steel. Steel is made of iron ore and coal. I need a lot of steel, so I need a lot of coal, and that's essentially all I need coal for: producing power and producing steel.

Then there happens to be gunpowder which you need for explosives (a weapon) and for rifle ammo. Gunpowder requires sulphur and coal. Only you don't need tons of explosives and ammo. So you'd likely avoid using valuable coal for gunpowder production let alone creating a massive gunpowder production line.

Well.. I set up 18 (!) machines to produce gunpowder. The sulphur can end in that production line, I don't need it for anything else (at least not yet, who knows what might unlock later) but my valuable coal..

gunpowder module (18 machines)
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Remember the "traffic jam" I described earlier? That's essentially a tailback (backlog) and that is actually what I find useful now.

I lead coal to a splitter. One half goes to the gunpowder module and the other half to a steel module. Both modules are switched off, the coal evenly fills up both modules until they're completely full, then the tailback kicks in.

Now the magic:

Once the coal tailback from any one module reaches the splitter, it effectively cancels out the splitting as long as you switch on just one module: the coal flow towards that module will now be 100% as if there wasn't any splitter, and just as if only the active module was connected to that coal conveyor line

So I leave the steel module switched off, but switch on the gunpowder module. Now all the coal flows into the gunpowder production and once the containers are filled to the brim with that gunpowder, the tailback kicks in again. That's when I can say, done, got enough gunpowder, now let's make some steel. With "undivided attention" from the coal stream and all I need to do is to switch on the module. No rebuilding and tearing down or anything, just switching on the steel module I have got more than one steel module, but I got that one as an addition now, thanks to the idea with the tailback. Also, I can now use all the iron ore from the steel production for pure iron products like metal sheets, iron rods and screws, LOTS of resources for that now!

Here is where the sulphur and the coal go into the gunpowder production. The construction that looks strange is a conveyor lift leading upstairs through the ceiling. It will lead 100% of the coal upstairs to the steel production once I've got "enough" gunpowder. The steel production is otherwise "normal."

tailback magic
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All the above allows me to set up any production that requires the same input, I just create a backlog and can continue to use the very same material flow for multiple modules.


I love this game.

[Art Blade]

There are a few questions Binn asked me about the way I play this game that I find worth repeating here (the gist of it) so here a few points.

Q: Why do this on/off thing at all rather than keeping all machines running?

A: 1) I can keep using the same sources for power and raw materials without having to build new power generators and looking for new resource nodes. Essentially I am rerouting power and materials to where they're needed.

2) To keep them all running while adding new machines for new production lines, I'd have to run around the map to find new resource nodes, then create and feed more power generators, create more drills and conveyor belts and pipe lines.. I'd be constantly busy acquiring more power and more resources and building stuff everywhere across the map. I just don't want that. I want to stay in one place, and use the same (re)sources for different purposes. That's why I set up modules.

Q: Why use tailbacks after splitting instead of running all machines with (thanks to splitting) less input?

A: 1) In the end, it's about using one module at full capacity and getting a fast, high quantity output rather than several modules running at under their capacity and getting slow, low quantity outputs.

2) Also, I can set up various production lines that require the same type of input and it literally is the same input now rather than setting up various lines from resource nodes to production lines. And I don't need to "reprogram" the same machines for various outputs or even dismantle and rebuild them. I simply create various production lines and the input will always be the same original source at 100% because switched-off modules won't take away anything from the tailback lines.

Q: why not set up 10 machines..

A: stop. You can only split a stream into 2s and 3s. You cannot get 10 equal parts. Even though 2+2+2+2+2=10 you'd have to start with splitting one stream into 2 or 3, so you'd get like 1/2=2, 2/2=4 then 8, 16, 32 and so on. Or 1/3=3, 9, 27 or combinations like 6 or 8 or 9 or 12 or 18.. you can't "just" set up any number of machines or you'd have some in the production line that are under- or overfed.

[LowPolyOWG]

Nice way to keep ypur production structured

[Art Blade]

cheers, coming from a beginner's chaos, going over two completely dismantled and then "improved" factories, I was fed up with going through that "every time." That's when I took a few steps back and started to build viewing ahead. I had already unlocked virtually everything except the very last tiers in a few MAM projects which were the reason to rethink the whole factory yet again, and, as you told me, the last space elevator load to go to the last tiers of the game. I wanted to take out the speed and rush factor and instead fall back to my favourite "slow and easy" mode which typically involves some thinking. And then I unleashed the building power and created a skeleton of the YellFac, then a body, and now I'm fleshing out the whole thing. It has been a blast so far, everything works as intended and is fun to use. I'm constantly adding new modules these days, and they fill up "their" container column. It may be slow but I like it

[Art Blade]

As to the containers, they're essentially a tailback, too.

At the bottom of each column is the input, on top is the output.

I can use them for machines that suck up the content faster than I could produce it. It's kind of like this:

Imagine a 1,000 litre apple juice barrel. On top, a whole school is sucking away the juice with straws, consuming perhaps 100 litres in 30 minutes. At the bottom the juicer squeezes apples and fills the barrel with perhaps 10 litres per hour. So the kids suck up the stuff a lot faster than the barrel refills but when they're completely stuffed, the barrel won't be empty, and when everyone is busy attending the bathrooms, the squeezer keeps filling up the barrel until the barrel contains 1,000 litres again, then stops juicing.

[Art Blade]

Phew, finally done.. the last "basic" job, smelting iron ore to iron ingots. To speed it up a bit and to use my Main Stream properly, I set up a massive module of 4x8=32 smelters. When that thing kicked in, I hit over 1,000 MW as a peak, and around 800-900 average. It filled up the containers so fast, incredible.

Now it's time to set up higher level productions.

32x iron ingots
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Speaking of containers, I cleaned up that mess, too. The few taller columns contain stuff from my old oil business like plastic and rubber. I'll use that up soon

controlled container madness 2
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[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah having stuff you can turn on and off as needed seems to make much more sense, there's no need to have steel running 24/7 if you're not using it for anything. Watching a few videos, the only thing I can see that needs constant production is if you're feeding something into that sink thing that gives you tokens or whatever they are to buy other stuff. Not sure exactly what all that does. But aside from that, unless you're building a huge amount that needs a billion tons of steel, there's no need to make it.

Now if you could ship your Satisfactory steel over to my Fallout 76 game where I'm constantly in need of it to make ammo, that would be another story. 

[BinnZ]

 

By the way, has that YelFac earned kudos yet? Well, here's one from me. You deserve it, or actually, the YelFac does

[Art Blade]

thanks, Binn

lol D_B, it would be my pleasure to smother you in steel

As to that sink and those coupons, I did that long ago and bought all kinds of stuff like those huge industrial building pillars and staircases and wall-mounted stuff, I don't need anything right now. I could buy statues for up to 150 coupons which would probably take a year of feeding the sink but hey.. I don't have "excess" stuff thanks to the logic behind my YellFac