Satisfactory (Early Access)

[Art Blade]

I was thinking how difficult it actually is to make you guys aware of the scale of that YellFac. Some of the floors are so packed with dozens of machines that a single screenshot cannot capture it.

However, if you look at the lower part of the building (again, the whole thing doesn't even fit in a screenshot unless I'm somewhat far away that you can't see the details any more) you can imagine that each of the lower conveyor belts parallel to the ground, that are those lines from building to containers, represents a full production module the scale of a small factory.

Those containers are full and hold so many materials of the same type that I can easily produce anything without running short of supplies. For instance, one of those container column holds 144,000 rolls of copper wire. The column next to it holds cable, made of copper wire, and is filled to the brim as well. Just like any of the other columns.

Every column holds a different type of material. The only exceptions are steel and iron ingots of which I've got two columns each (because they're needed for a ton of different products) and the other exceptions are those separate tall columns from the oil business, they hold rubber, plastic, residue, and some petrol cakes or whatever they're called (essentially coal) and those columns comprise a lot more than six containers each.

The YellFac truly is "BIG business."

Oh, one thing I just remembered: Binn suggested to put the containers into the building but actually, I like looking at them the way they are. The factory building is mostly for the machines. The good thing about the containers out there: I can just walk past them and restock my inventory with anything I need, like in a super market

YellFac basic production modules
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As to the tailback trick, I found another way of making good use of it. I told you about my massive gunpowder module but not about how I solved one problem that came with it. The problem was that I had conveyors with 240 coal per minute but actually needed 270 coal per minute. At the time I designed the module, I was willing to run a bit short on coal but when I discovered the tailback magic, I had an idea.

The coal power generators consume coal depending on the amount of power needed. As long as everything is switched off, those total 24 generators don't produce much more than 400-500MW. During that time, they consume one lump of coal about every 30 seconds. When they are producing their maximum of 1,800 MW, they go through coal like teenagers through a bag of potato crisps. In order to keep the generators running, I had to dedicate one drill at 240 coal per minute to feed the generators.

Since I usually don't need much power, the coal from one drill creates a significant tailback. So I set it up in a way that the excess coal filled up a column of six containers and I routed the output of the containers to merge with one of my three coal conveyor belts leading to the factory.

Before that, I had four drills digging up 240 coal per minute, each using a Mk3 conveyor belt that can transport up to 270 units per minute. Now the extra coal coming from "idle" coal generators gives me one conveyor belt loaded with 270 coals per minute (at least as long as there is excess coal in that coal container column and there's an awful LOT of coal in them) and that was what I needed.

I've got one funny module for gunpowder that actually needs 270 coal per minute to run at 100%. Rather than overclocking one drill or adding an extra drill, I've now got the extra 30 coal "for free" and that tailback was enough to complete a production cycle (meaning, I filled all six containers with gunpowder) without running short on coal. I had a steady input of 270 coal all the time.

Naturally the tailback of the gunpowder feeds excess coal back into the steel production modules which also require coal. I had split coal off the steel production to be able to produce gunpowder and I made sure that the 270 rather than those 240 coal per minute conveyor was fed into the gunpowder production.

Nothing goes to waste here

[Art Blade]

hmm.. I think I just discovered why, in my earlier factories, the coal generators occasionally gave in. I thought it was water, if you remember? I think it was lack of coal.

When I said in my previous post that they run through coal like teenagers through potato crisps, I remembered reading "1 coal 4 seconds" and that is obviously when they're running at their maximum of 75W each. That's 15 coal per minute, times 12 times 2 (two modules with 12 generators) actually consume 360 coal per minute. My maximum feed has been 240 coal per minute. I need another 120, which is likely solved by stuffing one or two booster shards into that drill. If there are enough free slots for booster shards.. sigh. I'll set that up now so IF I need  max power for some time, then I won't run out of coal for the power generators. And I'll have to feed the tailback containers into the generator loop so the drill isn't going to to cost that much power (overclocking significantly increases power consumption) omg

Silly me.

[Art Blade]

man, fixed that. A third booster into two drills, now both at 300 coal per minute. They already had two boosts and three is the maximum. Now they're really maxed out. And while I was at it I also sorted the older coal generator module and ironed over the the younger one

you can see the coal container column
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[Dweller_Benthos]

Need more power to run more drills to make more power to run more drills .....

[Art Blade]

that's exactly what I don't want to do.

[Art Blade]

Just finished "screwing up."

Man, I've never before seen the stuff I'm doing now, I mean the speed and quantity of stuff I'm producing effortlessly.

Producing screws that flow into the containers at maximum speed I've got access to: conveyor belts Mk4 with 480 units per minute. Those screws appear to be flying by when I'm next to the conveyor 

I remember the time before changing everything to create my YellFac. I am particularly remembering screws. They were needed for several things but at that time I needed them for reinforced iron plates. Those require metal plates and screws. Those plates were one of several ingredients for a high-end product. And I was constantly running short of screws, then iron rods, then metal plates. I dismantled some machines that were "using up" my screws and tried to get a higher output of screws by building my second and third screw-producing machine (now I'm used to production modules with up to 32 machines producing the same items lol) and a second one for metal plates. And one more for iron rods. And I rerouted existing machines, destroying that production line.

So back then, I used to have a few machines (maybe two or three) for some parts and everything was running at the same time. For the new screws, rods, and plates, I needed more iron ingots. So I started to boost (overclock) some drills, some smelters, and for more output, I also boosted those machines. All of that consumed a horrible amount of power so I constantly ran into blown fuses and had to fix that somehow.

Now.. with my YellFac.. I started my screws module producing 480 screws per minute and allowed everything to start filling up resources. So all my modules were on stand-by and kicked in shortly after production started.

Drills digging iron ore, smelters smelting iron ore to iron ingots, machines picked up those ingots to produce iron rods (prerequisite for screws) and finally my screw machines picked up iron rods. I had a short peak of 800MW and it levelled around 600MW. That includes the power module: four boosted coal drills and 24 coal generators and 12 water extractors. It still amazes me that I don't blow the fuses when I switch on such a full production. That's why I keep checking the power consumption, to make sure not to be running close to maximum power capacity. But so far, I've been far from that. I still got 1,800MW max and typically use around 400-600MW. The maximum I've seen so far was just around 1,000 but that was what you'd call, "I wanted to know."

Actually, all my drills are boosted. I may build infinite amounts of machines but I have limited amounts of resource nodes. So I boost the drills to get more resources per minute and I don't boost any machines. I already created all modules in a way that they're either consuming the maximum output of those drills or any other output from other modules, like iron rods or copper ingots and whatnot, or I maxed out the output so that I can just handle that with my current conveyor belts. So I always get a maximum output (up to 480 units per minute with Mk4 conveyors but there will be an Mk5 version at some point) thanks to the exact amount of machines needed for that. I'm now still sitting on 38 booster shards. In my old factory, all of them had been in use.

Well.. when I'm producing stuff, it now looks like water falls on the outside of the building, all those conveyor lifts pulling and pushing stuff from and into containers.

So good

[Dweller_Benthos]

So the resource nodes are infinite? They don't run out after a while? If you keep boosting the mining drills with overclockers, and siphon off the material with fast belts, there's no end to how much you can gather? I suppose on a limited game world they would have to be, it's not like Minecraft or Factorio where you can just explore and enlarge the game world to find more.

[Art Blade]

yeah, unlimited resources coming from a limited amount of nodes.

[LowPolyOWG]

So the resource nodes are infinite? They don't run out after a while? If you keep boosting the mining drills with overclockers, and siphon off the material with fast belts, there's no end to how much you can gather? I suppose on a limited game world they would have to be, it's not like Minecraft or Factorio where you can just explore and enlarge the game world to find more.

The map has a fixed size and locations are always identical. I'm unsure if node spawns are the same. Through gamebreaking womancannons, you can shoot yourself out of the map

Miners come in Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 versions, with the Mk3 being capable of the highest material rate. Purity of the node also determinate output, with pure nodes having the most efficient yield. A Mk3 miner @ 250% clockspeed on a pure node will yield 1200 parts minute. However, Mk5 belts can only do 780 materials/minute so an overclocked Mk3 is kinda a waste.

A third booster into two drills, now both at 300 coal per minute. They already had two boosts and three is the maximum. Now they're really maxed out.

I guess you still use "normal" nodes for your coal and a Mk1 drill?

[BinnZ]

Hey Art, I'm actually looking forward to a video right now... WITH voiceover, if that's not too much to ask 

[LowPolyOWG]

 
Multiplayer isn't that polished. I guess 0.4 will be a mega update, ocne ready

[Art Blade]

I'm using four "normal" coal nodes with Mk2 drills. They drill 120, 180, 240 and 300 with 0-3 boosters. I don't have access to Mk3 drills yet.

I've marked a pure node the same distance from the YellFac but a different direction and I don't need it.

I mean, come on, I'd have to drill up the stuff on the other end of the map, draw conveyor belts all the way home and stuff it into the building. But why? I can handle everything with my current coal input. Who knows, maybe I'll need it one day, but not now.

***

@Binn, it isn't too much to ask.


But too much for me to do.

[BinnZ]

 

[Art Blade]

Binn, on a more serious note, thanks for your interest in my stuff and I'd like to show you what that YellFac actually looks like However, two things.

1) Voice over is something I really don't want to do because my mic from my headset really won't cut it when it comes to video commentary. You need good gear to produce a good voice in a video and essentially a good voice quality in a video requires a whole lot of things to get that right. All in all, not worth it to me. So I'll stick with no commentary videos. It is also a lot easier for me to produce those.

2) The factory is a constantly changing process. Just right now I finished dismantling and rebuilding two modules (two whole production lines) because I realised that "copper" wasn't benefiting from "tailback" and that means I wanted to get copper to full productivity. Only there were those quartz-related modules using up exactly the space needed for expanding copper. I had no choice but to find room (which I did) and move the whole stuff on a different floor, everything included. Next step will be to expand copper and by that, make the whole floor copper-based. All that being said, I don't think it's a good idea to make a video of this massive construction site with half of the stuff still missing and possible changes of existing stuff ahead. I might show the thing once I've unlocked everything and the factory is actually ready.

For now, I'll keep you guys posted right here, reporting changes and progress.

[Dweller_Benthos]

You need good gear to produce a good voice in a video ...

And, a voice that doesn't sound like a box of gravel being shaken by an angry gorilla!