Mega Factories vs Modular Factories | Satisfactory

[@TashdacatGaming]

You did forget one con of making a mega factory: The constant desire to tear the entire thing apart and redo it to squeeze out 0.3% more efficency after working out a new method of balancing your belts :P

[@MTREDHEADS]

omg so true. dude I always get caught in the loop of redoing everything because 1 belt gets backed up sometimes.

[@michaelnajmiller8476]

​@MTREDHEADS since yesterday there is a modeler for the game which can help you get it done faster

[@grilledbeargrills3449]

I'd say there is 3 ways to build, the 3rd being the "let's game it out" way

[@SatisfactoryNews]

We don't talk about that one 👀

[@BLAndrew575-]

They mentioned the name O.O

[@Dasbob00]

is there a limit, hold please Josh letsgameitout

[@skilz8098]

How did I know there was going to be a Josh reference...

[@skilz8098]

Nah, that's more like a+bi way to play the game, it's a bit more complex...

[@jasonbourne4105]

My model is mostly based on the modular factories concept. There are three types of sites: - basic production factories: the goal is to build a factory or a local network of factories that produce quite basic items (up to what you called tier 3) in order to have a very limited amount of bells going out. Basically, the idea is that bringing raw materials to a distant site creates logistical issue, and if you can instead transform these raw materials not far from the miners, you'll have a reduced amount of bells or trains travelling across the map. Another thing is that I like to hide those factories inside caves if I can, which gives a particular atmosphere to these production sites. - advanced factories: these big facilities are mostly located on the Northern Sea and the Eastern Sea (for nuclear facilities) and again there isn't a unique building where everything is produced but rather smaller buildings, each one dedicated to a certain type of production (the goal again is to avoid having a megabus with all the items travelling across the whole complex, which is extremely space consuming and creates tough logistical challenges); - the main base: basically, my factories are the muscles, and the main base is the brain, so there is almost no production line in the base, but all the vital infrastructures are gathered there: the central storage, the Palace of Doggos (!the pl!ace wher!e all the Lizzard Doggos live), the powerbank, the central transportation hub, the energetic command center, the administrative building of Ficsit Inc. and so on...

[@Ecalypse]

I like this way of thinking about the game.

[@TalysonMoreira]

I would love to see a save of yours to help me create my modular factory

[@alfos.192]

I heard in a dev log that you shouldn't build in a cave, period.

[@jefferylittleton1005]

@@alfos.192 map development is done, so caves won't change anymore.

[@LordDavyGamer]

I follow a similar architecture design for my factories and I'm very confortable and relaxed with it ❤

[@Warcus861]

Neither me nor my friend whom I play with are house builders, and this is both our first time playing the game. We bring everything into 1 place, and that 1 place is just a massive flat platform built above void. The belts are spaghetti and I couldn't tell you where one goes if you asked me, I would need to follow it. Whenever I have to look for a resource for building I am lost to where to find it, so I fly around until I see it on some belt somewhere and then often take it directly out of the machine its feeding. I am sure I could give perfectionists and people with OCD an heart attack.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

Haha that's basically how my first couple years of playing the game went! Don't feel bad about it!

[@jesuisboogie7945]

man dw the problem is just efficiency not the way it looks. you can be perfectly efficient even if it looks I N T E R E S T I N G.

[@d4s0n282]

@@SatisfactoryNews seeing people play like this is wack, I have legit never been like this, even first time playing satisfactory, I would have kept more or less things sepearted, and have belts go to different areas neatly lol

[@benpottinger4241]

Your first playthrough always looks like that. Once you have things down it will shape up quickly. On your next playthrough enable Alt-recipies from the start and enable /fly or give yourself the hoverpack to start with. Those two things combined (fly/hover + alt recipes) lets you start your base building with vastly better tools for "clean" layouts. Also, make copious use of signs. I like to put signs above belts that enter or exit buildings so I can see at a glance what is supposed to be on the belt. I also put huge signs on the sides of builds with the item being made, its ingredients and how much of each is being consumed (IE: the sign might say "100/pm-computers, 200/pm plastic, 300/pm cpus) (or whatever the ingredients are, its been a year since i played)

[@tdc455]

Megafactory if you are a KZbinr. Modular if you are literally anyone else.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

😂😂😂

[@Conta_Minated]

Option 3: Experimental art installation exploring the true nature of chaos and spaghetti if you're Josh.

[@dylanwatts9344]

I'm a mega baser, but then again I made "endlessly" expandand-able production line in this, factorio, and Dyson Sphere Project... Soooo... Yeah... But I use a lot of modular too. Why wouldn't I use the Iron node next to the coal node to make steel? Save the draw on iron at the mega base.

[@Loot_OW]

My first save with the latest space elevator update was a megafactory. It took up almost the entire desert, from almost at the quarts deposits near the swamp right to the northern coal mines. having everything on a bus is nice

[@Necrotechian]

and if we look at the rules of item transportation in real life its that you should transport only stuff that expands in size after processing and covert stuff that shrinks... so for example: limestone → concrete. the amount is from 45 limestone to 15 concrete so it means if you process all the limestone nodes before transporting it means you need 1/3 the infrastructure for it (amount of trains, drones, trucks or belts) iron ore → iron ingot. the amount is the same so you can just transport the ore... but with the altrenate pure iron ingot the amount increases so you are better off transporting the ore. iron ore + coal → steel ingots. the amounts are 45+45 = 45 so its halves the amount needed to be transported.... so if you need steel you would transport the materials together to half the amount of transportation needed... so with this we could argue that you would make those mini processing factories for specific things like concrete and then transport the shrinked materials along with the expanding resources to your mega factories where you produce stuff like screws and other stuff that expands in numbers so you wont have to make a million belts or have 50 trains transporting the stuff... and it allows you to have enough resources in one spot to actually make a decent production lines for the high tier stuff... obviously you can take this to the point where you can make some high tier parts in a single location since you then only need to make 1 belt to transport everything from there to your main base instead of several.... on a side note im actually contemplating on restarting playing this game when 1.0 comes out and making the opposite of what almost everyone seems to be doing... and what everyone is doing is making clearly noticeable places where the stuff is made... and im going to try to make my bases as invisible as possible... you know like building under stone outcroppings and in ravines, close to walls and near trees and such...

[@valerianus8632]

I use a system of clusters and central storages. First I build an ingot factory. I build it in a way, that I use lanes of conveyor, which are connected to constructor factories. If I need to produce pre-products, I build a separate factory for it and connect it to the next. So my factories are rather small, but form a cluster for specific products. These products are than send to a regional central output storage. The storage is positioned next to a highway. From their, the products are transported to the next cluster of factories and loaded into an input storage, which need the products or are brought to the space lift. So, I have clusters of different factories all over the map, which are interconnected by logistic infrastructure. Conveyors are used for short routes, vehicles for mid routes and trains for long routes. Sometimes I use longer conveyor buses, if the terrain demande it. Because the highway connects all clusters, I can use it to move between factories. Before I build a new cluster of factories, I build a highway there.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

I love this. With a little better planning, this is what I'd love for my main playthrough.

[@galla153xd]

my favorite playstyle is a hybrid between mega/modular. I like building 4-ish different "mega" factories, one for each biome (e.g. for each starting location) and connecting them with a train network. For example i'll have a fuel powerplant/production/storage "mega" base in one biome but then iron/steel/copper/caterium/etc in another and usually the desert is reserved for the "main" base where i setup my hub. The desert factory may not be the biggest one, but thats usually where i setup the hub and space elevator, where my doggos live and where my mall/storage is. This is very nice because theres always trains driving around, making it feel busy. The factory is also split up based on material so if, for example, there is a power problem, well... go to the power factory and the problem usually is there and easy to spot since there are no other materials mixed in, but its also in one place so i dont have to go looking around which modular factory/powerplant is causing problems. Usually it looks like this: Grass fields: Basic material factory (e.g. ingots, (heavy) modular frames, computers, circuits, etc) Dune desert: Main base (e.g. mall/storage room, doggo enclosure, pioneer home + hub, passenger stations, gas mask filter prod., bio mass/fuel prod., etc) Blue crater: petrochemical (plastics, rubber, (small) backup powerplant for coldstarts + storage, liquid biofuel, etc) Rocky desert: Monolithic powerplant (fuel production, power generation, waste disposal, switchboard, power+fuel storage, etc) Sometimes there are remains of the "starter base" like an extra coal powerplant in in the western dune forest, but i usually leave that there since with this hybrid approach i have enough space in other biomes (also my last coal powerplant was a 10GW one so i didnt wanna destroy it as it was designed for reliability and to this day still runs a big chunk of my essential factory buildings as its on a separate power circuit) This hybrid approach brings a lot of logistical challenges and thats what i like. I think i'm not the only one doing this, but i havent really seen anyone else do it (i dont watch a lot of satisfactory content either tho so...)

[@ThePizzabrothersGaming]

Important tips for modular factories that one can learn from factorio: always transport items in their most compact form when possible. if you get more wires out than you put ingots in, you'll have less throughput on your belt or train. So it may be better to transport the ingots and then locally produce the wires.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

Excellent point! However, since Satisfactory has varying stack sizes, you also have to consider that. In the wire example, one ingot makes two wire, so it may seem that it's more compact to transport the ingots. However, ingots have a stake size of 100 while wire has a stack size of 500. One stack of wire is equivalent to 2.5 stacks of ingots, therefore it's more efficient to transport the wire.

[@ThePizzabrothersGaming]

@@SatisfactoryNews same applies in factorio, although there's its more common to have intermediate goods stack better. fair point too

[@TC-cq7oc]

I have a few tips for modular factories (as a modular factory enthusiast): 0. Get very comfortable with rails. Always lay two rails so that you can have trains moving opposite directions. Also, have mental templates (unfortunately, blueprints are too small) for junctions and stations with multiple platforms. Each outpost is probably going to have at least 6 separate train platforms, for all of the different trains which visit it. 1. Build your rails high in the air, so you don't have to deal with terrain. 2. Use trains like private limos, not public transit. Each player on the server should have a private train, which they can hop into and set to autopilot to wherever they want to go. There should be at least one dedicated platform at each facility for player access trains. The cargo wagons on these private trains can be used as an extended inventory of sorts. Don't rely on riding the cargo trains around. 3. Trains can be extended in any direction. If you've finished making something and aren't sure where it's going yet, send it to a train and send it somewhere later. If you need a resource and haven't set up production for it yet, build a platform that takes it in, and fill it later.

[@shadowforgedgamerz520]

Which brings up a good point. I believe there should be 5 sizes of Blueprint Makers: (1) Micro, (2) Standard, (3) Commercial, (4) Industrial, (5) Mega - Industrial. I'd give this advice to the devs, but I don't know where to send it as far as emails or such. As for why I came up with these types, well a brief explanation is in order. MICRO would be helpful for creating small items that are even below the size of a 1/4 of a standard foundation square and would be useful for creativity of future handheld or utility items as well. STANDARD is actually the size we have now, so no explanation is needed. COMMERCIAL would be double the Standard size and could be utilized for custom design works in vehicle creation, signage, lighting or localized modular power plant designs, and of course... Train Engine and Train Car Design and Customizations. INDUSTRIAL Blueprint maker would be 200% larger than it's Standard counterpart and would be utilized for specific designs in small factory sections, customizing and creating medium Power Plant designs, Small to Medium Water Utility Station designs, Foundation, Wall, Window, Door, Bay Door, Roof, Road, Larger Signage creations and customizations { i.e. - more shapes to building pieces like curves, etc.}, Vehicle, Truck, and Train Station Creation and Customization pieces. MEGA-INDUSTRIAL... as the name implies, this unit is so large [ 5x Standard size ] that it would need to be plopped down either in the flats of the desert, or build a ramp up into the sky and use it there. This would be VERY helpful for those who need a way to push their constructs into "Mega-Projects" sizes and have the ability to create and customize Large to X-Large Power Plant sections, Fluid utility Station pieces, Water, Nitrogen, Oil, Geyser, Etc. Utility Supplier Stations, Bridge Piece Structures, Power Tower Structures, Train HUB Stations, Storage Depots and Mega Warehouses, Mega Factory Pre-Built Building/Floor Sections, X-Large Distribution Manifolds, Custom Mega-Structure Input Manifold Designs for Sky Elevator, etc. FYI: full disclosure,

[@BLAndrew575-]

Great video and very informative!! Great for anyone considering going mega or even giga factories! Having dips in frame rates is just a trade off when building those sized builds. Factories - 1-9999/min : Mega-factories - 10,000 - 99,999/min : Giga-factories - 100,000 - 999,999/minute - Tera-factories are one million plus/min (These numbers are combined total items across all stages) 7900x cpu - 4090 GPU- 128gb of ram and I still average 30-50fps in the most unbuilt places for my Tera-factory. BUT I have found many MANY building techniques to easing the load on the game engine to allow for smoother/better performance for large factories. Appreciate the shout out!

[@SatisfactoryNews]

Thanks for the comment! Your videos showing your abysmal frame rate are a great, but extreme example of the performance tradeoffs, so I wanted to send people your way.

[@BLAndrew575-]

@@SatisfactoryNews yeah I never hesitate to tell everyone that my save is absolutely the worst case scenario for large builds and performance lol

[@grim436]

I only have about 10 hours on my save, and I'm following a guide right now to learn the game after giving up on my previous (shorter) save, looking at videos like this make my head explode when setting up a simple coal plant feels like pulling teeth. Seeing whats possible restores the excitement and awe I felt when I first started, though!

[@skilz8098]

I'm partially in between the two. I'll tend to build semi maga factories based on all of the nearby resources that are available and I'll process the materials and make the components that I can within that region ready to be exported. I tend to build my factories - mini towns into the terrain. I use the shape of the terrain as foundation towards the aesthetics of what I want my factory/ies to look like, their size, and what I want to get out of them. I don't have a full or complete mega base as it's just too much to try and bring everything into one area. And I also don't adhere to the complete modular builds either. I for the most part build as I go and a lot of it is ad-hoc until I'm pleased with the overall look, feel, and operational usefulness of the factory. Sometimes the actual layout and the designs of my buildings are just as important if not more than what the actuals buildings are producing. I tend to think of this as a different method of playing where the construction of my factories are inspired by the environment. Then in other contexts such as with "nuclear" this is a bit more of a strategic approach as in where in the world do I want my nuclear facility to be as opposed to using the terrain itself to guide my build designs. I've come to the conclusion that there are many ways to build your factories and that there is really no wrong way to do it provided your logistics portion is valid. That's why I love this game! It's definitely a sandbox with a huge selection of tools and options to choose from. The end goal is that the Factory Must Grow!

[@SatisfactoryNews]

I agree completely! I love that there are two distinct extreme play-styles, but everyone ends up somewhere along the spectrum, and no one is the same!

[@Hydrano]

I feel your comment a lot. In the previous save I had with my friend we started out with one "mega main factory". The thing is as soon as you unlock Steel production, Oil etc. the game kind of forces you to start over at another place. So we build another small factory which uses all ressources from nearby and transfered the bigger outcomes of it back to our Main Factory where Part like Tier 4 and 5 will be build. So in other words and in regards to the video, we built multiple factorys producing "Tier 1-3" (form the video, not ingame tier) and Tier 4-5 in the main base. But because the main base is also our starting base, it also contains a small factory for 1-3 😂 There are really so many ways to do it. It's great

[@juliocorzo3241]

For 1.0 I'm going all out on modular. After the initial exploration for alternative recipes and basic building, I plan on centralizing the refinement of every single raw material into factories dedicated to each spread around the map. I want to be as efficient as possible, so everything is going to be done in refineries, and factories will have belt and machines ready to be wired once the power and belts are researched. I'm excited, but I'm sure building something like this will take thousands of hours. It's an ambitious project that will take a lot of planning, but I'm genuinely excited to go for maximum efficiency and decentralized production that is driven by an extremely complex transportation setup. Can't wait for this to be done by 2030 lol

[@neil2444]

10:16 Thank you for saying this. I've come to a similar conclusion myself. I would just add that with each bump in tier, you gain transport efficiency, which is to say, you can send more faster throughout the map. The disadvantage though being that you specialize and you risk to make too much of something you don't need. You actually *lose* transport efficiency for some items like silica or iron ingots, so something could be said for making tier 2 items in a factory close to your tier 1 factories.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

Well said! I think it's up to personal preference on which tier you transport things. We can all agree you should try not to move raw materials too far, and you should try to avoid ingots, but it can be hard for certain recipes. I would also agree that Tier 2 items is the minimum if possible!

[@AarynGulledge]

This overview of build styles is SUPER useful to me. I'm a big noob - about 200 hrs played but almost complete with Tier 8 (nuclear) development. However, I've just gotten by with building and expanding my sprawling spaghetti factory and adapting it to what I need to produce next. I've switched focus to finding hard drives so I have the most efficient recipes to make the final stage Space Elevator items. I'm also scouting the best resource nodes around which to set up my modular factories. Seeing your examples of how to organize these will certainly be helpful, including personal travel across the land (currently via zipline). Thanks!!

[@R_manatee]

I'm similar... I teched up and am now looking for hard drives to be as efficient as possible for my mass modular factories.

[@phillipcurrey6961]

Great advice! I wholeheartedly agree. Tip. Make your first couple floors of your base 10 walls, 40m high. Will be able to fit in train stations later. Bottom floor is great for setting up an early truck network 40 m gives enough space to build a large multilevel road to efficiently direct large traffic and then trains on second story later. Also can stack ind storage 4 high and still have two floors for logistics, before the next level of processing. I usually start with a Mega factory through tier 6, once I get access to coal generators. Then setup a train grid to create a massive turbo fuel plant for power and begin to specialize with large factories all over map for alternative recipes. The mega factory I keep with a non automated train line to load and transport the resources I need to expand. Building a large train grid after resolving power issues makes expansion really easy. God I love blueprints, blueprint anything you can. Think out of the box and create blueprint logistic floors and production floors for easy spamming. Its crazy how a priject thst took 8 hours in update 6 takes about 45 min with blueprints. Smart splitters with overflow option? I asked for this years ago in feedback to Coffee Stain, its a game changer. Love it.

[@aperson-qn8xn]

8:00 if y’all have seen it, you know It was so majestic (I’m talking about LGIO’s 600 meter human cannon)

[@df1ned]

Literally discussing microservice architecture vs monolithic lol. And people say games are pointless :D

[@SatisfactoryNews]

Real world lessons in MY video game?? How dare they.

[@shadowforgedgamerz520]

@@SatisfactoryNews Which brings up a good point. I believe there should be 5 sizes of Blueprint Makers: (1) Micro, (2) Standard, (3) Commercial, (4) Industrial, (5) Mega - Industrial. I'd give this advice to the devs, but I don't know where to send it as far as emails or such. As for why I came up with these types, well a brief explanation is in order. MICRO would be helpful for creating small items that are even below the size of a 1/4 of a standard foundation square and would be useful for creativity of future handheld or utility items as well. STANDARD is actually the size we have now, so no explanation is needed. COMMERCIAL would be double the Standard size and could be utilized for custom design works in vehicle creation, signage, lighting or localized modular power plant designs, and of course... Train Engine and Train Car Design and Customizations. INDUSTRIAL Blueprint maker would be 200% larger than it's Standard counterpart and would be utilized for specific designs in small factory sections, customizing and creating medium Power Plant designs, Small to Medium Water Utility Station designs, Foundation, Wall, Window, Door, Bay Door, Roof, Road, Larger Signage creations and customizations { i.e. - more shapes to building pieces like curves, etc.}, Vehicle, Truck, and Train Station Creation and Customization pieces. MEGA-INDUSTRIAL... as the name implies, this unit is so large [ 5x Standard size ] that it would need to be plopped down either in the flats of the desert, or build a ramp up into the sky and use it there. This would be VERY helpful for those who need a way to push their constructs into "Mega-Projects" sizes and have the ability to create and customize Large to X-Large Power Plant sections, Fluid utility Station pieces, Water, Nitrogen, Oil, Geyser, Etc. Utility Supplier Stations, Bridge Piece Structures, Power Tower Structures, Train HUB Stations, Storage Depots and Mega Warehouses, Mega Factory Pre-Built Building/Floor Sections, X-Large Distribution Manifolds, Custom Mega-Structure Input Manifold Designs for Sky Elevator, etc. FYI: full disclosure,

[@hovatham]

Service architect best choice for most solutions unlike monolith or microservice

[@landown]

​@@hovathamWhat

[@driverjamescopeland]

I prefer a blended form... modular, but with a divided upcycle, where a reasonable portion of products are sent to a secondary ?micro-mega? factory which focuses on having a maximum of three machines producing a given product. This also gave me a reason to finally take advantage of overclocking... as I never had much use for it previously. As the production stream lengthens, I simply adjust the production rates of the machines to take maximum advantage allpwed by the throughput of three for each item. It also makes it super easy to set up the various departments/facilities, without the ugliness of blocky squared buildings/rooms.

[@gregoriodia]

I started playing like a week ago, looked for a channel like this for a while now. Man, first video that got straight facts and considerations. Well thought, not artificially extended video. Love it.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

Thanks, that's my goal!

[@RadishAcceptable]

Interesting. The way I've been doing it is sort of a mix between megafactory and modular. Namely, I build "towers". Every component has a dedicated building for manufacturing. Each floor of the building is designed to push out a full belt of a specific good. The buildings are placed in a way that makes sense to a degree, such as the iron rods tower being close to the screws tower, and the screws tower is close to the reinforced plates tower, and things like that. When I realize I need to scale up production, I just slap another floor of production on top of the last one. For upgrades, I either just use them on a new floor and just use fewer machines, or I wait until I can upgrade an entire floor with something like slugs + belt upgrades, along with the supply line that feeds it all the way back to the raw resource. Belts are nice and neat with this method too. They're pretty easy to route between the buildings and using the belt windows properly makes it really easy to remember how to hook everything up whenever you're building another floor for production.

[@earlgrey2130]

Modular! Because if you make a planning mistake with a megafactory.. you are fuuuuuuugged.. no way you'll rebuild that thing.

[@MrChochichon]

There is also the "whole chain to single item" factory. So basically the idea is, for each and every item in the game, you have a dedicated factory that goes from raw materials to the said item. So you'll have 1 factory for rods, 1 factory for screws, 1 factory for reinforced plates etc etc... At the very beginning the factory are really small, and for higher tier items the factories are much larger. The benefit is that all factory are completly indendent, meaning that it is easier to fully optimize the factory (as everything is done locally), and if 1 factory breaks for some reason, or needs to be updated, it can be stopped without impacting the other factories. The downsides are that you'll have to rebuild the low-tier items in every single factory, and it can be hard to find all the desired raw materials close together

[@GoldMike_]

Megafactory all the way. I love seeing all the pipes and belts coming into my base from off into the distance

[@gustavrsh]

I depends. I'm tier 4 and currently building a "mega factory" in the starting area. It'll make everything that is possible to make with the nearby nodes. This will make it possible to advance to the next phase and make me comfortable to make the modular factories once I unlock trains. (Modular is much more resource intensive for logistics)

[@jacquesdubuc8204]

I propose Galvanized Square Steel and Eco Friendly Wood Veneer screwed with screws borrowed from your aunt for expansion projects.

[@charlestatum2511]

Excellent summary and nuanced explanation!

[@RYZEN-4070-TI-SUPER-OC]

I do both, all at the same time... half the resources are 1k plus meters away because their nodes are pure or normal and the ones directly on the base are impure

[@vikingshark2634]

I used to think I would prefer the megafactory, but after experiencing the nightmare that managing power, power lines, pipes, belts and roads became, I feel like a modular approach makes life much less stressful. When I put everything into a big factory, once a problem happens (usually because of power) the whole system shuts down. Now I try to build smaller factories each with their own infrastructure (power, water, belts). Then I put a different colored street light at that plant's specific factory and when power goes out I can look at my row of power plants and be like "oh, the purple street light doesn't work, that's quartz." It takes a lot more building and planning and logistics (and too many truck stations) but the reduced stress I inevitably get from managing a city-sized megafactory is worth the extra travel time.

[@SlayTheSins]

I play co-op and its more fun to see friends building factories in their own style, gives a lot of diversion in the world I usually make the planning and share it with them, for example a frame factory which outputs all iron items, a computer factory which outputs all computer parts and so on and so fort

[@amokriinprolgiid3409]

I typically just build multiple plants in different biomes focused on making multiple parts that require the same materials, connect them all to the same mega-power-grid (way overkill with the energy production), using power towers, then commute between them using hypertubes that use the sonic speed exploit to get between them in a matter of seconds. And when building a new production plant, I usually use the Zipline tool to zip alone the power tower wires to get back and forth between the plant in development and the already established plants until I can build a new hyper tube to get there.

[@nathanlamberth7631]

This should be a series of videos that talk about the functions of outposts or how outposts evolve with progression

[@oceanbytez847]

I run a hybrid of both of these. For example, i will sometimes build a small factory to process ore before it gets to the mega factory. The mega factory only does higher level processing, so everything that gets mined that can be processed gets processed at the location it is mined. This keeps me from having to have a crap ton of smelters in one place. If i know the mega factory needs a specific, lets say up to teir 3 resource, then i'll process all the way to rotors or reinforced plates before shipping the product to the mega factory for further processing. The reason being that this keeps the frame rates happy, but the end game processing still produces a sizable factory capable of bustling with activity.

[@TheKingRthur]

Looking forward for more analysis videos like this comparing different approaches to the game.

[@vascobroma8907]

I do a mix of both. I modulate everything, creating individual factories for only one item, but then I have them all nearby in a city format to branch out all my items for their various uses in other factories. The central and largest buildings house production of the most basic items, with the smelting factories in the middle, surrounded by factories producing the first tier of items from those ingots. I then branch out from there. The more complicated the item, the further out from the center it is. It's admittedly not the most efficient design (I have miners all over the map sending raw ore straight past the factories they'll eventually be used in, to get to the center of the complex for smelting), but I like the organizational aspect of it, and plus I'm just insane.

[@protoborg]

I take a third method which is Minimega factory that processes all of a particular resource type; ie all things that require Iron are processed in a single factory building. So, for example, I have a single factory that processes iron plates, iron rods, reinforced iron plates, rotors, modular frames, and screws. The other ingredients are brought in from their local factory. I also have a single factory that processes all items that require copper. I have a third factory that processes concrete. I then bring all of those things together in a central location.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

That's cool! That's something I sort of tried to do, but it just doesn't take long to get items that require multiple types of materials so I had a hard time sticking to it.

[@polydynamix7521]

I've tried both but ultimately settled on a modular-esque factory that is more like growing mold than 'modular'. With a central nerve that is all possible items on their own belts, being fed by nodes going in all directions- slowly traversing the map.

[@ryans3795]

Started in the rocky desert and had a mega factory (let's game it out style and lived it) now with 1.0 starting in the dune desert and it's extremely challenging to do anything but modular factory. I love vehicle transport in this game and the logistics involved, an have been using all vehicles since an early stage.

[@Sluppie]

I tend to go for the central base + satellite base model. It's nice to have one central hub that you can go to in order to access everything else, but it's easier to get proportions right when you do the basic processing locally. I think if I ever did a megabase, I'd likely have a central storage area where everything goes to and gets pulled from so that I can clearly see what materials I'm running out of, and then do all of the real work off in separate 'wings'. More like a mega campus than a singular mega building.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

Yeah, I think that is the best way to do a mega-base, it's a little spread out but with a central hub.

[@Apollorion]

That "mega campus" is about the same as the "bus" of a mega-factory.

[@Mutrax4706]

i was planning to make a more "dynamic" factory, in the way that everything just needs to be connected in a certain way to make a certain material, or with switches, you turn on/off different machines to avoid constantly adding and removing conveyor belts. yes, this does mean some machines will more often be gathering dust, but at least you dont need to make a ton of factories that mass produce few items. not completely sure how to do this yet, but that was my plan

[@VapourWav3]

My favorite way to play is to use both. A bunch of smaller outpost sending their materials to one mega-space elevator factory :3

[@MattyCanny]

Nice! Wish I watched something like this before I started playing... would have been more prepared for sure!

[@rremnar]

The problem is finding space for trains to park and load/unload. For 1 train, your platforms will be very wide (because of the turn around), now imagine that with 4+ trains. Sometimes I build train stops ontop of each other. I find I like to build parts near resources, and bring them to a central location for my own use (item hub), and make temporary builds for elevator parts. I have done the mega factory, using a cyclical main bus, 9w6h usually covers it all but it is a lot of work to set up. But once that's done, it becomes easy to make your complex parts as you build everything above the bus. The trick is making sure there is enough inbetween room for the splitters and vertical belts. There is no wrong way to do things.

[@delroyclarke1989]

Awesome tips, keep it up ❤

[@omegaprime223]

For trains, I actually tend to have a single engine-only train in a 'personal' station, and a handful of stations splintered just off of in-use lines to keep it within the area I'm working in, when I need to move a long distance I call it to a station, and schedule it out to where I need to go and enjoy the ride. I also use a bi-directional four lane 'mainline' that circles the map to minimize crash hazards. For long single-lane lines I generally put a side line every kilometer or so if needed so I can safely get my personal train in without risking a collosion.

[@boomerix]

I prefer modular as it gives me an excuse to use Trains and Trucks. Also I find it easier to scale up production. In a local factory for example I can just build a copy of the floor plan one level higher and double production, then increase the frequency of my shipping, or divert the extra production to wherever needed. In a mega factory If I don't plan exactly ahead I run into space issues, resulting either in complications or needing to redesign an area. I do use a central storage hub with a sorting facility, because I am lazy and don't feel like running around the map for materials. I let the trains, drones and trucks deliver them and my programmable and smart splitters sort them. The overflow at the end sinks whatever is full.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

It sounds like we play exactly the same!

[@imigratingbox]

Unfortunatly, i have been building for a hundred hours in the "lets game it out" mega factory way, my frames are nonexistant

[@ncolty]

I felt like the "Compromising the two" part of the video was a challenge to my logistics and organisation skills. I just want to start a new game 100% committing to a mega factory. A SINGLE ONE!

[@Azrael178]

Personally the biggest usage of blueprints i utilize are simple racio belt splitters. I have entire page of: 1/3 equal, 1/9 equal, 1/4 equal etc. seems like a small thing but saves so much time. But that might just be a side effect of my "no foundations megabase" challenge im doing atm. Im not going to lie jetpack +blade runner movement is really fun in a spaghetti mountain

[@delawarepilot]

I have a train loop in one direction that has goes around the entire map. Every resource has a one car train station. Complex products have their own vertical factories near the track somewhere. One station at the space elevator. Not the most efficient but fun.

[@EpicGamerEG]

I just make modular factories around the map, and I have a central storage system that they all feed into via trains.

[@Ronin11111111]

I like planning around crucial components and build big dedicated factories for them, like using an entire cluster of iron nodes to making as many heavy modular frames as possible. In my last game before 1.0 I built around the highest tier items, turbo motors, fused frames and super computers, each getting a dedicated factory and then I just put the stockpiled components in some manufacturers to make the space elevator parts. My solution to long distance travel is building a path of foundations every time I'm starting to build a new factory, then build a hypertube with 15 entrances on both sides, it doesn't look pretty and you get stuck sometimes but you can cross the width or length of the map in like 30 seconds even if you go up an incline.... you know now that I'm typing this out I realise I could just make two tube-lines and then I wouldn't get stuck in the foundations.

[@daedaluxe]

I do a hybrid, I check nodes that are near by that make sense, e.g if coal and iron are right on top of eachother, that's a new steel facility, build a mini factory to create the product from the ore, and then ship the product to a main hub.

[@muizzy]

I'm a big fan of a hybrid approach. The only thing that makes the game challenging is logistics, so that's what I optimize for. In practice that mostly means that I'll produce core items on-site if that makes them easier to transport, but everything else has a place in the megafactory. For example, aluminium is produced at the bauxite source, copper ingots are brought to the megafactory, and screws are produced on an on-demand basis for specific production lines.

[@lsh32768]

No matter how you build, you need to connect the dependency graph one way or another. This leads me finding that building according to the shape of dependencies is the best way.

[@thaddeusmccaustland8023]

Actually technically there is a 3rd way: In situ monoresource processing and central multiresource processing. To explain the way I build for example I will build a smelting building for iron because that is monoresource, as well as all of the rods and plates and screws and reinforced plates and rotors. All of these monoresource times then get shipped to a central location for further processing. This prevents me having to build thousands of constructors in one location, making room for a more organized and neat setup. These central locations are them dedicated to different levels of complexity and types of items and then ship them further on to the manufacturers, blenders, encoders, etc. For the final products. This solves several issues at once: 1 throughput is easier to expand as it means simply building more train cars instead of building masses of belts. 2. It makes it easier to expand as each building is dedicated to one type of item or resource. 3 it distributes the lag. Instead of having one massively laggy area you have a slight collective frame dip. 4 it looks way better than one building and makes the map seem alive.

[@sarahtonin3743]

I wouldn't call my factories "mega factories" but i assemble everything in its own building that's usually within 100 meters of my hub. If i need resources from far away, i never bother with anything sophisticated like trains or drones, just a reaaalllly long conveyor belt lol. i dont make that much of each part, though, so everything tends to be of modest size and reasonably neat.

[@kaiateya]

I love building things like skyscrapers, so I sort of naturally opted for the vertical megafactory. It's been ... challenging ... but really satisfying, imo. Most of the floors are 3 walls high, and I am up to 16 so far. I've had to build stuff like a hypertube elevator (individual floors plus 5-floor expresses), and the requisite power requirements. ^^; More glass than you can shake a stick at, some signs for glowing lines, that sort of thing. I do have some satellite factories for things like power, because using towers to transmit power over long distances is super easy now. I even have a billboard out front taunting ADA about FICSMAS, lol. I ought to make a video some time...

[@WaLLy_]

I am mostly for processing raw materials on-site and bringing things together at a central location. It reduces the amount of things you have in once place, you can play with logistics whilst having the most important parts close.

[@lanutriafeliz6716]

8:03 Bro, we added the train rail in the background in the same spot, it also looks very similar to mine. I was shocked xd

[@SatisfactoryNews]

Hahaha that's awesome! It just makes sense!

[@dominatorandwhocaresanyway9617]

a) cool base, lags b) smaller more unique bases, probly less cool, less lags honorable mention: you have a reason to build highways with local factories. finished mine that goes from eastern northern forest (the pure iron and stone nodes ec.) to the Crater lakes (powerplant, SAM factory). The time it cuts by just drivin with few turns, instead of hillclimb racing, is considerable.

[@BreckThePanther]

I built a sort of mega factory that could produce a moderate amount of all goods including bars up to level 3, for level 4 and some level 5 stuff I used a train network and ended u going more modular, that first base used belts and I called it my "build base". a good place to use a train to move goods. If I star a new save once 1.0 gets released then I will probably do something more similar or clean. Last thing I built was a supercomputer factory that could make 4 or 5 a minute and I had 8 train stations bringing in things from modular factories like aluminum bars, plastic, rubber. The natural resources that were near the base I used. It was beautiful and took me months. My factories are gorgeous and I really don't want to ever start over.

[@ThatBlenderGuy1]

The way I play is kind of interesting because I usually have about 3 or 4 mega factories that are a little bit apart. One is for basic production so everything before you unlock steel. One is for steel production stuff. The other two are for everything else Then I use trains, tractors, and drones to transport everything to a main storage area.

[@oliverbrown9634]

Just do modular factories buy all in one location. Bring in all the materials to one place, then have multiple factories in one location, its not too complicated, it looks cool and clean and tbh I don't see any downsides.

[@deinvater1669]

I like to have my factories modular around the map and then let a train/drones bring me the finished materials to my main base. For me I think this is the best of both worlds

[@markm5038]

Is doing up to 3 tiers in one place inefficient? Its kinda like a mix of a mega and a modular factory I guess but I have one really place really rich in Iron using 4 pure and 9 normal nodes in the area to build Reinforced plates, modular frames, and smart plating with the idea being that I would use tractors to move them over to my steel factory once I build one. Also I when I built the factory, I didn't have an amount of the end products in mind but rather trying to make the most of the 13 nodes in the area, is that also inefficient?

[@SatisfactoryNews]

I think that is perfectly fine! In fact I have a very similar factory. It is situated near iron and coal nodes and is one big building yhay makes smart plating, but also makes all the lower-tier items. In that case, since you have access to all the nodes you need, it makes sense to use them like that, and is definitely way more efficient than shipping materials in from somewhere else!

[@MrR3set]

Modular tends to be more fun imo. It brings more challenges and also diversity

[@EzioD86]

Just build megafactories all around the map.

[@richardrisley2882]

This is the way

[@MusicianBread]

I just thought of the exact opposite and decided it wasn’t smart to comment that

[@MusicianBread]

This is the way

[@EzioD86]

@@MusicianBread Or the entire map should a megafactory. that's the ultimate goal

[@SaltCan]

Mood

[@SERG__ZV]

his game is essentially visual programming. And programming is mostly modular now. Monolithic applications are outdated because they are difficult to expand. They are easy to get confused and difficult to redo. But when you divide everything into parts, it's much easier to figure everything out.

[@konraduchacz112]

I dont know if its weird, but for me its always 1 central hub for storage/tube-travel and MANY small factories close to veins I need for making someting (then train/conv-belts depending on dsitance to hub).

[@jeanmahmoudventilateur3480]

One thing that I hate about modular factories is that you either have to dismantle everything once you get trains or lose time using the basic vehicles

[@ianthompson31]

my personal preferecne is modular factories. I know everyone thinks megafactories look way crazier, but to me its just too easy to get all your stuff in one place then do it from there. I like good looking, well connected, expandable modular factories that aren't too far off the ground.

[@sebmaier6995]

Main reason why to build as modular as possible : performance

[@ogcaveman8120]

When you have a huge number of machines even that doesn't help a bit. Because all the calculations have to be done wherever you are on the map. I have 25 FPS wherever I am because I have 6000 machines😅 (even on a high end PC)

[@silvioh9585]

@@ogcaveman8120 This is why, Building as less Machines as possible is the best Way for Saving Performance. Overclock where ever possible. Down Side of that is you need alot of Power. But in the End, no matter how you do done, you will always have some Laggy Spots thats just how the Game Works.

[@mounted_future939]

I don’t have the game yet, but when I do buy it I plan on setting up a mega factory/sorting machine at my main base, with several modular factories and mini power plants for each at several locations all connected with train tracks.

[@ItsJoKeZ]

hahahaha you say that, would love to hear how it goes once you have the game

[@ВладимирЕремин-и5х]

If i have two mega factories, does it count as modular, our is it just two big ones

[@WuddupDok]

Great video!

[@pumpkinhead9114]

8:20 I'm dying watching those trucks in the bottom left corner 😂

[@pumpkinhead9114]

I mean no disrespect, I am in aww of your builds, I just thought it was funny

[@SatisfactoryNews]

They get nervous when you watch! But seriously, it's so funny when you actually watch the trucks in action. They're fine when you're not looking!

[@ogcaveman8120]

That's why I dont use any trucks. They will do weird things however perfect you record the route

[@Kryxar]

I once build a circular factory so basically a giant belt loop around the map on that i put all materials it was practicall because i was able to build everything i wanted at any point of the loop

[@Fredabawls]

I have a question that needs a quick reply as I am about to build a new factory. What do you think is a good amount of items/min for personal use like crafting weapons/tools and factory building materials because I wanna know how mich to split off to use for myself in building for example splitting concrete off for building foundations. Obviously different materials are gonna be needed more or less but for steel pipes and beams especially what do you think I need to use for myself

[@SatisfactoryNews]

That is definitely a hard question to answer. I have been pretty okay with just having one machine making an item and sending it to a storage room. You may find that you need more concrete than that, for example, but you probably won't need much of things like steel pipes. You'll get a lot passively stored up when you're out building or exploring.

[@Fredabawls]

@@SatisfactoryNews thx for that I think that'll rlly help my planning

[@BLAndrew575-]

Yeah, I call them trickle storage factories. Pretty easy to dedicate a whole node here and there to each item you need to fill for building storage. As long as its setup to run fully automated, it will eventually back up as your storage fills. I usually do this with one mk5 belt of each item per storage, but that's for a VERY large factory. Mk1 or mk2 belts filled with each item are most likely going to be enough for the average pioneer. My heavy modular frame factory needed upwards of 500k concrete a day when building so I setup a 10 million concrete storage area and a small megaconcrete factory (10k a minute for storage) to keep it filling for that large build. The last thing you want to happen is to run out of items in the middle of a project so always overproduce those items you will need the most of. You can always sink it later or use for another build. Hope that helps!

[@Fredabawls]

@@BLAndrew575- it rlly does thx man

[@Fruchtpuma]

The only tip i can think of off the top of my hat is to not transport raw materials if it can be avoided. Usually, the number of items gets lower as you progress up the tech tree, so i tend to at least build smelters near iron or copper nodes and only transport ingots over longer belts. Fewer belts needed = less work that way.

[@Brahlam]

Modular until endgame, and you have a place to gather all craftable materials in a decent amount, and then one humongous mega factory! :-)

[@mrbfros454]

I guess my style is more of a hybrid. I have at least two mega factories that got bigger and bigger as I decided keep building on to them when I needed more stuff. Then I have maybe a dozen medium sized factories that serve specific needs in large quantities and then I have a smattering of smaller outposts that are needed to feed one of my factories.

[@oshawott4544]

I tend to have a few different factories. Before 1.0, I had a section for basic iron production, copper and steel, oil products, then an entire section for completely automating nuclear. Then, in the middle of it all, a bunch of production for more complicated componebts, none of it automated, just set to whatever I needed at the time. I'm going for a rather similar approach yet again, but I'm trying to automate more. I just don't enjoy taking everything apart, and putting it back together for better efficiency, and I prefer to have constructors and manufacturers dedicated to being flexible. Need project parts? Great. Don't need them anymore? Now I can use the infrastructure for motors. It's more hands on, but weirdly enough, I prefer it that way.

[@uthman83]

With the new dimensional deport you don't need a main base. I've built in many styles over hundreds of hours but because of the deport I'm trying the single factory style for each item in the game, I've done 13 factory's producing 16 different items so far. I'm having loads of fun.

[@MrSchuits]

I'm a megafactory kinda guy. No fancy buildings yet, just rows dedicated to each raw item, then I got vertical as I need to produce something else from that raw item. Its only started turning into spagetti when I hit the manufacturer stage. So I guess I'll be destroying and replanning.

[@ChizuruMinamoto]

My main issue with Satisfactory is that, I do the centralised factory with smaller factory outposts around... But the trains are unlocked so late that it bothers me to have to then build that infrastructure when I didn't plan ahead for it. It makes just making huge belts taking stuff in and out much faster because the cars are honestly slow, and if there is ANY inbalance in your system if you used your car to transport items both ways, you'll end up clogging one of the side with garbage, requiring a manual fix. After that happened one too many times, I just stopped using cars outright and just made huge belts which went faster than the cars anyway.

[@beholdandfearme]

Not sure if it's on my end or yours but the audio is louder in the left channel than the right. Not really that bad but it is noticeable.

[@SatisfactoryNews]

That's funny. I think it's on your end or on KZbin's end. My voice over is the same on the left and right channels and looking at my audio levels in the project file, they're the same.

[@UncleBandaids]

Great advice!

[@dvd4133]

Ironically this has a lot of parallels with Monoliths and Microservices

[@Ashtarte3D]

Personally I prefer modular setups because it's more fun to have devoted factories that build up to t4 mats and then train or drone them into a central hub that also works as my drone airport.

[@astacc]

as I factorio player I'm used to MEGA FACTORY, but on my next play-trough after 1.0 I'll go with at least partially modular, because towards the end frame drops and lags inside my megafactory started being quite annoying

[@biggaeabby966]

Real Facotrio players be like: modular mega factory

[@Fredabawls]

Thx for the video it helped me iron out some things as well as teach my more inexperienced friend that I play with how this works

[@Guroji]

I always make the first factory a mega. Once i have infinite base materials for building I start using the blueprint thing. Only gotta build stuff once, then if u need more just place down another blueprint

[@natsirt9809]

1.0 has made a modular factory save a lot easier because of the dimensional depot and teleporters. I'm going for it this time instead of a megafactory.

[@adamhullak7074]

My factories will be modular ill gear up more when i get to trains and trucks

[@fhdang8978]

Me and my mate always do modular, using trains or drones to move ore or items back to the main area we are in, for stuff like super computers, we produce nearly everything on site only importing computers from our over production and ores for the rest of the items, we play kinda how we want, some factories are totally encased and designed, some are just open factories with little walls and look quite messy. If we need fluids, we as close as possible since we didn’t once and it made us quit the game for a couple weeks because it was so annoying of a screwup

[@drgoutbreak7934]

The first save i did i did a mega base for storage and modular at the resource itself

[@jonasholm-mw5bn]

I like the modular because then the design of the buildings, at least for me improve over time. The first place might still look like spaghetti when I’m at tier 7, but that recent place I made for aluminum, that’s a high rise with big windows and a hyper tube system

[@Sluppie]

This. Your later bases will tend to be better than your earlier bases because you have so much more to work with.

[@jonasholm-mw5bn]

@@Sluppie and the early stuff is also usually part of some bigger chain, so it would be annoying to tear it down and redo it

[@SatisfactoryNews]

So true! 😂

[@johnnyramirez3717]

Dimensional storage makes it easy for modular builds

[@Jakeurb8ty82]

the great part about outposting is you can try several designs