Satisfactory Tips 1: Balancing Inputs & Outputs

We're getting a bit Mathy in this video, but it's quite helpful to balance small factories to ensure 100% uptime.

[@Noirxire]

We found it boys. We found out where we were meant to use this in real life.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

And remember, you'll use cursive in college, so make sure you practice it!

[@UsernameWasLost]

@@Gaming_with_Doc I still write in cursive 20 years later, it's way more legible than my print.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Haha good! I don't use it very often, but it's sad to see how much it's dying off. It'll go the way of calligraphy soon.

[@stuckonaslide]

@@Gaming_with_Doc I had to learn cursive in elementary school, and I still often write in cursive when I know no one else is going to read it since its so fast.

[@DragonBorn271]

@@Gaming_with_Docyou can also split the 15 rods in to 12 by splitting them up by 3’s then merging

[@mrpmurphy]

The broken breaker sound in the background just triggered my PTSD

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Haha! That sound makes my stomach drop- you know whatever plans you had for the day need to wait to track down the problem and restart the whole factory one stage at a time. Thanks for the comment!

[@scottfelt513]

I hope I don't have to worry about this. My 439GW power grid won't have problems till 1.0 and after that, I will just re-build what I need to. I still want my 250GW nuclear power plant to do the same as it is now. 100% uptime using everything I feed into it. 20 uranium rods turn into a tasty 10 plutonium. All machines are fully overclocked, save a couple due to decimals. That was due to how much space this project could have taken up.

[@nugget9596]

When is 1.0 releasing? And would it be better to just wait to play once its out?

[@ScienceMan314]

@@nugget9596 September iirc.

[@JP_Crimson]

Idk if I should continue playing or wait for the full version

[@OpenCourse556]

I mean, you can underclock the machine to even out the flow of material, overclock to speed up the draw of material, or use a Smart Splitter and send the overflow to an Awesome Sink. So, there are multiple options for your factory's needs and size.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Absolutely! You just hit subjects for the next couple of shorts we'll be putting out. Multiple techniques means you have the right solution for any situation.

[@almisami]

Underclocking also gives you a lot more energy efficiency

[@nostrum6410]

​@almisami not anymore

[@lunathemoon986]

Underclocking is the most underrated feature istg

[@UnderTheMushroom]

Seriously. Just feed a line into a manifold and underclock whatever would exceed input. Its so simple it feels wrong but balancers take up too much space. I enjoy "compactories" and Im half braindead so it works out

[@holschermarc]

The Presentation, the Voice, the short and sweet to the point way of presenting - perfect. Such good content

[@DealersChoice04]

I also tend to underclock some machines when theres not enough ability to create more machines, but when you cant get that perfect number this tip really helps!

[@SeedlingNL]

It's mostly just an issue for early to midgame. After that, if your power is failing, every Geiger counter on the planet is on overdrive :P

[@EriBabie]

Never subscribed to someone so fast, I can already sense all my annoying factory problems being fixed thru tutorials on this channel

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Awesome! It's the name of the game- building a satisfactory. Glad they're helpful!

[@sirpringles9030]

This makes so much sense to me now! I recently got back into Satisfactory again. I was wondering what the math was everyone was coming up with.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

It is definitely one of those games you come back to from time to time. Thanks for watching.

[@Porateku]

Come back from!? I never left it! 😅

[@lemmonz7724]

You can chage the number of output parts by changing the production percentage.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

You're absolutely right. I'll be talking more about other techniques in future shorts, including underclocking and overclocking to get the outputs synced.

[@minecrafter8001]

Overclocking is less power efficient than building more machines

[@BertRedd]

@@minecrafter8001 It's easier in a pinch though. Coal power generators put out a bunch of power, so I just built a bunch and I never have to worry.

[@KeithOlson]

@@Gaming_with_Doc FWIW, 'FactorioLab' now supports Satisfactory, so you can easily calculate precise ratios. You should do a tutorial video exploring all of the powerful options available.

[@_sleepy-]

@@minecrafter8001just under clock the rods

[@hiimapenguin]

I don't have Satisfactory, nor will I probably ever get it in the near future because my PC was low end in 2016, but will I still watch these videos? Yes.

[@MattWeber]

You would be surpised. Even with a decent size factory they optimized the game really well. It now also is much more GPU dependant than CPU as it was previously. I have a ryzen 5 2700x and have ran satisfactory flawlessly since bought it way back when it was only 6 months into early release. If you keep your factories hidden behind walls it also helps since your not rendering all the machine animations and effects, since they arent visible.

[@hiimapenguin]

@@MattWeber all I have is integrated graphics

[@toddblankenship7164]

@@hiimapenguin yikes

[@tvctaswegia497]

I am playing it on a 10yo system. I can't build Megafactories but I can do quite a lot, considering.

[@coster812]

Sounds like my math class haha

[@audreyplaysnice2086]

Timmy and Susie have 100 oranges to make juice. Timmy's juicer makes 1/2 cup of juice per minute and Susie's juicer ma......

[@temsshop8866]

How did I live without this

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

There are days in a man's life that change everything.

[@trueeye5606]

NGL, satisfactory made me understand my high-school math better than any high-school professors

[@amokriinprolgiid3409]

This is exactly how I design all of my builds. I always build my factories to always be running. By either building the least common multiple, or by using awesome sinks in cases where building the according to the least common multiple would require more resources than I'm capable of producing at the time.

[@0XZenerX0]

On one hand your tips are super helpful and i like how you explain them, on the other hand, i feel you're just an undercover teacher trying to make us unknowingly go back to school xD

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Sssh... don't tell anyone! I am actually a university professor! Not for math, though. But I really believe people would learn better if we gamified it like this.

[@MorbidlyObeseChell]

This is why it pays to pay attention in school. Imagine how much engaging it would be if we taught numbers to this game, as some students might benefit from an application like this

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Absolutely agree. Gamification of the learning process works wonders.

[@Cocytus127]

This is vital for figuring out how to best use your fluid byproducts like water/oil residue that can't just be directed into a sink.

[@NicholasKramas]

You've single handedly convinced me to play this game

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Awesome! It's a great game and a great time to get started with 1.0 coming out next month. And if you'd like to watch, I'll be livestreaming it on the 10th and afterward in a brand new world.

[@audreyplaysnice2086]

Don't watch LetsGameItOut then. You will be traumatized after finding the best way to do things from Doc. (A lot of us found Satisfactory from LetsGameItOut first, Doc's lessons are a relief after Josh's gleeful nightmare.)

[@NicholasKramas]

@@audreyplaysnice2086 "notice me, senpai!"

[@Tomyironmane]

I've found that in most factories, you wanna run just under your supply capacity, because "Perfect" leaves things starving for parts.

[@Aloneinthedarkso]

Man I came on these shorts because I forgot I’m on KZbin. Then this guy starts talking perfect sense with satisfactory and now I can’t seem to get enough…

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Shorts can get addicting. Don't go doomscrolling for too long! Glad you enjoy the content!

[@Aloneinthedarkso]

@@Gaming_with_Doc oh I’ve been to “that” side of KZbin before…. But yes it gives ideas outside of the normal cookie cutter strategies

[@Geistsoul13]

Loving your SatisFactory videos!

[@BlessedChaos911]

LCM is great in Minecraft too when youre making large quanitities of something, and the ingredients are disproportionate to each other

[@brunothehumble]

I can not wait until 1.0. building out 100% efficient systems that max out resource nodes is just so satisfying. I'm always working on trying to make my power profile as close to a flat line as possible. the particle accelerator is beyond annoying to accommodate for. I've been experimenting with trying to time the machines to get them as close to in sync to make them closer to a flat line as I can make it get.

[@gitner421]

Your videos really make me want to install satisfactory again!

[@forcom5]

Yep! It only took me a year of messing around to figure this one out on my own. 😂 Great short!

[@IanAva-t5l]

Back in high school, I wrote this in on my empty math test paper; “When am I ever going to need to use this in real life?” Boy has it come back to bite me in the ass

[@vladleahu8657]

When I need 5 assemblers to build a component but my Blueprint MK2 allows me to place only 4 Assemblers I overclock 2 of them to 150%, then if I need just 2 I underclock all of them to 50%.. so cool that this game gives us such a vast amount of freedom

[@davidperry4013]

I’m doing a system of satellite factories and main factories so I have a factories for extracting, smelting, constructing, and at most 1 step of assembly then the parts or sub assemblies get bussed from the satellite factories to main factories by trains or vehicles where they are processed into parts for the space elevator and expensive buildings.

[@MrDavidMoyer]

This, or underclock your constructor. Or run those extra 3 rods/min into another machine, a storage bin, or awesome sink. Lots of options for balancing in this game.

[@Mervinion]

I did the same math when creating Total Nuclear Power Plant. It made the last part of nuclear waste disposal very quick, with scalable modules.

[@Glass-Bowl]

What I ended up stupidly loving (work became fun) is that it's basically just mirroring a real product line. You're constantly adding/removing ingredients and switching recipes. After a while I find myself putting tilted overhead screens everywhere with throughput values, not just to make the place look super cool, but for practical reasons, and to make the place look super cool. Also gives leaving well lit maintenance access points a reason to exist, and whoops it's starting to look like a real factory. How dat?

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

That sounds awesome. I've been trying to find a good way to know when a line has excess production, and how much. In the end I keep coming back to using signage with throughput values, so I think you're on to something. I think I'll be doing something similar when 1.0 comes around.

[@flywithusMSFS]

I am loving the fact that elder people start streaming! Theres that awesome guy who snipes in shooting games then theres this Gentleman here. Absolutey love it you guys rock!

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Thanks! There's a few of us out there. Most of them more talented than I am!

[@Predated2]

Also folks, remember, its better to overproduce than to underproduce. Having a 12 rod requirement and a 15 rod output is better for quick and dirty setups than a 15 rod requirement and a 12 rod output.

[@pyromancerforhire]

To add another math trick for Satisfactory builds: If your recipe has a rate of *coprimes* number (for example, 9 screws for each 8 plates) then the least common multiple is always the product exactly. (8*9=72) Also, if the numbers are NOT coprime, there is always a LCM lower than the product of both numbers. Remember, coprimes means simply there is no common divisors (or factors) in the numbers

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Good point! That makes balancing a factory especially difficult.

[@wizzard4003]

underclocking is also possible if you don't want/need 5 assemblers making modular frames or currently have insufficient raw resource supply. but this is still good to know!

[@CoRnJuLiOx]

Oh my god I finally understand now. Thank you.

[@trolololoolable]

note: depending on the product youre making, it is sometimes ok to produce a little extra of one of the components and divert it to storage with a smart splitter set to overflow. Youll be using a lot of cement and iron plates, so having some in storage is not always bad, as if you use 100% of them, you wont have them when you need them

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Absolutely. Building a mall or some place to store extras makes it a lot easier to build in the future. I have an upcoming short going over smart splitters as well. Thanks for the comment!

[@tylerdanger35]

WOW! This was exactly the information I needed not 2 days ago I ended up mass producing power thinking it would help with my power fluctuations but this makes way more sense

[@wesleydavis3387]

I buffered all of my constructors and assemblers behind batteries to mitigate the power fluctuations. Run power from coal to a central line and then branch off that line directly to batteries, then off the batteries to another line which will feed to a section of your factory. The charge in the battery controls how much juice your factory gets and if there's power spikes the battery absorbs the jolt without it busting a fuse.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

To be completely honest, I had entirely forgotten about power storage. That's a great solution for smoothing out those power spikes. Thanks for the comment!

[@f.m.f962]

I learned more math in this game by MYSELF than I ever did in highschool... probably because it rewards trial and error

[@KagrithKriege]

Loving your shorts! Keep up the good work.

[@pvtbambi1848]

or you could underclock the constructor making rods to output 12

[@jclcoolrunner]

Simple math is so amazing! I love this game!

[@Misterscout]

I jusr started seeing your content. Satisfactory clips are awesome. Would love to see you play Oxygen Not Included.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

It's on my list of games to try!

[@TheRantingsofaMadman]

This method uses a lot more of your base resources than simply balancing your input to the output. For example if you want a single assembler running you underclock the rod constructor. This way you save base resources for other projects, and the best of all you save power as underclocking gains more power back than you'd expect. Your suggestion leads only to mega factories, my method could be used with yours to easily balance ANY multiple. 50 out 60 required and you want 4 machines making? 50 doesn't go well into 240, but it goes fine into 200 with 40 remainder. Set the 5th machine to 40 out.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

You're absolutely right. Altering clock speeds is easily the quickest way to balance a line, especially if you want just one machine making a certain product. This is definitely a method to reserve for when you are looking to scale the factory. Thanks for the comment!

[@TheRantingsofaMadman]

@@Gaming_with_Doc Yw, It is great for scaling and rounding the "weird" numbers. Especially in late game recopies where things get even weirder, or in a situation where you need EXACT numbers, like in nuclear power.

[@CostlyFiddle]

I like you, you make good tips. Welcome to my algorithm!

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

I'm honored! And thanks!

[@ELDERFawkes]

This actually really helped it make sense in my head how to do the math. I was scared to even try by myself. I just looked up designs thank you

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

I'm glad it helped. Have fun with the game!

[@monkeydud6437]

Dobyou have any videos on fluids amd fuel power? I just got to the part and im excited to really pump it out, so excited i ised 4 extractors to make probably at least 20 buffers reaching from the extractors to my new factory floating in the air in the big open space in the Southeastish area of the map! These have been super helpful and nifty! Ty!

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Glad they've been helpful! I just released my first video on fluids a bit more than a week ago. It covers making water towers. More to come!

[@etowngftddummy]

I just take the fluctuation and make sure that my Max Consumption doesnt go above my production, and fluctuations are never an issue

[@neilvanrooyen7196]

I'm loving your videos so far. Just curious. While I'm good at math, the idea of going all mathemagical (lol) on all the machines is just overwhelming...what's wrong (if anything) with just nagging it the machines then sending the overflow back to the storage container it starts from (if used) and if full, then just sinking the excessive overflow. I'm going to start over with the update, but just curious to see if my method is a bad idea or not. Thanks for the vids.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Glad you enjoy them! Your method is just fine. I use sinks all the time when I don't feel the need to perfectly balance a system. Balancing inputs and outputs is only if you're looking for the "perfect" solution.

[@Girax93]

The issue with this solution is that an assembler takes 2 inputs, so if you build with only one of the inputs in consideration, the other one will not be correct, and you will need to over/under-clock anyways

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Very true. The math gets very complex once you are trying to balance a bunch of machines. Other methods become essential. Thanks for the comment!

[@longino1982]

Can't you under clock? I mean your example is what I would use to. But if you only want to go one of each? Thanks for the tips. I haven't touched Satisfactory in a long time but I guess youtube is trying to get me to start in it again.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

1.0 is coming out in under two weeks, so it's a great time to try it out again. Underclocking works just fine as well. Generally, if I have the choice as I'm designing, I'll try to balance the inputs and outputs as much as possible. But when there's a long production chain that's just not entirely possible so underclocking is a great strategy when needed.

[@Shyzardar_2.0]

So this is what my math teacher meant for “you’ll use this in the future”

[@QuiteGenetic]

Alternatively underclock the constructor to make 12 per minute (and of course whatever leads up to said constructor) if you're not ready to build a bunch more constructors and assemblers yet

[@XEyedN00b]

Alternatively you can under or over clock if raw resources are a concern

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Yep! That's a great solution as well.

[@ZeNex74]

I need to watch more. I lost my way and haven't played when learning coal. May switch off animal attacks to help.. keep it up

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Getting over the hump from coal to oil took me quite a while. It's a big leap forward. And I play on passive as well. Hope you keep having fun with the game!

[@csabaduhonyi4162]

Yeah, that is right, but it's happend to me when I'm building a Motor factory and the quantity of iron that needed is not a round number like 231,85 and It's difficult to split into 200 and 31,85 before getting super computer.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

With huge builds like that the only thing you can do is split it into smaller quantities, like you did. Then a bit of balancing on the remainder finishes it up. Thanks for the comment!

[@Priles0]

Omg I’ve seen some many of Ur. Ida ur so helpful

[@brokedude9999]

Nice Good to see somebody adding to the community

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Thanks!

[@kylbug348]

Using math in Satisfactory? ❌️ Learning math with Satisfactory? ✅️

[@assasin1rifle336]

This gave me motivation to play again thanks

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Cool! Just in time for 1.0 in a few weeks!

[@yozutaro]

Watching this before the 1.0 release is really nice… I’ll probably play factorio first though

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

I just started playing Factorio for the first time this week. Great game!

[@yozutaro]

@@Gaming_with_Doc i have a couple hundred hours in the game im just waiting for the massive dlc to come out

[@lordgao9768]

OR.. put the efficiency of the Constructor down to 80% if you don’t even need that many materials. That way it’ll always be active without fluctuation

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

That works! Depending on what your end goal is, I like having a lot of methods to get there.

[@jonisalmela2399]

I just oversaturate the line and use buffers and smart splitters which breaks to "tributary lines"

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

I haven't gotten into smart splitters just yet. I hear they are really great for fine tuning your factory.

[@Aiphiae]

Super chill, clear, concise explanation. Earned a sub from me :)

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Awesome, thank you!

[@TrandiAkcium]

Понизить производительность большей фабрики? Не, не слышал. Построить еще 7 штук? Отличная идея!

[@Maelfectious]

This man is the bob Ross of gaming

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.

[@Maelfectious]

@@Gaming_with_Doc until you accidentally misclick your shatter rebar into your group of grazing lizard dogs in the desert biome with no berries!

[@gamingfuchs9331]

Is it possibel if you ignore particel exelerators to have a completly stabel power consumption ?

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Yes, it's possible. Have your factory perfectly balanced and sinks taking overflow at every destination.

[@lockkeylive]

Why not use the power scaling to undeeclock one to 80%, or feed the exess to the recycling thingy/storage with an over supply splitter/merger chain? Both are way simpler and dont require you making a massive assembly line even for parts you dont need that much of

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

That's a great solution as well. If you only need a couple, sometimes underclocking is the way to go. The more solutions you have, the more situations you can solve. Thanks for the comment!

[@dominicjohnson1346]

I have seen dozens of these videos and im still unsure what the "game" part is,

[@TuberTugger]

Or if you're lazy, throw a storage in between and let the extra rods build up in case you need them. 3 a minute is going to take ages to fill.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Yep, that usually works until you completely obsolete the factory. I only go to the effort if I'm making a portion of a megafactory that needs to output tons of items.

[@HOI3163]

I just started this game and its so fun. Im not anywhere near great at math but i feel as if this is helping with brain power somehow 😂

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Nothing makes you feel smarter than getting a factory working perfectly. Especially the smaller, early game factories. Tons of fun. Thanks for watching!

[@HOI3163]

@@Gaming_with_Doc making spastic farms within a building.... difficult but fun. Just finished a heavy modular frame factory. And wow it takes resources and a ton of constructors and space. Lol

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

I probably spent about an hour building a spreadsheet manually to figure out how to make a perfectly efficient heavy modular frame factory. They're huge! Luckily since then I've found online tools that make the process a lot faster.

[@Shadowlief]

Or you could just underclock the one machine. Much easier and prevents you from making way more than you need of an item just to end up with pretty numbers.

[@Decinomic0n]

The only problem is you end up needing a 4-5 splitter setup no to make sure each assembler then gets the rods it needs

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Absolutely. The biggest weaknesses of any load balancer is the bulk of the system.

[@legendaryone696]

This is how math should be taught

[@bearsaroundhere]

never noticed the yellow/green before, I'm colourblind and they look the exact same to me lmao

I am red/green deficient and I literally didn't realize most of my lights are yellow 😅😢

[@Seedzification]

just use the planner and underclock to your need

[@coreyg7364]

You may have just tapped in to a tool for teaching math. Nice job!

[@delawarepilot]

Counting on them yellow lights to not overload my power grid :-)

[@pretzelvanille2585]

Or underclock to 12 rods/min?

[@kellybertei1582]

it doesnt have to be efficient because there is way more space on the map than can ever be used, especially vertically, so just build more machines and underclock them

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

That seems to be a common solution among several of the commenters. We'll be covering both under and overclocking in a future video.

[@H__uh]

This is cool but I only do the most unnecessary factory designs that are incredibly inefficient so I unfortunately have no use for this

[@ampdals]

If one assembler not being balanced is going to shut down your power grid at times, you can bet 4 is going to shut it down for good. If your power is going out your need more power, period.

[@fenrirrider3991]

Could you not also just under-clock the machine to the correct amount?

[@Ignis8898]

Actual fiscit employee right here

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

*Retired FICSIT employee

[@mierenmans881]

Love your vids!

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Thanks!

[@ragincrinz1457]

Where you get the 60 from?

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

60 is the least common multiple of 12 and 15. To find the LCM, multiply each of the numbers until you find the first number both have in common. 12 24 36 48 60 15 30 45 60 The first common number (the least common multiple) of 12 and 15 is both 60. 12 x 5 and 15 x 4 is both 60. Hope the bit longer explanation helps! It's hard to fit it all in a single youtube short.

[@rockshankar]

just play factorio+pyanodons and try to calculate how to make green circuits. you will see how simple of a challenge is satisfactory

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

I've had a lot of people recommend factorio to me. Is it fun?

[@spaceengineeringempire4086]

Why is this better at teaching me basic math than my entire life at public school…. In over 20 now.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Without application, all learning is meaningless. I'm glad you enjoyed!

[@spawnnumber2126]

I would just underclock if the constructor makes more than needed.

[@ChrisG_90]

My lights are green out of pity, a facotry so bad it doesn't even register as inefficient, only "on".

[@MLG_666]

When you sea of yellow lights is from not having enough storage

[@slimeinabox]

You can also just underclock it.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Absolutely! I put out another short on how to unlock underclocking and overclocking. That's my go-to when balancing a factory, but having multiple tools is always good.

[@Afanasii_Kamenkoi]

You know, this sounds simple, but when you actually play satisfactory, you'll realize that balancing stuff is A LOT of work. "Hey, I'd like to have 5 computers per minute..." *looks at the production chain* "...oh god." Use external tools for your calculations, people.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

Absolutely. I use satisfactory-calculator all the time to do the hard calculations. Load balancing a full factory like that would create an astronomically large factory.

[@notwithoutcid]

Presumably if you were only building a single mod frame assembly, that is all you needed. You didnt solve a yellow light issue, you just moved it further down the line. Pretty much the only way to trip your power breakers is try to consume more than you make, not sure how a machine being LESS active somehow leads to higher consumption? Max consumption is a supplied metric on the power graph so there shouldn't be any confusion about what your overall need is. This is good info for when you want to scale up your production, but your reasons for doing it here don't really make sense to me.

[@Gaming_with_Doc]

You're absolutely right about the breakers. As long as you keep production above the max consumption, you're good. In my early factories, I'd commonly have consumption at around 30% of max- and then random spikes would shut off the whole factory when power need doubles for just a couple of seconds. By smoothing out your power usage, power spikes stop happening and prevents shutdowns. Also, I just really like seeing that perfectly flat line of a system working at 100% efficiency. Great insight. We've had some good discussion on this video and you're the first person to bring this up. I really appreciate the contribution.

[@VincentHughes-kd1gp]

Nice Video😊

[@Mis-tery]

Least common multiple with nuclear pasta

[@Krauttrooper]

Or underclocking

[@johnhaynes96]

Thanks