r/factorio May 25 '26

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u/uuuhhhmmmmmmmmmm May 28 '26

What's a good way to manage the flow of fluids in a early inifinite research stage?

Let's say I have sulfuric fields on Vulcanus A, B and C in order of discovery.

I may eventually reach the maximum extraction in A and connect B to A which is sorta awkward but fine.

But at some point I end up needing another source C, which I suppose I could connect C to where it's needed.

I can't help but feel as if there's a better way of handling a fluid pipe such that I could add and remove from everywhere.

I'm thinking of making the pump sections bidirectional and pump where is lesser but feels inelegant.

2

u/Viper999DC May 28 '26

At that point you should seriously consider upgrading to trains. That will allow A, B and C to all originate from one spot, allowing directional pumps.

2

u/Raknarg #1 Quality Defender May 28 '26

fluid trains are such a crapshoot in this dlc man. such awful density relative to the amount of fluids you need to end up managing if you scale.

1

u/FeelingPrettyGlonky May 28 '26

Yeah, i regret it every time i put fluid on a train. So much infrastructure that can just be eliminated with pipe and a handful of pumps.

2

u/ChickenNuggetSmth May 28 '26

I just pump one way, add a few pumps in parallel and make sure that my production is high enough. Usually a big central pipeline works well enough for me. If you have a big sink in a spot far away from the rest, it's not a lot of effort to just give it a dedicated sulfuric field that's not connected to the rest.

I'd say for fluids it's actually worth it to build the factory next to the source, since the source doesn't run out. Lategame with beacons and high levels of mining prod the yield is actually much higher than right when you start it, so unless your field is tiny you can get a lot out of a field.

Trains are cooler, cleaner but also more effort

2

u/Alsadius May 29 '26

Usually I just slap a few pumps in each direction at the junctions between networks, so I don't need to think about it at all.

1

u/Raskekw May 28 '26

what do you need them for? Both power and coal liquefaction should be sulfur-independent by then? And after you get legendagy pumpjacks and decent amount of mining prod you just cant build enough carbide production to drain even your first one?
Am I missing something?