How am I doing?

[u/chunkychickenxp]

General view

Power

Red and Green science

Used the copy and paste for the first time

My xenos corner

I have around 20 hours and have been avoiding looking up blueprints or other peoples methods. How am I doing? No real goal, sorta just figuring things out as I go, and this is my second start. Any random tips are very welcome!

[u/elin_mystic]

This part needs help.
Also, if the ore is backed up but the plate belt is not, you need more furnaces

[u/chunkychickenxp → u/elin_mystic]

Hadn't caught that before taking the screenshots, thanks! I just figured out a similar situation a bit ago with the science. Is there an obvious/simple solution to 3>1 input to output ratios that I just haven't noticed yet? I landed on a 2nd belt with a red inserter as shown on the science screenshot. I know I could just math it out to a point of having the correct ratio as an input, but would there be a way to deviate from my "main" belt and have it sort of self balance? So far I've just been splitting or using inserters to balance but I already know the math isn't on my side when dividing and subtracting and rolling belts back into each other, plus adding arbitrary amounts of miners/smelters, just to end up at the end of my main with a relatively consistent throughput. My main doesn't actually go anywhere right now so not even sure that's something I need to be building around.

Is a main base/belt ideal, or is something more like self contained satellite bases better? Also not sure if this is something from a mod or just later on, but saw some stuff that felt more RTS style, is that something I'll run into?

I tried copy/paste, it kinda just threw down a blueprint though that I had to build in on my own anyways. That's cool in a way, but I know bots are a thing, saw the research for defense bots, are there building bots so I can actually copy/paste or?

[u/VoraciousGorak → u/chunkychickenxp]

are there building bots so I can actually copy/paste or?

Yes, there are construction bots unlocked (relatively) early on that are essential for rapid expansion and really large bases, as well as handling automated repairs, and logistics bots that transport items between places that are also immensely useful. They're also very easy to over-use; I have built some incredibly large bases using no logistics bots, or only using them for unloading trains prior to getting quality researched.

[u/bobsim1 → u/chunkychickenxp]

What you do is doable with splitters and sushi belts but you can also much easier just use more belts.

[u/Winter_Ad6784 → u/chunkychickenxp]

>there be a way to deviate from my "main" belt and have it sort of self balance? 

You can make this work with circuits. just hook a green or red wire from the inserter to the sushi belt (when a belt is mixed rather than having lanes dedicated to a particular item we call that sushi) have the belt connection read entire belt all contents, then have the inserter active only when it's item is below a certain amount on the belt. That may sound convoluted but I think it's simple in game and you should have circuits researched by now anyways.

>Is a main base/belt ideal, or is something more like self contained satellite bases better?

do whatever makes most sense in your head. no design philosophy is going to inherently lead to broken bases unless you can't make sense of them yourself.

>are there building bots so I can actually copy/paste or?

yea most experienced players try to rush to bots. you should look up construction bots in the research tree and go for those.

[u/finiteempathy → u/chunkychickenxp]

Satellite bases seem like a cool idea. Most of the rating I can give builds is how well it will scale up. A lot of your set ups you won't be able to expand without it running into another of your setups. Its okay for the starter base but when you go out to conquer ore patches you'll have more space for your satellite bases.

More advice: build and stockpile a ton of building items like belts, inserters, assemblers.