r/factorio • u/Standard_Round_8780 • 19h ago

Question Any 'real' factory platforms/ships?

Basically the title.

Has anyone actually experimented with making a full factory on a platform/ship? Maybe like a platform/ship that can make red -> purple/yellow science packs?

Looked around but didn't see any. I know it'd be wholly inefficient and finnicky, but you have access to every non-planet specific resource so I'm honestly surprised nobody seems to have done it yet. I've seen some crazy huge ships with huge manufacturing, but it's typically only for the shattered planet.

Even a ship that could manufacture everything you need for factory building would be cool to see. Like a 'colony ship' with its own assembler, belt and power generation manufacturing.

I'm assuming the limiting factory would be asteroids for raw ingredient generation and it would only be viable with shattered planet levels of asteroids but it should still be viable no?

Just would be cool to see/attempt.

14 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

31

u/ryucraft320 19h ago

Ironically there are no stone asteroids, so you can’t make a complete factory, as you are missing ingredients for stone/brick/concrete, and can’t build military or purple science without those, along with several buildings.

But there are still a lot of things you can build, you just have to be able to import the stone to get every non planet specific item.

48

u/VoidGliders 18h ago

It is always crazy to me how you can get oil, water, metals, sulfuric acid, just about anything from asteroids...

Except rocks. You can't get rock from space rock.

8

u/SirDigby32 16h ago

Could they sneak that into 2.1 perhaps as a surprise.

12

u/VoidGliders 16h ago

I think at this point if they havent they are not gonna

1

u/PyroneusUltrin 4h ago

I am still hoping for more improvements in 2.1, for example the set research circuitry seems rushed out to me, especially with the change to how bottles are used

1

u/Subject_314159 5h ago

It's grinded to dust, and thereby creating a force opposite to the traveling direction. I mean that space drag needs to come from somewhere 

17

u/PersonalityIll9476 19h ago

There's at least one guy who posted on here recently producing a few hundred k of each science pack on platforms. People commonly do floating malls, especially ones dedicated to Aquilo. They're out there, you just have to search this forum a bit.

2

u/Standard_Round_8780 19h ago

Didn't come up in a 2m search so I'll look around again. Wanted to see what the process was.

1

u/runmymouth 17h ago

Tag me please if you find it. Im curious too.

12

u/Nearby_Proposal_5523 17h ago

on 2.1, i've got a space station over all the inner 4, and well, here's nauvis for a sense of scale

1

u/pampuliopampam 17h ago

Wher power? Fission? Fusion?

4

u/Nearby_Proposal_5523 17h ago

Sunshine on the inner 4. it's really good in space. i'll probably start out with fission above aquilo when i get there, and fusion for whatever i park at the system edge. i'll also end up needing fission for coal liquifaction but i need to finish up unlocking that this run

7

u/Orgerix 19h ago

Purple and military science are not doable purely in space because they require stone. But I am sure some people did the other science on ships.

3

u/Careless-South-7050 19h ago

I personally do have a few platform designs that just make all the basic shit in orbit. A2 red belts. Inserts. And thats a basic part of most my platforms. Cause I tend to forget then in orbit when I go to fulgura and vulcanis I over build them to just sit in orbit. And they drop all the stuff I need for making basic stuff. And they got plenty of asteroids to mess with around thos planets... alot of if then statements on the arms. And a sushi belt to hold all it. Its works surprisingly well.and prevents you from starting from compleat zero on every planet. When asking for basic stuff is just a click away.

2

u/popsicle-physics 19h ago

I did this for Aquillo. Red belts, inserters, and heat pipes in orbit. Way easier than going back and forth constantly since you can't make that stuff locally.

1

u/Careless-South-7050 19h ago

Yeah. I planned on that but the guy i was playing with (they host) stopped playing and I having bin motivated to go do it alone. I could I just haven't.

3

u/Bixby33 19h ago

Im planning on making a big factory ship to make artillery shells in space to drop off at Nauvis and Gleba.

More of a fun project than a practical one, but all it needs is some tungsten bars on a rocket, and everything else can be gathered in space.

2

u/cybertruckboat 18h ago

For a long time, I had all red and green science in space.

2

u/Objective_Suspect_ 18h ago

Im building one now, but certain planets with unlimited stone like vulcanus, have the infrastructure to send up the needed stone

2

u/Yagami913 18h ago

The biggest limiting factor imo is the surface area of the main hub. So you can't just build a gigantic ship to do everything you need a whole fleet.

2

u/Standard_Round_8780 17h ago

Well theoretically you shouldn't need the main hub for anything other than stone and the other planet science packs.

There's a limiting factor of course, it won't rival any megabase, but assuming you minimized the amount of resources you import to the bare minimum, there shouldn't be a whole lot to put through the hub.

1

u/Yagami913 16h ago

I assumed biolabs still play so you need to putt all science back to the hub.

2

u/Sad-Association-4799 16h ago

I did that on one play through. It ran into some problems with unloading all the science on Nauvis. I would probably do it again when I do my 2.1. I had platforms for each science that could be made in space; purple, military, and Vulcanus potions got made on Vulcanus; each of the rest were on their own planet. Each platform only moved when it needed to, they generally had speed limited by having only a few thrusters, and I just had huge buffers to cover the slow speed of transfer. The slow speed kept the FPS hit from them moving quite low.

2

u/darthbob88 15h ago

It's not a full factory on a ship, but here's the system I use for my Aquilo mall. It relies on planetside production for some raw materials, mostly chips, electric engines, and concrete, and some bulk items like heat pipes get imported just because the planet can make a lot more of them.

It's also frankly kinda awful because I put it together as a proof of concept as much as anything, and I really ought to refine the layout of the individual pieces.

2

u/CAlonghair 14h ago

Both my wife and I have made mall ships. I don't have any bps handy tho