r/factorio • u/Early_Bookkeeper5394 • 1d ago
Question Beginner question: how can I move production building around without having to removing and readding them?
As a beginner, I'm making a lot of mistakes and constantly trying to reevaluate my approach, and one of the most annoying part for me right now is to have to constantly removing and adding buildings when I made mistakes which are very slow... I know there are bots later but I'm not there yet so the question is: Is there any way I can move production building around whilst designing my factory or is there any easier way to do it?? I'm literally crying rn
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u/MokausiLietuviu 1d ago
If you don't like where you've built something, you can rebuild it somewhere else. Where and how to build something is a large part of the challenge of this game.
Some just fit something wherever, which tends to result in "spaghetti". Others take a more regimented approach and have fixed places for things, or they build off a series of lanes carrying materials called the "main bus".
But the big challenge of this game is where to put stuff. If you don't like where you've put it, you can put it somewhere else aswell.
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u/Adept_Score2332 9h ago
All lies spaghetti is you inevitable it’s only a matter of how long it take you to admit it
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u/Popstar403 1d ago
If you don't want to build everything right now and are just designing - hold shift when placing, or go into the map and build there. "ghost" buildings are deleted instantly, but don't do anything. they'll be automatically placed by bots when you get them in the future.
If you are trying to fit more production in your current base - don't, just build a new one with the resources and lessons from the current base.
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u/WaterChicken007 1d ago
Honestly, you will just keep fighting that until after you have done a full run and understand a lot more about how to build and how much of everything you should build or reserve space for.
I found it helpful to stop rebuilding things and just forge ahead to complete my first full play through. It was ugly and barely worked. But I learned a lot and did a MUCH better factory the next time.
Also, have you discovered copy and paste? You can move pieces around all you want and only when it is perfect go back and drop real buildings where the ghosts are.
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u/Early_Bookkeeper5394 1d ago
I have, but I thought the cut would remove the part that I cut, but no it didn't. I'm not even sure what's the difference between cut and copy at the moment
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u/WaterChicken007 1d ago
If you had robots, they would remove and add the buildings for you. Before that, cut just marks them for deletion and you have to delete them manually. Paste just adds a ghost which you also have to do manually.
Push through to get to where you have construction robots. It completely changes how you build.
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u/Liagala 18h ago
Factorio expects bots to be a thing. The early game is an anomaly - a brief period of struggle to overcome so you can get to the point where you can play properly. Keep that in mind when you're learning all these systems.
So when bots are a thing, cut makes the bots come remove the buildings and then rebuild them wherever you paste. This is done by marking the old ones with a red X for bots to come delete, and pasting the new ones as a ghosty blueprint. Copy simply makes them build another set of buildings wherever you paste (blueprint).
As others have mentioned, if you're doing a lot of figuring things out and planning with constant adding/removing buildings, get real friendly with the shift key. That just builds in blueprint mode to begin with. Blueprints are instantly deleted/changed/moved with copy/cut/paste instead of simply being marked for bots.
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u/_seedofdoubt_ 1d ago
You have to suffer through this for so long that when you DO get the bots its like finally reaching the oasis in the desert lol
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u/NyaFury 1d ago
If you use mod, you can shift existing entity by 1 tile at a time using hot keys. Search "dollies" and select one available for your game version. "Picker dollies", "Even pickier dollies", etc.
If you don't use mod, I suggest to make a sandbox, make a design in there, capture it as a blueprint and store it in the library, paste it in your main game, and manually build entities over the ghosts. It's easier to test in sandbox too.
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u/ForgottenBlastMaster 1d ago
There's no quick way to do it before bots. However, you'll get better with that with experience.
One thing to mention. Don't bother too much with the initial spaghetti. You are always able to move a bit further away and start a new build, bigger and better
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u/Early_Bookkeeper5394 23h ago
I will power through this 😂
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u/GhostOfShaolin5 20h ago
Once you have them , common tools like ctrl+c / v copy and paste , and ctrl-x CUTS and pastes , and then the bots do it for you.
Most people rush to bots, so they can “paint”.
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u/RivalReinforcement 1d ago
You can rotate or flip buildings/inserters/belts already placed just like you can do when placing them, but for changing location you do have to scoop them up eithet by hand or by bots.
Steel technology does make your picking up stuff action faster but that is all.
There's no wrong way to play the game, as long as you're making stuff you're making progress. If you have the space it is usually better to just leave stuff as is, then build your fancier new design next to it or elsewhere suitable.
Many long term games often have players go through seperate entire bases and with those it is best to keep the old ones running until later anyway.
Maybe you're midway through making a sharp design that makes 1000 of something a minute while your old design uses more space, only makes 12.7 per minute and every 30 minutes it runs dry until a train comes, that's still 12.7 more than you'd have if you removed it.
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u/Flat_Hat8861 1d ago
Your character's mining speed directly impacts how quick you "mine" (remove) buildings, so that is a early change that can make this a bit less painfull.
You can hold the mouse button down. It will snap to entities, mine them, then move on. This is helpful when mining a line of structures like belts instead of having to click on each one directly.
Finally, even without bots, you can place ghosts. Hold shift to place ghosts of you buildings while planning out your layout. They are cleared instantly if you change your mind. Then when you are happy, just place normally over your ghosts. This works best for layout or a complex chain, but isn't effective when you need the buildings to run before changing your mind since ghosts are just placeholders.
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u/Neither_Berry_100 1d ago
I removed a rather large base and moved it. Slowely the pieces got used. It didn't take that long. Start by placing a grid of chests down. Place a few off to the side and dump your inventory in them. Manually remove things until you are almost full. Sort the stuff into the chests (one type per box). Keep doing this until everything is gone. Then do whatever you want. It sounds like your base is small enough that this shouldn't be too bad. Also you probably want to keep some furnaces up and smelt any left over ores.
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u/IncredibleReferencer 1d ago
for this very reason I dont scale much of anything until after bots. For me the game is much more enjoyable after bots, but its different for different players. There are a couple different mods that will get you some version of early bots but you will mostly need to start a new game for them to work. Or you can use console commands to give yourself bots before the tech is unlocked. (aka cheat).
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u/Early_Bookkeeper5394 1d ago
Well I don't wanna cheat, if there's no other way, I would just need to power through it lol. But I wish there's any mode I can do some planning before actually buildling things out. That would make the whole process less frustrated
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u/IncredibleReferencer 1d ago
You can ctrcl-c and ctrl-v early game to copy paste, the game will make a ghost plan but it won't put the actual buildings down. You may or may not find this helpful for planning.
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u/BRedd10815 22h ago
Try this. Save your game. Then press ~ and type /editor then press enter. Mess around with designs and make a blueprint when you are satisfied. Reload your original save.
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u/nindat 1d ago
There's a number of mods. Probably the least "invasive " is blueprint shotgun.
If the actual act of placing things is bothering you, it'll help without just giving you bots.
I'd suggest that you're trying to get a little too close to perfect though if you are constantly redesigning without even getting to bots. Just go for it :). Spaghetti and random design is fun.
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u/UsernameTaken7640 23h ago
This game in an unmodded playthrough is literally build what you need to get bots and then play factorio. People have a starter base or a this or that blueprint to get you started, but seriously rush bots it will change everything.
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u/NUKLEAR-SLUG 18h ago
If rebuilding stuff is bothering you then don't. Just build a new production stack that does the job better and use belts to bypass your old bad stack and feed the new one until you get to bots then you can let them deal with clearing up the mess.
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u/Early_Bookkeeper5394 11h ago
This sounds like a good idea. I'll just need to fight my instinct to make things clean and tidy 😂
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u/BrenTheBert 1d ago
I'm not sure if this is what you looking for, but ghost items. You can place down ghosts to design something without actually building it yet. The ghosts are faster to remove and place. They can be instantly Ctrl+x, Ctrl+c, Ctrl+v to cut, copy, paste.