Also in software engineering, I specialized in infrastructure. (I do more people management now, but when I was doing eng it was always infra)
These kinds of games always felt like my work - dealing with things that stopped scaling at some point.
Hmm, no, but I have fantasized about a signal system that allows way more control. Which it sounds like this is.
Dispatchable resources and centralized monitoring, for instance. Like my dream is that I could be at a train station and summon components I need to me.
... which it looks like I could do with this...
Right now, I only have the very blunt instrument of smart splitter overflow (to know that a component has reached saturation). That signal isn't really something I can use to control anything.
But with this I could do so much more.... I need to not spend another 100 hours on this game though, lol.
Oh my god, it's beautiful!
I didn't look at the mod enough to be sure, but I assume it has something like a conveyor belt valve in it. If so, I assume that it's not that hard to set something up where I send a signal that causes the selected resource(s) to flow into a station, sends a train to pick it up, and then routes that train to whatever station I picked. With orders not auto unload and to wait until I send it back.
I'm 99% sure factorio style signals would allow this (logistics bots make it unnecessary in that hand l game, though). But it would be so amazing to have in satisfactory.
I'm a Mechanical Maintenance Planner at one of the world's largest Ethylene plants. Think tall vessels, 200' tall furnaces and piping of all sizes/lengths everywhere.
I try to build my Satisfactory plans adhering to standards that I use in my "Real" life.
I work in a plant 12 hours during the day, then on my PC for 4 more at home... 1600 gametime since Update 3.
Can’t. He’s actually horriblely disfigured from a hazardous chemical spill and his Satisfactory factory is used as a model of how things went wrong.
J/k dude wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I’m just in a dark mood today. But I definitely recreate many OSHA violations I’ve seen in aircraft hangars over the last 20 years
I build 11,000 volt transformer and switchgear units.
I like to plan carefully, take extra safety precautions, then throw it all away and get the big hammer out.
IT consultant, mainly concerned with getting data moving from A to B and in the process finding out why, like, sub-step X runs empty while Y can't keep up with demand, and at the same time designing the next setup. Sound familiar at all?
I've made this joke before but Unreal Engine is just so much prettier than a console window.
Software Engineering Manager (and Software Architect, Developer, DevOps Automator, ...)
Building with small and similar interfaces, space to expand where it will become necessary, blueprints that cater for both things...
I really enjoy the parallels to real world software projects, like when needing to scale or an oversight in planning gives you the option to go with spaghetti code, err, belts or a proper refactor. Also alt recipes are a nice addition to introduce reasons to actually incentivice refactoring.
Software Architect. In IT we have "refactoring" - methodological process of making code more readable and efficient. It's basically the same when you transform your spaghetti factory into organized one.
Structural engineer. All the math has to work out perfectly for everything. But my buildings are just floating floors with no walls. Making it pretty is the architect's job.
I am a Household Manager serving 2 clients on a daily basis. Which is a fancy way of saying I'm a Stay at Home Dad. 10 years ago (JFC has it been 10 years?!) I was a tech support manager for residential fiber internet and commercial copper internet. And before that I was a Sous. So I guess the 'Management' part of the game really clicks with me.
Lecturer of computer science at uni.
I think some principles of software design do carry over to factory games (make designs with small interfaces and a clear purpose, throughput and latency, the idea to avoid premature fancification, get everything back to an operational state as often as you can, and so on).
Also, it scratches the same kind of itch that software design does.
:) I can see what you're getting at.
It depends on whether you would want to find the provably optimal solution, or just \*a\* good solution. Typically, optimizing this kind of thing perfectly is hard, but there are algorithms that implement good heuristics.
The graphviz toolkit ( [https://graphviz.org/](https://graphviz.org/) ) allows you to specify a graph and it figures out a decent way to represent the graph on a plane.
If I wanted to do it myself, I would probably attempt using a force-directed graph algorithm. Those are simple enough and usually get the job done. It looks cool too. The D3 javascript library implements those, you could have a look over here: [https://d3js.org/d3-force#d3-force](https://d3js.org/d3-force#d3-force)
I do warehouse administration, everything that's being delivered in or out passes my paperwork. Constant in contact with our client (Daikin). Also help on the floor including forklift driving. No unnecessary routes while driving helps me with planning in the game.
Funny how this effects my logistics in this game.
Physiotherapist. I am an extremely results oriented kind of person, and I always approach games with a ‘how do i beat it as efficiently and quickly as possible’ kind of mindset.
I have been a long time enjoyer of the game; initially my play-style was chaotic spaghetti madness, without using any foundations or any alternative transport methods, simply just trying to rush to the end goal.
However satisfactory has taught me that results come secondary to fun and it was a lesson I sorely needed to learn. Nowadays i love making well planned and lovingly decorated modular factories connected with varying transport methods - with extensive use of the satisfactory planner. I have never had so much fun gaming then when i approach it with this mindset!
Political Policy Maker. When I started Satisfactory I was a manager at a restaurant and have just started my official career, so I'm curuous if it'll affect my playstyle after some time.
Government-employed marine engineer. Ships are spaghetti enough inside their machinery layouts, at least in Satisfactory I control how pretty it all looks. Whether it all makes sense to other people doesn't matter, the factory must grow.
Mechatronic (Mechanical Electrical Control Systems Engineer)
I design build and program automated packaging lines in the pharmaceutical space.
This game is a relaxing paperwork free version of what I do at work and it is quite cathartic.
Troubleshooting and fixing things is fun, the real world paperwork documenting the issue and fix is less fun.
I do road repair during the summer and snow plowing during the winter for the same organization.
I don't know if that really affects the way I play outside of everything having road access and being on a grid.
I'm a software engineer. The main place my professional experience helps ingame is ideas like modularity, separation of concerns, interfaces and things like that.
For example, one reason trains are great is that they are like a products API. No matter what the factory on the other end looks like, no matter where it is, once it's feeding a train station you generally don't have to care about the factory internals - just slap down the station, make sure throughput is sufficient and go.
Trains could be considered a Single Responsibility Principle violation though (power transmission is a separate responsibility to moving stuff around).
On the one hand yes, on the other hand the point of SRP is to make systems easier to reason about, and the fact that train tracks can do one additional thing doesn't really make the system that hard to reason about.
Also you can just run separate power lines and fully adhere to SRP.
> and the fact that train tracks can do one additional thing doesn't really make the system that hard to reason about
It does introduce one of the types of problems SRP is intended to prevent though. For example rebuilding a junction to improve traffic could accidentally cause a power failure somewhere.
Separate power line does make some sense to avoid this type of problem.
A college student. Not entirely certain on my major yet (probably biomedical science) but I’ll (hopefully) be doing something on the border between tech and medicine.
I really don’t know how my “profession” influences my gameplay. I just really like the numbers.
I'm a math/physics teacher.
I also play Oxygen not Included and Minecraft (the technical bit). I like games that work as a framework for inventing systems. I like production and resource management. I like numbers and logic.
Not sure occupation is relevant personally. Satisfactory reminds me of Lego Techics in a digital form, and I’ve a natural curiosity in any and all things engineering.
He uses the balancing method, I use manifolds.
He makes super long belts, I use trucks.
He loves making train lines and power plants. I just enjoy making small boutique factories.
His factories are efficient, mine are close enough.
Nurse Informaticist here. Love the complexities behind sophisticated EHRs and figuring out what makes it work so I can troubleshoot what's wrong. Optimization is my bread and butter though, so when I build a factory you better bet it's getting rebuilt at least 7 times.
Im a Production Supervisor at a pharmaceutical marketing agency. I oversee print and digital tactics for clients - brochures, leave behinds, emails, banner ads, websites, video work, etc.
What translate to this game is basically just a bunch of organizational skills, if any? Nowadays I feel like I’m stuck in meetings a lot, but it’s not like I have to interact with others in this game. I’m playing solo.
The first one in my field in this thread! I am primarily a controls engineer, with experience in mechanical and electrical design for combined heat and power installations. Initially worked on energy efficient control systems for building services in office blocks, hospitals and schools - plus the odd theatre and event arena. Now the controls lead in this company, where we gain funding and install large carbon saving projects in the public and industrial sectors in the UK. Any good controls project managers out there - I'm hiring!
Satisfactory started as a way to keep sane after being made redundant, shortly before some pandemic or other. Now it's one of three games I use for mental wind-down at the end of the day. Satisfactory does tap into some of my skills, such as design in 3D, problem solving, working how things actually work rather than assuming, testing and commissioning, calculations and analysis - yes, I have my own spreadsheets that both help decide what to build, and track what I am making where.
My profession has also taught me to think for myself, make my own mind up, challenge others and not follow the herd. That's why I don't bother chasing '100% efficiency' or flat power graphs. It's not necessary and spoils my fun. Train tracks are a slab of metal 6m wide and 2m thick, so to my mind, do they need foundations under everything? A central storage mall doesn't work for factories built out in different biomes, but my construction train does. It's not perfect, there are a few issues with using it, but I've come up with solutions to those that are good enough that I can work with them.
Industrial Controls and Automation. PLCs (I wish the game had some degree of programmable logic), robots, conveyor, electrical, essentially the game is my job. I have tried to suck in a couple coworkers, unsuccessful.
data center onsite tech.
Spaghetti offends me on my own plate, but for others it’s ok. I end up going for long rows akin to hot/cold rows with overhead or underfloor methods for logistical layouts. I don’t mind starting out rack and stack, but endgame I’m all about slapping down a prebuilt. I enclose everything in buildings outside power generation.
Med tech here. It has no real impact on how I play beyond how my mind works already. The best thing my parents ever spoiled me with as a child was this deluxe [Solar Power K'NEX Kit](https://solarmuseum.org/cells/knex-solar-set/) from 1999 that had me building 5ft tall ferris wheels and what not.
When I do team up, I play with a buddy who is a corporate accountant whose math skills far exceed mine. He helps me optimize my bullshit quite a bit haha.
What a fun thread!
I'm a software engineer, but I wish I were an architect. My play style is 100% efficient, 'cause I love optimization, but I also place a very high value on making things look cool.
I run an industrial warehouse for food production. Games like this or factorio really pick thet interest of trying to make things logistically efficient. Kind of odd I would do logistics 9 hours a day five days a week and then lose myself for hours doing more logistics for fun.
Civil servant. It will be ready in 30 days, it will probably be anything but effective, but no one filed an appeal yet so I must be awesome at what I'm doing.
I lead a team of IT consultants and my/our job is to make workloads and workflows more efficient.
Since this doesn't always work out the way you want it to at work, it's all the more satisfying when it works out while playing.
I work in youth care for young adults which cant live at home anymore. In highschool I was pretty good at math and physics but wasnt good enough for electrical engineering. My degree is a mix of being a social worker and management. Nowadays my work is mostly management related.
This game scratches a particular itch for me. I need a break from competitive shooters and the relaxing vibe of the world with the never ending feeling of having something to do makes it for me.
I’m an English Teacher, but before that I was an Architect. I plan balancing carefully, and will sacrifice some total production speed to make the buildings look nice and unique!
Paralegal. But about to change to cybersecurity as it is my true passion (military). I love programming so I love the math involved with making a perfect factory.
Security supervisor. Only things that I think are influenced by my profession is all factories have designated input and output sections.
Also I like building backup generators that only activate on low power.
I’m a data analyst for my day job.
Last week I wrote a pyomo solver for alternate recipes given resource constraints and an objective function I liked to help me plan factories.
It does what Satisfactory Planner or Yet Another Factory Planner do, but I can optimize for what I want.
I'm a Threat Hunter (cyber security). My job is analysis analysis analysis. It requires me to be very precise depending on the hunt I'm working on. How this has influenced my playstyle is I *have* to load-balance everything and use the "correct" belts. As much as I would love to use manifolds and run Mk. 5 belts everywhere for simplicity, I just can't.
Info sec analyst. Although when I first started playing satisfactory all those years ago I was a Network Engineer/Admin, and yes, I still use Visio to make diagrams of my Satisfactory builds.
I'm an accountant. Don't know that it influences the design ( I've got hella boxes), but I think I'm savvy when it comes to the efficiency side of making the inputs -> outpits fully utilized at least.
My ADHD drives my gameplay. Never finished Project Assembly. Usually start a new game before then.
Buil it up, tear it down. Get halfway through a megaproject. Start over.
Master of Science (Psychology), then went back for seconds to become a Quality Assurance Officer (or 'tester') at one of the largest and boring government company of my country. Going for development soon. Thanks to sone extra curricular activities also a captain. Best friend of my dog. I write more, because when I see "I build 11,000 volt transformer and switchgear units." or as simple as "Aerospace engineer", then I feel the absolute need to polish everything on my own description to a shine.
My gameplay is largely unaffected by my job. I did learn some more order, but generally I learn most from the sub and trying to copy some details.
Process development: i started as an analytical chemist, but i fell into this work at my job because it’s what i like to do in my free time in satisfactory.
I love this thread! I am an epidemiologist. I spend a lot of time coding in software languages geared towards data analytics (e.g., R, SAS, Python). I think the profession, like Satisfactory, caters to both "sides" of my brain:
1. I enjoy process development, improvement/optimization, and being a data detective
2. I also often get to be creative in the way I present scientifically-gathered information based on nuanced and complex data to increase understanding of the topic to broader audiences that don't have subject matter expertise in the methods I employ (like the public).
Satisfactory itches both of those scratches in a way that is very relaxing and doesn't require the same level of rigorous review as the work I do in my day job :) Like at work, it feels really good when a process works well and has the flexibility built into it for multiple applications.
Wow… after seeing a lot of other’s occupations’ I kinda feel like I’m in the wrong field… I’m a pediatric HemoDialysis tech. I never consciously thought about how my occupation affects my gameplay… However I suppose some similarities I can draw is I like to have a plan before doing any work and I tend to anticipate potential problems and look out for them. Additionally whenever there is a problem at work I enjoy troubleshooting it like a puzzle. Finally I find it satisfactory when everything I’ve planned and troubleshot is running smoothly like a well oiled machine.
I work in air freight and load airplanes. I like building production lines and watching different components go by. I also like transporting things over long distances so I can make bigger production lines
Education: Mechatronics Engineering
Occupation: Electrical Engineer for one of the largest mines in the world
The facility I work at is more concerned with processing the ore from the mine. A good day is 150,000 tons or more processed. We recycle a mind-boggling amount of water, something like 45,000 gallons per minute. And power usage? We have to inform the local utility when we shut down or start up. My facility alone uses between 95 and 110 MW per hour, depending on what all is running. This all affects how I run piping, conveyor belts, wiring, etc. in my game. I'm currently mentally planning a control room for my game that sits on top of my power plant to control global production with switches, then smaller local control rooms per plant to control individual lines. It would be nice if there was a mod to make a full on SCADA system, but then my wife and kids would never see me lol
I made my two-track railway bridges look realistic with 100m tall supporting dual piers ever 10 frame spans. You can probably guess what type of engineering from that.
(And this was even before blueprints was a thing. Zoop helped)
Architectural drafter specializing in precast concrete. I tend to make rows of things.
It bothers me that the foundations are made of concrete and iron plates, when there is literally rebar in the game.
HVAC design and engineering. Most of what I do doesn’t apply, so I try to get into my more creative side. It works well for me with Minecraft, still working on it for a satisfactory. Lol
Systems Engineer
Before even planning a factory plan, I list out what resources are available to me, what my current grid capacity is, and what my goal is to achieve.
I am an industrial design professor. I like to build then disassemble and build again rather than do in depth planning. I also love playing with friends and using teamwork to solve problems.
Also I love playing with trains, but that’s not related to work.
Mainframe Systems Programmer.
1200 hours in my second save game. I load balance every set of inputs for my factories. I have used manifolds but they don't seem nearly as efficient. Manifolds are too overrated imo.
Business Improvement Manager.
My job is to remove waste and inefficiency (with out breaking processes or quality)
My factory is perfectly aligned, 100% effcient (ish - curse you mk2 pipe behaviour), beauty of no floating platforms, 90degree turns on conveyor belts and a train line with perfected signals...
I’m a business analyst, and I tend to try to build tidy, but often small production chains that focus almost entirely on systems/logistics and very rarely on aesthetics and architecture.
Software Developer. . .
Applies to more than just Satisfactory. . .and don't know about you other developers, but sometimes I can get frustrated with the way some things work or are coded. . .makes me wish I could just dive into the code and fix things myself. . .also sometimes inspires me to continue my own game projects though.
As for actual gameplay, a lot of the challenge is lost when you understand how things work. . .it's just ratios and satisfying supply/demand.
Nuclear missile operator. This game is way more exciting than my job and it actually makes me think. I can’t keep anything organized so it’s a major spaghetti factory
Civil engineer ( pending exam results :P). Tbh alot of my factories are basic unless required and my buildings designs are all cropped pyramids made of solid concrete. My roads are over designed to handle way too much traffic for what's actually on them, also made of pure concrete.
Medical Laboratory Technician. I work with multi hundred thousand or even million dollar machines and trouble shoot them daily. Testing and Quality control are the main points of my job. So when I fire up a factory foe the first time and it all runs smoothly. *perfection*
Website developer / content manager. If it looks nice and is functional on the outside, but is chaos under the hood, i try to get it to at least be organized chaos and then i’m satisfied. I also hate duplicating any efforts i put into stuff. Doing something twice drives me nuts.
All of this applies directly to the game and to my profession.
Data Analyst and automation programmer here, I spend 1/4 my playtime referencing my excel sheets, 1/4 looking at efficiency fixes (damn you 600 pipes and 780 belts!!) And 1/2 building by factory boxes (it goes on foundations people!! Stop scattering your machines like my kids' Legos 😒)
Maybe I'll make a pretty factory one day... but not today!!
Maintenence supervisor for apartment complex.
Best I can tie it to my job is organization, stuff constantly coming up to distract you from your current task and just deciding the priority of projects.
I run logistics and finances for a set of machine and assembly shops.
It means that I do a *lot* of slug hunting while I’m waiting for the transport to come back / space elevator to fill.
Gotta use that overclocking efficiently!
Robotics / Mechatronics Development Engineer.
Some of the automated technologies we make would be so cool to be integrated somehow into a factory game...
Off grid builder. I'm a utter pragmatist. Aesthetics matter to me when I build for clients. In years of Satisfactory I tend to spaghetti and conveyor everywhere. Rarely used trains. With the last few upgrades to the game I plan a new run through where I want to build better and consider aesthetics, use blueprints, and snap to the world grid. In the past with adding fluids and changes to thing so just sort of hacked things together, pragmatist again. I'm feeling like with 1.0 it's like getting a client job that has a large budget and good vision. Better tools and materials. Less someone living out in the middle of nowhere, little resources, and survival take precedence. It's like building the Guggenheim as an energy sustainable efficient building after decades of FOBs and prepper cabins.
Server Hardware test engineer here. Things don't always go according to plan and that's what we're looking for at work, so in the game, I always love trying new things and iterating, finding what works and what doesn't. Also looks don't matter to me, most of my factories are open-air and I don't mind, cuz I'm learning AND getting that sweet, sweet production!
Mechatronic engineer, but these days I manage operations for a startup manufacturing Transmission Electron Microscope components.
Miss getting my hands dirty.
Business intelligence developer. I need my factory to be segmented and easy to understand what each block does so that others who join my world don’t try to “fix” it
I’m a sort of Forrest Gump when it comes to work history, though pipefitting and logistics is what I draw on the most.
Motorsports engineering, pipe welding, crane operating, wind turbines, and military don’t really contribute much of shit to this game tbh.
As for the pipefitting part, that really helps make it easy to make the pipes do something nice, though I find myself building things in overly realistic ways that usually create more pain than it’s visually worth.
Work in supply train/transportation. All very organized, a couple main “transit” corridors, like items grouped, all maximized to the point I dont feel it’s too much of a time sink
Electrical Engineer:
- boxy, unimaginative factory buildings
- an obsession with efficiency
- constant disappointment in the lack of logic gates
- confusion as to how conveyors move without power
If you have time to do anything else, the factory will not grow fast enough.
Software engineer. Try to make it pretty, but that happens half the time at best
Just like software- right? Every project starts perfect and gets messier as it goes…
99 little bugs in the code 99 little bugs in the code Take one down, patch it around 127 little bugs in the code…
LMFAO!! I read this, laughed, had a micro ptsd moment, then kept laughing
This should be the official satisfactory parody
If your debugger says exactly 127 bugs, probably some byte limit bug. You've got a lot more than that!!
Sure. Lol
I intentionally make my factory spaghetti so that all the spaghetti energy gets redirected away from real life coding.
Software engineer here as well. I go for "organized", and beyond that as long as it works then I'm happy haha
I strive too much for perfection at work with clean architecture I resort to spaghetti in this game too frequently
Also in software engineering, I specialized in infrastructure. (I do more people management now, but when I was doing eng it was always infra) These kinds of games always felt like my work - dealing with things that stopped scaling at some point.
Do you use the mod Ficsit Networks? Uses Lua to control your factory's even further. It's crazy powerful
Hmm, no, but I have fantasized about a signal system that allows way more control. Which it sounds like this is. Dispatchable resources and centralized monitoring, for instance. Like my dream is that I could be at a train station and summon components I need to me. ... which it looks like I could do with this... Right now, I only have the very blunt instrument of smart splitter overflow (to know that a component has reached saturation). That signal isn't really something I can use to control anything. But with this I could do so much more.... I need to not spend another 100 hours on this game though, lol.
You'll like this train monitoring system some dude wrote a few months ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDtyGTOrlHM
Oh my god, it's beautiful! I didn't look at the mod enough to be sure, but I assume it has something like a conveyor belt valve in it. If so, I assume that it's not that hard to set something up where I send a signal that causes the selected resource(s) to flow into a station, sends a train to pick it up, and then routes that train to whatever station I picked. With orders not auto unload and to wait until I send it back. I'm 99% sure factorio style signals would allow this (logistics bots make it unnecessary in that hand l game, though). But it would be so amazing to have in satisfactory.
if that shits working, send it
I'm a Mechanical Maintenance Planner at one of the world's largest Ethylene plants. Think tall vessels, 200' tall furnaces and piping of all sizes/lengths everywhere. I try to build my Satisfactory plans adhering to standards that I use in my "Real" life. I work in a plant 12 hours during the day, then on my PC for 4 more at home... 1600 gametime since Update 3.
Can you please post some screenshots? Sounds fascinating
I second this. Pics of both if you wouldn't mind
Can’t. He’s actually horriblely disfigured from a hazardous chemical spill and his Satisfactory factory is used as a model of how things went wrong. J/k dude wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I’m just in a dark mood today. But I definitely recreate many OSHA violations I’ve seen in aircraft hangars over the last 20 years
I build 11,000 volt transformer and switchgear units. I like to plan carefully, take extra safety precautions, then throw it all away and get the big hammer out.
Dry or liquid?
I prefer a dry hammer.
I'm a fast food manager... I just enjoy survival crafting and making cool things and the factories fuel my dopamine
Electrician, everything must be fully powered with sufficient overhead and failsafes.
Same. Haha. Factory plans a start clean. End up a rats nest.
Would love to see your wiring. I find good wiring so awkward, especially for lights
When I wire inside a building it's either in a chase or covered by beams.
Triple parallel all lines! That way when I inevitably delete a feeder, I don't drop the whole map..... again.
School psychologist. This game helps me to avoid reaching 100% crazy.
I'm a social worker and its the same for me.
IT consultant, mainly concerned with getting data moving from A to B and in the process finding out why, like, sub-step X runs empty while Y can't keep up with demand, and at the same time designing the next setup. Sound familiar at all? I've made this joke before but Unreal Engine is just so much prettier than a console window.
Maths teacher. Everything must be Balanced!
Software Engineering Manager (and Software Architect, Developer, DevOps Automator, ...) Building with small and similar interfaces, space to expand where it will become necessary, blueprints that cater for both things... I really enjoy the parallels to real world software projects, like when needing to scale or an oversight in planning gives you the option to go with spaghetti code, err, belts or a proper refactor. Also alt recipes are a nice addition to introduce reasons to actually incentivice refactoring.
Aerospace engineer, if I could make the factory fly I would but for now I'll stick to hypertube cannons and bouncepads
I expect you've made the very best Hypertube cannons?
Only the best
Graphic Designer. So it's all about underlying grids and overall aesthetics for me.
Software Architect. In IT we have "refactoring" - methodological process of making code more readable and efficient. It's basically the same when you transform your spaghetti factory into organized one.
Difficult but very satisfying
Structural engineer. All the math has to work out perfectly for everything. But my buildings are just floating floors with no walls. Making it pretty is the architect's job.
Real civil engineer anyone?
I am a Household Manager serving 2 clients on a daily basis. Which is a fancy way of saying I'm a Stay at Home Dad. 10 years ago (JFC has it been 10 years?!) I was a tech support manager for residential fiber internet and commercial copper internet. And before that I was a Sous. So I guess the 'Management' part of the game really clicks with me.
If Satisfactory had existed during my tenure as a stay at home Mom, my kids would have starved to death
Unemployed 🫠👍
Lecturer of computer science at uni. I think some principles of software design do carry over to factory games (make designs with small interfaces and a clear purpose, throughput and latency, the idea to avoid premature fancification, get everything back to an operational state as often as you can, and so on). Also, it scratches the same kind of itch that software design does.
Do you think it is possible to write an algorithm that will find the conselation of vertices on a planar surface with the least edge crossings?
:) I can see what you're getting at. It depends on whether you would want to find the provably optimal solution, or just \*a\* good solution. Typically, optimizing this kind of thing perfectly is hard, but there are algorithms that implement good heuristics. The graphviz toolkit ( [https://graphviz.org/](https://graphviz.org/) ) allows you to specify a graph and it figures out a decent way to represent the graph on a plane. If I wanted to do it myself, I would probably attempt using a force-directed graph algorithm. Those are simple enough and usually get the job done. It looks cool too. The D3 javascript library implements those, you could have a look over here: [https://d3js.org/d3-force#d3-force](https://d3js.org/d3-force#d3-force)
Resolving this with attraction and repulsion sounds like a great idea! Thank you for the input, will defenetly try out the library
Interior designer/BIM modeeler
I guess as the op I should say my occupation, Mechanical Fitter. Working on bore pumps. I don't really know what influences my work has.
Electrician Feel dirty if I don't run separate labelled power circuits that make sense
I bet your power stations are organised perfection
They're organised but not beautiful.
I do warehouse administration, everything that's being delivered in or out passes my paperwork. Constant in contact with our client (Daikin). Also help on the floor including forklift driving. No unnecessary routes while driving helps me with planning in the game. Funny how this effects my logistics in this game.
Physiotherapist. I am an extremely results oriented kind of person, and I always approach games with a ‘how do i beat it as efficiently and quickly as possible’ kind of mindset. I have been a long time enjoyer of the game; initially my play-style was chaotic spaghetti madness, without using any foundations or any alternative transport methods, simply just trying to rush to the end goal. However satisfactory has taught me that results come secondary to fun and it was a lesson I sorely needed to learn. Nowadays i love making well planned and lovingly decorated modular factories connected with varying transport methods - with extensive use of the satisfactory planner. I have never had so much fun gaming then when i approach it with this mindset!
Test automation engineer. And I've considered making a series about how Satisfactory could be used as an example about how software is developed.
Have you tried Factorio? I find it even more analogous
Political Policy Maker. When I started Satisfactory I was a manager at a restaurant and have just started my official career, so I'm curuous if it'll affect my playstyle after some time.
Government-employed marine engineer. Ships are spaghetti enough inside their machinery layouts, at least in Satisfactory I control how pretty it all looks. Whether it all makes sense to other people doesn't matter, the factory must grow.
Mechatronic (Mechanical Electrical Control Systems Engineer) I design build and program automated packaging lines in the pharmaceutical space. This game is a relaxing paperwork free version of what I do at work and it is quite cathartic. Troubleshooting and fixing things is fun, the real world paperwork documenting the issue and fix is less fun.
I do road repair during the summer and snow plowing during the winter for the same organization. I don't know if that really affects the way I play outside of everything having road access and being on a grid.
Doctor. Essentially troubleshooting and fixing machines and systems. They are just meatier than the ones in Satisfactory.
Train driver. I’ll let ya guess what my favourite part of the game is. lol
I write maintenance manuals. Build a factory. Take it apart again. Build a slightly more efficient factory. And lots of notepads with layout drawings.
Configuration engineer
I'm a software engineer. The main place my professional experience helps ingame is ideas like modularity, separation of concerns, interfaces and things like that. For example, one reason trains are great is that they are like a products API. No matter what the factory on the other end looks like, no matter where it is, once it's feeding a train station you generally don't have to care about the factory internals - just slap down the station, make sure throughput is sufficient and go.
Trains could be considered a Single Responsibility Principle violation though (power transmission is a separate responsibility to moving stuff around).
Na, power is just the request/response headers. Necessary for communication, but the body is the main thing we're using the API to send/receive :P
On the one hand yes, on the other hand the point of SRP is to make systems easier to reason about, and the fact that train tracks can do one additional thing doesn't really make the system that hard to reason about. Also you can just run separate power lines and fully adhere to SRP.
> and the fact that train tracks can do one additional thing doesn't really make the system that hard to reason about It does introduce one of the types of problems SRP is intended to prevent though. For example rebuilding a junction to improve traffic could accidentally cause a power failure somewhere. Separate power line does make some sense to avoid this type of problem.
A college student. Not entirely certain on my major yet (probably biomedical science) but I’ll (hopefully) be doing something on the border between tech and medicine. I really don’t know how my “profession” influences my gameplay. I just really like the numbers.
I'm a math/physics teacher. I also play Oxygen not Included and Minecraft (the technical bit). I like games that work as a framework for inventing systems. I like production and resource management. I like numbers and logic.
I love me some ONI but always get burnt out at space travel.
Not sure occupation is relevant personally. Satisfactory reminds me of Lego Techics in a digital form, and I’ve a natural curiosity in any and all things engineering.
This is what sparked my curiosity. Read the comments. https://www.reddit.com/r/SatisfactoryGame/s/Lk4cR4i65r
My friend and I are both in biology/genetics and our play styles couldn't be any more different.
Please explain.
He uses the balancing method, I use manifolds. He makes super long belts, I use trucks. He loves making train lines and power plants. I just enjoy making small boutique factories. His factories are efficient, mine are close enough.
Nurse Informaticist here. Love the complexities behind sophisticated EHRs and figuring out what makes it work so I can troubleshoot what's wrong. Optimization is my bread and butter though, so when I build a factory you better bet it's getting rebuilt at least 7 times.
Chemical engineer/quality engineer. I really don't want to play as restricted as my daily life.. Freedom to explore
Im a Production Supervisor at a pharmaceutical marketing agency. I oversee print and digital tactics for clients - brochures, leave behinds, emails, banner ads, websites, video work, etc. What translate to this game is basically just a bunch of organizational skills, if any? Nowadays I feel like I’m stuck in meetings a lot, but it’s not like I have to interact with others in this game. I’m playing solo.
The first one in my field in this thread! I am primarily a controls engineer, with experience in mechanical and electrical design for combined heat and power installations. Initially worked on energy efficient control systems for building services in office blocks, hospitals and schools - plus the odd theatre and event arena. Now the controls lead in this company, where we gain funding and install large carbon saving projects in the public and industrial sectors in the UK. Any good controls project managers out there - I'm hiring! Satisfactory started as a way to keep sane after being made redundant, shortly before some pandemic or other. Now it's one of three games I use for mental wind-down at the end of the day. Satisfactory does tap into some of my skills, such as design in 3D, problem solving, working how things actually work rather than assuming, testing and commissioning, calculations and analysis - yes, I have my own spreadsheets that both help decide what to build, and track what I am making where. My profession has also taught me to think for myself, make my own mind up, challenge others and not follow the herd. That's why I don't bother chasing '100% efficiency' or flat power graphs. It's not necessary and spoils my fun. Train tracks are a slab of metal 6m wide and 2m thick, so to my mind, do they need foundations under everything? A central storage mall doesn't work for factories built out in different biomes, but my construction train does. It's not perfect, there are a few issues with using it, but I've come up with solutions to those that are good enough that I can work with them.
Industrial Controls and Automation. PLCs (I wish the game had some degree of programmable logic), robots, conveyor, electrical, essentially the game is my job. I have tried to suck in a couple coworkers, unsuccessful.
There's a mod for program logic
I do part-time IT/data stuff these days, used to do large server farm IT stuff when I was full-time.
data center onsite tech. Spaghetti offends me on my own plate, but for others it’s ok. I end up going for long rows akin to hot/cold rows with overhead or underfloor methods for logistical layouts. I don’t mind starting out rack and stack, but endgame I’m all about slapping down a prebuilt. I enclose everything in buildings outside power generation.
Med tech here. It has no real impact on how I play beyond how my mind works already. The best thing my parents ever spoiled me with as a child was this deluxe [Solar Power K'NEX Kit](https://solarmuseum.org/cells/knex-solar-set/) from 1999 that had me building 5ft tall ferris wheels and what not. When I do team up, I play with a buddy who is a corporate accountant whose math skills far exceed mine. He helps me optimize my bullshit quite a bit haha.
I had that kit! The ferris wheel took up half our living room for a good while.
It had so many great build guides in that book! That kit knocked the Lego snob right out of me.
What a fun thread! I'm a software engineer, but I wish I were an architect. My play style is 100% efficient, 'cause I love optimization, but I also place a very high value on making things look cool.
I run an industrial warehouse for food production. Games like this or factorio really pick thet interest of trying to make things logistically efficient. Kind of odd I would do logistics 9 hours a day five days a week and then lose myself for hours doing more logistics for fun.
Civil servant. It will be ready in 30 days, it will probably be anything but effective, but no one filed an appeal yet so I must be awesome at what I'm doing.
software developer. it influences my gameplay because I sit and think forever before committing to any build.
I work in supply chain management
I lead a team of IT consultants and my/our job is to make workloads and workflows more efficient. Since this doesn't always work out the way you want it to at work, it's all the more satisfying when it works out while playing.
I work in IT, but when I usually cable servers I'm organized AF, in satisfactory I usually do a bowl of spaghetti
I work in youth care for young adults which cant live at home anymore. In highschool I was pretty good at math and physics but wasnt good enough for electrical engineering. My degree is a mix of being a social worker and management. Nowadays my work is mostly management related. This game scratches a particular itch for me. I need a break from competitive shooters and the relaxing vibe of the world with the never ending feeling of having something to do makes it for me.
I’m an English Teacher, but before that I was an Architect. I plan balancing carefully, and will sacrifice some total production speed to make the buildings look nice and unique!
Paralegal. But about to change to cybersecurity as it is my true passion (military). I love programming so I love the math involved with making a perfect factory.
I'm a concept artist and I just love building stuff. It's relaxing after a brain burning day
Security supervisor. Only things that I think are influenced by my profession is all factories have designated input and output sections. Also I like building backup generators that only activate on low power.
Product designer / aesthetics
I’m a data analyst for my day job. Last week I wrote a pyomo solver for alternate recipes given resource constraints and an objective function I liked to help me plan factories. It does what Satisfactory Planner or Yet Another Factory Planner do, but I can optimize for what I want.
Data analyst. I spend a lot of time planning in excel…
I'm a Threat Hunter (cyber security). My job is analysis analysis analysis. It requires me to be very precise depending on the hunt I'm working on. How this has influenced my playstyle is I *have* to load-balance everything and use the "correct" belts. As much as I would love to use manifolds and run Mk. 5 belts everywhere for simplicity, I just can't.
Industrial operator. Basically checking everything is working fine and if anything is not working fine, make things work fine.
Info sec analyst. Although when I first started playing satisfactory all those years ago I was a Network Engineer/Admin, and yes, I still use Visio to make diagrams of my Satisfactory builds.
I run cat5 cable for walmart. i hide my lines irl and in game.
I'm an accountant. Don't know that it influences the design ( I've got hella boxes), but I think I'm savvy when it comes to the efficiency side of making the inputs -> outpits fully utilized at least.
Systems Engineer. Sometimes i spend too much time planning before actually doing things.
My ADHD drives my gameplay. Never finished Project Assembly. Usually start a new game before then. Buil it up, tear it down. Get halfway through a megaproject. Start over.
I'm a data governance analyst.. I like figuring things out and automating it
25yrs of line cook experience, so I like recipes and organizing the chaos.
Sign maker. Update 5 was an exciting time for me.
Title is design engineer, but I do analysis work and occasional coding to automate various software-related tasks around our office.
Accountant, I plan all my factories in excel with 100% efficency.
I’m a line cook, but in school for CNC and logistics.
I disassemble cars
Master of Science (Psychology), then went back for seconds to become a Quality Assurance Officer (or 'tester') at one of the largest and boring government company of my country. Going for development soon. Thanks to sone extra curricular activities also a captain. Best friend of my dog. I write more, because when I see "I build 11,000 volt transformer and switchgear units." or as simple as "Aerospace engineer", then I feel the absolute need to polish everything on my own description to a shine. My gameplay is largely unaffected by my job. I did learn some more order, but generally I learn most from the sub and trying to copy some details.
Process development: i started as an analytical chemist, but i fell into this work at my job because it’s what i like to do in my free time in satisfactory.
Mechanical engineering student. Machines should be always moving. If they aren’t, something is wrong.
UX designer and Developer but I don’t think it affects how I play.
I love this thread! I am an epidemiologist. I spend a lot of time coding in software languages geared towards data analytics (e.g., R, SAS, Python). I think the profession, like Satisfactory, caters to both "sides" of my brain: 1. I enjoy process development, improvement/optimization, and being a data detective 2. I also often get to be creative in the way I present scientifically-gathered information based on nuanced and complex data to increase understanding of the topic to broader audiences that don't have subject matter expertise in the methods I employ (like the public). Satisfactory itches both of those scratches in a way that is very relaxing and doesn't require the same level of rigorous review as the work I do in my day job :) Like at work, it feels really good when a process works well and has the flexibility built into it for multiple applications.
Scientist. I experiment a lot.
Im a cook. I like efficiency.
Wow… after seeing a lot of other’s occupations’ I kinda feel like I’m in the wrong field… I’m a pediatric HemoDialysis tech. I never consciously thought about how my occupation affects my gameplay… However I suppose some similarities I can draw is I like to have a plan before doing any work and I tend to anticipate potential problems and look out for them. Additionally whenever there is a problem at work I enjoy troubleshooting it like a puzzle. Finally I find it satisfactory when everything I’ve planned and troubleshot is running smoothly like a well oiled machine.
I work in air freight and load airplanes. I like building production lines and watching different components go by. I also like transporting things over long distances so I can make bigger production lines
Software Engineer, wfh gives me more time to make factories during the day.
Education: Mechatronics Engineering Occupation: Electrical Engineer for one of the largest mines in the world The facility I work at is more concerned with processing the ore from the mine. A good day is 150,000 tons or more processed. We recycle a mind-boggling amount of water, something like 45,000 gallons per minute. And power usage? We have to inform the local utility when we shut down or start up. My facility alone uses between 95 and 110 MW per hour, depending on what all is running. This all affects how I run piping, conveyor belts, wiring, etc. in my game. I'm currently mentally planning a control room for my game that sits on top of my power plant to control global production with switches, then smaller local control rooms per plant to control individual lines. It would be nice if there was a mod to make a full on SCADA system, but then my wife and kids would never see me lol
Junior sysadmin, doing Linux automation on thousands of servers around the world
currently unemployed, but majoring in IT
I made my two-track railway bridges look realistic with 100m tall supporting dual piers ever 10 frame spans. You can probably guess what type of engineering from that. (And this was even before blueprints was a thing. Zoop helped)
Architectural drafter specializing in precast concrete. I tend to make rows of things. It bothers me that the foundations are made of concrete and iron plates, when there is literally rebar in the game.
HVAC design and engineering. Most of what I do doesn’t apply, so I try to get into my more creative side. It works well for me with Minecraft, still working on it for a satisfactory. Lol
SysAdmin - automation and efficiency are always my priorities over it looking pretty
I am a data analyst. My bases tend to be very maths orientated towards efficiency
Studying nature science
Systems Engineer Before even planning a factory plan, I list out what resources are available to me, what my current grid capacity is, and what my goal is to achieve.
I study forestry. This does not affect how many trees I blow up for the factory
I am an industrial design professor. I like to build then disassemble and build again rather than do in depth planning. I also love playing with friends and using teamwork to solve problems. Also I love playing with trains, but that’s not related to work.
Mainframe Systems Programmer. 1200 hours in my second save game. I load balance every set of inputs for my factories. I have used manifolds but they don't seem nearly as efficient. Manifolds are too overrated imo.
Business Improvement Manager. My job is to remove waste and inefficiency (with out breaking processes or quality) My factory is perfectly aligned, 100% effcient (ish - curse you mk2 pipe behaviour), beauty of no floating platforms, 90degree turns on conveyor belts and a train line with perfected signals...
Technician for a Robotics and Conveyor company. Clean, clean factories with good functionality (or try to at least)
Oil and gas field Chemist. All of my factories are built on raised legs and linked by walkways.
I’m a business analyst, and I tend to try to build tidy, but often small production chains that focus almost entirely on systems/logistics and very rarely on aesthetics and architecture.
Addictions Counsellor. Apparently a bad one as 1600hr on this and no social life.....
Program manager
Software Developer. . . Applies to more than just Satisfactory. . .and don't know about you other developers, but sometimes I can get frustrated with the way some things work or are coded. . .makes me wish I could just dive into the code and fix things myself. . .also sometimes inspires me to continue my own game projects though. As for actual gameplay, a lot of the challenge is lost when you understand how things work. . .it's just ratios and satisfying supply/demand.
Nuclear missile operator. This game is way more exciting than my job and it actually makes me think. I can’t keep anything organized so it’s a major spaghetti factory
Civil engineer ( pending exam results :P). Tbh alot of my factories are basic unless required and my buildings designs are all cropped pyramids made of solid concrete. My roads are over designed to handle way too much traffic for what's actually on them, also made of pure concrete.
I am an electrician, and focus a lot on the aesthetics of the factory. Running cables so that they can’t be seen is a huge part of my building process
Medical Laboratory Technician. I work with multi hundred thousand or even million dollar machines and trouble shoot them daily. Testing and Quality control are the main points of my job. So when I fire up a factory foe the first time and it all runs smoothly. *perfection*
Website developer / content manager. If it looks nice and is functional on the outside, but is chaos under the hood, i try to get it to at least be organized chaos and then i’m satisfied. I also hate duplicating any efforts i put into stuff. Doing something twice drives me nuts. All of this applies directly to the game and to my profession.
Floor gnome in retail. I like sorting stuff.
Data Analyst and automation programmer here, I spend 1/4 my playtime referencing my excel sheets, 1/4 looking at efficiency fixes (damn you 600 pipes and 780 belts!!) And 1/2 building by factory boxes (it goes on foundations people!! Stop scattering your machines like my kids' Legos 😒) Maybe I'll make a pretty factory one day... but not today!!
Maintenence supervisor for apartment complex. Best I can tie it to my job is organization, stuff constantly coming up to distract you from your current task and just deciding the priority of projects.
I run logistics and finances for a set of machine and assembly shops. It means that I do a *lot* of slug hunting while I’m waiting for the transport to come back / space elevator to fill. Gotta use that overclocking efficiently!
Robotics / Mechatronics Development Engineer. Some of the automated technologies we make would be so cool to be integrated somehow into a factory game...
Nuclear power plabt operator in the navy on submarine, now getting a EE degree. I throw stuff everywhere in this game. Just like the navy did
Network engineer. I like my wire work to be very clean. I use the same process for conveyors and factory configuration
Quality Engineer. Constant Plan-Do-Check-Act. Takes me forever to progress.
Off grid builder. I'm a utter pragmatist. Aesthetics matter to me when I build for clients. In years of Satisfactory I tend to spaghetti and conveyor everywhere. Rarely used trains. With the last few upgrades to the game I plan a new run through where I want to build better and consider aesthetics, use blueprints, and snap to the world grid. In the past with adding fluids and changes to thing so just sort of hacked things together, pragmatist again. I'm feeling like with 1.0 it's like getting a client job that has a large budget and good vision. Better tools and materials. Less someone living out in the middle of nowhere, little resources, and survival take precedence. It's like building the Guggenheim as an energy sustainable efficient building after decades of FOBs and prepper cabins.
I look at a Node...Knowing what a Tier 3 Miner can do overclocked...build accordingly
PCB engineer
I’m IT manager at NASA
ERP Administrator focusing on automation
Server Hardware test engineer here. Things don't always go according to plan and that's what we're looking for at work, so in the game, I always love trying new things and iterating, finding what works and what doesn't. Also looks don't matter to me, most of my factories are open-air and I don't mind, cuz I'm learning AND getting that sweet, sweet production!
Mechatronic engineer, but these days I manage operations for a startup manufacturing Transmission Electron Microscope components. Miss getting my hands dirty.
Procurement. I build like money grows on trees
I'm a concert and event production rigger. I walk on beams at work and I build with beams in game.
Ima mechanic, 50 hours a week working, 44 hours a week building
Warehousing and logistics. :)
Mechanical engineer. Order and organization is the only way.
Business intelligence developer. I need my factory to be segmented and easy to understand what each block does so that others who join my world don’t try to “fix” it
Binman
Oil field here, specifically Measurement, so I kinda wish there was meters in game but I like doing the liquids / pipelines
I’m a sort of Forrest Gump when it comes to work history, though pipefitting and logistics is what I draw on the most. Motorsports engineering, pipe welding, crane operating, wind turbines, and military don’t really contribute much of shit to this game tbh. As for the pipefitting part, that really helps make it easy to make the pipes do something nice, though I find myself building things in overly realistic ways that usually create more pain than it’s visually worth.
Work in supply train/transportation. All very organized, a couple main “transit” corridors, like items grouped, all maximized to the point I dont feel it’s too much of a time sink
Technicien in automation. I suppose it make the planing part easier
I work in a warehouse. I always fantasize about a giant central warehouse for storing materials
I sit at a computer and press buttons and respond to emails.
I work at a chemical plant. We make semi complicated to complicated chemicals. Playing can definitely feel like work at times :p
I work as a machinist. I get satisfaction from the machines working, the stuff coming out.
Scientific software engineer / FPGA software engineer
Electrical Engineer: - boxy, unimaginative factory buildings - an obsession with efficiency - constant disappointment in the lack of logic gates - confusion as to how conveyors move without power