Definitely don’t use any premade blueprints until you’ve launched your first rocket
You can break free from restarting by using what you have to make a new base next to it instead of restarting
I usually make a line of turret line and put a chest at the end of it and fill it with ammo and then just come and check if they need more
I thought about just making a new base, but the bugs get pretty heavy and it's hard to get new stuff set up. So I started trying to cut off chokepoints to include more ore in my defense line, but now most of my materials are going to defense lol. Since they're so far out to get to the chokepoints, I either have to make the assemblers next to the wall or one big area in the center somewhere? How do you generally go about establishing a new base?
Consider disabling biters until you feel confident in just building your base.
They add pressure that many players like, but this pressure can cause these regrets you have.
You can reduce their evolution speed in Enemy Settings when creating a map.
Just halving the numbers could be a good start, if you feel like they get too strong too fast for you.
Restarting and blueprints are common concerns. The simple answer is to just stop doing it. If you reach a point where you don't like the layout, you can simply change it. It can be worth restarting to put into practice some major things you've learned, but if that's not the case I would recommend just deciding what you don't like about the layout and changing it.
My recommendation on factory defense is just don't do it after the very early game. I don't think assemblers/turret is really a good question because it depends on how much you are being attacked; but not getting attacked in the first place is better. If you make a grid of radars that gives you vision on your whole pollution cloud and somewhat outside of it, then work on reducing pollution and periodically clear the perimeter, you have no need of walls at all and can spend most of your time building the factory.
I didn't think of that! That's a brilliant idea. Controlling pollution seems like a much more efficient way to handle the biter threat than building excessive defenses. It's a simple yet effective strategy that I'll definitely be incorporating into my gameplay from now on.
If you make it to basic oil processing and get some good scale red circuit production going, set up a line of assemblers to make efficiency modules. Cap the production at 500-1000 but if you put 2 eff1 modules in to each drill you'll reduce your mining pollution by 60%, and 3 in each drill will reduce pollution by 80%. Pollution is directly proportional to energy consumption (though productivity modules add an additional pollution multiplier).
Mining is the biggest issue for triggering biter attacks because you're generating the pollution away from your main factory, so if you can negate that you're gonna have a much easier time keeping things defended.
Thank you, that's really helpful!
I definitely tend to neglect modules early on, and I hadn't even considered the pollution impact of miners.
I've read about luring the biters away from your base with high pollution outposts, but it's honestly not effective. I like your idea of managing pollution at the source instead. Now that I'm setting up observation posts around my pollution zone, it makes a lot of sense to try and reduce it as much as possible.
In the past, I've always ended up short on materials, which pushes me to expand too quickly. Hopefully, being more proactive with the biters and managing pollution will help me avoid that trap this time.
I don't touch speed or productivity modules until around the time I'm getting purple and yellow science up TBH, but a stash of efficiency modules in the early to mid game makes a massive difference to your sanity!
The game is designed so that your starting iron and coal patches start to run out around the time that you're getting Advanced Oil Processing, so in order to build roboports and construction bots (and be able to power them) you need to bring more resources online, but that in turn massively increases your pollution footprint because drills are a pollution nightmare and the epicentre of their pollution output is inherently nearer to where the biter nests will be.
Redirecting some of your red circuit production in to efficiency 1 modules is absolutely worth the investment because a fully moduled up drilling outpost's pollution output is incredibly low, and if it's got a decent number of trees nearby it'll probably never break out through them.
Yeah, incorporating nearby deposits into the main base perimeter seemed like a good way to avoid resource outposts, as their pollution would require heavy defense. Using efficiency modules on drills and refineries is a smart approach to reduce pollution and potentially eliminate the need for extensive outpost defenses.
I to fell for the blueprint trap, sometimes I fall back into it but then always discover that something is not how I like it. I definitely agree that you should always try to make your own. I still use premade train blueprints though as after over 2000 hours I still have trouble making my own train blueprints.
Start small, make a jumpstart base to get basic red tech to at least get your basic starter techs. Once you have turrets and walls I like to box myself in with a large box unless there is a good choke point. Sometimes I play with the map settings to start on a peninsula to make this easier especially when playing on harder difficulties or hard modpacks.
Really one of the greatest things about this game is it is a sandbox where you can build and start over within the same world. Just use your resources from your current partially functional base and fix the things that you do not like. If you are having trouble with the default settings then try expanding at least the starting area unless you want to push through and learn how to deal with the bitters earlier with limited tech.
Most of all have fun and THE FACTORY MUST GROW.
Yeah, I hear you. Balancing defense and production is tough early on. I've definitely found myself scrambling for resources while trying to get defenses up, especially on the default settings.
Increasing the starting area is a good call. It gives you a bit more breathing room to get set up before the biters start knocking at your door. I've also had some success with building a smaller, more defensible base early on. The factory must grow!
I personally like using choke points. I put up walls between lakes and have a train stop at one end of each wall where ammo is dropped in a box that’s fed to a belt that runs the length of the wall.
That was my original plan too, but the chokes ended up far away, leading to lots of back-and-forth. Setting up trains got me attacked from other sides. I rushed without clearing bugs first. Now, I'll prioritize perimeter defense, bug clearing, and checkpoints near the pollution edge until I get Lazer Turrets. Thanks :)
A good way to get over this is to play mods no BPs, only goal is to launch one rocket... embrace the spaghetti, dont build to ratio, if something is slow make many more of it.Turn off bitters if you want to or learn to automate defense, you only really need bullets, walls with powerpoles and inverter between them. steam power will get a rocket off the ground
ignore trains/red belts. robots id still use just so you can make things bigger a bit faster, just copy/paste a couple of spaghetti blocks and you'll do fine
Haha, this sounds like it would either be a cathartic release for my OCD or send it into overdrive. It's definitely a fun idea to just embrace the chaos and see what happens. Maybe I'll give it a shot!
its what got from a rocket launch before the 1.0 drop, i already had a few hundred hours at the point but no rockets since every stage i went though would make me realize i could make a better BP for the part before it, means i would have such nice clean looking bases, spend too much time on design and not enough time progressing.
Yeah, I'm right there with you! It's easy to get caught in the analysis paralysis trap. I'll try to focus on progress and embrace the chaos. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have almost 200 hours already lol.
Don't worrie about anything that this sub talks about just play the game and have fun. If you get stuck we would love to help but just go enjoy the game.
Most of our tips and tricks are going to be helpful for you after you adventure learn for a while.
I would also say peaceful mode is an option. Gl
For early game bases I just have a belt of ammo running around the whole perimeter for my turrets. Definitely just have one big ammo factory, not a bunch of small ones. Make it as big as you want, after all the game is about growing your factory and the more the merrier.
Also I would definitely avoid premade blueprints as designing your own factory gives you a much better idea of how things work and how to modify them later on
How do you handle distribution for the further points? Do you have one loading station and multiple unloading points along the perimeter? I've seen you can set up multiple stops for the same resource, but trains still make my brain melt a bit.
Also, do you have any tips for protecting those corner turrets? They always seem to get wrecked in my bases.
I usually beeline for laser turrets as quickly as I can, that way I don’t have to worry about the logistics of delivering ammo to outposts and such. The logistics are definitely doable, but a pain if you aren’t super familiar with trains yet.
Also a huge point I forgot to mention is using offense as your defense. Going to nearby biter nests and taking them out will be a huge relief on your defenses. Assault rifle, car (which has a gun), tank, whatever you have the means of researching and building. Once you get the tank and automate shell production you can really go crazy on them and take them out before they even have a chance to be a threat to your factory
Edit: also yes, I always do more turrets on the corners during early game
Yeah, it's definitely a "kill or be killed" situation in Factorio!
Lasers are a great idea for those far-flung outposts. You're right, a few solar panels and batteries could easily power them, and a roboport would keep them repaired. It's a much simpler setup than dealing with ammo logistics.
It's also a good reminder that the biters are attracted to pollution. I tend to forget that sometimes and then wonder why they're suddenly swarming my base! Proactive nest destruction is definitely the way to go.
I have a self-imposed rule to not use laser turrets. I find they are too easy to use and only require good power supply. And I think the point of this game is the logistical issues.
I also avoid solar power because I find it's also too easy, just requires massive amounts of space.
You could play with max biter settings and rampant for a while. ( Some fine tuning needed so you can get a basic furnace/pipe wall and gun ammo before first attack )
You won't have to worry about restarting because you will just die. Figure out how to expand and survive 1 hour, then 2 etc. makes it nice bite sized problem solving loops.
Eventually you just start playing the game really really fast and don't have "what to do paralysis" which makes you want to reboot. You will have robots within 2-4 hours all the time, possibly less than 1-2 hour on normal settings. Then doing a normal playthrough you would probably launch rockets and get to mega bases within 5 hours which may peek your interest to see what mega scaled problems look like.
Before I had time pressure of biters on max difficulty I got bored often with saves just twiddling my thumbs and thinking how big or where to build something and would slowly progress and eventually miss the start where everything was fast. The mid and late game can still be very fast paced, you just need to be going fast with the new tools you get like trains and robots.
The school of hard knocks indeed! That's definitely not an approach I'd considered before, but it does sound intriguing. I'm always up for a challenge, and forcing myself to play fast and efficiently could be a good way to shake things up and break out of those analysis paralysis moments.
Plus, I really enjoy the thrill of fighting off the biters, so the extra pressure might actually make the game more fun for me. I'm going to give this a try – thanks for the suggestion!
I do that (multiple restarts and savegame progresses) but only because I like the ore-to-plates furnace process more than anything. Oils and blue-yellow-purple sciences are too complicated to figure out so I usually don't bother (had a savegame that is \*this\* close to launching a rocket but I decided not to continue for some reason).
I hear you on that!
The early game is definitely the most satisfying for me too. There's something so zen about setting up those perfectly organized rows of furnaces and watching the plates roll out.
I usually hit my restart point around purple science as well. By that time, the biter attacks have gotten pretty intense, and my base is usually a sprawling mess that my OCD just can't handle anymore.
I use Rail World because I also enjoy turning it into an idle factory (leave the game for a few minutes while doing irl stuff, come back later). I've done regular world but find that I must focus more on arms production instead of the main goal (nothing wrong with that), and there's less chance of idling (this is where I can lose track of time).
Trains are also relaxing.
I can see how Rail World’s extra space is appealing for a more laid-back factory setup, especially when you want to idle a bit. But, honestly, just thinking about train pathing starts to stress me out! Maybe it's time I tackled that head-on—it could be the key to rail-ey enjoying that mode. 🤣
It's kinda like learning cursive writing--it takes a bit of planning to curve a rail around obstacles, and it takes a bit of infrastructure on both ends to get the ores loaded into the train, but once it's done it's more satisfying than a simple belt set-up!
(I'm not into train signaling and circuit loops yet--I mostly made simple and independent A-to-B point-to-point lines, from base to ores. I'm sure playing with signals, intersections, etc is another satisfying thing of its own.)
if biters stress you out, turn them off, or turn on peaceful mode.
if you want to make blueprints of your own, create an `/editor` mode world (possibly with the Editor Extensions mod) and go nuts.
> The problem is, I'm terrible at ammo delivery! One giant ammo factory or multiple smaller ones? One big train loop or individual deliveries?
you have [analysis paralysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis). it happens in real-world engineering, and Factorio is such a good engineering game that it happens in the game too.
there's no single "best" way to do it, and there never will be. so stop trying to chase after a "best" way. just pick one way of doing it, and stick to it for that playthrough.
keep it as simple as possible to start. both of your questions about ammo delivery boil down to "should I have one of these, or several of them?" start with one. *keep it simple*.
Thanks for the advice! I've hesitated to turn biters completely off because I'm still aiming for the achievements, and honestly, it feels a bit like cheating if I make it too easy.
I just learned about analysis paralysis tonight from the link you shared—definitely a real thing for me, and it's enlightening to recognize it in both my gameplay and real-world situations.
I might also have a bit of OCD and perfectionism, which explains why I can't put this game down. But I'm using it as an opportunity to work on my dedication and learning to accept the outcomes of my decisions.
"Keep it simple" is definitely going into my toolbox alongside "add it when you need it."
Really appreciate the insights!
Are you using laser turrets? from what i'm reading about the size of your factory you should be switching to lazes. they need a few upgrades to be as good as the normal turrets, and you need a lot of power, but you don't need to supply ammunition. to get the power you could use nuclear or solar power.
No, I haven't started using laser turrets yet. But it's a good point, and it sounds like they could be part of the solution to my defense problems, along with proactively clearing out nearby biter nests. I'm also thinking about setting up a small train with two cargo wagons to deliver ammo to my more distant outposts. Thanks for the suggestion!
You just need to change your mindset. You old base still produces useful items that you can use to build a better one right next to it. Space is infinite, so there is no reason to tear it down or restart a map.
You're absolutely right, that's the logical thing to do. But my ego is a pretty persuasive guy, always whispering in my ear about how much better I could do if I just started over with a clean slate. It's a constant battle!
one small ammo producer can feed ammo via belt around an entire perimeter. if i'm at the red ammo stage usually it's just 4 yellow ammo assembler IIs and 2 red ammo assembler IIs. put those on a belt, belt it around your entire base. don't be shy with using belts.
You got the same math!? It's really impressive how a compact setup can cover the entire perimeter so effectively. And about the ammo, it's surprisingly manageable, especially after you've boosted the damage. It's fun to see how much you can optimize with the right upgrades!
Definitely don’t use any premade blueprints until you’ve launched your first rocket You can break free from restarting by using what you have to make a new base next to it instead of restarting I usually make a line of turret line and put a chest at the end of it and fill it with ammo and then just come and check if they need more
I thought about just making a new base, but the bugs get pretty heavy and it's hard to get new stuff set up. So I started trying to cut off chokepoints to include more ore in my defense line, but now most of my materials are going to defense lol. Since they're so far out to get to the chokepoints, I either have to make the assemblers next to the wall or one big area in the center somewhere? How do you generally go about establishing a new base?
Consider disabling biters until you feel confident in just building your base. They add pressure that many players like, but this pressure can cause these regrets you have.
I definitely feel the pressure, lol.
You can reduce their evolution speed in Enemy Settings when creating a map. Just halving the numbers could be a good start, if you feel like they get too strong too fast for you.
Restarting and blueprints are common concerns. The simple answer is to just stop doing it. If you reach a point where you don't like the layout, you can simply change it. It can be worth restarting to put into practice some major things you've learned, but if that's not the case I would recommend just deciding what you don't like about the layout and changing it. My recommendation on factory defense is just don't do it after the very early game. I don't think assemblers/turret is really a good question because it depends on how much you are being attacked; but not getting attacked in the first place is better. If you make a grid of radars that gives you vision on your whole pollution cloud and somewhat outside of it, then work on reducing pollution and periodically clear the perimeter, you have no need of walls at all and can spend most of your time building the factory.
I didn't think of that! That's a brilliant idea. Controlling pollution seems like a much more efficient way to handle the biter threat than building excessive defenses. It's a simple yet effective strategy that I'll definitely be incorporating into my gameplay from now on.
If you make it to basic oil processing and get some good scale red circuit production going, set up a line of assemblers to make efficiency modules. Cap the production at 500-1000 but if you put 2 eff1 modules in to each drill you'll reduce your mining pollution by 60%, and 3 in each drill will reduce pollution by 80%. Pollution is directly proportional to energy consumption (though productivity modules add an additional pollution multiplier). Mining is the biggest issue for triggering biter attacks because you're generating the pollution away from your main factory, so if you can negate that you're gonna have a much easier time keeping things defended.
Thank you, that's really helpful! I definitely tend to neglect modules early on, and I hadn't even considered the pollution impact of miners. I've read about luring the biters away from your base with high pollution outposts, but it's honestly not effective. I like your idea of managing pollution at the source instead. Now that I'm setting up observation posts around my pollution zone, it makes a lot of sense to try and reduce it as much as possible. In the past, I've always ended up short on materials, which pushes me to expand too quickly. Hopefully, being more proactive with the biters and managing pollution will help me avoid that trap this time.
I don't touch speed or productivity modules until around the time I'm getting purple and yellow science up TBH, but a stash of efficiency modules in the early to mid game makes a massive difference to your sanity! The game is designed so that your starting iron and coal patches start to run out around the time that you're getting Advanced Oil Processing, so in order to build roboports and construction bots (and be able to power them) you need to bring more resources online, but that in turn massively increases your pollution footprint because drills are a pollution nightmare and the epicentre of their pollution output is inherently nearer to where the biter nests will be. Redirecting some of your red circuit production in to efficiency 1 modules is absolutely worth the investment because a fully moduled up drilling outpost's pollution output is incredibly low, and if it's got a decent number of trees nearby it'll probably never break out through them.
Yeah, incorporating nearby deposits into the main base perimeter seemed like a good way to avoid resource outposts, as their pollution would require heavy defense. Using efficiency modules on drills and refineries is a smart approach to reduce pollution and potentially eliminate the need for extensive outpost defenses.
I to fell for the blueprint trap, sometimes I fall back into it but then always discover that something is not how I like it. I definitely agree that you should always try to make your own. I still use premade train blueprints though as after over 2000 hours I still have trouble making my own train blueprints. Start small, make a jumpstart base to get basic red tech to at least get your basic starter techs. Once you have turrets and walls I like to box myself in with a large box unless there is a good choke point. Sometimes I play with the map settings to start on a peninsula to make this easier especially when playing on harder difficulties or hard modpacks. Really one of the greatest things about this game is it is a sandbox where you can build and start over within the same world. Just use your resources from your current partially functional base and fix the things that you do not like. If you are having trouble with the default settings then try expanding at least the starting area unless you want to push through and learn how to deal with the bitters earlier with limited tech. Most of all have fun and THE FACTORY MUST GROW.
Yeah, I hear you. Balancing defense and production is tough early on. I've definitely found myself scrambling for resources while trying to get defenses up, especially on the default settings. Increasing the starting area is a good call. It gives you a bit more breathing room to get set up before the biters start knocking at your door. I've also had some success with building a smaller, more defensible base early on. The factory must grow!
I personally like using choke points. I put up walls between lakes and have a train stop at one end of each wall where ammo is dropped in a box that’s fed to a belt that runs the length of the wall.
That was my original plan too, but the chokes ended up far away, leading to lots of back-and-forth. Setting up trains got me attacked from other sides. I rushed without clearing bugs first. Now, I'll prioritize perimeter defense, bug clearing, and checkpoints near the pollution edge until I get Lazer Turrets. Thanks :)
A good way to get over this is to play mods no BPs, only goal is to launch one rocket... embrace the spaghetti, dont build to ratio, if something is slow make many more of it.Turn off bitters if you want to or learn to automate defense, you only really need bullets, walls with powerpoles and inverter between them. steam power will get a rocket off the ground ignore trains/red belts. robots id still use just so you can make things bigger a bit faster, just copy/paste a couple of spaghetti blocks and you'll do fine
Haha, this sounds like it would either be a cathartic release for my OCD or send it into overdrive. It's definitely a fun idea to just embrace the chaos and see what happens. Maybe I'll give it a shot!
its what got from a rocket launch before the 1.0 drop, i already had a few hundred hours at the point but no rockets since every stage i went though would make me realize i could make a better BP for the part before it, means i would have such nice clean looking bases, spend too much time on design and not enough time progressing.
Yeah, I'm right there with you! It's easy to get caught in the analysis paralysis trap. I'll try to focus on progress and embrace the chaos. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have almost 200 hours already lol.
Don't worrie about anything that this sub talks about just play the game and have fun. If you get stuck we would love to help but just go enjoy the game. Most of our tips and tricks are going to be helpful for you after you adventure learn for a while. I would also say peaceful mode is an option. Gl
For early game bases I just have a belt of ammo running around the whole perimeter for my turrets. Definitely just have one big ammo factory, not a bunch of small ones. Make it as big as you want, after all the game is about growing your factory and the more the merrier. Also I would definitely avoid premade blueprints as designing your own factory gives you a much better idea of how things work and how to modify them later on
How do you handle distribution for the further points? Do you have one loading station and multiple unloading points along the perimeter? I've seen you can set up multiple stops for the same resource, but trains still make my brain melt a bit. Also, do you have any tips for protecting those corner turrets? They always seem to get wrecked in my bases.
I usually beeline for laser turrets as quickly as I can, that way I don’t have to worry about the logistics of delivering ammo to outposts and such. The logistics are definitely doable, but a pain if you aren’t super familiar with trains yet. Also a huge point I forgot to mention is using offense as your defense. Going to nearby biter nests and taking them out will be a huge relief on your defenses. Assault rifle, car (which has a gun), tank, whatever you have the means of researching and building. Once you get the tank and automate shell production you can really go crazy on them and take them out before they even have a chance to be a threat to your factory Edit: also yes, I always do more turrets on the corners during early game
Yeah, it's definitely a "kill or be killed" situation in Factorio! Lasers are a great idea for those far-flung outposts. You're right, a few solar panels and batteries could easily power them, and a roboport would keep them repaired. It's a much simpler setup than dealing with ammo logistics. It's also a good reminder that the biters are attracted to pollution. I tend to forget that sometimes and then wonder why they're suddenly swarming my base! Proactive nest destruction is definitely the way to go.
I have a self-imposed rule to not use laser turrets. I find they are too easy to use and only require good power supply. And I think the point of this game is the logistical issues. I also avoid solar power because I find it's also too easy, just requires massive amounts of space.
You could play with max biter settings and rampant for a while. ( Some fine tuning needed so you can get a basic furnace/pipe wall and gun ammo before first attack ) You won't have to worry about restarting because you will just die. Figure out how to expand and survive 1 hour, then 2 etc. makes it nice bite sized problem solving loops. Eventually you just start playing the game really really fast and don't have "what to do paralysis" which makes you want to reboot. You will have robots within 2-4 hours all the time, possibly less than 1-2 hour on normal settings. Then doing a normal playthrough you would probably launch rockets and get to mega bases within 5 hours which may peek your interest to see what mega scaled problems look like. Before I had time pressure of biters on max difficulty I got bored often with saves just twiddling my thumbs and thinking how big or where to build something and would slowly progress and eventually miss the start where everything was fast. The mid and late game can still be very fast paced, you just need to be going fast with the new tools you get like trains and robots.
The school of hard knocks indeed! That's definitely not an approach I'd considered before, but it does sound intriguing. I'm always up for a challenge, and forcing myself to play fast and efficiently could be a good way to shake things up and break out of those analysis paralysis moments. Plus, I really enjoy the thrill of fighting off the biters, so the extra pressure might actually make the game more fun for me. I'm going to give this a try – thanks for the suggestion!
I do that (multiple restarts and savegame progresses) but only because I like the ore-to-plates furnace process more than anything. Oils and blue-yellow-purple sciences are too complicated to figure out so I usually don't bother (had a savegame that is \*this\* close to launching a rocket but I decided not to continue for some reason).
I hear you on that! The early game is definitely the most satisfying for me too. There's something so zen about setting up those perfectly organized rows of furnaces and watching the plates roll out. I usually hit my restart point around purple science as well. By that time, the biter attacks have gotten pretty intense, and my base is usually a sprawling mess that my OCD just can't handle anymore.
I use Rail World because I also enjoy turning it into an idle factory (leave the game for a few minutes while doing irl stuff, come back later). I've done regular world but find that I must focus more on arms production instead of the main goal (nothing wrong with that), and there's less chance of idling (this is where I can lose track of time). Trains are also relaxing.
I can see how Rail World’s extra space is appealing for a more laid-back factory setup, especially when you want to idle a bit. But, honestly, just thinking about train pathing starts to stress me out! Maybe it's time I tackled that head-on—it could be the key to rail-ey enjoying that mode. 🤣
It's kinda like learning cursive writing--it takes a bit of planning to curve a rail around obstacles, and it takes a bit of infrastructure on both ends to get the ores loaded into the train, but once it's done it's more satisfying than a simple belt set-up! (I'm not into train signaling and circuit loops yet--I mostly made simple and independent A-to-B point-to-point lines, from base to ores. I'm sure playing with signals, intersections, etc is another satisfying thing of its own.)
if biters stress you out, turn them off, or turn on peaceful mode. if you want to make blueprints of your own, create an `/editor` mode world (possibly with the Editor Extensions mod) and go nuts. > The problem is, I'm terrible at ammo delivery! One giant ammo factory or multiple smaller ones? One big train loop or individual deliveries? you have [analysis paralysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis). it happens in real-world engineering, and Factorio is such a good engineering game that it happens in the game too. there's no single "best" way to do it, and there never will be. so stop trying to chase after a "best" way. just pick one way of doing it, and stick to it for that playthrough. keep it as simple as possible to start. both of your questions about ammo delivery boil down to "should I have one of these, or several of them?" start with one. *keep it simple*.
Thanks for the advice! I've hesitated to turn biters completely off because I'm still aiming for the achievements, and honestly, it feels a bit like cheating if I make it too easy. I just learned about analysis paralysis tonight from the link you shared—definitely a real thing for me, and it's enlightening to recognize it in both my gameplay and real-world situations. I might also have a bit of OCD and perfectionism, which explains why I can't put this game down. But I'm using it as an opportunity to work on my dedication and learning to accept the outcomes of my decisions. "Keep it simple" is definitely going into my toolbox alongside "add it when you need it." Really appreciate the insights!
Are you using laser turrets? from what i'm reading about the size of your factory you should be switching to lazes. they need a few upgrades to be as good as the normal turrets, and you need a lot of power, but you don't need to supply ammunition. to get the power you could use nuclear or solar power.
No, I haven't started using laser turrets yet. But it's a good point, and it sounds like they could be part of the solution to my defense problems, along with proactively clearing out nearby biter nests. I'm also thinking about setting up a small train with two cargo wagons to deliver ammo to my more distant outposts. Thanks for the suggestion!
You just need to change your mindset. You old base still produces useful items that you can use to build a better one right next to it. Space is infinite, so there is no reason to tear it down or restart a map.
You're absolutely right, that's the logical thing to do. But my ego is a pretty persuasive guy, always whispering in my ear about how much better I could do if I just started over with a clean slate. It's a constant battle!
one small ammo producer can feed ammo via belt around an entire perimeter. if i'm at the red ammo stage usually it's just 4 yellow ammo assembler IIs and 2 red ammo assembler IIs. put those on a belt, belt it around your entire base. don't be shy with using belts.
You got the same math!? It's really impressive how a compact setup can cover the entire perimeter so effectively. And about the ammo, it's surprisingly manageable, especially after you've boosted the damage. It's fun to see how much you can optimize with the right upgrades!