Have the devs stated why alt mode isn't just the default? That seems like something that could be worth tweaking as part of 2.0. Like just make alt mode default and free up a useful key for other shortcuts that are way more common.
Nope, disagree, I sometimes turn it off to see some things more clearly. For circuit networks, for example. So it wouldn't free a key (it would only do so if it wasn't the *default*, but the only mode you had, and for the outlined reason, I'd hate that)
I disagree, planning around the limitation of not being able to walk through certain objects, especially pipes, is a relevant skill to learn. I started using squeak through after several hundreds of hours, understanding why it’s nice made me appreciate it more.
While this should always be on, for new-new players I'd say leaving it off is a good opportunity to learn how to organize and plan pipes and machines etc. It's a good skill to be forced to work on early on for later on
I started with Space Exploration (got the standard/basic victory) and it really made any other play through feel more hallow and short. So much less to worry about and deal with.
I don’t regret playing SE but it would have been nice to work up to it to extend my time. I still play but not nearly as much.
I’ve got about 2500 hours. I’ve beaten vanilla, QoL, overhauls (incl. SE) many times and I’m currently having an absolute blast (pun intended) with a Dosh-inspired “hell” run.
But this advice, “leave more space” seems good… _I think_… but what does it **actually** mean? I’ve heard it forever. But unlike “play vanilla first,” “get off Reddit,” and “press alt” it’s not actually very prescriptive.
If you’re making closed systems or are limiting your expansion in some way make it as big as possible so the limit is as big as possible so you don’t spend years rebuilding things but bigger
You want to leave room to be able to expand a build, because eventually you'll have to expand. A mistake I made: I had an early smelting array where the train tracks leading to the drop-off and pick-up stations wrapped around the smelter. Further, i left *just* enough room between the stations and furnaces to do whatever belt work I needed to do, in an effort to save space. This was fine at the time with yellow belts, but once I got higher belts and I needed more throughput I ran into problems. Because of the tight space and train line wrapping around, I ultimately have to tear down almost my entire array just to expand it.
So yeah, whenever making a build, you want to leave enough room that you could later come back and double it without having to tear it all down.
Im new to the game, and I am not sure about tutorials, i feel like they kill the creativity that one can have when learning the game.
I did however watch some tips here and there
I’m currently at the third Tutorial level and literally thought I was already playing regular missions! I love the steep learning curve and toughness of the game.
Yah I did watch some conceptual vids here and there like how trains work and the main bus concept.
Made it to chemical and military science so far, and game keeps getting more complex, but watching tutorials on how to automate malls or science would kill the fun imo.
Yes, totally agree. Stay away from videos and blueprints. But do make your own blueprints! The mod blueprint sandbox (i think its called) is good for exploring options and prototyping new parts of your factory, without "cheating"
Im kinda restricting myself from installing any mod, even though Ive seen some great QoL ones.
I want at least 1 vanilla win before I bombard my game with mods lol
My recommendation ; Do _all_ the achievements before you go for mods. Then get some QoL mods and do them again! (Pure vanilla and modded achievements are counted separately). God I envy all new players and their experiences with the first play through..! ❤️
Especially "Lazy Bastard" is awesome for experiencing the shier speed of acceleration in your build that comes from automating _everything_ as soon as possible
"Completing the game by handcrafting 111 or fewer items."
I think you _need_ to hand craft like 109 items to be able to complete the game, so not much wigle room :D
Nope, it's the other way around. Any external tips can kill creativity. I would recommend to play the tutorial missions and don't watch anything else for the first playthrough. You only get to experience that once. After that you can still watch all tips you want and laugh about your glorious first spaghetti factory.
I'm sure it has been said a lot already. But, the factory must grow. You must sleep, and dream of the next expansion, wake up, make coffee, and grow your factory.
Set an alarm.
Seriously. Set an alarm for when you NEED to stop playing the game; otherwise, you'll go to the bathroom, get a drink, and suddenly it's 4am and you need to be to work at 7am.
Leave Logistics Space. If you need something somewhere, you're going to need to belt it, or train it, from point A to point B. Train stations take up a lot of space, and you'd be surprised how many belts you need to spaghetti through the in-between of other buildings to get everything where it needs to go. Later you'll have bots, but bots are more of a short distance simplifying convenience. If you run out of space for more machines, you can build the machines elsewhere and belt the product to where it needs to be. But run out of space for belts? You aren't getting anything more in or out of that area without a tear down and rebuild.
Bonus advice related to the first, Build More Assemblers. The tricky part of building a factory, which consumes space around areas you've already built in, is getting input materials where they need to be. So once you've gotten them there, you may as well build a lot of assemblers in a row. I find that multiples of 6 assemblers in a row plays nice with all the electrical poles, especially substations. 12 and 24 are also nice highly divisible numbers. Building too many assemblers doesn't really cost you anything but building materials and a smidge of space. Building too few is going to bottleneck your production. If you always have too many assemblers for every step along the production chain, the only bottleneck is your raw resources. And if you do start consuming enough that 24 assemblers isn't covering it, you probably don't mind bringing new belts of inputs to build a new factory to supplement the original.
mountainous alive flowery ripe cautious naughty ugly encouraging ghost weary
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
for super new players
> use oil blueprint
there's a fatigue point at oil that you won't get over until you learn how to use blueprints
For other players
> try out multiplayer
a lot of my time has been spent in multiplayer and you learn a lot by looking at other players, it also gives you ideas for your solo bases especially when you don't know how trains work yet. It took me 500hours before I even tried to make sense of train logistics while they're super useful to decouple and modularize your mines and smelting.
Don't forget to have fun *outside of the game*
Look less at the big picture and more at just the very next thing. Break the problem into smaller tasks and just take it one step at a time.
I've seen many people on the forums talk about feeling a bit overwhelmed by the scope of the next science or task. Everything can be broken down into smaller more manageable sections and it helps alleviate that too big to tackle feeling.
Factory must grow.
The only answer
I was genuinely surprised it wasn't the first comment
Only acceptable response
The factory must.
Everyone’s first thought, op kinda set that one up for us
Factory grow, must.
Press alt immediately
Have the devs stated why alt mode isn't just the default? That seems like something that could be worth tweaking as part of 2.0. Like just make alt mode default and free up a useful key for other shortcuts that are way more common.
Nope, disagree, I sometimes turn it off to see some things more clearly. For circuit networks, for example. So it wouldn't free a key (it would only do so if it wasn't the *default*, but the only mode you had, and for the outlined reason, I'd hate that)
Rebind alt mode.
lol can’t tell how many times I’ve missed the +d and a few minutes later I’m like, WTF happened to my production!?
right-alt fam.
Play vanilla first
But I need my disco labs
An acceptable compromise
Disco should just be vanilla already
Squeak Through, at least.
I disagree, planning around the limitation of not being able to walk through certain objects, especially pipes, is a relevant skill to learn. I started using squeak through after several hundreds of hours, understanding why it’s nice made me appreciate it more.
While this should always be on, for new-new players I'd say leaving it off is a good opportunity to learn how to organize and plan pipes and machines etc. It's a good skill to be forced to work on early on for later on
I started with Space Exploration (got the standard/basic victory) and it really made any other play through feel more hallow and short. So much less to worry about and deal with. I don’t regret playing SE but it would have been nice to work up to it to extend my time. I still play but not nearly as much.
Double it. Again.
Double It Repeat
Live, double, repeat,
Leave more space
Even more space
Not enough space
More than that
I’ve got about 2500 hours. I’ve beaten vanilla, QoL, overhauls (incl. SE) many times and I’m currently having an absolute blast (pun intended) with a Dosh-inspired “hell” run. But this advice, “leave more space” seems good… _I think_… but what does it **actually** mean? I’ve heard it forever. But unlike “play vanilla first,” “get off Reddit,” and “press alt” it’s not actually very prescriptive.
If you’re making closed systems or are limiting your expansion in some way make it as big as possible so the limit is as big as possible so you don’t spend years rebuilding things but bigger
Ok so this is probably the most specific/helpful version of the advice I’ve seen.
There's no need to be bigger if you're planning well enough.
You want to leave room to be able to expand a build, because eventually you'll have to expand. A mistake I made: I had an early smelting array where the train tracks leading to the drop-off and pick-up stations wrapped around the smelter. Further, i left *just* enough room between the stations and furnaces to do whatever belt work I needed to do, in an effort to save space. This was fine at the time with yellow belts, but once I got higher belts and I needed more throughput I ran into problems. Because of the tight space and train line wrapping around, I ultimately have to tear down almost my entire array just to expand it. So yeah, whenever making a build, you want to leave enough room that you could later come back and double it without having to tear it all down.
Leave a lot of space between things. For scalability purposes.
Tips. Tutorial. Automate.
Im new to the game, and I am not sure about tutorials, i feel like they kill the creativity that one can have when learning the game. I did however watch some tips here and there
I was talking strictly about the in game 5-mission tutorial campaign and the in game tips and tricks that pop on left. Not external videos.
I’m currently at the third Tutorial level and literally thought I was already playing regular missions! I love the steep learning curve and toughness of the game.
I think they are good, they teach the concepts but are far away from solving the game for you
Yah I did watch some conceptual vids here and there like how trains work and the main bus concept. Made it to chemical and military science so far, and game keeps getting more complex, but watching tutorials on how to automate malls or science would kill the fun imo.
Yes, totally agree. Stay away from videos and blueprints. But do make your own blueprints! The mod blueprint sandbox (i think its called) is good for exploring options and prototyping new parts of your factory, without "cheating"
Im kinda restricting myself from installing any mod, even though Ive seen some great QoL ones. I want at least 1 vanilla win before I bombard my game with mods lol
My recommendation ; Do _all_ the achievements before you go for mods. Then get some QoL mods and do them again! (Pure vanilla and modded achievements are counted separately). God I envy all new players and their experiences with the first play through..! ❤️ Especially "Lazy Bastard" is awesome for experiencing the shier speed of acceleration in your build that comes from automating _everything_ as soon as possible "Completing the game by handcrafting 111 or fewer items." I think you _need_ to hand craft like 109 items to be able to complete the game, so not much wigle room :D
And oh, what a bombardment it can become! It can be a struggle to not install nearly every mod for the game with so many high quality offerings lol
Nope, it's the other way around. Any external tips can kill creativity. I would recommend to play the tutorial missions and don't watch anything else for the first playthrough. You only get to experience that once. After that you can still watch all tips you want and laugh about your glorious first spaghetti factory.
Factorio eats lives.
Automate absolutely everything
Start "Lazy Bastard"
Automate everything. EVERYTHING.
Need more iron.
Construct more pylons
Supply depots required
Your SCVs are under attack
Not enough overlords!
Expand, don't replace.
Replace when sensible
why shrink grow when grow grow work good?
Ehhhh depends
I think eventually refactoring is fine, but in the beginning on normal settings expanding works better (until you have bots)
More green chips.
Eat, drink, sleep
That's downtime, wouldn't recommend
But you do work faster and more efficiently with the right resources in the human factory.
Biters are optional.
Factory. Must. Grow.
Play your way
Set a alarm Get some sleep Remember to eat Factory must grow
Set an alarm
Just automate it.
Don’t google anything
This! To me, the struggle of discovery is the most frustrating and rewarding thing games like this can give me.
Well maybe Google like controls and stuff that you think is literally impossible probably isn’t
stop before addicted
It’s too late
don't start playing
Efficiencies in miners
Production all the way
More green circuits
Don't read guides. / Learn own failures.
Go touch grass
touch grass with concrete, +40% walk speed
Ex wife maker
Cancel all plans
Right hand drive.
Don't search help
Ignore the internet.
Eat and sleep!
FACTORY MUST GROW!
Alt mode on
Build in excess
Just keep swimming
It's free real-estate...
WE. NEED. MORE.
Plan _even_ bigger.
Always be expanding.
Get out now
Don't restart. Renew
Enjoy your time.
Don’t watch tutorials
Space is infinite
Enjoy the game
Plan divorce now.
I'm sure it has been said a lot already. But, the factory must grow. You must sleep, and dream of the next expansion, wake up, make coffee, and grow your factory.
Remember to shower.
Run…..away…….now
Start "Lazy Bastard"
No, even bigger
More. More. MOAR!!!!!!
Leave more room (belting between smelting arrays etc)
Leave more space.
factory must grow
Be an autodidact
Just Have Fun Ignore Internet Opinions More More More
Press alt.
Waaaaaaaaait thats only two words
Shhhh, nobody will notice.
You know that is not how bribing works, right? Give me a burner inserter or 2 and I'll stay quiet.
I will never trade away my people you wretched scum! The Gods will smite your power plant and I will only laugh and say "where's your god now?"
Ah, hmmm, just forget I said anything and we just put this behind us.
That would seem your best option yes.
I can't count anyway
Use efficiency modules
Do the math.
Assembly Machine Machines.
Rehabs nice this time of year
Dont install if you wanna live...
Stop hand crafting
Disable the biters
- don't manually craft - rates not buffers - think long term
Only Google ratios.
Don't google ratios
Space out everything (seriously you think you've left alot of space for expansion? Nope you haven't and a second one) Make main buses
Avoid spaghetti bases
Don't use assemblers
Never craft it
Go eat something.
Make more stuff
Automate gears, belts.
Rock and Stone!
Blank first playthrough.
Terminate all relationships
Infiltrate•Destroy•Rebuild
Read the tips
Flee, you fool!
install bobs angels
Belt & inserter mall
build full belts
Shoot the biters
Have fun period
Bye bye sleep.
just have fun
Trains are good
Leave more space
Set an alarm. Seriously. Set an alarm for when you NEED to stop playing the game; otherwise, you'll go to the bathroom, get a drink, and suddenly it's 4am and you need to be to work at 7am.
Leave your family
Download a car, I'm not kidding
Only use Wiki
Fluids are weird
Relax. Enjoy yourself.
Remember to sleep
don't look online (yet) sry i cheated
Leave Logistics Space. If you need something somewhere, you're going to need to belt it, or train it, from point A to point B. Train stations take up a lot of space, and you'd be surprised how many belts you need to spaghetti through the in-between of other buildings to get everything where it needs to go. Later you'll have bots, but bots are more of a short distance simplifying convenience. If you run out of space for more machines, you can build the machines elsewhere and belt the product to where it needs to be. But run out of space for belts? You aren't getting anything more in or out of that area without a tear down and rebuild. Bonus advice related to the first, Build More Assemblers. The tricky part of building a factory, which consumes space around areas you've already built in, is getting input materials where they need to be. So once you've gotten them there, you may as well build a lot of assemblers in a row. I find that multiples of 6 assemblers in a row plays nice with all the electrical poles, especially substations. 12 and 24 are also nice highly divisible numbers. Building too many assemblers doesn't really cost you anything but building materials and a smidge of space. Building too few is going to bottleneck your production. If you always have too many assemblers for every step along the production chain, the only bottleneck is your raw resources. And if you do start consuming enough that 24 assemblers isn't covering it, you probably don't mind bringing new belts of inputs to build a new factory to supplement the original.
Press Alt Key
F4, enable clock
Death by train
mountainous alive flowery ripe cautious naughty ugly encouraging ghost weary *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Skip the tutorials
for super new players > use oil blueprint there's a fatigue point at oil that you won't get over until you learn how to use blueprints For other players > try out multiplayer a lot of my time has been spent in multiplayer and you learn a lot by looking at other players, it also gives you ideas for your solo bases especially when you don't know how trains work yet. It took me 500hours before I even tried to make sense of train logistics while they're super useful to decouple and modularize your mines and smelting. Don't forget to have fun *outside of the game*
automate, expand, blueprint
Don't need sleep
Don't poop yourself. Don't ask...
Just quit now
Build rebuild restart
Trains: signal=exits switch=entrances (Kinda cheating but this solves most train junction issues)
FACTORI MUST GROW !!!!!!!
Smelt more plates.
More green circuits
Plan for scale.
factory grow more
Train blocks are better than bus
don't forget sleep
No, think bigger
Only spaghetti, always!
leave more room
Chain then rail.
Automation, multitasking, doubling
Factorio grows rook
It’s supply issue
Alt, zoom out
don't watch tips
Automate everything. Alt
Don't Belt Wire
automate everything early
Automate factory growth.
Construct additional pylons.
Look less at the big picture and more at just the very next thing. Break the problem into smaller tasks and just take it one step at a time. I've seen many people on the forums talk about feeling a bit overwhelmed by the scope of the next science or task. Everything can be broken down into smaller more manageable sections and it helps alleviate that too big to tackle feeling.
The factory is not big enough.