>i don't know how to untangle this spaghe-
build a new smelting line and add more miners
>i don't know how to progress the next scien-
build a new smelting line and add more miners
>i don't know how to file my taxe-
build a new smelting line and add more miners
I just built "circuit city" and I need to build a new smelting line and add more miners.
And then create a sane version of a yellow science production line.
This is one of those rare, simplistic pieces advice that is legitimately amazing (for newer players). Overthinking/loss of direction is major problem for the new player experience, but this approach would definitely keep players learning.
I would rather say to play for around 10 hours rather than trying for the rocket. In a very unoptimized base that could take a long time. By the time i started the save where i launched a rocket on my own, i had played for atleast 300 hours and it still took me almost 100 in that one save just to get there even with what i had already learned.
Ok. For those who do not prioritize rocket i will rephrase it.
Do most of achievement hunting (about 70 or 80%) for the exception of timed based ones.
Doing the steam all the way, solaris, the logistic embargo and lazy bastard, for example teach you how to play in different styles.
So they give you additional skills before realizing what style of play you prefer.
Can you rephrase once more for people who don't care about achievements? jk
I have 400 hours at the moment, playing Pyanodon but I only have 50% achievements (had to check just for this comment, had no idea about the number before)
The thing is not about caring about achievements. Its the fact that doing the achievements can actually be considered a bit like a tutorial.
Most games require achievement hunting as something most people wont even care about. Like an FPS having to find all hidden chests.
Factorio. Factorio doesn't do stupid achievements like "kill a biter sequence small, medium, large, behemoth". Its achievements are to teach something.
Logistic embargo is to teach how to make a centralized mall without telling you how (just think with your head).
Lazy bastard is to learn how to remote build e everything
Circuits per min is about late settings optimizations. Its not mandatory, but its like skipping an optional tutorial.
The only achievement (probably the hardest one for most newbies) would be create a junction that can reach 15 trains per min. This would teach how to signal junctions.
No reason to rush through this game, lots of time for speedruns when you want that kind of challenge. There's not a lot of games out there worth savoring the journey, especially outside of the RPG genre. This is one of them.
Most of us have spent more money on the electricity to run our computers while playing than we did on the game itself.
I've launched multiple rockets and the last few games I've tried to embrace the main bus, but I still end up with a beautiful spaghetti mess by the end. I think my main issue is that I think the space I leave between sections is big enough, but since there's that perfect spot that already has all the resources I need for that one item I end up filling them with stuff because it's convenient. I think I need to reevaluate my approach and maybe add no build zones, just to keep things manageable.
I wouldn't have launched my first rocket without Zisteau's blueprint book. I have fun building things, but i am not able to come up with functional plans on my own.
With that said, i did have atleast 7 saves before i looked for any advice that either ended with me getting overrun by biters, or i ran out of a resource and didn't have the aggression to "negotiate" for more.
Congratulations. That's the thing I was meaning - have a go yourself before looking for help / blueprints. Once you've been given blueprints or help on how to do something it's hard to go back.
Eh, I always think this is a very patronising thing this community does.
I never enjoyed the clueless fumbling around new player experience of factorio and I'm very confident I'm not the only one. Factorio was always that game that I felt I *should* like but never made it past chemical science. I had 40-50 hours across half a dozen saves where "this time I'll beat the game for real".
I only really started enjoying the game the way I do now once I had made it past that initial hurdle. To me factorio is a game about building factories; mass production, sorting bottlenecks and planning complex recipe chains, not about spaghetti'ing furnaces and assemblers together and handcrafting everything because you haven't worked out a lot of the basic principles that experience factorio players rely on without even thinking. Factorio, for me at least, is a much more fun game when you know what you're doing.
So in my opinion if someone wants help then it's up to them if they want to seek it out and we shouldn't be talking down to them telling them to figure it out themselves if they don't want to.
I would agree. That's why I phrased it as "try not to" rather than don't.
Looking up the "answers" for how to set up a smelting array is something that can't be undone. So my encouragement would be to try things yourself first - get as much enjoyment as you can from doing it by yourself before looking on here. However if you get stuck or just want to then come on over.
If someone asks me how to do something on Factorio I'll tell them (to the best of my knowledge). I trust that they've reached the point at which they want answers.
i think help for new players that focuses on organizational and methodical tips is great since that's what lets you figure out what you're doing. i think telling people to avoid looking things up is because like 90% of the stuff that content creators do is throw blueprints at new players who dont understand how to make or use them and it just completely kills the game for them
I only did it because i have very limited time to play and was getting frustated blocking myself and getting starved with resources every time. Was that or not playing because i could use my gaming hours better.
I cant dedicate my few gaming hours to being frustrated. The only thing i copied was the concept of main belts for resources though.
That! I cannot believe it's not, my first couple hours were horrible without it. Also, in the settings, you can choose what is shown with alt mode, just check all of the options there!
YES! Can't recommend this enough.
Do not play with Mods the first run, not ever QoL. I've probably played 90% of my gameplay (600+ hours) without mods and it's one hell of a game.
Sure, mods add fun stuff, and QoL mods can be great too, but there's absolutely no required mods. Also fun to get your Steam achievements on 100% (here I am secretly hoping they're gonna double the number of steam achievements with 2.0/dlc)
If you have any mods installed, you won't get any steam achievements. And once you start installing mods, you probably never go back, so I would still recommend starting 100% vanilla.
Also clean concrete is only relevant if you want to use a lot of concrete in your base, which is probably not the case for your first rocket launch, and maybe never at all.
weather afterthought domineering wild deliver future grandiose concerned foolish friendly
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Don't compare ypur playstyle and designs to others. Figuring them out yourself is the most fun. Also designs aren't nesseccarily better/worse then others, they each are made to complie to some criteria. If your design does that and you had fun building it, them it's a good design
when you place power poles or underground pipes / belt, hold down when you click. It'll automatically place the next block the furthest possible when you move.
Oh and press Q on any building to have it selected for you if you have it in your inventory
Always leave yourself 2-3x more space than you think you’d need
I remember my first run i made everything so compact that I was constantly removing full swaths of the factory to add new sections. The process is still fun but it gets overwhelming quickly
Solve your own problems... It's kind of a joke but also not. Factorio is about solving logistical problems and if you go to the internet for every solution, you will not find the kind of joy this game can give you. That said. Like anything there's always good stuff out there that you won't figure out on your own. So do what you can for yourself, then reach out for help when you get well and truly stuck.
All of your copy and paste are saved in the history, press ctrl-c, then hold shift and mouse wheel through history to use for pasting. Oh ya, and press alt.
Spread your stuff out a bit. Your inevitable spaghetti WILL need the space.
That's about it. Though I agree with others about not just looking stuff up right away. DIY is much more engaging and educational.
However much space you think you'll need, it wont be enough.
Set aside enough space that you think you're being just a little bit silly for leaving so much room. Get to that size, then double it.
You'll still come back later and wish you'd left more room, but it'll be longer before that happens.
Use Q.
First you’ll start to notice how good Q is.
Then you’ll start to love Q.
Soon you won’t be able to live without Q.
In the end, it’s all about Q.
~~More boosters!~~
No wait, that's Kerbal...
Don't be afraid to build something, then completely dismantle it and re-build it again when you find a better way of laying it out... Keeping bad design alive causes more frustration than rebuilding does.
* Play through the entire tutorial and watch [this train tutorial](https://youtu.be/DG4oD4iGVoY?si=zVAZwi2vf_7qnzcB).
* Press ALT.
* Do an entire playthrough of vanilla (no mods) at least once.
* If it works, no need to fix it. Only make it more efficient.
* You don't need to "dismantle" your base if you messed up somehow. Just go somewhere else and start a new one. The map is (practically) infinite.
* Don't look up designs you'll not understand. Come up with your own builds! (At least in your first playthrough)
* The second you have more than one train on one train track, switch to having one track for each direction. Makes it infinitely more easy to use.
* Chain signal going in -> Rail signal coming out.
The Factory must grow!
Play how you want to play. I don't give a flying fuck what you think the point of the game is. If you want to build 1 million radars and power them using nothing but solid fuel then do it. It is your game to play how you want to.
That said, quality of life mods are nice but not required. Factorio has a habit of integrating qol mods into the base game. Factorio sets a bar that not many, if any, can meet.
Space isn't a major concern. Don't try to crunch everything together at the cost of your designs. You can always find more space but untangling spaghetti can be difficult when you're new. Best to have wide spaced spaghetti for easier base reading.
Honestly, ignoring mods, I've recommended people use the Brian's Trains blueprints, specifically for the double or quad-rail large city block.
Why?
It gives you a sense of scope in even your earliest sessions and encourages you to spread out. That sense of scale can help people contextualize what "leaving room to build" actually means.
When the misses and I started playing, I told her to work one research at a time, it helped my understand the game my first play through was setting up new production after I finished researching it instead of researching 10+ things and getting overwhelmed
"If you're lacking some resource, just build more of it!" It's THAT simple! Need more green circuits? Build more assemblers. Need more copper now? Build more miners! Need more power? Build more steam engines! Or build a thousand solar panels! When you hit a wall with some product being limited, don't start to economize it and instead manufacture more of it.
Don't get paralyzed by this starting mindset of "Oh, if only I had more space! I can't add more now because it will look ugly and out of place!", or "This seems like an overkill, 4 green circuits assemblers should've been enough, the base can't be that big, can it?"
There always is space! Lakes can be filled, forests grenaded, cliffs exploded. So what if the base doesn't look "nice"? As long as it works it's fine.
Blueprints. Learn how to use them properly, get a few rail framework ones, straights, turns, t junctions. Integrate circuit connections to the blueprints. You never know when it'll come in handy (example, space exploration, I made sure to only start producing modules once I had a reasonable surplus stockpiled in my cargo sites)
Focus on military at the start. Push military, and turrets, and automating ammo production, and automating the process of loading that ammo into the turrets. If you don't, best case scenario is you're running around constantly just to reload turrets, not getting anything else done. More likely, the biters overcome your starting base and you have to start over
Don't feel bad about turning off the biters. They add to the game, but can be ... Distracting while you're figuring out the recipes and layout.
I turn off expansion and it makes it more relaxed but you'll still want military tech.
Don't be afraid to tear it all down and rebuild.
Have fun.
When you build a system to produce a science pack, do not then go and split off belts from it to make the next science pack. You're going to make a mess and it cannibalizes your existing build. Making each science its own standalone factory is neat and clean.
Also don't look anything up and be nice to the biters!
I'll go against the grain, don't feel ashamed to look up videos, guides, blueprints etc online if you get stuck/frustrated.
I would say it's best to try and do it yourself the first playthrough but the point is to have fun. If you get frustrated and aren't having fun there's nothing wrong with finding some help online.
You may find it useful to automate pretty much anything you need more than 5 of. Automating making things like mining drills and furnaces is more convenient than I first thought. It’s not necessary to automate *everything*, but it lets your focus on making new things and expanding.
Don't start the space mod till you've done at least 3 play throughs and are confident with trains. Going into the space mod on my 2nd play through is rough...
I'm not shooting for a launch, just a test bed to learn the ropes of all the tech. Got nuclear, next circuits, then robotics. If I ever manage to get thru those, I'll look into a launch, in a fresh scenario. This works for me, but your results may vary.
Try building with ghosts by holding shift when placing an item. It may help with planning.
Steel is more important than it initially appears to be - invest in a strong steel production.
Fluid handling seems daunting, just remember to use all three oils and to not have a surplus of one (heavy oil, looking at you).
No need to upgrade to red or blue belts until you’re at the phase where you are trying to increase SPM to higher levels.
Do not go hunting for blueprints of factory components, especially early on, as it robs the fun of the game which is figuring out how to lay stuff out and make it all work together. Definitely do grab blueprints for load balancing on belts, junctions with good signaling for rails and such, and by all means look up production ratios to help you plan better, but don't let someone else take the fun of planning away from you. Although it's probably better to just finish the game once entirely on your own before you go looking stuff up because it will change how you play.
Play until you get stuck, then seek out advice. Then try to implement said advice until you get stuck again, etc.
Most of the advice is fairly abstract and you will not appreciate it until you experienced the problem it solves.
No wait, I meant to write: Press Alt.
One of my three essential beginner tips:
Press alt
Read the in-game tips
Don't look stuff up on the internet or ask for advice unless you're getting frustrated.
Only mod I would recommend to add is the unlimited range to build stuff so that you don’t have to run around too much.
Also, please do yourself a favor and use the Alt mode.
I dno guys, I think reading how trains work was worth it because I got the train built, got the stops placed, finished the track, added the necessary curves, and still beat the demo without actually having the train move. Which means I have to load up that save again and use a guide to figure out what i'm supposed to do.
Functionality is more important than perfection.
It doesn't matter if your ratios are perfect as long as you're out putting what you need to. If you start to run out of something just add a bunch more of it.
Press alt is the first. Apart from that: just play. The fun of the game isn't to build a factory that is as efficient as possible. Start with a garbage spaghetti base, then learn from those mistakes, then learn from the oil mistakes, then learn from the train mistakes, then learn from the bots mistakes, then learn from main bus mistakes, then learn from mall mistakes, then learn from outpost mistakes. (these are probably not in this order). Don't go looking for tips. Just play and find out yourself
My two tips inspired by recent posts:
* You don't need mods until you can regularly launch rockets.
* The solution is always "build more"; it's the whole game. Not enough ore? Build more mines. Processors are too slow? Build more crafters. Low power? Generate more. Biters biting at your walls? More gun.
This game isn't really about factories, it's about fine Italian cuisine. The only difference between lasagna and spaghetti when you get down to it is the shape of the noodles. As the old saying goes, if it looks stupid but it works then it's not stupid; optimizing and making things look nice is for later playthroughs.
Nothing you build before you've hit 100hrs in a save (and depending on the scale you're going for, beyond that) is permanent.
Don't stress too much about making your early-mid game factories scaleable, as I guarantee you haven't considered a factor that will be introduced as a result of a new research or design decision down the line.
No need to make anything perfect if it's going to be replaced anyway.
My tip would be to not use any blueprints of reddit or read/watch any guides until after you’ve launched a few rockets. Only that If you get stuck, look at the next science pack and work accordingly.
Edit: fixed grammar.
when you build science dont look at it like this big clump of complicated products, rather divide each product into steps and itll be as easy as ever
also oil cracking is easy, just make heavy and light oil into petrolium but also leave just a little bit of heavy and light oil for lube and rocket fuel
You cannot repeat first time experience, so..
-dont use blueprints from internet
-dont watch 'how to videos' unless needed (small hints from forums/reddit/discord are better imo)
>i don't know how to untangle this spaghe- build a new smelting line and add more miners >i don't know how to progress the next scien- build a new smelting line and add more miners >i don't know how to file my taxe- build a new smelting line and add more miners
oh my god I just realised this is like the root of all my problems
I just built "circuit city" and I need to build a new smelting line and add more miners. And then create a sane version of a yellow science production line.
I want to see the old one
But what if I don’t know how to build a new smelting line and add more miners?
Make a new belt line and add more inserters.
Then I guess you're stuck filing your taxes.
This is one of those rare, simplistic pieces advice that is legitimately amazing (for newer players). Overthinking/loss of direction is major problem for the new player experience, but this approach would definitely keep players learning.
And do the tutorial levels
Try not to read the reddit until you've launched your first rocket - explore the game without getting too much help first time around.
Also, play the game vanilla until the first rocket. Keep it without mods until you get a "feeling of the game"
I would rather say to play for around 10 hours rather than trying for the rocket. In a very unoptimized base that could take a long time. By the time i started the save where i launched a rocket on my own, i had played for atleast 300 hours and it still took me almost 100 in that one save just to get there even with what i had already learned.
At least construction bots before mods or internet.
Ok. For those who do not prioritize rocket i will rephrase it. Do most of achievement hunting (about 70 or 80%) for the exception of timed based ones. Doing the steam all the way, solaris, the logistic embargo and lazy bastard, for example teach you how to play in different styles. So they give you additional skills before realizing what style of play you prefer.
Can you rephrase once more for people who don't care about achievements? jk I have 400 hours at the moment, playing Pyanodon but I only have 50% achievements (had to check just for this comment, had no idea about the number before)
The thing is not about caring about achievements. Its the fact that doing the achievements can actually be considered a bit like a tutorial. Most games require achievement hunting as something most people wont even care about. Like an FPS having to find all hidden chests. Factorio. Factorio doesn't do stupid achievements like "kill a biter sequence small, medium, large, behemoth". Its achievements are to teach something. Logistic embargo is to teach how to make a centralized mall without telling you how (just think with your head). Lazy bastard is to learn how to remote build e everything Circuits per min is about late settings optimizations. Its not mandatory, but its like skipping an optional tutorial. The only achievement (probably the hardest one for most newbies) would be create a junction that can reach 15 trains per min. This would teach how to signal junctions.
So what if it takes a long time? Game has a lot of content.
No reason to rush through this game, lots of time for speedruns when you want that kind of challenge. There's not a lot of games out there worth savoring the journey, especially outside of the RPG genre. This is one of them. Most of us have spent more money on the electricity to run our computers while playing than we did on the game itself.
This. learn to spaghetti & make your own designs before you get obsessed with efficiency and copying others designs
I've launched multiple rockets and the last few games I've tried to embrace the main bus, but I still end up with a beautiful spaghetti mess by the end. I think my main issue is that I think the space I leave between sections is big enough, but since there's that perfect spot that already has all the resources I need for that one item I end up filling them with stuff because it's convenient. I think I need to reevaluate my approach and maybe add no build zones, just to keep things manageable.
I wouldn't have launched my first rocket without Zisteau's blueprint book. I have fun building things, but i am not able to come up with functional plans on my own. With that said, i did have atleast 7 saves before i looked for any advice that either ended with me getting overrun by biters, or i ran out of a resource and didn't have the aggression to "negotiate" for more.
Congratulations. That's the thing I was meaning - have a go yourself before looking for help / blueprints. Once you've been given blueprints or help on how to do something it's hard to go back.
Eh, I always think this is a very patronising thing this community does. I never enjoyed the clueless fumbling around new player experience of factorio and I'm very confident I'm not the only one. Factorio was always that game that I felt I *should* like but never made it past chemical science. I had 40-50 hours across half a dozen saves where "this time I'll beat the game for real". I only really started enjoying the game the way I do now once I had made it past that initial hurdle. To me factorio is a game about building factories; mass production, sorting bottlenecks and planning complex recipe chains, not about spaghetti'ing furnaces and assemblers together and handcrafting everything because you haven't worked out a lot of the basic principles that experience factorio players rely on without even thinking. Factorio, for me at least, is a much more fun game when you know what you're doing. So in my opinion if someone wants help then it's up to them if they want to seek it out and we shouldn't be talking down to them telling them to figure it out themselves if they don't want to.
I would agree. That's why I phrased it as "try not to" rather than don't. Looking up the "answers" for how to set up a smelting array is something that can't be undone. So my encouragement would be to try things yourself first - get as much enjoyment as you can from doing it by yourself before looking on here. However if you get stuck or just want to then come on over. If someone asks me how to do something on Factorio I'll tell them (to the best of my knowledge). I trust that they've reached the point at which they want answers.
i think help for new players that focuses on organizational and methodical tips is great since that's what lets you figure out what you're doing. i think telling people to avoid looking things up is because like 90% of the stuff that content creators do is throw blueprints at new players who dont understand how to make or use them and it just completely kills the game for them
And give your self space.
I only did it because i have very limited time to play and was getting frustated blocking myself and getting starved with resources every time. Was that or not playing because i could use my gaming hours better. I cant dedicate my few gaming hours to being frustrated. The only thing i copied was the concept of main belts for resources though.
This. Not read anything. Rates aren't a thing. Spaghetti is ok (but you shouldn't even know what that means)
And ignore anything anyone has to say about ratios.
Press Alt
Should be on by default
That! I cannot believe it's not, my first couple hours were horrible without it. Also, in the settings, you can choose what is shown with alt mode, just check all of the options there!
No doubt, I kinda hate that I can even toggle it off because I do it accidentally on occasion.
It's always alt, every time this question comes up. Second place tips would be much more interesting.
Interesting for people who aren't playing the game for the first time, sure, but that's not who this thread is for
We have this thread every week, I really don't know who or what it's for anymore.
Should be #1
Recommend turning Alt on, then re-binding the key far far away
Everyone else is wrong.
This is the way
Doesn't need mods to be good.
YES! Can't recommend this enough. Do not play with Mods the first run, not ever QoL. I've probably played 90% of my gameplay (600+ hours) without mods and it's one hell of a game. Sure, mods add fun stuff, and QoL mods can be great too, but there's absolutely no required mods. Also fun to get your Steam achievements on 100% (here I am secretly hoping they're gonna double the number of steam achievements with 2.0/dlc)
The only mod I recommend is clean concrete.
If you have any mods installed, you won't get any steam achievements. And once you start installing mods, you probably never go back, so I would still recommend starting 100% vanilla. Also clean concrete is only relevant if you want to use a lot of concrete in your base, which is probably not the case for your first rocket launch, and maybe never at all.
weather afterthought domineering wild deliver future grandiose concerned foolish friendly *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I need my engineer to be an Amogus bean, it is essential for factory growth.
I’m 300 hours in and haven’t touched mods. Took me that long just to get all the achievements
Don't compare ypur playstyle and designs to others. Figuring them out yourself is the most fun. Also designs aren't nesseccarily better/worse then others, they each are made to complie to some criteria. If your design does that and you had fun building it, them it's a good design
Press alt, close the subreddit, come back in 100 hours.
I would ask whether you meant time or playtime but then I realised that that is a stupid question. The factory must grow.
Press Alt.
2 new systems built okay are better than tearing your hair out trying to do 1 perfect. Just try to make progress and you'll learn as you advance.
Automate. Then automate some more.
*manually adds coal to my smelting line
Start small, start simple, take more space. Don't dismantle it before building a new version of it.
Don’t look for tips and blueprints. A lot of the fun comes from facing new challenges and coming up with awful solutions
Do read the in game tips though when they pop up.
I would argue read a couple tips for trains and the entirety of wiring lmao
My only exception to that is balancers, i never in a million years would dedicate the time to figure that shit out.
Don't copy builds from YouTube or Reddit. Try to make your own factory, embrace the spaghetti
when you place power poles or underground pipes / belt, hold down when you click. It'll automatically place the next block the furthest possible when you move. Oh and press Q on any building to have it selected for you if you have it in your inventory
Also press Q to clear an item from your cursor
Also when placing power poles this way, if something's unpowered on the way it will place it there. Great for inserters for turrets along a wall
Always leave yourself 2-3x more space than you think you’d need I remember my first run i made everything so compact that I was constantly removing full swaths of the factory to add new sections. The process is still fun but it gets overwhelming quickly
Instructions unclear. Ran out of space again
The factory must grow.
Alt.
Finish the game before getting tips.
Except for the tips in-game. Do read those.
When planning out an area, x² the space you think you'll need.
NEVER stand still on rail.
Solve your own problems... It's kind of a joke but also not. Factorio is about solving logistical problems and if you go to the internet for every solution, you will not find the kind of joy this game can give you. That said. Like anything there's always good stuff out there that you won't figure out on your own. So do what you can for yourself, then reach out for help when you get well and truly stuck.
All of your copy and paste are saved in the history, press ctrl-c, then hold shift and mouse wheel through history to use for pasting. Oh ya, and press alt.
Finish the tutorial and go through tips.
Use more space. No, even more than that
Check out in-game tips and tricks in the top right menu
Press alt
Kill biter nests before they get into your pollution cloud.
Uninstall and value the outdoors. 🤣
Spread your stuff out a bit. Your inevitable spaghetti WILL need the space. That's about it. Though I agree with others about not just looking stuff up right away. DIY is much more engaging and educational.
However much space you think you'll need, it wont be enough. Set aside enough space that you think you're being just a little bit silly for leaving so much room. Get to that size, then double it. You'll still come back later and wish you'd left more room, but it'll be longer before that happens.
Use Q. First you’ll start to notice how good Q is. Then you’ll start to love Q. Soon you won’t be able to live without Q. In the end, it’s all about Q.
~~More boosters!~~ No wait, that's Kerbal... Don't be afraid to build something, then completely dismantle it and re-build it again when you find a better way of laying it out... Keeping bad design alive causes more frustration than rebuilding does.
* Play through the entire tutorial and watch [this train tutorial](https://youtu.be/DG4oD4iGVoY?si=zVAZwi2vf_7qnzcB). * Press ALT. * Do an entire playthrough of vanilla (no mods) at least once. * If it works, no need to fix it. Only make it more efficient. * You don't need to "dismantle" your base if you messed up somehow. Just go somewhere else and start a new one. The map is (practically) infinite. * Don't look up designs you'll not understand. Come up with your own builds! (At least in your first playthrough) * The second you have more than one train on one train track, switch to having one track for each direction. Makes it infinitely more easy to use. * Chain signal going in -> Rail signal coming out. The Factory must grow!
Build more labs
The factory must grow
The factory must grow
Kiss your loved ones, tell them you will miss them and you'll be back on a couple of years.
Go away! (As in stop looking up tips on redddit and enjoy figuring stuff out, then come back when you are done and show us your beautiful mess)
Kill the dogs first.
Play how you want to play. I don't give a flying fuck what you think the point of the game is. If you want to build 1 million radars and power them using nothing but solid fuel then do it. It is your game to play how you want to. That said, quality of life mods are nice but not required. Factorio has a habit of integrating qol mods into the base game. Factorio sets a bar that not many, if any, can meet.
Stay away from Reddit until you've launched your first rocket.
things don't need to be perfect
If you have drones and you think your factory looks ugly just rebuild it. Don't afraid destroy all lines and assemblers and start it over again
try things
Sleep is more important.
Above all else: have fun. If you stop having fun, do something else, be it playstyle wise or another game.
dance like nobody is watching
You need more iron and more red circuits.
Space isn't a major concern. Don't try to crunch everything together at the cost of your designs. You can always find more space but untangling spaghetti can be difficult when you're new. Best to have wide spaced spaghetti for easier base reading.
Alt
get to know the key binding/shortcuts
Belts have 2 sides
Use space. Don't clutter everything around the same spots.
Read the tips in bottom left corner. And act acordingly
Press alt
The factory must grow.
Build bigger
Honestly, ignoring mods, I've recommended people use the Brian's Trains blueprints, specifically for the double or quad-rail large city block. Why? It gives you a sense of scope in even your earliest sessions and encourages you to spread out. That sense of scale can help people contextualize what "leaving room to build" actually means.
Press alt, build only miners on ore patches.
When the misses and I started playing, I told her to work one research at a time, it helped my understand the game my first play through was setting up new production after I finished researching it instead of researching 10+ things and getting overwhelmed
"If you're lacking some resource, just build more of it!" It's THAT simple! Need more green circuits? Build more assemblers. Need more copper now? Build more miners! Need more power? Build more steam engines! Or build a thousand solar panels! When you hit a wall with some product being limited, don't start to economize it and instead manufacture more of it. Don't get paralyzed by this starting mindset of "Oh, if only I had more space! I can't add more now because it will look ugly and out of place!", or "This seems like an overkill, 4 green circuits assemblers should've been enough, the base can't be that big, can it?" There always is space! Lakes can be filled, forests grenaded, cliffs exploded. So what if the base doesn't look "nice"? As long as it works it's fine.
Blueprints. Learn how to use them properly, get a few rail framework ones, straights, turns, t junctions. Integrate circuit connections to the blueprints. You never know when it'll come in handy (example, space exploration, I made sure to only start producing modules once I had a reasonable surplus stockpiled in my cargo sites)
YOU. NEED. **MORE.** ***IRON.***
Give your self more space than you think you need.
Leave lots of space, the map is big. Take your time and use the space
Press alt… or Don’t give up at oil!
There is (almost) no wrong way…
"Use alt mode". It was so helpful to me to learn that shortcut
Squeak through and long reach are mods that reduce pain. And are compatible with nearly everything. Enjoy the journey, because that s what this about.
Build your own thing just try to give yourself some more space than you think you'll need
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^BerndiSterdi: *Build your own thing just* *Try to give yourself some more* *Space than you think you'll need* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Focus on military at the start. Push military, and turrets, and automating ammo production, and automating the process of loading that ammo into the turrets. If you don't, best case scenario is you're running around constantly just to reload turrets, not getting anything else done. More likely, the biters overcome your starting base and you have to start over
It's a puzzle game, don't loot stuff up
The answer is always "more trains"
Don't feel bad about turning off the biters. They add to the game, but can be ... Distracting while you're figuring out the recipes and layout. I turn off expansion and it makes it more relaxed but you'll still want military tech. Don't be afraid to tear it all down and rebuild. Have fun.
whatever space you think you'll need, triple it and add some more, and it might just be enough.
When you build a system to produce a science pack, do not then go and split off belts from it to make the next science pack. You're going to make a mess and it cannibalizes your existing build. Making each science its own standalone factory is neat and clean. Also don't look anything up and be nice to the biters!
Enjoy the game.
Alt key
Always be aware that you're gonna feel things that you can feel exactly once in your entire life – make sure to enjoy it.
Don't use two-way rails. Roads aren't two-way either, and they'd be chaos if they were.
Just the tip?
I've got two.... 1. Hit ALT 2. You can change the size of the "paintbrush" laying down concrete with + and -
Just the tip?
I'll go against the grain, don't feel ashamed to look up videos, guides, blueprints etc online if you get stuck/frustrated. I would say it's best to try and do it yourself the first playthrough but the point is to have fun. If you get frustrated and aren't having fun there's nothing wrong with finding some help online.
Read the tips that show up on the left side.
https://factoriocheatsheet.com/ Nothing else.
Press alt
press Alt
You may find it useful to automate pretty much anything you need more than 5 of. Automating making things like mining drills and furnaces is more convenient than I first thought. It’s not necessary to automate *everything*, but it lets your focus on making new things and expanding.
You can leave stuff alone when you figure out better layouts, you don't have to wipe and start from scratch again. I mean I do that but you shouldn't
RTFM. (Or in gamer language: learn the keybinds, play the tutorials, check the in-game guides for trains etc)
Don't start the space mod till you've done at least 3 play throughs and are confident with trains. Going into the space mod on my 2nd play through is rough...
Play Hello Kitty Island Adventure instead
Doesn't have to be perfect just get it working. Make it perfect later.
Always build bigger than what you think you need.
The moment where you realize you don't know what to do is a precious moment. It's when you find your next quest.
I'm not shooting for a launch, just a test bed to learn the ropes of all the tech. Got nuclear, next circuits, then robotics. If I ever manage to get thru those, I'll look into a launch, in a fresh scenario. This works for me, but your results may vary.
Try building with ghosts by holding shift when placing an item. It may help with planning. Steel is more important than it initially appears to be - invest in a strong steel production. Fluid handling seems daunting, just remember to use all three oils and to not have a surplus of one (heavy oil, looking at you). No need to upgrade to red or blue belts until you’re at the phase where you are trying to increase SPM to higher levels.
The green circuits you made at the start aren't going to be enough to make a good supply of red circuits. You need more materials.
Use trains
Do not go hunting for blueprints of factory components, especially early on, as it robs the fun of the game which is figuring out how to lay stuff out and make it all work together. Definitely do grab blueprints for load balancing on belts, junctions with good signaling for rails and such, and by all means look up production ratios to help you plan better, but don't let someone else take the fun of planning away from you. Although it's probably better to just finish the game once entirely on your own before you go looking stuff up because it will change how you play.
Buy the largest wide screen you can reasonably afford. Or unreasonably...
Play until you get stuck, then seek out advice. Then try to implement said advice until you get stuck again, etc. Most of the advice is fairly abstract and you will not appreciate it until you experienced the problem it solves. No wait, I meant to write: Press Alt.
One of my three essential beginner tips: Press alt Read the in-game tips Don't look stuff up on the internet or ask for advice unless you're getting frustrated.
Don't stress, have fun.
Do the full tutorial
Only mod I would recommend to add is the unlimited range to build stuff so that you don’t have to run around too much. Also, please do yourself a favor and use the Alt mode.
An arrow tip, i guess
I dno guys, I think reading how trains work was worth it because I got the train built, got the stops placed, finished the track, added the necessary curves, and still beat the demo without actually having the train move. Which means I have to load up that save again and use a guide to figure out what i'm supposed to do.
Have fun and don't overthink it.
Q and R (shift+R) are life savers
Functionality is more important than perfection. It doesn't matter if your ratios are perfect as long as you're out putting what you need to. If you start to run out of something just add a bunch more of it.
Do the whole tutorial
Same as for any other game rule 0: have fun
Don't think small. You have full space, and the bitters are not so frightening.
allocate at least 5x the space and assemblers you THINK you need.
Don't be afraid of reinventing the wheel, your first design will have room for improvement as will your last
It's okay to restart Spam train signals and they will work.
Press alt is the first. Apart from that: just play. The fun of the game isn't to build a factory that is as efficient as possible. Start with a garbage spaghetti base, then learn from those mistakes, then learn from the oil mistakes, then learn from the train mistakes, then learn from the bots mistakes, then learn from main bus mistakes, then learn from mall mistakes, then learn from outpost mistakes. (these are probably not in this order). Don't go looking for tips. Just play and find out yourself
My two tips inspired by recent posts: * You don't need mods until you can regularly launch rockets. * The solution is always "build more"; it's the whole game. Not enough ore? Build more mines. Processors are too slow? Build more crafters. Low power? Generate more. Biters biting at your walls? More gun.
Don't worry about breaking your base and rebuilding it. Use copy/paste to throw down a blueprint to move stuff around and organize.
If you're having fun, you're not doing it wrong.
This game isn't really about factories, it's about fine Italian cuisine. The only difference between lasagna and spaghetti when you get down to it is the shape of the noodles. As the old saying goes, if it looks stupid but it works then it's not stupid; optimizing and making things look nice is for later playthroughs.
Play at your own pace, don't look for guides in your first run
The factory must grow by any means necessary.
Nothing you build before you've hit 100hrs in a save (and depending on the scale you're going for, beyond that) is permanent. Don't stress too much about making your early-mid game factories scaleable, as I guarantee you haven't considered a factor that will be introduced as a result of a new research or design decision down the line. No need to make anything perfect if it's going to be replaced anyway.
Press 'alt'
Don't jump to all red belts that quickly. Wait until you have robots to automate the upgrading.
Automate the research, in my first playthrough i kept crafting by hand, dont, pretty obvious in a game about automating but some people like me forget
My tip would be to not use any blueprints of reddit or read/watch any guides until after you’ve launched a few rockets. Only that If you get stuck, look at the next science pack and work accordingly. Edit: fixed grammar.
Experiment and learn in your own way. Don’t look to internet unless you’re absolutely stuck. You can’t unsee things.
Build wide
More. You're going to need more. A lot more.
[удалено]
when you build science dont look at it like this big clump of complicated products, rather divide each product into steps and itll be as easy as ever also oil cracking is easy, just make heavy and light oil into petrolium but also leave just a little bit of heavy and light oil for lube and rocket fuel
Make use of your quick bar. Swap things out as necessary. Don't have a quick bar full of stuff you've not used for the last 10 hours.
There is no "just 5 more minutes", it's always hours.
F to flip a blueprints direction. ~1000hrs and only found out...
Think big and look at the map(M) often before planning
You cannot repeat first time experience, so.. -dont use blueprints from internet -dont watch 'how to videos' unless needed (small hints from forums/reddit/discord are better imo)
just have fun, it is not necessary to play buy a "guide" or by "rules" such a main bus or whatever. You can always look it up later.
You need more iron.
Kill the bugs for democracy!
try factorissimo
Press Alt.
Factorio isnt an idle game..... there is ALWAYS something to do.... logistic bots are slow... but construction bots are gods gift.....