Video Games

Beer & Queso
844

Given how far away GTA6 is and how long it’s been in the works, RDR3 is 5 years away at best.

I’m with you on being happy with a “simple” re-master of the existing games. Especially RDR1, as it is a good game (wolves notwithstanding) but it’s just so hard to look at. Even if they just bring 1 up to the standards of 2, that would be cool. If they upgrade both…awesome!

If there is actual additional content, then this would be an absolute treat. If they get to where the games are matched, it opens up the possibility for them to be much better connected. I believe it’s nearly a decade in story time between the end of the Epilogue in 2 and the start of 1…

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845

Wiethoff now says he was getting a little far out over his skis.

846

My Satisfactory 1.1 play through isn’t going to well. I am enjoying some of the new features (it’s not that I’m not enjoying the others, I just haven’t had occasion to use them yet), but the starting location I picked for myself has been a challenge that I am failing.

I realized last night - as I was removing foundation tiles in order to clip conveyor belts through rock - that my main base is a fucking disaster. It has a ton of resources in a small space and I am falling into the trap of trying to cram everything in together. I said before I started this one that I needed to embrace verticality, and I simply haven’t.

I have two manufacturing hubs and four power generating stations. The power gen is fine but the manufacturing needs to be ripped up and started again. The main base has four pure iron nodes all within 100 square metres, and I have all sorts of manufacturing going on in the middle of all of that. I need to create a single floor of iron smelting and then build up from that.

Because of my failed factory design, I have yet to start building certain mid-game products like Motors, so I have been burning coupons buying them as needed (using in-game coupons earned by sinking excess production - there are no micro transactions in this game). That’s pathetic.

This weekend, I’m going to demolish and rebuild the main base. The schematic for it is going to be wild.

847

As it turns out, not so much…

Screenshot 2025-06-20 at 8.51.36 AM
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These are all the parts I’m trying to make at my current base, but I simply ran out of room trying to shoehorn in two manufacturers to make Computers.

This is using about a quarter of the iron and copper available too. If I overclock the miners to 250%, I can pull 2,400 iron ore and 1,200 copper ore per minute. I can pull 960 iron and 480 copper without overclocking.

So the question now is: do I overbuild production ready for later usage?

848

Thinking about this more (it’s a slow day at work after the holiday yesterday), what I really need is the Iron Pipe recipe. It allows you to make an equivalent product to steel pipe but without needing any coal. This is immensely helpful as coal is sparse and many parts require steel pipe as a component. With the Iron Pipe recipe, I can make a couple more parts at my base factory, including the very necessary Motors.

There are many, many alternate recipes that can be obtained by harvesting hard drives from crashed drop pods around the map. The crash sites are often hard to get to and all are heavily populated with beasties. Often, the crashed pod needs some form of repair in order to release the hard drive. Basically this means that you need a number of a particular item, or simply a power connection, in order to open the pod.

With hard drives in hand, it’s still not that simple. The “MAM” research table takes 10 minutes in real time to decode the hard drive, which will reveal two alternate recipes from which you can pick one. You have no control over what alternatives you get and what you do get may be completely useless to you. You get one “re-roll” per hard drive to reveal two new recipes, and then you’re stuck with the results.

So I need to fund a bunch of hard drives and to keep rolling the dice until I hit Iron Pipe. I got lucky with an early one that gave me the vital Cast Screw recipe (it cuts out a manufacturing step in making screws), but the Iron Pipe recipe has proved elusive so far.

I am not there yet, but I have never built an aluminium factory without access to the “Sloppy Alumina” alternative recipe. There are maybe 10 alternates that truly are “must haves” and I have three of them already.

849

With much, much running around completed, I gathered up a dozen or so hard drives, 20 or so Mercer Spheres, a couple of Somersloops (for doubling output without additional input) and a boat load of power slugs (for overclocking machines). I have already used the Mercer Spheres to create my cloud storage with all currently produced items being uploaded.

After running through nearly all the hard drives, I finally got the Iron Pipe recipe I wanted. So I can now make some extra items at my main base because I can make a few of the items that need steel pipes. I also bagged the Iron Wire recipe, which is another good one as it means I can make parts that need Wire or Cable - usually made from copper - with just iron.

in fact, this is going to end up being a mega base as, with the alternate recipes and the import of just 200 plastic from the nearby refinery, I can make 18 different items here. So now my plan is to tear down the existing base and build a proper multi-story mega factory.

That’s the weekend chores shot, then.

850

My MegaBase is melting my brain. The more I think about it the more elaborate it gets while nothing actually gets built.

Meanwhile, updating to Satisfactory 1.1 has re-hidden the “bottle” in which the game files exist on my Mac. This means that, not only can I not transfer forward my blueprints, I cannot find where screenshots are saved.

And there was much rejoicing.

851

I have been doing a lot of procrastesploring. Killing beasties and yoinking collectibles.

However, the bones of the building for my megafactory have been built. I have gone large because you always need about twice as much space as you think.

Also, I have the concept of a plan as to how to break down the existing production to build the new lines. That’s the tricky part because if I’m not careful I will run out of materials with which to build before I have new production up and running.

This time playing is all about style. I blundered through the first time, the second time I honed my logistical skills and this time I want to make something that looks permanent.

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852

No offense but I stopped reading here. As should we all when confronted with such language.

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853

This is poetry.

854

Funny thing, all the smelters barely fit onto the smelter floor and the floor dedicated to basic copper and iron parts has enough room only for iron parts. I have a floor spare - or had a floor spare - but at this point I am just hoping I have enough space.

The good news is that, after basic parts, the machines get notably larger but dramatically fall in count. For example, I have 27 smelters making the iron ingots required to feed 20 constructors that make the iron plates and screws needed to make Reinforced Iron Plates, which is achieved in just 8 assemblers.

I have built up the cliff face which is naturally uneven, so the usable space varies from floor to floor. I had intended to contain all the production up to the level of the top of the cliff - where my current production is currently…erm…producing - and so I will gain that space back once I clear away the old lines when the new lines are running.

I did not plan on the building being much taller than it is now, but I have the option to add on top as necessary. I much prefer the building being hewn into the living rock, so I will see what’s left to install once I have filled up the existing space.

855

Yes, I am still building my mega factory. No, I haven’t turned it on yet. No, I’m not even close.

I keep thinking, “I’ll just put down this section to make part X and then I’ll switch it on” but, after putting down that section, I realize that I need to put down another section before throwing the switch. Rinse; repeat.

When I do finally fire it up, debugging is going to be a fucking nightmare. I am using signs liberally - something I haven’t done before - so that I know what section is making what, how many and where it’s going. When I fire it up, the new in 1.1 belt counters will help dramatically with debugging, as I will see where the bottlenecks are much more easily.

Belt counters are useless until the machines are running, of course, but other 1.1 additions have been very useful. The “vertical nudge” (being able to move a buildable vertically in space) has saved me hours. I have placed a splitter on a lift too, and even used a priority merger. The crowning glory of 1.1 upgrades though, is the elevator that runs up through my whole factory.

As to why the delay in cranking up the new lines, I took a break from placing down constructors and the like to build my train station. I am at the point where the sections I am building need materials coming in from outside, so I needed to build out the stations to see specifically where the items will be coming in so that I can place the productions lines in the most efficacious way.

I had left vacant a double-height floor near the bottom of my building just for trains. The extra height is needed to accommodate the super-tall station buildings. This has worked out better than I expected, with me being able to fit 6 individual stations down there, which is more than enough for what I am bringing in. These will be only for bulk imports, with later parts being needed in low volumes that will be handled by drones.

I need the trains initially to bring in plastic, rubber and quartz, but I also need to increase my power generation which will be done with fuel that is a byproduct of plastic and rubber manufacture. So I will build out the train lines to the oil fields to get that cranking.

Then I’ll be ready to turn it all on. Maybe.

856

Satisfactory is currently on sale on Steam, -30%.

It’s also close enough to a console release that it’s available to be placed on your wish list.

Don’t hate me.

857

You need an 80’s style Tyco racetrack to play with.

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858

A megafactory was a bad idea.

859

I was frustrated with my mega factory because I was getting stymied at every turn. I couldn’t turn on all the new production - some of which was stuff I need for machines that I want to build - because I didn’t have enough power. I wanted to lay down a new oil powered generating station, but that required a lot of shit that I couldn’t automate yet because I didn’t have enough power.

Laying down small factories seemed to be pointless and annoying. So I was stuck in a loop of not being able to do A because I was missing B, not being able to do B because I was missing C and not being able to do C because I was missing A. Eventually, though, through hand-crafting and buying stuff I needed with sink points, I got the power I needed to turn everything on.

I built out the train lines to bring in the bulk resources I needed from offsite and suddenly everything was easily to hand. Rubber to make Modular Engines…got that! Quartz crystals for Oscillators…got that! Plastic for circuit boards and computers…got that! Suddenly, I was slapping down lines of the big machines that make the complex parts and it all seemed easy.

Having eschewed logistics floors in the past, I decided to have one in my mega factory, just for the floor that has the big, multi-input machines. This turned out to be a fortunate choice. So many parts end up in multiple production lines that conveyor spaghetti is almost inevitable. Hiding that on a logistics floor makes connecting machines less stressful.

However, I gave myself plenty of headroom to work with, and stuck to a protocol that east-west lines are at one height and north-south lines another (both being above head height allowing for ease of movement), with everything running in these directions only (no diagonals). This was a tip I got from YouTube, and it has been an absolute lifesaver.

There were plenty of times when I needed to get output from one production line to another where it will be an input, and I had to traverse half the length of my (massive) factory. By adhering strictly to the height separation, I rarely had a situation where there wasn’t a clear pathway to get me perpendicular to where I needed to be, and which point I could make a 90° turn and elevation change, and complete the journey.

So, as of right now, I am making everything that I had planned to make in my mega factory, which includes everything I need to send up the Space Elevator and complete - finally - Phase 3. Doing all this without the hoverpack has been a challenge, so that is going to be the first thing I get when it unlocks going into Phase 4.

860

Just wait until they impose the tariffs. You’re screwed when they impose the tariffs.

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861

They could tariff the nothing they pay me as much as they like.

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862

Phase 3 complete and - because I took my damn time getting there - I am very well set to get the last two tiers of equipment upgrades unlocked. This includes the all-important drones, which I now know to make the mainstay of my transportation logistics from here on. I am already making the fuel in bulk, and that location will be the gas station for my entire drone network.

The next phase, though, involves aluminium which is just complication on top of complication. However, during my procrastsploration, I have amassed dozens of hard drives to be researched for alternative recipes. What I need is the “Sloppy Alumina” and “Pure Aluminium Ingots” recipes. These each remove a complication and I won’t even start on an aluminium factory without them.

So far, I have burned through a dozen hard drives and got the ingot recipe, but not the one for alumina. I did bag a couple of fuel recipes that will let me makeover my fuel plants and totally boost the power output. If the game fucks me out of the alumina recipe, I’ll be pissed.

863

I tried to cheat. I thought I could use multiple drones to feed sulphur into my TurboFuel plant, but they just cannot provide the throughput necessary. I needed a train.

So I built a train. I already had tracks nearby to my TurboFuel plant; I just needed to run those out to a “pure” sulphur node. The new “blueprint connect” feature - where things like belts, pipes and train tracks will automatically connect when you build a new one next to an existing one - is absolutely awesome.

When laying track before, you had to leave rails out of your track blueprint because there was no point as you had to connect them manually anyway. Now, as long as the rails run to the edge of the blueprint, they will connect to the next one. Straight sections of two-way track now build in seconds with tracks already included.

I must say that, now I made the effort, trains are a very cool thing to have. Later in the game where I need ones of items per minute for manufacturing, drones are ideal; for those items a train is using a sledgehammer to break a grape. But there’s just something cool about having trains running around the map.

As FicsIt’s AI dominatrix “Ada” says once you unlock trains". “Choo-Choo, motherfucker!”