Factorio Location & placement planning guide

Location & Placement

Location & placement planning guide image 3

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This short little guide is meant to get you to visualize what your factory should look like, from start to at least mid-game. The reason I do this is because if I do not plan, I run into snags, which reduces my enjoyment of the game. I don't like having to make my base look like a plate of spaghetti just to run water pipes and coal belts around once I hit mid-game plastic & battery production, for instance. Next time you start a new game, try following what I did here and see if you like the game better, like I often do. ^^

Take a look at this map. This is a standard game.

What's your first reaction? There's coal, copper, iron, and stone -- everything needed, plus water. Do you immediately start building? Well, you can, but that's not what I typically do. Since I know I won't be attacked until I start building, I take a little time to look around and figure out what my building strategy is going to be. For this, I think about it step by step, like so:

1.) Main power generation. This will require coal and water to run steam engines, so of course it will be close to both.

2.) Main forges for iron & copper plate. Requires coal and ores, so it'll be in between if possible.

I use tags (Right-Click map + Type in text) to mark these points, which makes my map look like this:

Main power generation and main forge areas are the first two major areas to consider, as I need to figure out how I am going to feed those with ores and fuel without it looking awkward. Next, I will consider these:

3.) Main resource bus. This is a centralized network of transport belts that carry nearly all kinds of intermediate goods (Iron plates, electronic circuits, etc.), which will supply rows of Assembly machines I will build along the sides. A main bus and all its attendant facilities will require the lion's share of space in my factory, so I make sure to look for a massive amount of open ground to build it on. Here's an illustration of what a main bus looks like, for reference.

4.) Oil processing. This is where it can get messy if you don't plan it right. You will need to have room for three different kinds of finished fluid products without mixing them in three separate lines of pipes; you'll need 5x5 oil refineries to process the oil; and chemical plants, which require all kinds of resources to produce most useful finished goods like batteries, plastics, etc. Thus, I want to place this somewhere with a lot of room to grow, but also close enough to my resources that I can feed the industry efficiently without making a mess.

Now my map looks like this:

The yellow arrows indicate in what general direction I will likely move my main bus in. I can take it any direction I have enough space, of course. The oil processing area is off to the side, yet close to coal, water, iron & copper -- all things that are needed to make sulfur, sulfuric acid, batteries, and plastics, using resources taken from the main bus, and from the nearby coal mine and water oasis. The oil processing is also close to my main power generation, so if I make solid fuel from oil, I can easily run a belt of it leading past my steam engines to massively improve my fuel economy. Next, I will consider these:

5.) Railroad lines & harvesting outposts. These are necessary for one big reason -- I'm going to run out of resources eventually. My mines will peter out in time, leaving my machines inoperable until I secure more to pump into the system. Thus, I will need a way to move vast amounts of freight into my base. Railroads are perfect for this.

6.) Personal outfitting & supply area. What this is is an area of chests dedicated to holding everything I as an engineer need to function. That includes electronic & advanced circuits, iron gear wheels, ammunition & grenades, steel, plastic, etc. The reason I want to have a dedicated storage area for all of these things is because there are few things I hate more than having to run all over my base, looking for items I can take off belts because I forgot to set up production of spares and a chest to hold them. That is a very good way to tick off your partners in co-op, too, if you take from the feeder belts. So don't do it. Build an outfitting zone, preferably close enough to the resources you will need (like near the main bus), and make a handful of assembly machines to build items to load into the chests. For now you will need belts, but later you can get logistics robots to do this for you. The whole idea here is to reduce the amount of lost time and confusion from running all over your factory to get stuff.

Now my map looks like this:

Train station (oil) is for trains carrying new crude oil, which goes into my refineries. Train station (ores) is for new ores to pump into the main forges. Train station (oil) will also be carrying coal sometimes because it's close to my power generators (and it can be turned into oil products at the refineries itself at a high tech level using coal liquefaction, so I like to plan for this). The personal outfitting area gives me a central spot to arm and equip myself; a kind of command center, if you will. So I keep that centrally located and close enough to resources to make items to fill the chests with.

Now, I could keep going, but here I'll stop planning because that's good enough to get through to mid-game. I now have plans for forges, plans for oil refineries & power generators, plans on where my resources all go and where the assembly machines to make items from them will be. This is great, because now I don't have to make that up as I go, which makes the game much more enjoyable simply because I can spend more time enjoying it and less time looking forlornly at my spaghetti base! Plus, it just helps to have clearly defined tags to define my factory into blocks & districts, which makes it feel streamlined and well-planned. Later once I have filled these districts, I will make more -- one for a solar power plant & accumulator farm, another for an artillery firebase to shoot the alien spawners once I get that far, and so on, but now it's time to build!

I hope this guide helps you! Now get out there, plan your fac out with these easy steps, and see if it lets you enjoy playing the game more! ^_^

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1306024625

Location & placement planning guide

Location & Placement

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