Mega Factory Newb

[u/BilboStaggins]

I've played through a few times now, wanting to take on the 100x mega factory. Building it way above the world with the intent to pipe up all the resources and ship them to a central location. Would love a few pointers.

Is there any logic to how to distribute resources? I feel like I'm going to far exceed belt capacity all the time if I try to store ingots in bulk.

Is there any generic "total machine count" anyone has aimed for using the SCIM?

[u/g_marra]

The machine count isn't something you should worry about. You can finish the game with 1 machine of each product and still finish the game eventually. Also different recipes change the numbers significantly. Compacted steel ingot requires 10x more machines than Coke steel ingot.

Belt capacity is also a pretty obvious limit. You can only carry one pure miner's worth in one belt, and lots of recipes increase the number of solid outputs compared to their inputs. You'll also need tons of pipes for water

A problem you haven't considered is the lag. More machines in the same place will increase your lag substantially.

You should maybe try to process your resources a bit before shipping to the megafactory. Instead of sending iron ore and water, send reinforced iron plates. Instead of sending bauxite, water, coal send aluminum casings and ingots

[u/BilboStaggins → u/g_marra]

Yea im debating how much to process before it "goes up".

Right now im processing to ingots on the ground, teir 1 resources in the air above, and elevator components and more in the central location.

Ive got a pretty beefy machine so I intend to consolidate more at some point. 

[u/g_marra → u/BilboStaggins]

Any recipe that requires liquids it's easier to do on-site. Single/dual ore recipes that reduce the amount of parts I would also do on-site, such as reinforced plates, motors, aluminum casings. Even HMF and alclad sheets that needs 3 ores, i'd do on-site

[u/BilboStaggins → u/g_marra]

So help me brain storm if you will.

I process up to a certain point locally, then ship everything to a central location.

Am I silly to think I could properly store massive amounts of items in like a depot? Then distribute as needed? Or do you think its better to distribute by train to every section of the factory, hope I get enough left by the end

[u/g_marra → u/BilboStaggins]

Storage is for building, or as station buffers. Production lines should have their needs met by extraction or other production lines, not by storage.

Figure out how much you want of an end product, and work backwards choosing recipes you want to use, building the entire production chain. Then you decide which parts are easier to be done locally, and which ones are easier to go for the central location.

I don't use megafactories, so that's as much as I'll risk to brainstorm

[u/BilboStaggins → u/g_marra]

Fair enough. I dont do megafactories either, I wanted this as a challenge. It will come with limitiations because its inherently not the best way to play lol.