4 ms·

I've spent hundreds of hours in Factorio, even lauched rockets, and have never got far enough along to build robots. Maybe it's time to get back in there.

joshstrange 3y ago
Robots are fun, my first run I played Bobs (yes, it was crazy to do that on my first playthrough) so I got bots before the launch IIRC and had a blast with my hugely efficient setup. On later runs I tried for a train-block setup with each "block" having something like 4 roboports that didn't overlap with the block next to it so that you wouldn't have robots traveling across the whole map, they would each be localized. They add a fun challenge and even with these new improvements in their pathing I think there will still be advantages to breaking up your logicisical networks.
- fendy3002 3y ago
  Robots are easy though, and borderline op since they can surpass the flow limit of stack inserter, making the slowest item movement be only when loading/unloading train.
  - quchen 3y ago
    They don’t scale well though. In bigger bases items are measured in train loads, and bots can’t keep up in terms of throughput or power consumption. Building a tiny bot-only cell is still fun though!
    - jcranmer 3y ago
      It's been a while since I've done the math, but a solid line of roboports moves fewer items than 4 blue belts (which takes up the same amount of space), IIRC. And if you've got fewer roboports than a solid line of roboports, it moves even less throughput. Probably the only time it's hard to beat robots is when you have something like a megatrain unload station--it's extremely difficult to squeeze more than two blue belts per wagon (one belt per wagon per side) without robots, and there's no need to balance belts with bots.
CodesInChaos 3y ago
Researching Rockets costs more than researching the Logistic Network, so I would definitely recommend going for Logo first. Even a small network which produces every item/building in small quantities and delivers them to the character is a big quality of life win. And of course at much lower tech, construction bots enable blueprints, copy&paste, etc. which are also a huge win.
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
My issue with robots has always been that you build your base in one way, then get some robots ready... then you realize you didn't leave enough space in the right places to robotize your base :p. I think next playthrough I should use a city block template, those will have placeholders for roboports. However, I think they don't get placed if you haven't unlocked the technology yet, so a QoL improvement would be to be able to place a placeholder or spacer instead. Or just allow the placement of a ghost without researching the tech. I've used the city block design blueprints in an attempt to do the Space Exploration mod; it worked alright, except that the templates had concrete flooring. That was a lot of concrete! But anyway, next playthrough I should make a robot driven base, at least for anything but the high volume base materials like iron, copper and steel. Maybe I should build or get some blueprints for a main bus as well, especially for liquids.
- theptip 3y ago
  Seems pretty common to at that point, rename your base “starter base” and then go template out a new megabase somewhere else on fresh territory. IIRC mineral density increases farther away from the start spawn, so there is an incentive to build in one direction?

joshstrange 3y ago

Robots are fun, my first run I played Bobs (yes, it was crazy to do that on my first playthrough) so I got bots before the launch IIRC and had a blast with my hugely efficient setup. On later runs I tried for a train-block setup with each "block" having something like 4 roboports that didn't overlap with the block next to it so that you wouldn't have robots traveling across the whole map, they would each be localized. They add a fun challenge and even with these new improvements in their pathing I think there will still be advantages to breaking up your logicisical networks.

fendy3002 3y ago
Robots are easy though, and borderline op since they can surpass the flow limit of stack inserter, making the slowest item movement be only when loading/unloading train.
- quchen 3y ago
  They don’t scale well though. In bigger bases items are measured in train loads, and bots can’t keep up in terms of throughput or power consumption. Building a tiny bot-only cell is still fun though!
  - jcranmer 3y ago
    It's been a while since I've done the math, but a solid line of roboports moves fewer items than 4 blue belts (which takes up the same amount of space), IIRC. And if you've got fewer roboports than a solid line of roboports, it moves even less throughput. Probably the only time it's hard to beat robots is when you have something like a megatrain unload station--it's extremely difficult to squeeze more than two blue belts per wagon (one belt per wagon per side) without robots, and there's no need to balance belts with bots.

CodesInChaos 3y ago

Researching Rockets costs more than researching the Logistic Network, so I would definitely recommend going for Logo first. Even a small network which produces every item/building in small quantities and delivers them to the character is a big quality of life win. And of course at much lower tech, construction bots enable blueprints, copy&paste, etc. which are also a huge win.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

My issue with robots has always been that you build your base in one way, then get some robots ready... then you realize you didn't leave enough space in the right places to robotize your base :p. I think next playthrough I should use a city block template, those will have placeholders for roboports. However, I think they don't get placed if you haven't unlocked the technology yet, so a QoL improvement would be to be able to place a placeholder or spacer instead. Or just allow the placement of a ghost without researching the tech. I've used the city block design blueprints in an attempt to do the Space Exploration mod; it worked alright, except that the templates had concrete flooring. That was a lot of concrete! But anyway, next playthrough I should make a robot driven base, at least for anything but the high volume base materials like iron, copper and steel. Maybe I should build or get some blueprints for a main bus as well, especially for liquids.

theptip 3y ago
Seems pretty common to at that point, rename your base “starter base” and then go template out a new megabase somewhere else on fresh territory. IIRC mineral density increases farther away from the start spawn, so there is an incentive to build in one direction?