Portable solar panels can be used for the night vision and portable roboports (it's only needed for transmission and to recharge the bots - but note you can "hoover" up the bots if they get stuck recharging due to lack of electricity so you can get by with way less electricity than you pro...

/c game.map_settings.enemy_evolution.time_factor = game.map_settings.enemy_evolution.time_factor * 0 /c game.map_settings.enemy_evolution.pollution_factor = game.map_settings.enemy_evolution.pollution_factor * 2 /c game.map_settings.enemy_evolution.destroy_factor = game.map_settings.enemy_evolution...

Yea, trends are chosen at random, so repeat patterns occur. I think what you are observing is the counter-intuitiveness of randomness. Wouldn't it be more logical to assume that I'm observing the counter-intuitiveness of using randomness to simulate a process which we are used to operating like clo...

I've been playing with Gloom. As far as I can tell from the game and reading the source, it chooses a light trend at "complete" random - I don't mean complete complete, but what I mean is that Gloom doesn't have a day night cycle AFAICT, it just has randomly changing light levels. Also it ...

Factorio runs superbly on my thinkpad which has an i7 and integrated graphics (it's not my gaming computer, but as it happens I did start playing Factorio when I was away on a trip, so I'm very familiar with how well Factorio runs on my laptop). It's a very well optimized game and not demanding on h...

Solid Fuel+Steam it is for me. ... All of the items above have Efficiency Module 2's inside them to decrease the energy overhead during the refining processes. I'm also a fan of solid fuel. But technically I think productivity modules give a much greater benefit than efficiency modules, I'm sure so...

By the way a nest of that size can easily be destroyed even in the very early game with gun turrets firing regular magazine. You need about 8 turrets and perhaps 300 regular ammo, and because spawn rate is extremely high when a nest feels it is under attack you need to push in aggressively, constant...

This question is more nuanced than a binary choice. All players start with steam (unless they have a mod) and transition to solar sooner or later, except for players who refuse to use solar for ideological reasons or are doing a speed run. As a general rule Steam will serve you well up to 50-80MW or...

In terms of balance generally speaking for higher tier things you should pay about four times as much to double output. For example the assembler 2 costs twice as much as the assembler 1, but is only 50% faster, and the Assembler 3 costs 7x as much as the Assembler 2, and is only 67% faster So if yo...

In some cases you need more than one inserter surprisingly early if you want an assembler to operate at full capacity. With assembler 1 and only yellow inserters you'll be inserter-limited with any 0.5s recipe. With assembler 2 and fast inserters then any recipe with more than a 1:1 input:output and...

I have noticed that it's impossible to use Productivity Modules with mod recipes. Is there a way to fix it? edit (2016-06-24): You can simply install Enable Productivity Modules This is like massively delayed, but I just found this mod and was wondering the same thing, you can do it by adding the f...

The simplest way is to destroy the nests is with laser turrets - this is most easily done with a personal roboport in Power Armor I or II and a blueprint and deconstruction planner, but the personal roboport is not essential. Using laser turrets offensively is by far the easiest and cheapest way to ...

You can maximize throughput of assembly machines by balancing the input and output inserters to the recipe. For example a gears assembler consumes 2 iron plates and outputs 1 gear, that means you need a ratio of 2 input inserters to 1 output inserters In contrast a copper wire assembler consumes 1 c...

Pretty interesting guide. I am wondering though, since I've never played around with it, is there any benefit to using hotwater storage without solar? As an alternative to capacitors acculmulators as a way to handle large demand peaks from laser turrets and the such like. I've experimented with suc...

Night Steam or Solar/Steam is when you get enough solar panels to cover your daytime energy usage and enough steam engines to cover your nighttime energy usage. During twilight they both contribute. It is an alternative to pure steam or solar/accu, performance wise it is similar to solar/accu with s...

The modern way is to use a smart chest linked to pumps and a yellow inserter taking things out of the chest and a blue inserter putting them back in. The blue inserter is on the main grid (or separated by an accumulator filter), the yellow on dedicated power. When the blue inserter stops, the chest ...

I attribute to Biters intelligence approximately equivalent to WWI military generals, charging into a hail of gunfire is just the best tactic they can think of. Also: Biters live in peace and harmony, you never see them fight each other, even though they fight rocks and trees if they get in their wa...

You can easily destroy spawners with 6 turrets and 300 rounds of regular magazine (for certain definitions of easy anyway - it takes some technique to load the turrets quickly, but once you have the hotkeys worked out it is very quick and easy). Without turret support it is much harder, you can deal...

while the laser shoots only about 4.5 times/s and fires slow bolts Very interesting and complete analysis. There is only one thing I'd like to correct : the damage laser turrets do is immediate, as for gun turrets. The "slow bolt" is only the animation of the laser flying. The biter is al...

I've got a pretty regular strategy, mostly it revolves around the fact that they're going to evolve anyway so you may well kill them asap, but there are some subtleties. Early Game: First I research Turrets and Automation (desert map) or Automation and Turrets (forest map) and get about 4 assemblers...