9.45K SPM Megabase (mostly belts and trains, some bots)

Clever and beautiful constructions, bigger than two chunks
- Defense: killing biters as an art
- Castles, Throne Rooms, Decorations (comfortable living in the Factorio World)
- Main Bus Concepts
- Modular Systems, Factory Streets, show how all works together
- Megabases
Please provide us with blueprints or saves, if that makes sense of course.
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Clever and beautiful constructions, bigger than two chunks
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Bored_Mike
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9.45K SPM Megabase (mostly belts and trains, some bots)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Introduction

After 4000+ hours playing Factorio (since 0.14 was released), I thought it about time I showed off my latest Megabase attempt. It was started as soon as 0.17 was released and has been updated to run under 0.17.79 onwards. I have spent about 370 in game hours building it (probably about double that in real time).

What follows over the next few posts is going to be picture and blueprint heavy, but it should fully describe the components used to build the base and some of the reasoning behind the decisions.


Objective

The main objective was to see how much science I could generate whilst still maintaining about 15 UPS (my personal playability limit). I wanted to use many trains and belts and as few bots as practical. I particularly didn't want bots flying everywhere over the operational parts of my factory as I find it very unpleasant to look at, difficult to make any changes once the bots start flying, and lethal with trains.

The base as it stands will do 9450 spm (non-military), uses about 850 trains and about 70k bots. The chosen value of 9,450 spm = 7 * ½ blue belts. I'm hopeful that with the latest efficiency changes announced for 0.18 I can push this to 10,800 spm = 8 * ½ blue belts as I'm not far of with most factories. Initial testing of 0.18 has given me an extra 3 UPS to play with.

My machine specs are: Intel i7 6700k @ 4GHz; 12Gb Memory @ 2133 MHz; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970.


Map Settings

These are the settings I used (I think). I wanted loads of resources but not too much Uranium so that the ore patches would last forever with enough mining productivity. Not much water so that I would not have to spend forever land-filling, but enough so that there would be some near enough to where I wanted to build various water requiring factories. No cliffs, enemies or pollution as they only get in the way for Megabase building.

Resources:
Iron ore / Copper ore / Stone / Coal - Frequency = 50%, Size = 600%, Richness = 600%
Uranium ore - Frequency = 50%, Size = 150%, Richness = 150%
Crude oil - Frequency = 75%, Size = 600%, Richness = 600%

Terrain:
Normal map type
Water - Scale = 150%, Coverage = 17%
Trees - Scale = 200%, Coverage = 75%
No Cliffs

Enemy:
No Enemy bases

Advanced:
Normal Recipe difficulty
Normal Technology difficulty
No Pollution

Map Seed:
556738457 according to the save

Once the map has been generated, I use a console command to reveal the map just to make sure it is useable and to aid in base positioning. This map goes from x=-4000 to x=+6000, y=-3000 to y=+3000. It does mean the save file is rather large for the whole play time but it does mean that you don't waste time with an totally unsuitable map.


Mods

I wanted as few mods as possible. These are the only ones I use:

Nanobots: Early Bots - Takes the tedium out of the early game and they are fantastic for tree removal late game.

Power Armor MK3 - Not absolutely necessary but it makes carrying enough inventory to build late game stuff a breeze and the extra slots for equipment (exoskeletons, roboports and power) help massively. My current equipment consists of:
12 Exoskeleton
12 Shielded singularity
10 Personal roboport MK2
3 Energy shield MK3
4 Fusion battery (though probably don't need this many)
1 Nightvision MK2
1 Belt immunity equipment
1 Nanobot logistic interface

Advanced Solar - Means I don't have to spend ages covering the whole map with solar panels. The extra overhead in time and resources to build these panels makes them feel non-cheaty. With a Base power requirement of around 50 GW, that is an awful lot of solar panels and accumulators (nearly 60k Elite solar panels have been placed which is the equivalent of 1.5 M normal panels).


Base Overview

Overview.png
Overview.png (599.28 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
The design I have been iterating towards over many attempts and refinements is a central area for the malls, science bases, rocket silos and anything else that can usefully fit (in this case the RCU factory and Acid/Lubricant factory). This central area is enclosed by a 10-lane rail ring road with single lane entrances and exits. This ring road is 60 by 29 rail segments in size although it probably should have been a little larger to make junction placement easier. Outside of this ring road are the remaining factories. These factories are then surrounded by an outer 8-lane ring road with spurs to all the mining outposts. The inner and outer ring-roads are joined in a few places to enable the few trains that need to travel between them.

I chose this particular layout because it looks cool and allows many trains to run without too many long term traffic jams. It also allows most factories to be placed fairly close to where their finished goods are required. It also keeps the raw material delivery trains separate from the finished product trains. There should be virtually no traffic between the two ring roads.

Considerable use of Kirk McDonald's calculator https://kirkmcdonald.github.io/calc.html was made in designing all the factories in this base (disclaimer: many other calculators are also available).

Here are some closer looks at various parts of the factory. They will be covered in more detail later.

Overview Middle.png
Overview Middle.png (149.8 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
This picture shows a close up of the central section of the base. The top left corner is for the Malls and the first Science base. The top middle section is for the Rocket Silos. The top right corner is for the RCU factory. The bottom left corner is for the Sulfuric Acid and Lubricant factory. The rest of the area is filled with the 6 other Science bases.

Overview Left Top.png
Overview Left Top.png (79.18 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
This picture shows a close up of the top part of the left-hand side of the base. This part of the base contains the Copper Smelting production area for factories on the left side of the base.

Overview Left Bottom.png
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This picture shows a close up of the bottom part of the left-hand side of the base. This part of the base contains the Iron Smelting production area for factories on the left side of the base. It also contains the Steel Smelting factory.

Overview Top Left.png
Overview Top Left.png (109.73 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
This picture shows a close up of the left-hand part of the top side of the base. It contains the Green Circuit factory, the Red Circuit factory and the Red Circuit factory for Blue Circuits.

Overview Top Middle.png
Overview Top Middle.png (55.19 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
This picture shows a close up of the middle part of the top side of the base. It contains the Blue Circuits factory. It has two sub factories for the massive amounts of Green Circuits it needs with a belt feed from the separate Red Circuits factory.

Overview Top Right.png
Overview Top Right.png (76.47 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
This picture shows a close up of the right-hand part of the top side of the base. It contains the Plastic factory.

Overview Right Top.png
Overview Right Top.png (162.5 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
This picture shows a close up of the top part of the right-hand side of the base. This part of the base contains the Copper and Iron Smelting production areas for factories on the right side of the base.

Overview Right Bottom.png
Overview Right Bottom.png (41.54 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
This picture shows a close up of the bottom part of the right-hand side of the base. This part of the base contains the Rocket Fuel factory and the Sulfur factory.

Overview Bottom Left.png
Overview Bottom Left.png (107.4 KiB) Viewed 13455 times
This picture shows a close up of the bottom side of the base. It contains the LDS factory and the Batteries factory. It is also where the Solar Panels grid is laid out (not shown).

Continued in the next post.
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Trains and Rails (part 1 - lanes and junctions)

Post by Bored_Mike »

The most important decision that needed to be made was how long should the trains be as this will impact everything else about the rail layout and hence the overall base layout. The more wagons a locomotive has to pull, the slower it will go. A balance needs to be made between the ratio of locomotives to wagons (one to one being the fastest) and the overall length of the train. I have gone with a ratio of two wagons per locomotive as a reasonable compromise. Additional locomotives are best placed at the back of the train (reduces drag slightly and keeps station design simple), so the options are LCC, LCCCCL, LCCCCCCLL etc. A compromise needs to be made between small trains (greater junction throughput, shorter distance between junctions, small capacity) and large trains (poorer junction throughput, increased distance required between junctions which leads to larger distances needing to be travelled but greater capacity). I have decided the best compromise for me was to use LCCCCL trains for everything.

Another possibility worth considering was to use larger trains for carrying ores as they are on a mostly separate rail network. I decided against doing this, just to keep things consistent.

The decision whether to use Left-Hand or Right-Hand drive is mostly an aesthetic one. I decided to use Right-Hand drive just because that was how I learnt how to do trains.

The separation between rails was also worthy of consideration. A gap of one rail is too small to allow any decent rail signal placing, even for two rails it is tight. I decided on a spacing of three rails as it allows enough room to signal junctions reasonably well, allows plenty of room for power poles and lights, room for pipes with pumps and underground belts as required. It also means there are larger safe havens when running across tracks.

The use of Nuclear fuel is essential as it provides the greatest train acceleration and lasts forever. It is also almost free to produce once the Kovarex process is set up. A small Uranium patch will last forever once mining productivity gets high enough.

The main rail network is made up of a series of interlocking building blocks (straights, curves and junctions). The straight section is long enough to hold one train, with appropriate signal placement, power poles and lights.

Track 10 Lane.png
Track 10 Lane.png (99.73 KiB) Viewed 13440 times



Blueprints are for 10, 8 and 2-lane respectively.

This picture shows the 10-lane straight rail segment. It is rotationally symmetrical and aligns on the outermost power poles when connecting to other sections.

Track 10 Corner.png
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Blueprints are for 10 and 8-lane corner respectively.

This picture shows the 10-lane curved rail segment. It is rotationally symmetrical and aligns on the outermost power poles. It is twice the size of a straight rail segment in each direction. The 10-lane version will need a little signal and rail trimming for the innermost lane when placed next to a straight section.

Track 10 In.png
Track 10 In.png (161.04 KiB) Viewed 13440 times




Blueprints are for 10 and 8-lane in junctions followed by versions with an alternative layout.

This picture shows the 10-lane factory entrance junction. It is designed to be placed directly over a straight rail segment. Once placed, you must remove the exit rail signals furthest from the junction (shown circled in green). The blueprints show two different versions of this junction.

Track 10 Out.png
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Blueprints are for 10 and 8-lane out junctions followed by versions with an alternative layout.

This picture shows the 10-lane factory exit junction. It is designed to be placed directly over a straight rail segment. Once placed, you must remove the exit rail signals furthest from the junction (shown circled in green). The blueprints show two different versions of this junction.

These entrance and exit junctions must not be placed next to each other as there is insufficient space for a train to wait without blocking the junction. There must be a minimum of one straight rail segment between them otherwise deadlocks could occur. This is also why the exit rail signals need to be removed after placement, to give a block of sufficient size.

Track 10 to 2 Lane T-Junction.png
Track 10 to 2 Lane T-Junction.png (649.01 KiB) Viewed 13440 times


Blueprints are for 10 to 2-lane and 8 to 2-lane junctions respectively.

This picture shows the 10-lane to 2-lane T-junction. It is designed to be placed directly over a straight rail segment. Once placed, you must remove the exit rail signals furthest from the junction (shown circled in green). This junction is only used to allow trains to transfer between the inner and outer ring roads.

Continued in the next post.
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Trains and Rails (part 2 - lanes and junctions continued)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Track 8 Lane Y-Junction.png
Track 8 Lane Y-Junction.png (257.96 KiB) Viewed 13435 times


This picture shows the 8-lane Y-Junction. It is designed to be used with 8-lane straight rail segments and aligns on the outermost power poles. Once placed, you must remove the exit rail signals furthest from the junction (shown circled in green). This junction is huge, but it has a much higher throughput than a smaller 8-lane T-Junction would as trains can wait in the middle without blocking the whole junction. In effect, it acts as three smaller independent junctions.

Continued in the next post.
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Trains and Rails (part 3 - Staging)

Post by Bored_Mike »

All factories and mining outposts require a staging area for each station block of a size large enough to hold all trains that can visit that block with a few spare. For the main base and science bases which only have a couple of trains per station, a single rail line is enough. A station block is made up of one or more stations of the same name preceded by a staging station (described later).

It is essential to use these staging areas to prevent trains backing up and blocking the main lines. Take care when orienting them. The rail chain signal goes on the entrance and the regular signal on the exit. It is also a good idea to have a reasonable distance between the rail junction and the staging area. This allows trains to enter at speed. Extra rail signals can also be placed at short intervals on this line to improve throughput. There is no risk of deadlocks as there will always be a place for the trains to go.

Staging HR20.png
Staging HR20.png (359.67 KiB) Viewed 13434 times
Staging VR20.png
Staging VR20.png (156.32 KiB) Viewed 13434 times






Blueprints are for 10 and 20 horizontal and 20 diagonal bays respectively, facing 'left' and 'right'.

These pictures show an example of a horizontal and a vertical (diagonal) staging area. There are blueprints for various sizes and orientations.

All main factories require a large amount of raw materials or intermediate products to be delivered. Most require more than one ingredient. To facilitate this, multiple stations are required to provide the necessary throughput. Each of these stations need to be fed as evenly as possible. The picture below shows an example of this.

Example Staging.png
Example Staging.png (72.64 KiB) Viewed 13434 times
For this example there are three separate staging areas. There is then a staging station where trains can make a decision of which station to choose. These stations all have the same name. Each station uses an S-R latch to control when it is open (low on materials) or closed (almost full). A green signal is sent when the station is open. This signal is combined with the single rail signal for that station and a single green signal is sent to the staging station if both are green. Trains can only go if there is a least one green signal. This ensures that trains can only get to a station if it is open and there is no other train there. It is crucial that there is only one rail signal between the staging station and each station and that it is as close to the junction as possible for maximum throughput.

Staging Unload.png
Staging Unload.png (105.09 KiB) Viewed 13434 times




The picture shows an example for three unloading stations. There are blueprints for 3, 4 and 5 station versions. The straight rail must be positioned immediately after the staging area so that exactly one train will fit. If there is space for more than one train, trains can leave the staging area and this can cause all sorts of problems with the pathfinder trying to path behind this train when there is no room and trains can end up blocking a large part of the staging area. Extra rail signals can be added to increase train throughput.

A very similar mechanism is used for loading stations. Stations are only open when there are enough products available to fill each wagon.

Staging Load.png
Staging Load.png (119.49 KiB) Viewed 13434 times




Blueprints are for 3, 5, 12 and 18 stations respectively.

The distance between any staging area and the staging station is less important (as long as it is at least one train long) as ideally there really shouldn't be any trains needing to wait. For Iron and Copper Plate smelting, I want a long lead in to allow for lots of rail signals for maximum throughput. The left hand copper factory in particular is just about at its throughput limit.

Each train has a very simple schedule. They are all variations of the following:

Go to source staging station (if present) and wait for a green signal > 0
Go to loading station and wait until full
Go to destination staging station (if present) and wait for a green signal > 0
Go to unloading station and wait until empty

There is no need for anything more complex than this except for the refuelling trains which need to visit multiple factories and wait for a few seconds at each before returning to reload, and the outpost building train which goes everywhere.

Continued in the next post.
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Loading Stations

Post by Bored_Mike »

All the blueprints shown below are for 1-4 trains. To use them with 1-4-1 trains, the rear rail signal will need to be moved as appropriate.

Station Fuelling.png
Station Fuelling.png (13.62 KiB) Viewed 13433 times


You will need to add an appropriate fuelling mechanism for each station, if required. This blueprint should be added to the stations for both front and rear trains, along with roboport coverage.

Station Fuel Load.png
Station Fuel Load.png (133.68 KiB) Viewed 13433 times


This picture shows an example of a loading station for Nuclear Fuel. It is used at the Nuclear Fuel factory.

Station LPF4.png
Station LPF4.png (822.92 KiB) Viewed 13433 times



This picture shows a front loading station that takes 4 input belts. The chest contents for each wagon are checked to see if there is enough to fill it and if all four wagons can be filled, a green signal is sent to the rear power pole (green wire) and the station enabled. This station is set up for Iron Plates. To use it for other goods, you will need to change all constant combinators and arithmetic combinators appropriately. Don't forget to adjust for changes in stack sizes for different types of goods. The total chest contents is also sent to the rear power pole (red wire). Stack filter inserters are used to help prevent accidents.
There are blueprints for front and rear loading versions respectively.

Station LPF8.png
Station LPF8.png (728.55 KiB) Viewed 13433 times



This picture and blueprints are the same as above but for 8 input belts. Note the use of yellow belts. If faster belts are used, if the station ever becomes full, these belts are never emptied fast enough, the belts will back-up and the whole station will never load at full speed again.

Station LPFC.png
Station LPFC.png (671.52 KiB) Viewed 13433 times


As for the 8 belt version above but for 12 input belts. There is no rear loading version.

Don't forget to connect the green wire to any staging station blueprints used. You can also remove this part of the blueprint if it is not required, i.e. it is a single loading station.
You can also connect all the red wires together to a digital display if you want.



For example, this 9 digit display by DaveMcW.

Station Oil Load L.png
Station Oil Load L.png (410.96 KiB) Viewed 13433 times



This picture shows an Oil loading station. As many tanks as practical should be filled via pumpjacks. The pumps ensure that the tanks next to the station are always kept full.
There are blueprints for left and right-hand side loading respectively.

Continued in the next post.
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Unloading Stations

Post by Bored_Mike »

All the blueprints shown below are for 1-4 trains. To use them with 1-4-1 trains, the rear rail signal will need to be moved as appropriate.

You will need to add an appropriate fuelling mechanism as described above, if required.

Station Fuel Unload.png
Station Fuel Unload.png (69.48 KiB) Viewed 13428 times


This picture shows an example of an unloading station for Nuclear Fuel. It is used at any factory requiring trains to be refuelled.

Station UDF4.png
Station UDF4.png (844.3 KiB) Viewed 13428 times



This picture shows a front unloading station that outputs 4 belts. The total chest contents is sent to the rear power pole (red wire). It is also sent to an S-R latch to open the station when the contents falls below a threshold (40k ore) and close it when it exceeds a threshold (100k ore). This green open signal is also sent to the rear power pole (green wire). This station is set up for Copper ore. To use it for other goods, you will need to change all constant combinators and arithmetic combinators appropriately. Don't forget to adjust for changes in stack sizes for different types of goods. Stack filter inserters are used to help prevent accidents.
There are blueprints for front and rear unloading versions respectively.

Station UDF8.png
Station UDF8.png (827.04 KiB) Viewed 13428 times

Station UDF8 dual.png
Station UDF8 dual.png (938.65 KiB) Viewed 13428 times


These pictures show an 8-lane version of the above. There are two versions, one balances each block of 4 lanes separately, the other balances all 8 lanes together.
There are no rear unloading versions.

Station UDFC.png
Station UDFC.png (995 KiB) Viewed 13428 times

Station UDFC dual.png
Station UDFC dual.png (1 MiB) Viewed 13428 times


As for the 8-lane version above, but for 12 lanes.

Don't forget to connect the green wire to any staging station blueprints used. You can also remove the S-R latch part of the blueprint if it is not required, i.e. it is a single unloading station.

You can also connect all the red wires together to a digital display if you want.

Station Fluid U1L.png
Station Fluid U1L.png (159.05 KiB) Viewed 13428 times



This picture shows an attempt at a balanced 4 to 1 fluid unloading station. There are blueprints for left and right-hand side unloading.

Station Fluid U4L.png
Station Fluid U4L.png (109.88 KiB) Viewed 13428 times



This picture shows a 4 to 4 fluid unloading station. There are blueprints for left and right-hand side unloading.

Continued in the next post.
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Main Base Malls (part 1)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Main Base Overview.png
Main Base Overview.png (70.1 KiB) Viewed 13420 times
This picture shows the main base (science and malls). The top part is the labs, below this are the Red/Green, Grey, Blue, Purple and Yellow science production areas (described later). Below this are the main science and mall buses, fed by the trains to the left. Below this are the malls. The final area is the stone brick production area (described later). This picture also shows the labs part of one of the separate science bases.

The train layout is as follows (from top to bottom):
Iron Plate - Science (4-lane station of which 4 lanes are used, 2 trains)
Iron Plate - Military Science + Science (4-lane station of which 3 lanes are used, 1 train)
Could have combined these into an 8 lane with 7 used. Not sure why I didn't.
Steel Plate (8-lane station of which 6 lanes are used, 2 trains)
Green Circuits (8-lane station of which 6 lanes are used, 1 train)
Red Circuits (4-lane station of which 4 lanes are used, 1 train)
Blue Circuits (4-lane station of which 2 lanes are used, 1 train)
Copper Plate (4-lane station of which 4 lanes are used, 2 trains)
Outpost Load
Solar Load
Spare x 4
Coal (4-lane station of which 2 lanes are used, 1 train)
Iron Plate – Malls (8-lane station of which 6 lanes are used, 1 train)
Stone (8-lane station of which 8 are used (3 to bus and 5 to Stone Brick factory), 6 trains)
Low Density Structures (4-lane station of which 1 lane is used, 1 train)
Sulfur (4-lane station of which 1 lane is used, 1 train)
Batteries (4-lane station of which 1 lane is used, 1 train)
Lubricant (4 to 1-lane balanced station, 1 train)
Refuelling station

Trains are refuelled via the main base bot network (1500 bots).

Outpost Trains.png
Outpost Trains.png (1.21 MiB) Viewed 13420 times






This picture shows a close-up of the Outpost Building train and the Solar Outpost train.
The spare stations are used for building new trains before sending them to the various factories and mining outposts, landfill trains, paving trains etc. These trains are filled via the main base bot network. The blueprints are for the building train and station, the solar train and loading and unloading stations respectively.

Main Bus Top.png
Main Bus Top.png (890.15 KiB) Viewed 13420 times
Main Bus Bottom.png
Main Bus Bottom.png (659.22 KiB) Viewed 13420 times


The Main Bus blueprint is for the early game and will need upgrading to blue belts as the base develops. The top part of the bus is used for the main base science factories (batteries are shared), the bottom part of the bus is used for the main base malls. The science factories are described later.

A lot of these malls are based on Nilaus's Base in a Book designs. I like this idea of separate malls for each tech tier or related group of products rather than having everything in one huge mall. It means you don't have to keep placing down the same mall blueprint as new tech is researched. It also makes it easier to upgrade parts of the mall as technology improves or as requirements change.

All blueprints are for the initial placement of the mall and will need some upgrading as requirements change. They all include lane balancers to ensure an even drain on the bus.

Nanobot Mall.png
Nanobot Mall.png (739.18 KiB) Viewed 13420 times


This picture shows the Nanobot Mall for use with the Nanobots mod. It provides early bots and termite bots.

Logistics Mall.png
Logistics Mall.png (988.2 KiB) Viewed 13420 times


This picture shows the Logistics Mall. It provides all tiers of belts, splitters and undergrounds, all types of inserters and all levels of assembling machines.

Flooring Mall.png
Flooring Mall.png (633.36 KiB) Viewed 13420 times



This picture shows the Flooring Mall. It provides a small amount of Concrete and Refined Concrete, enough for the Silos and some walking paths. For much larger paving operations, something much larger will be required. The blueprints show early and late game versions.

Production Mall.png
Production Mall.png (521.55 KiB) Viewed 13420 times


This picture shows the Production Mall. It provides medium and big power poles, steel furnaces, electric mining drills, pipes and underground pipes, pumpjacks, chemical plants, labs and radars.

Trains Mall.png
Trains Mall.png (628.69 KiB) Viewed 13420 times


This picture shows the Train Mall. It provides rail and rail chain signals, cargo wagons, fluid wagons, locomotives, pumps, storage tanks, lamps, train stops and rails.

Continued in the next post.
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Main Base Malls (part 2)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Circuit Network Mall.png
Circuit Network Mall.png (674.89 KiB) Viewed 13418 times


This picture shows the Circuit Network Mall. It provides programmable speakers, red and green wire, arithmetic, decider and constant combinators.

High Tech Mall.png
High Tech Mall.png (731.95 KiB) Viewed 13418 times


This picture shows the High Tech Mall. It produces substations, beacons, roboports and steel, passive, requester, storage, active provider and buffer chests.

Nuclear Mall.png
Nuclear Mall.png (911.42 KiB) Viewed 13418 times


This picture shows the Nuclear Mall. It produces steam turbines, heat exchangers, heat pipes, centrifuges and nuclear reactors. It is only used to produce centrifuges in this base.

Refinery+ Silo Mall.png
Refinery+ Silo Mall.png (734.57 KiB) Viewed 13418 times



This picture shows the Refinery and Silo Mall. It produces oil refineries and rocket silos.

Robot Mall.png
Robot Mall.png (839.68 KiB) Viewed 13418 times


This picture shows the Robots Mall. It provides logistic and construction robots.

Solar Panels Mall.png
Solar Panels Mall.png (216.5 KiB) Viewed 13418 times


This picture shows the Solar Panels Mall (not used in this base).

Advanced Solar Panels Mall.png
Advanced Solar Panels Mall.png (952.01 KiB) Viewed 13418 times


This picture shows the Advance Solar Panels Mall for use with the Advanced Solar mod. It provides approximately 18 elite solar panels and 11 elite accumulators per minute.

Modules Mall.png
Modules Mall.png (1.97 MiB) Viewed 13418 times


This picture shows the Modules Mall. It provides Speed 3, Productivity 3 and a few Efficiency 3 modules.

Continued in the next post.
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Science Labs

Post by Bored_Mike »

Calculating the number of labs required to process 1350 spm can be done as follows. From the Wiki,

PPS = N x ERS / T[r]

where
N = “Number of Labs”
ERS = “Effective research speed” = (1 + (B[r] /100)) x (1 + (M[r] / 100))
T[r] = “Research cycle time” = 60 secs
PPS = “Packs per second” = PPM / 60
B[r] = “Lab Research Speed bonus” = 250%
M[r] = “Sum of all module speed effects” = (2 x Prod3) + (#Beacons x Speed3) = -30% + (#Beacons x 50%)

substituting
PPM = “Packs per minute” = 1350
#Beacons = 9

gives us a value for
ERS = 18.2
which can be double checked against the lab tooltip showing a lab speed of +1720% and (1 + (1720% / 100)) = 18.2

and solving for N we get

N = PPM / ERS = 1350 / ((1 + 2.5) x (1 + 420%/100)) = 74.176

Thus we need a total of 75 labs.
Labs.png
Labs.png (990.94 KiB) Viewed 13418 times


This picture shows the overall lab layout.

Lab Detail.png
Lab Detail.png (273.21 KiB) Viewed 13418 times
This picture shows a close-up of one lab to show the feeding mechanism. Rather than feeding the labs directly from each belt, I feed them from a small belt buffer split from the main lines. This is to help keep the labs fed when there are gaps in the belt and a pack is needed right now. This lab setup does take quite a long while to fully populate itself so that all the labs are working.

Labs Extra.png
Labs Extra.png (535.18 KiB) Viewed 13418 times
This picture shows how the labs are fed. In the main base, any excess packs in my inventory are recycled into the main lines. I also have an alert system in each science base that checks for any gaps in the belts. If the number of each science pack is less than four, I send a global alert for that science pack. This is so that I can diagnose and rectify any shortfall issues, usually caused by insufficient train deliveries for that base.

The space science packs for each science base are supplied by a single bi-directional train from the rocket silos. The wagon is limited to 6 slots (12K packs) and the chests are limited to one slot each.

Continued in the next post.
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The Science Bases and Factories (part 1)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Science Base Overview.png
Science Base Overview.png (40.49 KiB) Viewed 13411 times
There are 6 stand alone science bases. Each science base is pretty much identical in layout although some bases have a direct stone feed rather than bringing it in by train. The top part is the labs, below this are the Red/Green, Blue, Purple and Yellow science production areas (described below). Below this is the main science bus, fed by the trains to the left. The final area is the stone brick production area.

The train layout is as follows (from top to bottom):
Personal visitation station
Iron Plate (8-lane station of which 5 lanes are used, 3 trains from whichever factory is nearest)
Steel Plate (8-lane station of which 5 lanes are used, 1 or 2 trains depending on distance)
Green Circuits (4-lane station of which 2 lanes are used, 1 train)
Red Circuits (4-lane station of which 2 lanes are used, 1 train)
Blue Circuits (4-lane station of which 1 lane is used, 1 train)
Copper Plate (4-lane station of which 1 lane is used, 1 train from whichever factory is nearest)
Batteries (4-lane station of which 1 lane is used, 1 train)
Low Density Structures (4-lane station of which 1 lane is used, 1 or 2 trains depending on distance)
Sulfur (4-lane station of which 1 lane is used, 1 train)
Stone (8-lane station of which 6 are used (2 to bus and 4 to Stone Brick factory), 5 trains)
Lubricant (4 to 1-lane balanced station, 1 train)
Refuelling station

Trains are refuelled via a small local bot network (50 bots) covering just the trains.

Science Bus.png
Science Bus.png (600.41 KiB) Viewed 13411 times


This picture shows a close-up of the beginning of the main bus for the science area. The constant combinators are to aid in connecting everything up. Most belts go to a single science factory although some are shared between multiple factories.

Red+Green Science.png
Red+Green Science.png (896.76 KiB) Viewed 13411 times


This factory needs to be fed with (left to right):
0.6 Iron Plate (use full belt)
0.4 Copper Plate (use full belt)
0.6 Iron Plate (use full belt)
1.0 Iron Plate (use full belt)
0.4 Green Circuits (use shared belt)
Any input less than a full belt uses a lane balancer to ensure an even drain from the bus and thus the train stations. The extra stack inserters for the last few machines help to ensure there are no gaps in the output lanes due to inserter swing delays.

Grey Science.png
Grey Science.png (1.31 MiB) Viewed 13411 times


This factory is only used in the main base. It is not used in any of the science bases. It needs to be fed with (left to right):
0.9 Coal (use full belt)
0.9 Coal (use full belt)
0.9 Iron Plate (use full belt)
0.8 Iron Plate (use full belt)
0.2 Steel Plate (use shared belt)
0.9 Copper Plate (use full belt)
0.9 Stone Brick (use full belt)
0.9 Stone Brick (use full belt)
Any input less than a full belt uses a lane balancer to ensure an even drain from the bus and thus the train stations. This base also has a provider chest for Grenades.

Continued in the next post.
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The Science Bases and Factories (part 2)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Blue Science.png
Blue Science.png (1.21 MiB) Viewed 13408 times


This factory needs to be fed with (left to right):
0.9 Iron Plate (use full belt)
0.3 Steel Plate (use shared belt)
0.2 Sulfur (use full belt)
0.6 Red Circuits (use shared belt)
Any input less than a full belt uses a lane balancer to ensure an even drain from the bus and thus the train stations. This is not required for Red Circuits as the layout means there is an automatic even drain from both lanes.

Purple Science.png
Purple Science.png (1.78 MiB) Viewed 13408 times


This factory needs to be fed with (left to right):
0.6 Steel Plate (use full belt)
0.6 Steel Plate (use full belt)
0.6 Red Circuits (use shared belt)
0.6 Stone Brick (use full belt)
0.6 Stone Brick (use full belt)
0.6 Red Circuits (use shared belt)
0.6 Green Circuits (use full belt)
0.9 Stone (use full belt)
0.9 Steel Plate (use full belt)
0.7 Iron Plate (use full belt)
0.9 Stone (use full belt)
0.9 Steel Plate (use full belt)
Any input less than a full belt uses a lane balancer to ensure an even drain from the bus and thus the train stations. This base also has a provider chest for Electric Furnaces (used in main base only)

Yellow Science.png
Yellow Science.png (1.38 MiB) Viewed 13408 times


This factory needs to be fed with (left to right):
Lubricant
0.2 Iron Plate (use shared belt)
0.2 Steel Plate (use shared belt)
0.3 Green Circuits (use shared belt)
0.2 Batteries (use full belt)
0.3 Blue Circuits (use full belt)
0.4 LDS (use full belt)
Any input less than a full belt uses a lane balancer to ensure an even drain from the bus and thus the train stations.

Stone Bricks 2.png
Stone Bricks 2.png (1.44 MiB) Viewed 13408 times



This picture shows the stone bricks factory. The 2 belt version is required for the science bases and the 3 belt version is required for the main base.

Before a new science base is turned on (you can easily disabled it by cutting the Iron Plate belts as every science factory requires iron plates), it is a good idea to let all the train stations fully buffer themselves. This is because this will put quite a strain on the rest of the factory and having the science factories running as well could cause problems elsewhere.

Continued in the next post.
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Production Requirements and Main Factories (part 1)

Post by Bored_Mike »

The requirements for 1350 spm are as follows:
12694 Steel Plate
2460 Lubricant
22687 Sulfuric Acid
964.3 RCU
2063.6 LDS
1031.8 Rocket Fuel
1134.2 Batteries
21941 Plastic
76543 Copper Plate
42850 Iron Plate (excluding Steel Plate requirements)
1466.6 Blue Circuits
8104.6 Red Circuits (excluding requirements for Blue Circuits)
9090.8 Green Circuits (excluding requirements for Red and Blue Circuits)
10178.6 Stone
8438.9 Coal
3214.4 Stone Brick
482.2 Sulfur
1.4 Rocket Silos (with 20 Beacons)
Intermediate products that are made as part of a production chain are not listed.

These numbers will need to be multiplied by 7 to get to the 9450 spm required. Also some overproduction of each will be necessary to account for the main base mall and to allow some buffering to take place and to smooth out variations in production demands.

Multiplying these numbers by 7 and converting to full blue belts (2700 items/min) gives us:
32.9 Steel Plate
17220 Lubricant
158809 Sulfuric Acid
2.5 RCU
5.35 LDS
2.675 Rocket Fuel
2.94 Batteries
56.9 Plastic
198.5 Copper Plate
111.1 Iron Plate (excluding Steel Plate requirements)
3.8 Blue Circuits
21 Red Circuits (excluding requirements for Blue Circuits)
23.6 Green Circuits (excluding requirements for Red and Blue Circuits)
26.4 Stone
21.9 Coal
8.4 Stone Brick
1.25 Sulfur
9.8 Rocket Silos (with 20 Beacons)


Iron/Copper Smelting

I have two similar designs for iron and copper smelting.

Iron+Copper 2.png
Iron+Copper 2.png (362.39 KiB) Viewed 13402 times


This one takes in two belts of ore and outputs two belts.

Iron+Copper 3.png
Iron+Copper 3.png (274.72 KiB) Viewed 13402 times


This one takes in three belts of ore and outputs three belts.

These blocks are used four at a time to feed either an 8-lane or a 12-lane loading station. Because in my layout I can have at most 12 loading stations, these two designs can produce a maximum of 8 x 12 = 96 and 12 x 12 = 144 belts respectively.

For copper smelting I use the three belt version for the left-hand factory with 12 loading stations and the two belt version for the right-hand factory with 12 loading stations for a total of 3 x 4 x 12 + 2 x 4 x 12 = 144 + 96 = 240 belts (200 minimum required).

For iron smelting I use the two belt version for both the left and right-hand factories with only 8 loading stations for a total of 2 x 4 x 8 + 2 x 4 x 8 = 64 + 64 = 128 belts (112 minimum required).

The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. Ore is fed in by multiple unloading stations. You need as many unloading stations as loading stations to provide enough ore to keep the factories fed. I split these ore unloading stations into several separate blocks just to get sufficient throughput. These 12-lane unloading stations unload into a set of provider chests shown below.

Station Bot Unload.png
Station Bot Unload.png (229.27 KiB) Viewed 13402 times


These provider chests are limited to two stacks each.

There is then a continuous line of roboports, 6 deep, between these provider chests and the requester chests feeding the smelters. Take care not to join this roboport network with any other nearby ones.

Roboports.png
Roboports.png (73.29 KiB) Viewed 13402 times


This keeps the distance between the provider and requester chests to a minimum and also confines the robots to this area, away from the operational parts of the factory and trains.

Smelter Load 2.png
Smelter Load 2.png (47.56 KiB) Viewed 13402 times


Smelter Load 3.png
Smelter Load 3.png (65.19 KiB) Viewed 13402 times


These pictures show the requester chests for the smelting factories. Blueprints are for Copper and Iron ore respectively.

Copper Smelting Closeup.png
Copper Smelting Closeup.png (2.9 MiB) Viewed 13402 times
This picture shows a small section of the ore delivery side of a copper smelting factory.

There are a total of 39 + 10 + 39 Copper Ore trains feeding the left-hand Copper Plate factory.
There are a total of 51 Copper Plate trains picking up from the left-hand Copper Plate factory.
There are 8k bots delivering the ore in the left-hand Copper Plate factory.

There are a total of 33 + 33 Iron Ore trains feeding the left-hand Iron Plate factory.
There are a total of 35 Iron Plate trains picking up from the left-hand Iron Plate factory.
There are 6k bots delivering the ore in the left-hand Iron Plate factory.

There are a total of 34 + 34 Copper Ore trains feeding the right-hand Copper Plate factory.
There are a total of 51 Copper Plate trains picking up from the right-hand Copper Plate factory.
There are 7k bots delivering the ore in the right-hand Copper Plate factory.

There are a total of 33 + 31 Iron Ore trains feeding the right-hand Iron Plate factory.
There are a total of 34 Iron Plate trains picking up from the right-hand Iron Plate factory.
There are 6k bots delivering the ore in the right-hand Iron Plate factory.

All factories have a personal visitation station at the ore and plate sides.
All factories have a refuelling station at the ore and plate side, the plate one is shared between the Iron and Copper Plate factories. The ore trains are refuelled using the factory bot network. The plate trains are refuelled via a small local bot network (100 bots) covering just the trains.

Continued in the next post.
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Production Requirements and Main Factories (part 2)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Steel Smelting

Steel smelting is huge. These blueprints take in 16 belts of Iron Ore and output 4 belts of Steel Plates.

Steel Part A Ore.png
Steel Part A Ore.png (228.52 KiB) Viewed 13400 times

Steel Part A.png
Steel Part A.png (641.78 KiB) Viewed 13400 times

Steel Part B.png
Steel Part B.png (999.77 KiB) Viewed 13400 times

Steel Part C.png
Steel Part C.png (1.06 MiB) Viewed 13400 times

Steel Part D.png
Steel Part D.png (1.13 MiB) Viewed 13400 times


These blueprints all join together with care. A total of 9 blocks is required for a total of 36 belts (33 minimum required).

The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. Ore is fed in by multiple unloading stations, in pairs. You need two 8-lane stations to feed each block, each with their own staging area. These two stations feed into a 16-lane belt balancer before being fed into the smelting columns.

There are a total of 18 trains per unloading station pair for a total of 9 x 18 = 162 trains.
There are a total of 16 trains picking up Steel Plate.

This factory has a personal visitation station at the ore and plate sides.
This factory has a refuelling station at the ore and plate side. The trains are refuelled via small local bot networks (50 bots each) covering just the trains.

Continued in the next post.
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Production Requirements and Main Factories (part 3)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Green Circuits

This is the design I use for making Green Circuits.

Green Circuits.png
Green Circuits.png (152.49 KiB) Viewed 13394 times


This blueprint requests Iron and Copper Plate and outputs 2 belts of Green Circuits. A total of 16 blocks is used for a total of 32 belts (24 minimum required).

The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. Iron and Copper Plate is each supplied by three 12-lane stations, each station feeding in to provider chests (as described under Iron/Copper Smelting). There is then a block of roboports, followed by the factory blocks. These then feed in to four 8-lane loading stations.

There are a total of 8 Copper Plate trains and 8 Iron Plate trains.
There are a total of 12 trains picking up Green Circuits.
There are 3k bots delivering the Iron and Copper Plate.

This factory has a personal visitation station at the plate delivery side.
This factory does not need a refuelling station. All refuelling is handled in other factories.


Red Circuits

This is the design I use for making Red Circuits.

Red Circuits.png
Red Circuits.png (186.16 KiB) Viewed 13394 times



This blueprint requests Iron and Copper Plate and Plastic and outputs 1 belt of Red Circuits. It makes its own Green Circuits. You may need to increase the number of items requested by overlaying it with the second blueprint. Two separate factories are required due to the number of Red Circuits required. The main one consists of 20 blocks. The second one consists of 2 blocks, 8 are fed directly to the Blue Circuit factory, the remaining 4 are combined with the main factory for a total of 24 belts (21 minimum required).

The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. Iron Plate and Plastic is each supplied by three 12-lane stations, the Copper Plate is supplied by four or three 12-lane stations. Each station feeding in to provider chests (as described under Iron/Copper Smelting). There is then a block of roboports, followed by the factory blocks. These then feed in to three 8-lane loading stations (for the main factory) or directly to the Blue Circuit factory.

There are a total of 9 Iron Plate trains, 12 Plastic trains and 16 Copper Plate trains for the main factory.
There are a total of 6 Iron Plate trains, 8 Plastic trains and 11 Copper Plate trains for the second factory.
There are a total of 10 trains picking up Red Circuits.
There are 10k bots delivering the Iron and Copper Plate and Plastic in the main factory and 4k in the second factory.

These factories have a personal visitation station at the plate delivery side.
These factories do not need a refuelling station. All refuelling is handled in other factories.

Continued in the next post.
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Production Requirements and Main Factories (part 4)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Blue Circuits

This is the design I use for making Blue Circuits.

Blue Circuits LB.png
Blue Circuits LB.png (296.96 KiB) Viewed 13391 times
Blue Circuits LM.png
Blue Circuits LM.png (334.43 KiB) Viewed 13391 times
Blue Circuits LT.png
Blue Circuits LT.png (636.43 KiB) Viewed 13391 times







It consists of three parts bottom, middle and top with mirrored versions for the left and right-hand side. These six blueprints combine to make 8 half belts of blue circuits (4 belts minimum required).

The blueprints request Sulfuric Acid at the bottom via a 4 tank station. Red Circuits are fed in from the top. Green Circuits are made in two separate factories to either side. Each one has three 12-lane stations for Iron and Copper Plate which are bot fed into 18 Green Circuit blocks and are then belt fed in to the main factory. The Blue Circuits are output to an 8-lane station.

There are a total of 2 Sulfuric Acid trains.
There are a total of 10 Copper Plate trains and 10 Iron Plate trains for each of the side factories.
There are a total of 10 trains picking up Blue Circuits.
There are 4k bots delivering the Iron and Copper Plate for each of the side factories.

The Green Circuit and Blue Circuit factories have a personal visitation station each.
These factories do not need a refuelling station. All refuelling is handled in other factories.

Continued in the next post.
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Production Requirements and Main Factories (part 5)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Plastic

This is the design I use for making Plastic.

Plastic.png
Plastic.png (739.21 KiB) Viewed 13390 times


This blueprint has a direct feed of two belts of coal, two pipelines for Water and one pipeline for Crude Oil. It outputs 4 belts of Plastic. A total of 16 blocks is used for a total of 64 belts (57 minimum required).

The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. Coal is fed directly from an 8-lane station, feeding four blocks. Water is pumped directly from the nearby lake. Crude Oil is fed directly from a four tank station, feeding four blocks. The Plastic is fed into 16 4-lane stations.

There are a total of 6 Crude Oil trains per station.
There are a total of 5 Coal trains per station.
There are a total of 30 trains picking up Plastic.

This factory has a personal visitation station.
This factory has a refuelling station. All trains are refuelled via a single small local bot network (100 bots) covering just the trains.


Sulfuric Acid/Lubricant

This is the design I use for making Sulfuric Acid and Lubricant.

Lubricant+Acid.png
Lubricant+Acid.png (413.09 KiB) Viewed 13390 times


This blueprint has a direct feed of four pipelines for Water, one pipeline for Crude Oil and one belt for Iron Plate. It outputs one pipeline for Sulfuric Acid and one for Lubricant. A total of four of these are used to feed a four tank station. It also has a belt for outputting spare Sulfur.

Each one can produce 7845 Lubricant and 43k Sulfuric Acid. Four of these gives 31500 Lubricant (17220 minimum required) and 172k Sulfuric Acid (159k minimum required). To prevent uneven consumption causing the refineries to backlog and stop, a little trickery is required. Light Oil is always cracked to Petroleum Gas so it should never back up. If Lubricant is full, Heavy Oil is cracked to Light Oil to make sure Heavy Oil never backs up. If Sulfuric Acid is full and there is a shortfall of Lubricant, then Petroleum Gas is converted into Sulfur to make sure Petroleum Gas never backs up. If both are full, then the system can be allowed to back up safely. Any Sulfur created by this process is transported to the Sulfur factory where it is priority fed into the system.

There is a total of 1 Iron Plate train.
There are a total of 7 trains picking up Lubricant.
There are a total of 6 trains picking up Sulfuric Acid.
There is a total of 1 train transferring excess Sulfur to the Sulfur factory.

This factory has a personal visitation station.
This factory has a refuelling station. All trains are refuelled via a single small local bot network (25 bots) covering just the trains.


RCU

This is the design I use for making Rocket Control Units. It consists of two parts, one making the Speed Modules, the second making the RCUs.

RCU Speed.png
RCU Speed.png (486.91 KiB) Viewed 13390 times

RCU.png
RCU.png (368.16 KiB) Viewed 13390 times


The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. Green and Red Circuits are each supplied by two 12-lane stations. Each station feeding in to provider chests (as described under Iron/Copper Smelting). There is then a block of roboports, followed by the factory blocks. Blue Circuits are supplied by one 4-lane station feeding directly in to the second part of the factory.
Each blueprint pair produces 1890 RCUs/minute. Four of these are used to make a total of 7560 (6750 minimum required). The RCUs are fed into five 4-lane stations.

There are a total of 3 Green Circuit trains, 3 Red Circuit trains and 2 Blue Circuit trains.
There are a total of 8 trains picking up RCUs.
There are 2k bots delivering the Green and Red Circuits.

This factory has a personal visitation station.
This factory has a refuelling station at the Green, Red and Blue Circuit side only. These trains are refuelled using the factory bot network. The RCU trains are not refuelled here.


LDS

This is the design I use for making Low Density Structures.

LDS.png
LDS.png (324.49 KiB) Viewed 13390 times


The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. Steel Plate and Plastic are both supplied by two 12-lane stations. Copper Plate is supplied by two sets of four 12-lane stations. Each station feeding in to provider chests (as described under Iron/Copper Smelting). There is then a block of roboports, followed by the factory blocks. Each blueprint produces 750 LDS/minute. 22 of these are used to make a total of 16500 (14445 minimum required). The LDS are fed into five 4- lane stations.

This factory also makes use of a nearby Copper Ore patch to supply additional Copper Plates. The amount of Copper Plate this factory requires is quite ridiculous. It might be better to have a separate Copper Plate factory just for LDS.

There are a total of 3 Steel Plate, 10 Plastic and 18 + 18 Copper Plate trains.
There are a total of 26 trains picking up LDS.
There are 9k bots delivering the Steel Plate, Plastic and Copper Plate.

These factories have a personal visitation station.
These factories do not need a refuelling station. All refuelling is handled in other factories.


Batteries

This is the design I use for making Batteries.

Batteries.png
Batteries.png (303.16 KiB) Viewed 13390 times


The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. Iron and Copper Plate are both supplied by a 12-lane station. Each station feeding in to provider chests (as described under Iron/Copper Smelting). There is then a block of roboports, followed by the factory blocks. Sulfuric Acid is supplied by a 4 tank station. Each blueprint produces one belt of Batteries. 8 blocks are used for a total of 8 belts (3 minimum required). This is overkill but Accumulators need a lot of Batteries and the design does not take up much space. The Batteries are fed into a single 8-lane station.

There are a total of 2 Iron Plate, 2 Copper Plate and 3 Sulfuric Acid trains.
There are a total of 8 trains picking up Batteries.
There are 1500 bots delivering Iron and Copper Plate.

These factories have a personal visitation station.
These factories do not need a refuelling station. All refuelling is handled in other factories.

Continued in the next post.
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Production Requirements and Main Factories (part 6)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Rocket Fuel

This is the design I use for making Rocket Fuel.

Rocket Fuel.png
Rocket Fuel.png (639.9 KiB) Viewed 13388 times


The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. This blueprint has a direct feed of one pipeline for Water, one pipeline for Crude Oil. These are fed from nearby sources rather than being brought in by train. Each blueprint produces about 1270 Rocket Fuel/minute (spread over four belts). Six of these are used for a total of 7620 (7223 minimum required). Each block outputs to a single 4-lane station.

I'm still not completely happy with this design, even after many iterations, due to the number of pumps required to keep it all operational and to stop the refineries from getting clogged up. I don't like having to use Light Oil to produce Solid Fuel and to produce Rocket Fuel. The design has been very difficult to keep balanced but it appears to work OK for now.

There are a total of 10 trains picking up Rocket Fuel.

These factories have a personal visitation station.
These factories do not need a refuelling station. All refuelling is handled in other factories.


Sulfur

This is the design I use for making Sulfur.

Sulfur.png
Sulfur.png (852.64 KiB) Viewed 13388 times


The factory overview pictures in an earlier post show the overall layout. This blueprint has a direct feed of one pipeline for Water, one pipeline for Crude Oil. These are fed from nearby sources rather than being brought in by train. Each blueprint produces one belt of Sulfur. Two are used for a total of 2 belts (1.25 minimum required) feeding in to a 4-lane station.

There is one train providing a priority feed in from the Sulfuric Acid/Lubricant factory as described earlier.
There are a total of 7 trains picking up Sulfur.

These factories have a personal visitation station.
These factories do not need a refuelling station. All refuelling is handled in other factories.

Continued in the next post.
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Production Requirements and Main Factories (part 7)

Post by Bored_Mike »

Rocket Silos

Overview Silo.png
Overview Silo.png (43.93 KiB) Viewed 13383 times
This picture shows an overview of the Rocket Silos. Low Density Structures, Rocket Fuel and Rocket Control Units are each supplied by two 12-lane stations. Each station feeding in to provider chests (as described under Iron/Copper Smelting). There is then a block of roboports, followed by the Rocket Silos. Space Science is taken by belt and fed in to provider chests which then feed the Space Science train stations.

Blue Circuits are supplied by a 4-lane station. Iron Plate, Copper Plate, Steel Plate, Green Circuits and Batteries are each supplied by a 12-lane station. Each station feeding in to provider chests (as described under Iron/Copper Smelting). There is then a block of roboports, followed by factories producing Radars, Solar Panels and Accumulators for Satellite production.

The two roboport networks are kept separate.

Rocket Silo.png
Rocket Silo.png (377.22 KiB) Viewed 13383 times





This picture shows a single Rocket Silo. Low Density Structures and Rocket Control Units are fed in by bots. Rocket Fuel is fed in by bots and belts as it is also required by the Satellite factories. Space Science is taken out via belt. A Satellite is only inserted into the Silo if these belts are empty. The Silo is set to auto-launch with cargo.

A total of 12 Silos are used (10 minimum required).

Satellite x 4.png
Satellite x 4.png (679.94 KiB) Viewed 13383 times




This picture shows a block of four Satellite factories that connect directly to four Silos. The red wire MUST be connected to the red wire at the Satellite input belt. This is so that Satellites are only made when required. The Satellite assembler should be placed so that it is NOT affected by the Silo Beacons otherwise it will work too quickly and too many Satellites could be made.

Silo Radar.png
Silo Radar.png (175.85 KiB) Viewed 13383 times




This picture shows the Radar factory. It is total overkill for what is required, but who cares.

Silo Panels.png
Silo Panels.png (345.83 KiB) Viewed 13383 times




This picture shows the Solar Panel and Accumulator factory. Again, it is more than required.

Both the Radar and Solar Panels/Accumulator factories are fed by bots.

There are a total of 18 LDS, 10 Rocket Fuel and 8 RCU trains.
There are 2k bots delivering the LDS, Rocket Fuel and RCUs.
There is a total of 1 train for each of Blue Circuits, Iron Plate, Copper Plate, Steel Plate and Batteries and 2 trains for Green Circuits.
There are 2k bots delivering Iron, Copper and Steel Plate, Green Circuits and Batteries.

This factory has a personal visitation station.
This factory has a refuelling station at the LDS, Rocket Fuel and RCU side and one at the other. The trains are refuelled via the two local bot networks.

I am thinking of redoing this whole area and making a single factory to produce the Satellites rather than having a separate one for each Silo. It should be a lot smaller and more efficient. Not sure how I am going restrict Satellite production based on demand yet.

Nuclear Fuel

The Nuclear Fuel factory can be placed almost anywhere so long as there is easy access to Uranium ore, Crude oil and Water. These can be brought in by train if absolutely necessary.

This picture shows an overview of the Nuclear Fuel factory.

Overview Nuclear Fuel.png
Overview Nuclear Fuel.png (25.91 KiB) Viewed 13383 times
This factory consists of multiple parts.

Train Station Rocket Fuel Provider.png
Train Station Rocket Fuel Provider.png (238.62 KiB) Viewed 13383 times


This blueprint takes in Crude oil and Water and produces Rocket Fuel. I use a total of six of these which is more than ample.

The next part takes in Uranium ore and converts it into Uranium-235 and Uranium-238.

Uranium Refining.png
Uranium Refining.png (1.13 MiB) Viewed 13383 times


The blueprint is for a small segment of this. It does not include any modules although they can be added if you feel they are required.

Kovarex.png
Kovarex.png (721.29 KiB) Viewed 13383 times




This picture shows an example of the smallest Kovarex Process and Nuclear Fuel factory. There are blueprints for a production of 24/32/40 Nuclear Fuel/min. This base uses the largest one. It takes in Uranium-235 and Uranium-338, separates it and feeds the Uranium-238 into a circular storage buffer. If this buffer reaches a threshold of 75k then it stops the input feed. This is to ensure that the whole system keeps moving. The Uranium-235 is fed into a static storage buffer. The Uranium-235 and Uranium-238 are then fed into the centrifuges with some additional belt trickery just to make sure that the system does not become clogged up. Excess Uranium from the Kovarex process is fed back around to be separated again. This process does take a very long time to get up to speed and it is worth doing some manual intervention until it does.

This factory produces far more Nuclear Fuel than is required but that is necessary at the beginning as there are a lot of buffers and trains to fill.

There is one train with a single fluid wagon bringing in Sulfuric Acid.
There are a total of 3 trains picking up Nuclear Fuel. One train supplies factories via the outer ring road (namely, the trains feeding in ore), the other two supply the remaining factories via the inner ring road.

This factory has a personal visitation station.

Continued in the next post.
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Bored_Mike
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The End

Post by Bored_Mike »

Mining

All mining outposts are set up using electric mining drills feeding directly into trains. This is by far the most UPS friendly way of doing mining although it is absolutely rubbish until Speed-3 Modules are available and mining productivity has been increased substantially.

Mining Outpost.png
Mining Outpost.png (2.88 MiB) Viewed 13381 times


This picture shows an example mining outpost. The stations all have the same name in any single ore patch. The stations are disabled if any block of four mining drills has no ore to mine. The number of trains going to each mining outpost is limited to a couple more than the number of stations in that outpost so that they shouldn't have to wait.


Summary

This base has been running successfully for over 10 hours (and nearly 50) with no glitches in production.

Production Top.png
Production Top.png (162.03 KiB) Viewed 13381 times
Production Bottom.png
Production Bottom.png (192.84 KiB) Viewed 13381 times
I've tried as best as I can to fully describe this base with blueprints for everything, although I'm bound to have missed something. You can always load up the save and have a closer look at anything I may have missed, or to just watch the base in operation.


Save File

I hope this works

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kjixp3mn5wcp6 ... 9.zip?dl=0
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Bored_Mike
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Update

Post by Bored_Mike »

Had a bit of a Copper Plate delivery crisis so I have split the left-hand staging into two separate parts to improve throughput, added one more block of smelting and reallocated all the trains using that factory to either the top or bottom staging area. I have also added some more Copper Plate smelting dedicated to Blue Circuits as there were two handy Copper ore patches nearby. I also identified a small issue with signalling at staging load stations. Trains were very reluctant to go to stations at the extremities, To rectify this, I replaced the chain signal with a regular signal followed by a chain signal, making room if necessary. Ideally this change should also be made for staging unload stations as well, but there is no room to do this without a major rebuild.

While fixing this, I also noticed that the trains delivering fuel to the left-hand Copper Plate factory were not stopping. I don't know when, or how, this happened as they were working correctly at one point.

The Low Density Structure factory also needed a third Plastic unload station added, along with two additional trains, as there were not enough provider chests available to supply sufficient Plastic.

I have also changed the way Satellites are produced. It needed a bit of circuit trickery to prevent overproduction but it appears to work well and takes up a lot less space.

Satellite x 4 (2).png
Satellite x 4 (2).png (515.64 KiB) Viewed 13145 times


It stores a single Satellite in each buffer chest and stops production when they are all full. It only allows a single Satellite to be sent to the Rocket Silo every 15 seconds when requested. This should be more than enough time to allow it to get there before another request can be actioned.

The Rocket Silos also needed a small adjustment to feed in Rocket Fuel from the top, rather than the bottom, and two extra train added.



Updated Save File

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w01p0bdhauayw ... 3.zip?dl=0
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