Factorio Forums

So I saw a video online talking about the ratios of Steel and they said you would need 236 electric or stone furnaces to get a full compressed belt of steel.
BUT is there an easier way of having a compressed belt of steel? It would really help my factory out if it got a compressed belt of it.

I don't mind doing the 236 furnaces if i have too, i like crazy insane (probably unefficient) things.

A full yellow belt requires 234 stone furnaces or 117 electric or steel furnaces. Red and blue require more.

Data from here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... 128a7_0_41

But I do not understand how an odd number of steel furnaces makes enough iron plate for the extra furnace making steel or fails to overfill the extra furnace making iron. Looks like there needs to be some extra furnaces to balance things out.

Greybeard_LXI wrote:A full yellow belt requires 234 stone furnaces or 117 electric or steel furnaces. Red and blue require more.

Data from here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... 128a7_0_41

But I do not understand how an odd number of steel furnaces makes enough iron plate for the extra furnace making steel or fails to overfill the extra furnace making iron. Looks like there needs to be some extra furnaces to balance things out.

I think its mainly because the ratios arnt full numbers they have like (1.3) for example idk if thats the actual ratio but just as an example so you know what I mean.

also throw productivity modules, and speed beacons into the mix and that ratio changes.

impetus maximus wrote:also throw productivity modules, and speed beacons into the mix and that ratio changes.

I think productivity modules are useless though, They take for ever and only produce 1 extra piece, It doesnt seem worth it to me

to each their own.

impetus maximus wrote:to each their own.

I'm so desperate for steel I might just say F*** it an make a whole bunch while Im asleep at night, lol

Typically the simplest way to have full belts of anything, is to make sure that supply exceeds demand. Once that happens the belt backs up, (and assuming balanced demand) you will have a full belt of steel. So you probably don't need a 234 stone furnaces making steel. You just need to make more steel than you are using.

ETM654 wrote:

impetus maximus wrote:also throw productivity modules, and speed beacons into the mix and that ratio changes.

I think productivity modules are useless though, They take for ever and only produce 1 extra piece, It doesnt seem worth it to me

They essentially give you free stuff. Most people use them with speed modules, so that speed isn't much of a problem.

You can turn iron ore directly into steel plates, without belt spaghetti
Just feed iron ore in the first furnace and then the iron plates in the next furnace
by coinsidence you need 5 iron plates and the smelting time for steel is 5 times longer than for iron. perfect ratio.
If you place a buffer chest between iron and steel you have some place left for beacons later, you only need substations.

ETM654 wrote:

impetus maximus wrote:also throw productivity modules, and speed beacons into the mix and that ratio changes.

I think productivity modules are useless though, They take for ever and only produce 1 extra piece, It doesnt seem worth it to me

20-40% extra goods for just some extra time spent that can be offset with speed beacons? You'd be surprised how much it is worth it in the end. 20% extra produced translates to less resources consumed for the same output. And that can chain through the entire factory... you can easily end up, at some final products like research, to require less then half the material needed normally if you use full production mods wherever possible. Which in turn reduces your required raw resource input by half.

Doing this will cause your pollution to skyrocket and power requirements will go nuts too. My budding megafactory is in the middle of a redesign, but even half idled it's drawing 4GW.

Well that does depend on how far into a game you are, and how long you intend to keep playing. Prod modules for the silo are always worth it. Prod modules for other things depend on how long you intend to play. If you are just planning on launching a rocket, then I don't think it is worth the time and hassle of adding prod modules elsewhere.

So I did the crazy idea and have 118 electric furnaces (59 on each side)

OOOOOkay

I like how you arranged the screenshots.

I like the compact design!

Ironically the throughput when I run the steel into my factory breaks it all down so I might need to split it into two lines, one that goes through the factory the second refills it for the main bus