I've tried to get into Factorio multiple times because I really love 2D isometric games, but the learning curve is incredibly steep. In my opinion, franchises like the original Command & Conquer were much more accessible for non-hardcore gamers like myself. Factorio feels less like a game and more like managing a complex software architecture.
I can recommend turning off biters, or at least biter expansion. That way you can at least focus on building your factory, without getting distracted by attacks.
Using a main bus where your factory is built in comb like rows on one side (so you can make the bus wider on the other side) is simple and will work pretty well for the starter base (i.e until you fire your first rocket and "win" the game).
I often split my starter factory in 4 quadrants with sufficient space for belts between them:
1. Smelters
2. Main bus based factory
3. Oil processing
4. Personal fabrication and mall (especially once logistic bots become available)
As a factory game vet, it's always fun to see how the big daddy factorio primes first time players in the other factory games, and you see main busses in Satisfatory (which is sub optimal because the limiting factor is belt transport capacity), and Dyson Sphere Program (viable in the early game before drone logistics, but only in the arctic poles, and irrelevant later on).
Obviously, this main bus pattern does _work_ in all the games, if sufficiently dedicated, as does having no pattern at all, if sufficiently bloody minded (johnson) about it.
The bigger problem with busses in Satisfactory is they're too fragile. One component backs up and it can wreck the bus for everybody else. Setting up the extra belts to deal with overflow at every spot ends up being more work than just running dedicated belts for each component.
shellwizard · · focus · HN ↗
CodesInChaos · · focus · HN ↗
Using a main bus where your factory is built in comb like rows on one side (so you can make the bus wider on the other side) is simple and will work pretty well for the starter base (i.e until you fire your first rocket and "win" the game).
I often split my starter factory in 4 quadrants with sufficient space for belts between them:
1. Smelters
2. Main bus based factory
3. Oil processing
4. Personal fabrication and mall (especially once logistic bots become available)
automatic6131 · · focus · HN ↗
Obviously, this main bus pattern does _work_ in all the games, if sufficiently dedicated, as does having no pattern at all, if sufficiently bloody minded (johnson) about it.
jandrese · · focus · HN ↗
CodesInChaos · · focus · HN ↗