JakenVeina

Sooooooooo, the last time I checked this storage crate, it was filled to the brim with Solid Biofuel. Hmm.

Alright, a little protein farming and it's filling back up. Hopefully, that holds out until the new power plant is done.

I was worried for a while about what the hell I was gonna do to top this one off, and I eventually just started building a sloped roof to see where it went. I thought I was nuts when I tried to use the 90 degree corner pieces on 120 degree corners, but holy hell. Once I figured out how to center them properly on the seam, this is one of my favorite build concepts ever.

Back inside, I setup a battery bank capable of bootstrapping the facility, if there's ever a catastrophic power failure, and a little system of control switches for isolating parts of the facility from each other, and the outside world.

Encountered a rather weird bug, while doing so. I'm trying to place a Painted Beam here, on the ceiling, and about halfway across the ceiling, it started registering the beam as clipping into the elevator shaft.

Also really wanted to try this concept for labeling power lines, throughout the facility.

Also made a point of adding a way to get between floors when the elevators are offline.

So, with the whole facility pretty much done now, the next thing I need to work out is large-scale transport.

I want something kinda similar to the beltway/tubeway I used in the prior playthrough, but I definitely don't want to just repeat it. And there's a few things I want to do differently.

• I want to incorporate the new Hypertube Junctions, this time.
• I want to be able to support train lines.
• I want it to continue the pattern of colored labeling for power lines, like I did in the power plant, for when I need to run other power lines within the trunk, separate from the main grid.
• I want to get away from just using nothing but the Steel Frame architecture. I still really like the concept of belts that rest on the thin frame pieces, instead of needing support pillars, but they're a PAIN to build.

After some experimentation, I came up with the following...

Firstly, I think it looks really nice.

Second, it should still support me making a taller version in future, to make room for stacking multiple levels of belts. But I'm hoping I do a lot more logistics work with trains, instead.

Thirdly, It's got room for a train rail on top, but looks fine without it, so I can use it for belt lines, train lines, tube lines, and any combination thereof.

Fourthly, I can make a version in the future that's double-width, for running full-duplex train rails along the heavy-traffic paths. For areas where space is limited, or there's very little train traffic, or I don't need trains at all, I can just use this single-width version.

Marries up pretty well to the facility. Should be even more interesting marrying into a trainyard for future facilities.

Aaaaaaaand we reach a snag. When I had the idea to make a single-width version in some places, I forgot that the prototype I had for a Hypertube interchange basically took up the entire ceiling space of the double-width prototype. So, I'm gonna have to brainstorm this tomorrow.

Pretty solid start.

Because running piping along the outside of a building is trending right now.

Originally, I wasn't going to put any generators down on this floor, and just leave it for logistics and a control room, but.... there's WAY too much space to fill with just that. So, I'm framing out like 1/3 of the generators to go here.

Forgot to get a shot of the first floor before I started paving over it.

The remaining generators.

Not entirely sure where I'm going with the top floor, at this point, but I'm just kinda paving anyway.

A few shots of the pipework in progress. I haven't actually even started routing to the machines with this yet, this is just me wanting to keep all the lines together, running by a main control/inspection area, and then running all the way around to the back of the building where they go up to a bank of Fluid Buffers, and then back down. I'm quite happy with how neat and tight it ended up.

Mooooooooooore protein farming.

After about 5 hours total, I think, we've got enough for the essentials.

So, like.... yeah, I built Coal Power here last time, but.... c'mon.... it's here for a reason.

Today feels like a hexagon day. This should be the largest I can fit.

A little blueprinting and I think we've established a layout for all our Water Extractors.

Figured I should setup some basic Quartz production, before I really get going on proper builds, given how much I use signs.

Actually, now that I think about it, the biggest hurdle I'm gonna have to overcome for proper builds (and that I probably should've gotten started on sooner) is COUPONS. So, I went ahead and expanded on the trash system again. Now, we've got Smart Plating feeding directly into the Sink, and I added an overflow for Alien Protein to be converted into DNA Capsules and sunk.

I also took the highest-value item I'm making (Encased Industrial Beam) and sent those to the sink. Forgot to get a screenshot of it, though.

Soooo, now we're pretty much just down to Protein farming for a while, until we've got all the tickets.

Of course, that got me a bunch of Mercer Spheres as well, so I also go to research the Dimensional Depot, and setup Uploaders for everything.

Welp, after some bio farming, I think we're in good shape for power, for a while. Let's do some more expansion.

We can definitely afford to run a trash line, now. Nothing automated, just anything I toss into the trash crate, that can't be made into Biofuel. We'll be needing tickets soon enough.

Also definitely gonna need more Concrete production if I'm gonna be building foundations, so I added in another Normal node Miner, tripling the capacity.

Also went ahead and started building a slightly-more-proper beltways, instead of just running them along the ground.

With the Concrete production tripled, I figured I'd swap to Concrete foundations, to eliminate the need for Iron Plates in building them.

Basic Steel and Nobelisks automated.

With Nobelisks and Gas Masks available, I felt comfortable clearing the cave below the archway, and pulling up some SAM. Still can only hand-craft Fluctuators, until Phase 3, but that still helps.

Finally able to clear and pave over the big gas cloud area in the center.

Basic Caterium production built out.

So, I spent some time actually sitting down and (roughly) planning out everything that I have left to build, to the end of the game. With my whole strategy of "farm to table" factories, I was worried there might not be enough nodes on the map to finish some of these factories.

With the plan laid out, next up is to build out a new factory for Radio Control Units, and I realize, now that I'm actually in Phase 4 for the first time.... I just don't have it in me. Not when my reward for completing Radio Control Units is building them again like 10 more times, in the 18 additional factories I have left after that.

So, I'm abandoning this little challenge run, for now, in favor of (hopefully) a more reasonable approach, based around building most resources at a much smaller scale, within a large headquarters, while still having large-scale independent factories, just not one for every single component. So, I'll have a large standalone factory dedicated to each of the big high-volume resources (Concrete, Conveyor Parts, Sign parts), as well as Power Plants, and maybe Project Phases, but otherwise just be able to toss down a couple new machines here and there, to siphon existing resource lines for new parts, as needed.

Basically, I realized that trying to get through Phase 4 without being able to build on progress from prior phases was going to be a nightmare.

Onboarding complete.

Fully-implemented automation.

Biofuel power.

Full transition to starter base, with all basic Iron, Copper, and Limestone lines automated.

A couple Assemblers for stage-2 and stage-3 parts, including Project Phase 1.

Remind me to thank Mikael for insisting that the aurora was left in.

Me when my wife asks if I want to play our Satisfactory save together

So, we got this parking lot built out for the Cateriumworks facility.

And then another big chunk of the road built out.

And since we got Reinforced Plates fully-automated last time, I can finally make a start on a Black Powder/Nobelisk factory. I figured I'd try and shape it around the contour of this cliff, as a start.

Alright, Silksong is done, I'm free to post again.

And by that, I mean I can get through the screenshots I forgot I had sitting in my backlog, from BEFORE Silksong.

Since the last session before this one was finalizing Aluminumworks, I figured I could spend some chill time retrofitting facilities for Mk.5 Conveyors. Power plans, in particular.

The above screenshot is the "before" photo.

This was after upgrading the Coal Plant. Unfortunaely, not a whole lot of gain here, I don't actually have enough machines to USE a full Mk.5 belt, even fully-overclocked. This was the very first thing I built in this save, and I didn't quite have my strategies worked out for upgradeability.

Over at the Turbofuel Plant, this bug is still a thing. This is what you get doing an in-place upgrade for the output-half (or the input-half? I can't quite remember) of a Conveyor Lift. Only fixable by destroying and replacing the whole thing, as far as I can find. Also, IIRC, not fixed by a restart. So, that's annoying.

And after the Turbofuel upgrade.

With that done, I felt like some more exploration and clearing, before getting into the next gigantic build.

Pretty great haul.

Interiors all finished up.

One final exterior shot.

Nerd docs.

So, I'm a little bored of just building this factory. I'm gonna take a break and do some side stuff today, and finish the cosmetics tomorrow.

First thing is I noticed I somehow missed a couple things on radar in the Grassy Fields. I.... really don't know how that's possible, I feel like there must be some kinda bug that re-spawned these, or caused them to be missing earlier. But hey, I can go ahead and collect them.

Sneaky little Mercer cave.

Distinctly less-sneaky slug.

That takes care of that.

I've also been getting really annoyed by getting irradiated while building in and around the Titan Forest, for this new factory, so I also figured I could craft up some radiation gear, and clear out all the random Uranium rocks I've previously marked on the map.

Of course, that means I need a temporary storage facility.

Finishing up the exterior cosmetics, tonight, starting with this steel frame entrance.

Next, a proof-of-concept for the exterior of each maintenance floor. This is roughly what I had in mind from the beginning: the walls of each maintenance floor being recessed inwards by 4m, to make walkable balconies. I made sure when laying out all the machines to leave that space empty.

With walls up, I can't really put off interior lighting any longer, at least on the maintenance floors, where there's no windows.

A little bit of tidying and lighting on the roof.

That should do it for the exterior. A little bit more interior work, and we can call this done.

Time for cosmetics.

Got some decently-large segments of beltways to enclose, so I drew up some blueprints.

Came out very nice, I think.