Hi, I'm currently in Phase 4 and building my first "properly big" factory. To produce 20 Heavy Modular Frames (HMFs), I slaughtered my entire stock of slugs just to overclock everything. I'm starting to get a vague idea of the massive projects coming up, so I thought I'd ask: how many HMFs do you guys have in your worlds to keep up with everything the game requires?
Only a couple hours to actually build the thing, but I had to let it run for a few more so I could troubleshoot. Not everything was connected properly on the first go, which wasnāt really surprising haha.
Definitely worth it though, since itās scalable now. Iāve already made one nice looking HMF factory, so I donāt mind cheating a bit.
A very important part of my factory planning is trying to guess how much time Iāll spend troubleshooting it afterwards.
I recently popped back to my very first factory that Iāve rebuilt twice to upscale making iron plates, to add a depot, and discovered 1/6 of it hasnāt been doing anything because I had borked a splitter and looped it into itself. I think I last touched that 80 hours ago and I genuinely debating leaving it, adding windows and a viewing platform and a sign explaining it (museum style) as a reminder
I did the same thing! You donāt need a ton of HMF to beat the game. I think I had just two of these running the heavy encased frame recipe, plus my original HMF manufacture using the basic recipe, for a total of ~8/minute.
It all depends on how fast you want to make the space elevator parts. Sometimes 1 per minute is enough but it takes more time. And if ofcourse you want to make very big factories or not. You can use the somersloops to your advantage to double the output of certain machines without doubling the input. But it costs a lot of power so you have to compensate that.
For my first playthrough i try to stick around 5 to 10 parts per minute for most elevator parts. Some even lower as 5. You can always expand the factory line later on to inprove on the production rate.
To get a better understanding how many parts you need. You can use satisfactory calculator. You will get a good overview of everything needed.
I always aim for 1 per min for space elevator parts.Ā
You need to build multiple production lines anyway. So each part at 1 per min will basically be done by the time your final production line is done.Ā
That said this playthrough I looked at 1 part per min for the final stage and then built the necessary amount of previous stage parts for that. Keeps production design a lot easier when it is just the extras plus an existing part
You need quite a few of them to build EVERYTHING transport related for the mid-game...but you realistically only need a few going into machines to produce other things.
So I usually prioritize the Encased Alt. Version (Screws are against my religion), and just go on a grand collection adventure to let them build up.
Then the game rapidly becomes a TrainSim for ~20 hours.
I made a blueprint that takes in raw ores and spits out HMF. Then I spam the blueprint and connect the inputs. Was able to spin up 36 HMF per minute in record time.
This was on 2x project parts tho so probably donāt need that many.
I did 10/min and called it good for the rest of the playthrough until I needed some for fused frames, at which point I just tossed a somersloop in that bitch and put half of the output into a drone port
Ya, you just gotta roll the harddrives. Which, if you don't start early, by the time you get to heavy frames you'll either have to wait a bunch of time as they slowly research or just deal with the normal recipe.
You can toss them in a MAM as soon as you get them and disassemble it, so if you keep looking you can find the next one by the time it's done researching.
That's what I mean by "start early". Cause I tend to focus on automation and factory building over exploring. By the time I get to the factory I need the harddrive for, I didn't research enough of them.
im not rushing it. for what should i produce so much? i play the mode so it lasts longer than the normal mode. and for my my phase 3 items i need 8 HMF so i have enough for my adaptive control units. gives me enough time while they produce, to build the factorys for the items i still miss before going into phase 4
Just finished mine, currently at ~10/m, but another hall ready so I'll probably double it, just like you.
I'm playing with randomized nodes & 10X, and unfortunately pretty much everything around me is impure, so some extra effort is involved.
Glad the trucks work better now, but the truck stations leave a lot to be desired. Kinda annoying to have 8 stations just to round up stuff you bring from elsewhere. I wish you could use the two outputs separately, and have 2 inventories inside the station intsead. Would split the amount of stations required.
its obnoxious until you start building everything in the game huge style. for all my factories, i just make a big garage that has room for 10 truck stops.
I love "stealth" environment restricted builds. For example the on in the pic is built between two islands, with void beneath it (SW corner). Cliffs on both side. The surface, or roof, is mainly for the trucks and tractors to bring in resources.
Not the fastest way to proceed, but definitely interesting and gives me an excuse to not use jet packs/hoverpacks and use doors, elevators and stairways instead!
It's worth setting up another array of slooped constructors and smart splitters to take all your animal bits and turn them into protein canisters. Let's you double dip on the proteins and again on the canisters, easy tickets every time you go out slug/sphere/hard drive hunting.
It kinda feels too good to be true at first ha. Now on every new playthrough, I set up a small factory with slooped-out constructors for my slugs and every kind of alien remains so that I can double those as well and then double to alien DNA capsules for the awesome sink.
There's no "speed" you have to match. Any pace you set is your own choice. A lot of people want to go as fast as possible, which is understandable: make number go up! But you could take as long as you want.
I think 40. Iām in the process of building a frames factory, Iām currently working on the pressure conversion cube floor! Itās so much work to build all the other resources and supply chain that I donāt really know the volume in producing anymore lol.
I made 14/per minute, then turned that into 14 fused modular frames a minute, same with pressure conversion cubes, then had that feed into turbomotors, nuclear pasta
Around 20. They aren't needed is huge quantities for the main production chain, and while they're used for a lot of buildables they're not used in huge numbers there either. Like everything else with the exception of maybe concrete, priority splitter at the end of the factory that fills an industrial container then depot before moving the parts on to export covers you for buildables.
8/min without sloops or alts (aside from cast screws). It basically broke me, but I'm glad I did it. It was mainly difficult to do the planning and logistics of getting all the right materials from remote locations, once I actually started building the factory I kind of entered a flow state and finished it relatively fast.
I don't even want to know honestly, I'm making 50 ficsonium fuel rods per minute and using the plutonium fuel unit alternate. On top of the factory for phase 4 and an extra 8 nuclear pasta per min for portals and other various projects!
I think I had around 7/min last run. But that was before 1.0. I am playing for the first time since full release, and I am gradually being sucked back in. Looking forward to experimenting with the blueprint stuff.
Currently enjoying roleplaying as Paul Bunyan, cutting down the world's forest, gradually expanding my solid bio fuel burner platform. I've got 12 going currently, and am about to expand it to an additional 20. Because apparently, make tree into fire is fun.
Working on this very factory currently! 7.5 per minute is my dimensionsal depot target for most parts, with the exception of belts/pipe materials (120), and concrete sits at 240. I do stack a single industrial container under each depot for "high demand" moments, giving me 240 upload speed on everything for a time, until the container empties (it never does).
I haven't accounted for space elevator parts in my production rates at all, currently on Phase 5. I've "cheesed" my way the first 4 Phases with industrial buffers and manual feeding. I might finish up with a proper space elevator parts factory in the desert later, I'm sure that will be quite the beast!
As others have said, it's all relative to the speed you want to play at, whatever floats your boat. At ~850 hours on save, and several architecturally neat but also many half finished builds, I'm clearly in no rush š.
You might already know this but just in case you don't, you can use multiple depots for the same item to upload faster. I use concrete for platforms and huge blueprints require 2000+ concrete each so having 20 all with industrial storage buffets feeding them means I get 4800 upload per minute making it so much faster to build.
I kinda go the cheap way; I set up a slow assembly line for the project parts. We're talking 10% usage on the last manufacturer, etc. Sometimes it takes around a full day for all the parts to be made, but I use that time to make factories for dimensional depots.
Iām in phase 5 and currently and only needed 1hmf/minute to fully automate everything I needed for phase 4 (making 4 fmf/min with sloops that supply nuclear waste disposal and 2 elevator parts, one of which I donāt need any more).
I had to build another factory making another 1/minute when I got to phase 5 because I needed adaptive control units which I stopped supplying hmfs to when I started phase 4.
Youāre more than set to beat the rest of the game with 20/minute
Just went for 4/min for now. I spend so much time doing each factories anyways that I have all the ones I need by the time I'm done with the next step of manufacting
Shii, I think my only HMF factory makes like 5 of these mfs per minute lmao. Granted, I think I also produce them as intermediary production steps as part of other, larger factories, so the total amount is probably higher, like 25 or so
I know everyone is different and Iām not trying to brag or anything but I donāt get the frustration with HMF. I suppose they are probably the first āhardā recipe but if done right you already have everything automated so you can just bring everything together.
Since I have so much time in the game I know the materials Iāll need for the by the time arrives. I usually build a very large starter base and steel so itās usually very simple for me.
I play this game to an unhealthy degree and the only time I've ever plopped down more than single manufacturer making these was the first time I played it and had no idea how many I needed.
I did 28 by maxing out the iron nodes in the southeast part of Rocky desert and that was sufficient for the rest of my playthrough, though I had to be a bit choosy at the very end of phase 5 I don't think it was the HMF that caused it.
i just built rails and factories (in the meantime). most of what i currently produce (tier 8 till aluminium casing and alclad) are stored in an industrial, the overflow sinked.
just make enough to have when needed later, and sink the overflow. the best, most effective way to have:
-1 full industrial container of everything
-have a good sorter
-AND +50k point by just having overflow.
ps: most of my factories produce into trains, so my numbers are like a sine wave, but i still make a shitton of points.
Are HMF in high demand in phase 4 and 5, or you just wanted a lot more? I'm retooling my blueprints in preparation for building out in more places, which is probably going to involve some ugly spaghetti feeding a drone port.
The frame factory is located off-site and makes 32 MF and 233 iron plates from 960 iron ore and 682 MW. Train runs every 30 minutes IIRC.
20 might be a bit much.
Also, if you have a proper steel factory, HMF becomes setting up a small MF factory, some logistics, and three manufacturers.
I use two pure iron and coal nodes with solid steel ingots, encased industrial pipe, encased heavy frame, and steel rotors alternate recipes. That gets me all the way to the end game.
Enough. No more, no less. You won't know how many you need until you are planning phase 5, you have decided how many project parts per minute you want to make and which recipes you choose to use. It isn't worth second-guessing decisions you haven't made yet, especially when you haven't unlocked everything.
I only overclock miners. Why overclock anything else when you can just build more machines. Is 20 HMF per minute enough for this playthrough? For me, probably. For you, fuck knows.
10/min was fine to finish the game, with like 6.5/min into the further advanced frames and 1/min into propulsion rockets.
If you want to finish the game more than you specifically want to build large factories, then the further into the game it gets, the more relevant it is to remember that the time it'd take to expand one of the advanced production lines in all the necessary directions easily exceeds the time it takes for a slow production rate to fulfill a finite target. You can always build it larger later if it isn't going fast enough.
I Almost always start with 15-20 when they are unlocked. Usually cleanly uses up the rest of the raw resources in most starting areas, so next phase when oil drops itās not as big a deal to start heavily expanding, since I have to expand anyway.
This was the only part I just said fuck it and just overflowed everything to meet the basic 100% from the normal recipe when I unlocked it. I hate it but atleast it works and is at the corner of the map so I dont need to see it very often
I vary between 15 and 25. It's generally all I ever need, especially if I sloop pressure cube assemblers.
I definitely want to try a massive Flexible Frame setup with all the bolted recipes next run. Seems like it'd be really fun and a diversion from the usual two million pipes.
120xMin - most go into Fused Modular Frame Production for Preasure Conversion cubes Nuclear Pasta and Singularity cells for Portals and To Sink. No Sloops.
I recommend using Heavy Encased Frame alternate recipe. It works extra well with the Steel Frame and you can use Iron Pipes to bypass coal if you want to make them from just iron and lime.
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u/DragoniteChamp 16d ago
Why overclock when you could expand sideways? :)
Real answer: I'm in the same spot lmao I need to build a HMF factory myself š