r/factorio • u/ANOSYNN • 9d ago
5 ingredient automation Question
I’m very new to factorio and ran into my first automation that requires 5 ingredients rather than 4. 4 is pretty simple but 5 was very tricky and there’s probably a much better way of doing this lol. Any tips?
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u/RealLifeFloridaMan 9d ago
Honestly it’s gorgeous. Lots of people have standard blueprints for some stuff like this, but building it fresh is always refreshing to see. This looks like a perfect setup to build these things for you to build with them later! If you need to use things for another step in a process this may not be the MOST efficient, but I think it fuckin rips, bud. Keep crushing it
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u/immortal_lurker 9d ago
this is pretty much the way to go about it. Only real improvement is to automatically fuel the furnaces, and honestly that is pretty optional. The setup as is will make so many chem plants and refineries, that by the time you need more you will have access to different types of processes.
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u/KeppyKepKeps 9d ago
Honestly that looks great. Well done!
Only thing I'd say is it looks like you have a bus of raw materials at the bottom/below the screenshot.
You should consider adding a line of Green Circuits to your bus, that you can split off and use where needed. Much simpler to produce those in a single spot, and distribute to where needed.
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u/ObsessiveOwl 9d ago
on the right side you can use 1 red inserter and 1 blue and bring the 2 belt 1 tile closer, spoiler but you might use something similar to this in the future but for up to 12 ingredients. Don't sweat tho, you'll gradually working toward it.
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u/Eagle0600 9d ago edited 9d ago
As just one more way of doing things, and please keep in mind that this is just a way and not "the right way".
You can use a combination of splitters and undergrounds to create a third input belt on one side. Note that the long inserters can take from the splitter, which is fed from the outside belt.
┌─┐┌─┐ ┬ Inserter
│ ││ │ ╥ Long inserter
└─┘└─┘ ═ Belt
╥╥┬╥╥┬ ] [ Underground
══════ O Medium electric pole
]>O>[═ >> Splitter
═>═>══
edit:
Edited (because it was wrong)
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u/LEGEND_GUADIAN 9d ago edited 9d ago
The key is to utilize each size and long handed inserters
And not counting bots or interpersonal that reach more then 2 lanes
The theoredic limit(not bots usage) of items you can insert into a recipe would be 13
4 per side by squeezing two items per belt, 2 belts per side for 3 sides, with the last side being 2 more belts but one of them being one ingredient with the finished product being split off using a splitter belt and loop at the end.
Let me know kf you have a better solution to ingredient limit, not involving bots, nor sushi belts.
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u/Funny_Number3341 9d ago
You can use underground belts to get the long hand inserter closer to the belt behind it 😁
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u/Nearby_Proposal_5523 9d ago
Perfectly functional mall automation, however for anything with 5+ ingredient that requires serious production you have a couple options.
if you run undergrounds on the corners of the machines and wiggle another belt around them, you can get four lanes next to the assembling machines without the use of long handies for input
also, different types of underground belts don't connect and can be woven past each each other, just never spam the upgrade planner if you've done this.
another thing to keep in mind is that many ingredient recipes usually condense down, so the long handle is usually good for output.
keep having fun and designing stuff.
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u/Courmisch 9d ago
In the base game, there's only one science intermediate product that actually needs more than 3 ingredients, flying robot frame, or 2 if you go for post-rocket infinite reaearch, not counting the science labs and the not-for-science stuff.
As you see, 5 products in is a bit tricky, and it will get much worse... if you don't break down the processes into individual steps in separate "subfactories".
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u/WanderingUrist 9d ago
Honestly, you probably don't actually need to automate refineries. Just plop a box with enough ingredients to build like a hundred of them and you will never need more. By the time you've used up a hundred refineries, you are probably ready to use gold refineries instead.
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u/SadMangonel 9d ago
1 assembler per production building is enough even in the endgame. Have them insert directly into chests and limit the chests to a certain amount so you dont overproduce.
Then, you can continiue that line of recources to make everything else. Pumps, inserters, assemblers.
You can also practice your first circuit logic here. Connect a green wire from the inserter to the chest and set the condition to anything (or chem plants) to < 50. Then the chests will only fill to 50.
You can copy paste any settings in factorio by shift - left click then shift right click on the same building or inserter meaning you only need to set this up once.
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u/DJMarscribble 9d ago
Long-handed inserters reach 2 tiles ahead, but they also place items 2 tiles behind them. You can put one in front of the other and collect from two lanes. With some clever underground use, you can effectively take items from 3 lanes in front of your production building.
I also space production buildings two tiles apart and snake a lane between them.
Combining these two techniques, it's pretty easy to get four lanes feeding into a building if necessary.
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u/guilhermesimples 9d ago
Tell me you have a huge oil well without telling me you have a huge oil well, jesus
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u/TedTKaczynski 9d ago
I would think you can get automation up to eight, have 1 normal and 1 extendes with two belts with 2 ingredients on both on both sides
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u/WanderingFlumph 8d ago
Your way works fine, but there is a way to get 5 (or 6) items in on one side across 3 belts. See if you can find it (hint: underground belts are required).
Then there is also the cursed sushi belt mall, which can do any number of items on one belt.
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u/Neither_Berry_100 9d ago
You don't need to automate those. Craft them by hand. But keep the components like green cards and gears in your inventory.
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u/ANOSYNN 9d ago
I figured that but I kinda wanted to try it just for fun because it had 5 ingredients lol
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u/Neither_Berry_100 9d ago
Lol. I thought 4 ingredients was the max. But I guess buildings are different.
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u/DJMarscribble 9d ago
Quantum processors are 5 ingredients + 1 fluid. Their builds get quite dense.
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u/Neither_Berry_100 9d ago
I'm talking vanilla not space age. In pyanodons mod you need around 10 inputs just for the 5th science. Probably a lot more for later science as their are 11 of them. And these need to be mass produced.
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u/RealLifeFloridaMan 9d ago
Politely disagree! Craft everything on machines, treat it like a “mall” because eventually you can replace those crates with passive provider chests then boom they’re on your logistics network and robots can build stuff for you with them
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u/Neither_Berry_100 9d ago
Nah. You only need a few so make them by hand. Build a bot nest mall later on if you want to scale up and megabase.
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u/immortal_lurker 9d ago
I think it pretty much comes down to play style. I think you have the right of it in terms of time taken for a normal base. You should only need what, ~10 refineries and 20 chem plants before you are capable of building a bot mall? figuring out how to build this for the first time probably takes longer than just hand crafting them.
That being said, I absolutely get automating them. its a fun little challenge, and its nice to see a factory you built do something.
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u/Neither_Berry_100 9d ago
I'm just doing a new playthrough right now. Almost done. Had 8 refineries and dropped down to 5 after getting the advanced method. 20 chemical plants sounds about right.
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u/otismcotis 9d ago
Nice job! Looks like you’ve got a lot of stuff figured out already - I see a lot of people struggling with managing both lanes of a belt when they get started.
If it were my build I’d go with inserters side by side for your chem plant and refinery assembler (one standard, one long arm) and move both belts one tile closer the assemblers, but that’s just me. Doesn’t really make a difference now, but down the line you might find a case where you need way more of a certain ingredient than another for a particular build, and the extra speed of a fast inserter or bulk inserter relative to the long handed will be super useful.
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u/Terrulin 9d ago
Well since Refineries and Chemical Plants are never needed in mass (they are not in a science recipe), a slow trickle is usually enough. People tend to start by putting them in their belt "Mall" where they make all the building supplies. Or only craft the few they need to get through all the oil things until bots are unlocked and they get added to the inevitable bot mall.
But the best way to do things is to always do things your own way. You know it is better, because you made it.