I made it to phase 4 in 48 hours. I've just hit 72 hours, and still haven't made a single phase 4 component. Also, wtf is up with trains? Why are they so difficult?
Edit: I didn't handcraft previous components, I'm not an idiot
You're just not taking enough time to understand mechanics and/or automating efficiently.
Everything in this game builds on previous things. If you rush and slop things together and randomly handcraft game gets exponentially complex.
You can restart. You can move to a new base and start from scratch. Or you can power your way through but you'll be spending more time troubleshooting and handcrafting.
I am guessing you hand crafted most things to progress the phases so when phase 4 came up, you did not have the infrastructure built to scale up production that you would need for those elevator parts?
You may need to be more specific about the train part as those can be either incredibly simple or complicated, depending on how you use them.
You gotta experiment with short distances first to see how they work on every part of the track and trains will start to seem a lot less complicated. Also, while you’re supposed to play the game however you want, phase three is where you’re really supposed to start expanding and gathering resources from further locations, it’s meant to take a while but if you got through it fast good for you! Phase four is the really big one though, I’m at over 200 hours in my current save and still not done, so don’t worry if it’s taking a while, it’s meant to.
Trains are an added layer of complexity in exchange for less time spent laying down infastructure. 1 stretch of railroad (well... 2, really.) Can move 100s of different belts worth of stuff, which is way better than laying down 100's of belts back and forth. Although you totally can do that too.
On the bright side, while Satisfactory trains do have their own small unique "Gotchas," Their implementation is largely identical to trains in most every other game I've played what has trains. Put down tracks, put down stations, program what train goes to what station in what order. Once you get the hang of em and learn to "Think in train" you'll be good to go for any other automation game you play in the future with trains.
Why are people shitting on OP lol, I also finished phase 3 in around 56 hours with proper automation for things, it is very doable.
Onto OP's question about trains, the answer is "welcome to the endgame now". Trains overall aren't a very complex topic but you will need to spend time to fully understand them, if you only understand them 80% and not fully then you won't be able to automate with them.
Tho on a side note, trains do take time to understand, and if your goal is to finish the game as fast as possible, it's technically to just completely skip trains and just use long belts. But if you want to make proper factories that make good amounts of high quality resources then you should properly understand trains.
I think i finished phase 3 in ~45 hrs, at almost 7 and haven't even built a machine to make phase 4 project parts. Been building a ton of infrastructure and other factories like a large power plant, aluminum, steel plant. Ect. Im pretty much done with that and now need to build other support factories like a electronics factory and heavy frames. So probably gonna be like hr 75 by the time i start my actual phase 4 factory.
General rule is that each phase takes roughly double the time/effort of the one before. And that's not accounting for any on-the-job learning you're going through when reaching new milestones.
Phase 4 is usually when the accumulation of "tech debt" has punched me in the face in previous playthroughs. Past me took shortcuts and skipped over properly automating necessary components and didn't do much for logistics infrastructure. Doing "box builds" (hand-filled storage containers feeding machines) for elevator parts felt like a useful way to get to the next phase with cooler tech. But then that new phase expects those past parts to be available, and at a larger scale.
I'm about a week into a fresh save (not sure about total hours), and I'm taking the stance that's not going to happen to me again. I'm sitting at the end of Phase 2, all parts waiting in the elevator, but it's not getting sent up until my current project is complete: automate all items needed for storage of construction supplies, plus enough steel pipes + steel beams + motors to export for future production. I'm about 95% there, a couple more sessions should see me finishing it.
It started as just my "bigger better steel plant" once I got Mk2 miners, "solid steel" + "encased pipe" alts (key components of all my steel facilities). But there were enough resources near the location that it kept expanding. I found myself going "well, with just a bit more copper I could do X, Y, and Z". At this point, it's basically going to become my main base. It also includes the full production chain for automated wiring.
I'm unsure about holding off on Phase 3 until I get production of smart plating + versatile framework. The last time I checked my power consumption my max was starting to edge above the 1200 MW coming from my coal plant, with 80% (or more) of that going just to this base. Actual consumption is well below that, since I can't take full advantage of the pure coal node until Mk4 belts. So about half my steel production is idle due to lack of input. So I may fall to temptation, unlock the next phase, then focus on oil power before doing "real" plating/framework production.
On the other hand, a quick check on satisfactorytools shows the project scale for my desired output of those elevator parts to be fairly reasonable. A couple iron nodes and a few dozen machines takes care of it...
To your question, part of it might just be lack of experience, which comes from working through these hurdles. Your first few times through, you don't know what is needed later or to what scale. Starting over with that past knowledge helps with figuring out a good level of "enough" at each stage.
As for trains, they can take some playing around with to really "click". Are you having problems with laying out a rail network, configuring timetables, signals, or what?
And as a direct piece of advice without all my chatter:
For a basic playthrough (not mega-factories and with default quota), I've found a good target for elevator parts to be:
5 Smart Plating / min
10 Versatile Framework / min
10 Automated Wiring / min.
Smaller output could still get you pretty far if you build up reserves in storage during transition times.
The production scale is manageable, only 2-4 machines for each final part. Having that starting point fully automated means you will be able to supply production of elevator parts at a reasonable rate in later phases. With that covered, the challenge becomes making the additional components to combine with those (and subsequent) parts. But those come as you unlock new milestones.
There are 2 and a half rules that will solve 95% of your train problems:
All tracks should be one-way.
At any intersection: Path signals on all the entrances, Block Signals on all the exits.
And as an honorable mention, the track intersection snap points where the little diamond direction signs appear are sometimes buggy, so it's a good idea to set your signals back from them (ie. to the outside of the intersection).
First, build a blueprint. I personally use a stock elevated train post blueprint with two pairs of 6-meter train tracks, each with a block signal in the middle. I also added a bi-directional hyperloop accelerator to mine, so I can build a hyperloop network at the same time as I'm building my trains. You may want additional blueprints for things like ramps and such.
Next, go where you want to start building your network. Place a foundation and put your blueprint on top of it.
If your train is just going in a straight line, then just select that foundation and zoop 10 of them in a straight line. If you need to change elevations because of the terrain, then just nudge it up or down until it looks good to you. Delete everything but the last foundation block. Select your blueprint, and use the "Blueprint Autoconnect" mode to automatically connect the rails. Place that on the center of the next foundation block.
If you need to add curves, then zoop out 5 blocks instead of 10. From that 5th block, select the foundation block, hold Ctrl and aim it at the far outside corner. Rotate the foundation block until it's pointing where you want the curve to go, then turn on hologram mode and nudge it forward 4 meters and in 4 meters so that the two corners are flush. Place that block down, then zoop another 5 blocks. Place your train post on that final foundation and delete the others.
Do the signals in the blueprint actually work? that must be new. Doesn't putting a signal in the middle of a 6m track split it into 2 tracks that are too small to be valid?
I was unclear about that. The blueprint has a total of 4 pieces of track. Each lane is 2 connected segments as short as I could make them, with the block signal in the middle.
Nice. I tried signaling my t intersection in the blueprint but the signals never connected properly when the blueprint was placed. Maybe because they were on the end of the track piece and only connected to one side in the blueprint, you have yours placed with both sides connected in the BP so that’s different to how mine was.
I've noticed the autoconnect has weird distance requirements. My rails will usually connect easily, but then I have to nudge the blueprint in a few meters before the hypertube connection prompt shows up. Meanwhile, my belt highway was trying to connect to open storage containers thirty meters away when I was placing one the other day.
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u/Money_Potential7780 14h ago
You're just not taking enough time to understand mechanics and/or automating efficiently.
Everything in this game builds on previous things. If you rush and slop things together and randomly handcraft game gets exponentially complex.
You can restart. You can move to a new base and start from scratch. Or you can power your way through but you'll be spending more time troubleshooting and handcrafting.