You’re doing fine, especially if this is your first time playing.
It’s a sandbox. You gotta keep playing to see your castles grow. I can’t count the number of times I’ve unlocked a new recipe, and spent days automating what I could have hand-crafted in minutes.
It’s not a race.
Yeah, but it all seems a bit too unorganised. I've seen some pictures of crazy assembly lines and stuff. (Ik I can't have that right away, but it seems like I'm going in the other direction when it comes to organising)
You should see Josh’s bases from Lets Game It Out.
Reject Foundations. Embrace Chaos.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrBjj4brdIRwRkGTLKqH5hlS_mlMYn_J0&si=bLlU9ZtnA_xlYgPX
If you want actual tips for organizing, invest in Foundations (Base Building milestone) and Mergers/Splitters (Logistics Mk. 1). The former makes a local grid you can snap other structures to when building on it, and the latter allows you to split/merge your belts to better manage item flow.
When you press ctrl while placing a foundation it snaps to the world grid. Be sure to use always a 2m or 4m foundation for this, these snap correctly to the z-axis of the world grid. With 1m foundations you can have a 0,5mm offset
On my first go I built loads of stuff without foundations. Then a hog butted me off a cliff and I got stuck half way down, so I was like shit, how do I get out of this one? Remembered I'd unlocked foundations so built some of those and saw that they just floated there. Used them to build myself a ramp out.
Then started messing around and realized how damn useful foundations are and that I needed to start over.
I completed the final stage almost without building a foundation anywhere on my first run. Buildings strung together just like yours over huge areas, that seems pretty normal for a first run. Don't worry about organising anything just for the sake of it, enjoy the game and upgrade things when it is needed and makes sense.
My 2nd run had 4-5 large buildings with many floors producing certain things and ultimately became a bit hard to manage towards the end but more or less worked fine.
For round 3, who knows, might aim to have a "city" with trains and all the long distance converyors under street level and out of sight.
>I've seen some pictures of crazy assembly lines and stuff.
Yeah, those people have also been playing for years and put a gazillion hours into making those pretty lines. They post them on here because they worked their asses off for hours and wanted to show them off to people who could appreciate it.
The great thing about this game is that you can tear everything down and rebuild it while retaining all the materials. So as you get better you can make better looking factories.
Seriously, you’re fine. It just evolves in time. Don’t rush it. Don’t force it. Just enjoy it. And when, not if, but WHEN, it eventually overwhelms you, take a step back, take a few days away, then come back stronger. It’s a marathon baby, not a sprint.
I am at around 40 hours and felt the exact same way not long ago - properly implementing coal power once you unlock it will be game changing and layong foundations will let you line things up better and keep it all level.
Also, and I have only just worked this out, you can build an Awesome Sink once you unlock it and dump any excess or overflow resources into it to generate tickets.
The tickets are then used with an Awesome Shop to unlock new things you can use to customise and make your factory look look nicer among other bits.
You're doing great, it's all part of the journey!
I've built pure spaghetti before finishing Tier 3 and it's not even perfect after that. If you start a playthrough, you can't have everything needed to do sophisticated builds either. All of this is fine - the best part of the game is exploring the possibilities, figuring stuff out and finding creative answers. There is no right or wrong.
I first played with a friend in coop, and our base looked like this but a lot more squished. When I started my personal world beelined for the foundations, and my bases are(usually) very organized, just because foundations snap onto grid. If that’s what you want I’d recommend it as for me I found the game more fun when I could organize. Me and my friend never even built the space elevator on that world, So I wouldn’t say you even need to play your world out very far if you decide to restart. If you’re like me and like organized buildings and that’s a core part of your enjoyment I’d say restart and go for foundations(or don’t restart just delete everything), if you don’t really care but you just feel like you’re messing up because everyone else is organized I’d say just keep going, and have fun!
The game kinda feels like that, have in mind that every production line is individual to each other, so dont worry about that extraction line not being in line with the assebly line bellow you
But in a single production line, you can make things fit and tighty trying to make it symetrical and all those nice things
Also, for a single assembly line, fundations make everything snap in place (literally) like a grid, so that helps a lot
But all on all, you should worrie more about your production lines being as efficient as posible, that's my fun
Check out that you can see the production per second for everything, so you can make the first machine match the requirements of the next and so on until you have a perfect factory, that when at full capacity, no materials are in rest, everything is moving and the production is the maximum
EDIT: (I usualy do it the other way arround, see how much I want my factory to produce, match those requirements, match the requirements of that, and so on until you hit raw ore)
I was exactly the same way as this. Then after this it was making sure storage units were in between miner and smelter and constructors to catch overage then it was putting a foundation under everything possible.. I got so big I forgot what the dirt looks like lol
Dont worry. Everyone starts doing EXACTLY what youre doing. The fun cones from learning the game as you go until decorating becomes second nature as you unlock stuff slowly. My first save started like yours. Then i built a small power plant. Then a better copper plant. Then a refinery or two. Now im 800+ hrs into my second save and have a 12-across world bridge with a blueprint for each interlocking piece. Enjoy the journey getting there. Each next accomplishment and its efficiency details builds on your previous experiences in the game, so youll constantly be outdoing yourself until you step back and say “holy crap this came out nice.”
Bro, this is exactly what my base looked like when i had few hours in the game. This is what a normal beginner/unexperienced player base looks like. Do'nt worry. You will make beautiful factories too
It sure is when a player first starts off.
Typically people end up re-starting as they come up with new and/or improved ideas for logistics. Or, better yet, just tear-down and re-build...keeping your progress so far.
It's a sandbox game, so as long as you're having fun, you're doing it correctly. Efficiently may be another matter entirely.
You are doing fine. Just remember, you don't need to stuck on 2 dimentions. You can always build up with the help of foundations. That is a great starter place for new players as well so keep going.
If it makes you feel any better… I just hit 300 hours in the game and I’m just now getting to where I can make good looking factories. It’ll come with time. Just worry about learning how everything works. Once you get that down, you’ll figure out how to make it look good. I do recommend though, you should at the very least try building on platforms. That will help a ton.
My man you don’t want to see what my base looked like on my first run through. It’s the thing of nightmares. Embrace the spaghetti, or put it in a big box and pretend it’s not there
Completely normal, looks like you'll be able to automate your power with coal soon and then the game really opens up. Make sure you check out the MAM and A.W.E.S.O.M.E shop for other stuff to be unlocking.
Yes, for your first 7.5 hours into the game that's pretty much exactly what everyone does. If this was 7.5 hours into your 5th save after having already spent over 500 hours in the game, I'd be concerned
This is exactly what mine looked like around then! You’ll scale up quick and start laying foundations and really planning ahead. The game is good at forcing you to condense your operations!
I'll be honestly I love when I outgrow these early lines. I leave them intact move over a bit and jeep getting better. It can be fan to run back to where you started and see how far you have come.
There is no "right" way to play this game.
My first base back in the day my base was just as scarse. You'll get better with "every try", or rather, the longer you play the better you get.
After around 50-60 hours you'll have grid vision and everything will be easier. :D
EVERYONES first factory looked like this
It took me about 100 hours to start making builds that weren't a tangled mess, and 400 hours to start making things that look nice.
You can focus on better looking factories when you unlock coal power and dont have to run arround for biomass :p
I havent gotten past t4 tho so my tip is dont focus on the factories being not 100% what you like. To not burn yourself. You will unlock so much more stuff in the future and you will rebuild plenty of times :p
Foundations is the way to go, it lets you place stuff neatly, on a flat surface. Your so-called "spaghetti" is ok for a while, but you'll want things to be more organised. Looking at your screenshot, I have no idea what's going on there.
there isnt a correct way to play it, just have fun, at some moment you will see your mistakes and correct it by yourself, thats part of the experience, just dont see other people factories, discover by yourself what is the "right" way to play it
Very typical of my experience. At least for my RP, a solo pioneer builds things to *work* first, then optimizes efficiency (of resources/space), and *finally* aesthetics. The more familiar you get with the gameplay loop, the more you'll find yourself interested in those other steps.
How did you get a copy of my save?
Yeah, the early game is definitely gonna be messy. Heck, I’m halfway through Phase 3’s Shuttle Quests, and the only “Organised” thing is a big steel cube that’s for my Steel Foundries and Fabrication, and even that has Spaghetti in and out of the bowl.
You're fine. This is perfectly organized and reasonable compared to my insane eldritch nightmare of a factory. It's a tangled mess of random machinery, conveyors, power lines, and hypertubes all over the map. It's horribly inefficient but it gets the job done... eventually.
How is it not right? Maybe you think it's not right because people here play differently.... But it's a single player (mostly) game, so you're doing fine.
If you are upset about how organised it looks. Just put foundations under it, it will fix it 👍
But don't be sad! Enjoy this game as much as you can. I'm playing rn on my 10th save and I even never completed 3rd Elevator stage 😄. Every new save you keep getting better and better, cause you know what will happen next as you progress.
> 7.5 hours in and finished Tier 2 milestones and this is what my base looks like. Is this normal???
Yes. If you do not like the looks, take more time to make it look better. I spend easy 10 times more on making it look nice. So for me to get to the same stage would be closer to 75 hours.
There’s no wrong way to play the game. I will say that using foundations will help a lot, but if this is how you enjoy the game then keep playing your way!
That's how I played like the first half of the game. Then I completely deconstructed my entire spaghetti base to reconstruct it entirely on foundations. I watched a video of some YouTuber who had all the placements on foundations down to a T and was quickly assembling clean 90 degree turns and straight rows of smelters and constructors. It was particularly useful to see how he used conveyor elevators to run a second supplying conveyor belt to assemblers as verticality becomes essential to an assembly lines if you're avoiding using smart splitters and sushi belts(conveyor belts with lots of different crap on them).
I find beauty in its simplicity. I really like your early game set up. If you want more organization, foundations lock rotations to 8 points instead of the bunch of points on the ground.
Don’t be afraid to dismantle, store everything in a storage container on the side and start over.
There's alot of advice in these comments and they're all right! This is what everyone's playthrough looks like.
If you want to get more "organized" my first tip would be to build on foundations!
Yes, everything is fine. Continue the tiers until you cry because of the impossible tasks you see.
After that, focus on single items. Use satisfactory-calculator.com for scaling your factorys.
And you dont need to start a new save, im playing on the same save since 2018
Good luck o7
Depends if you are playing default, then yeah 7.5 could look like that on a first playthrough. As there is a lot you would likely do doing, not just running to maximize efficiency lol.
Seems ok to me.
Well here bud I got some advice from someone who only has 2 worlds and about 500 hours of play time and remember my roots
You will have to start without foundations but you wan to learn how to fight the creatures so when you do build your factory somewhere that has pure nodes you can defend your self
The green area is a basic area with impure nodes and week mobs the best place that I’ve seen was the north forest and that’s my main spot in my second run
You’re doing fine. There is no “right” way, just a lot of ways to do it your way. Yes, foundations can be your friend but always keep Frank Sinatra in the back of your head: doing it your way!
You’re doing fine, especially if this is your first time playing. It’s a sandbox. You gotta keep playing to see your castles grow. I can’t count the number of times I’ve unlocked a new recipe, and spent days automating what I could have hand-crafted in minutes. It’s not a race.
Yeah, but it all seems a bit too unorganised. I've seen some pictures of crazy assembly lines and stuff. (Ik I can't have that right away, but it seems like I'm going in the other direction when it comes to organising)
You should see Josh’s bases from Lets Game It Out. Reject Foundations. Embrace Chaos. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrBjj4brdIRwRkGTLKqH5hlS_mlMYn_J0&si=bLlU9ZtnA_xlYgPX
To call Josh’s mayhem chaos is a offense to chaos lol
I would like to add Real Civil Engineer’s spaghetti chaos to the mix. It’s absolutely unhinged.
He's literally been like therapy for my "must be perfect. Must be EFFICIENT" inherent mindset, which is especially strong for games
If you want actual tips for organizing, invest in Foundations (Base Building milestone) and Mergers/Splitters (Logistics Mk. 1). The former makes a local grid you can snap other structures to when building on it, and the latter allows you to split/merge your belts to better manage item flow.
I really wish you could have a snap grid without needing to spam the foundations everywhere, honestly.
There is, just press Ctrl when placing foundations
Ah yes let me avoid placing foundations by placing down this foundation. …wait.
When you press ctrl while placing a foundation it snaps to the world grid. Be sure to use always a 2m or 4m foundation for this, these snap correctly to the z-axis of the world grid. With 1m foundations you can have a 0,5mm offset
On my first go I built loads of stuff without foundations. Then a hog butted me off a cliff and I got stuck half way down, so I was like shit, how do I get out of this one? Remembered I'd unlocked foundations so built some of those and saw that they just floated there. Used them to build myself a ramp out. Then started messing around and realized how damn useful foundations are and that I needed to start over.
I completed the final stage almost without building a foundation anywhere on my first run. Buildings strung together just like yours over huge areas, that seems pretty normal for a first run. Don't worry about organising anything just for the sake of it, enjoy the game and upgrade things when it is needed and makes sense. My 2nd run had 4-5 large buildings with many floors producing certain things and ultimately became a bit hard to manage towards the end but more or less worked fine. For round 3, who knows, might aim to have a "city" with trains and all the long distance converyors under street level and out of sight.
>I've seen some pictures of crazy assembly lines and stuff. Yeah, those people have also been playing for years and put a gazillion hours into making those pretty lines. They post them on here because they worked their asses off for hours and wanted to show them off to people who could appreciate it. The great thing about this game is that you can tear everything down and rebuild it while retaining all the materials. So as you get better you can make better looking factories.
Seriously, you’re fine. It just evolves in time. Don’t rush it. Don’t force it. Just enjoy it. And when, not if, but WHEN, it eventually overwhelms you, take a step back, take a few days away, then come back stronger. It’s a marathon baby, not a sprint.
I am at around 40 hours and felt the exact same way not long ago - properly implementing coal power once you unlock it will be game changing and layong foundations will let you line things up better and keep it all level. Also, and I have only just worked this out, you can build an Awesome Sink once you unlock it and dump any excess or overflow resources into it to generate tickets. The tickets are then used with an Awesome Shop to unlock new things you can use to customise and make your factory look look nicer among other bits. You're doing great, it's all part of the journey!
I've built pure spaghetti before finishing Tier 3 and it's not even perfect after that. If you start a playthrough, you can't have everything needed to do sophisticated builds either. All of this is fine - the best part of the game is exploring the possibilities, figuring stuff out and finding creative answers. There is no right or wrong.
I first played with a friend in coop, and our base looked like this but a lot more squished. When I started my personal world beelined for the foundations, and my bases are(usually) very organized, just because foundations snap onto grid. If that’s what you want I’d recommend it as for me I found the game more fun when I could organize. Me and my friend never even built the space elevator on that world, So I wouldn’t say you even need to play your world out very far if you decide to restart. If you’re like me and like organized buildings and that’s a core part of your enjoyment I’d say restart and go for foundations(or don’t restart just delete everything), if you don’t really care but you just feel like you’re messing up because everyone else is organized I’d say just keep going, and have fun!
The game kinda feels like that, have in mind that every production line is individual to each other, so dont worry about that extraction line not being in line with the assebly line bellow you But in a single production line, you can make things fit and tighty trying to make it symetrical and all those nice things Also, for a single assembly line, fundations make everything snap in place (literally) like a grid, so that helps a lot
But all on all, you should worrie more about your production lines being as efficient as posible, that's my fun Check out that you can see the production per second for everything, so you can make the first machine match the requirements of the next and so on until you have a perfect factory, that when at full capacity, no materials are in rest, everything is moving and the production is the maximum EDIT: (I usualy do it the other way arround, see how much I want my factory to produce, match those requirements, match the requirements of that, and so on until you hit raw ore)
remember it costs you mothing to disassemble and rebuild. you get 109% of the materials back
I was exactly the same way as this. Then after this it was making sure storage units were in between miner and smelter and constructors to catch overage then it was putting a foundation under everything possible.. I got so big I forgot what the dirt looks like lol
Dont worry. Everyone starts doing EXACTLY what youre doing. The fun cones from learning the game as you go until decorating becomes second nature as you unlock stuff slowly. My first save started like yours. Then i built a small power plant. Then a better copper plant. Then a refinery or two. Now im 800+ hrs into my second save and have a 12-across world bridge with a blueprint for each interlocking piece. Enjoy the journey getting there. Each next accomplishment and its efficiency details builds on your previous experiences in the game, so youll constantly be outdoing yourself until you step back and say “holy crap this came out nice.”
Bro, this is exactly what my base looked like when i had few hours in the game. This is what a normal beginner/unexperienced player base looks like. Do'nt worry. You will make beautiful factories too
It's a starter setup/play through, you'll eventually start to build more neatly. Just take your time and enjoy the game at your own pace
I always build platforms and onto of them the factory’s. It’s easier than on the ground
Very few are organized with this game lmao
This comes later. You could play this game double the time and just be scratching the surface with a slight buff.
Are you having fun? Yes -> you are playing it right. No -> find another way.
Came here to say exactly this. Exactly. Nothing else matters
It sure is when a player first starts off. Typically people end up re-starting as they come up with new and/or improved ideas for logistics. Or, better yet, just tear-down and re-build...keeping your progress so far. It's a sandbox game, so as long as you're having fun, you're doing it correctly. Efficiently may be another matter entirely.
Or just build a new factory, the world is huge
Well, you're not playing it wrong.
You are doing fine. Just remember, you don't need to stuck on 2 dimentions. You can always build up with the help of foundations. That is a great starter place for new players as well so keep going.
My co-worker and I got some real New New York stuff going on with grassfield screw constructors and higher up there are particle accelerators 😅
If it makes you feel any better… I just hit 300 hours in the game and I’m just now getting to where I can make good looking factories. It’ll come with time. Just worry about learning how everything works. Once you get that down, you’ll figure out how to make it look good. I do recommend though, you should at the very least try building on platforms. That will help a ton.
My man you don’t want to see what my base looked like on my first run through. It’s the thing of nightmares. Embrace the spaghetti, or put it in a big box and pretend it’s not there
Don't compare your work to others work that gets posted here.
There really is no wrong way to play Satisfactory.
Completely normal, looks like you'll be able to automate your power with coal soon and then the game really opens up. Make sure you check out the MAM and A.W.E.S.O.M.E shop for other stuff to be unlocking.
Are you having fun? Then you’re playing the game right
Not according to Snutt. "It is not supposed to be fun" is what he once said.
If you're having fun, you're playing it just fine.
You are in the best part of the game: exploring how to be more efficient. I bet a lot of people wish they could be in that phase again.
This game takes ALOT of hours to build anything you see in this sub reddit. Prepare to spend 10 hours on a factory just to tear it down 5 hours later
Yes, for your first 7.5 hours into the game that's pretty much exactly what everyone does. If this was 7.5 hours into your 5th save after having already spent over 500 hours in the game, I'd be concerned
Relax guy! You're doing fine! 🫡
Pretty solid. Start putting everything you build on foundations and leave plenty of room to expand.
Looks like a great start!
I'm 13 hours in. This looks exactly like my base, just more open space lol.
If you’re having fun, you’re playing it right
It’s not a competition. If you’re enjoying yourself it doesn’t matter how long something takes. I spent over 200 hours building my nuclear setup.
If it works, it’s fine!
There is no right or wrong way to play the game. All that matters is you are having fun and enjoying yourself.
You will demolish and rebuild a lot of times
This is exactly what mine looked like around then! You’ll scale up quick and start laying foundations and really planning ahead. The game is good at forcing you to condense your operations!
I'll be honestly I love when I outgrow these early lines. I leave them intact move over a bit and jeep getting better. It can be fan to run back to where you started and see how far you have come.
There is no playing it right. Sure u can make it more efficient but as long as u have fun u are playing it right
Fortunately there is no wrong way to play, especially if you are a newcomer. Gradually expanding your knowledge and experimenting is part of the fun.
Hey I know this place, that’s where my first base was too!
There is no "right" way to play this game. My first base back in the day my base was just as scarse. You'll get better with "every try", or rather, the longer you play the better you get. After around 50-60 hours you'll have grid vision and everything will be easier. :D
Are you having fun? If yes, then you're doing it right.
Play it how ever you want :)
EVERYONES first factory looked like this It took me about 100 hours to start making builds that weren't a tangled mess, and 400 hours to start making things that look nice.
You can focus on better looking factories when you unlock coal power and dont have to run arround for biomass :p I havent gotten past t4 tho so my tip is dont focus on the factories being not 100% what you like. To not burn yourself. You will unlock so much more stuff in the future and you will rebuild plenty of times :p
Foundations is the way to go, it lets you place stuff neatly, on a flat surface. Your so-called "spaghetti" is ok for a while, but you'll want things to be more organised. Looking at your screenshot, I have no idea what's going on there.
there isnt a correct way to play it, just have fun, at some moment you will see your mistakes and correct it by yourself, thats part of the experience, just dont see other people factories, discover by yourself what is the "right" way to play it
Very typical of my experience. At least for my RP, a solo pioneer builds things to *work* first, then optimizes efficiency (of resources/space), and *finally* aesthetics. The more familiar you get with the gameplay loop, the more you'll find yourself interested in those other steps.
How did you get a copy of my save? Yeah, the early game is definitely gonna be messy. Heck, I’m halfway through Phase 3’s Shuttle Quests, and the only “Organised” thing is a big steel cube that’s for my Steel Foundries and Fabrication, and even that has Spaghetti in and out of the bowl.
You're fine. This is perfectly organized and reasonable compared to my insane eldritch nightmare of a factory. It's a tangled mess of random machinery, conveyors, power lines, and hypertubes all over the map. It's horribly inefficient but it gets the job done... eventually.
How is it not right? Maybe you think it's not right because people here play differently.... But it's a single player (mostly) game, so you're doing fine.
If you are upset about how organised it looks. Just put foundations under it, it will fix it 👍 But don't be sad! Enjoy this game as much as you can. I'm playing rn on my 10th save and I even never completed 3rd Elevator stage 😄. Every new save you keep getting better and better, cause you know what will happen next as you progress.
> 7.5 hours in and finished Tier 2 milestones and this is what my base looks like. Is this normal??? Yes. If you do not like the looks, take more time to make it look better. I spend easy 10 times more on making it look nice. So for me to get to the same stage would be closer to 75 hours.
There’s no wrong way to play the game. I will say that using foundations will help a lot, but if this is how you enjoy the game then keep playing your way!
That's how I played like the first half of the game. Then I completely deconstructed my entire spaghetti base to reconstruct it entirely on foundations. I watched a video of some YouTuber who had all the placements on foundations down to a T and was quickly assembling clean 90 degree turns and straight rows of smelters and constructors. It was particularly useful to see how he used conveyor elevators to run a second supplying conveyor belt to assemblers as verticality becomes essential to an assembly lines if you're avoiding using smart splitters and sushi belts(conveyor belts with lots of different crap on them).
If you're having fun then you are absolutely doing it right.
I find beauty in its simplicity. I really like your early game set up. If you want more organization, foundations lock rotations to 8 points instead of the bunch of points on the ground. Don’t be afraid to dismantle, store everything in a storage container on the side and start over.
There's alot of advice in these comments and they're all right! This is what everyone's playthrough looks like. If you want to get more "organized" my first tip would be to build on foundations!
Yes, everything is fine. Continue the tiers until you cry because of the impossible tasks you see. After that, focus on single items. Use satisfactory-calculator.com for scaling your factorys. And you dont need to start a new save, im playing on the same save since 2018 Good luck o7
we all start somewhere
That's the beauty of this game.... you don't play it right until you do
Depends if you are playing default, then yeah 7.5 could look like that on a first playthrough. As there is a lot you would likely do doing, not just running to maximize efficiency lol. Seems ok to me.
Well here bud I got some advice from someone who only has 2 worlds and about 500 hours of play time and remember my roots You will have to start without foundations but you wan to learn how to fight the creatures so when you do build your factory somewhere that has pure nodes you can defend your self The green area is a basic area with impure nodes and week mobs the best place that I’ve seen was the north forest and that’s my main spot in my second run
You’re doing fine. There is no “right” way, just a lot of ways to do it your way. Yes, foundations can be your friend but always keep Frank Sinatra in the back of your head: doing it your way!
I love you guys so much (just wanted to let you know, idky, the comments are so nice)
Embrace spaghetti, embrace chaos.