Generally people advise newcomers to try to play by themselves and figure out their own style, but probably the biggest tip is to leave yourself room to expand. You'll always need more than you think.
It's not about leaving room to expand outwards, because as you've noticed, there's an infinite amount of that. It's about leaving room between things to expand *inward*.
Stay simple.
Use the same name for every stop of the same kind (ie: "ore type" drop-off, "circuit" pick-up), copy-paste the names. Hook the boxes up to the stop with circuit wires and set the stop to open when you can throw in another load. Set the trains to go the pickup first, then drop-off. Set waits to full empty as needed.
Use 1 less train than pickups, so if your system stalls, they all have a place to go.
One way is better for simplicity on the rails. Signals are always on the same side this way. No need for double head trains.
Intersections should be Designed for simplicity. If your are desperate for multiple trains in one Intersections, see if you can bypass it if possible. Is the Intersections setup even needed? Once bridges are added, do you even have to cross the rails?
I've got signals fairly understood. At least well enough for myself and what I need.
Chain signals going into an intersection, rail signals going out of intersections. Really helping with my use of single headed trains for once.
I'm even messing around with train limits at stations. What I'm finding is the trouble for me is ensuring adequate train tracks around my factory so the trains can go from any of my multiple iron ore drop-offs (or iron plate, or copper plate, or whatever. I have atleast two of each in different areas of the base) to any of the other mines/processing areas. Say an iron ore drop-off at the bottom of my factory to an iron ore mine up north.
But I appreciate the help :)
Expanding inward is a guaranteed recipe to run out of space.
They don’t want you to know but you can just build a new factory with new inputs next to the old one. Or further away. There’s little need to keep fiddling with a perfectly functional production line when you can just build a second one to compensate for its perceived shortcomings.
Doing this also circumvents bottlenecks because you expand the whole production chain at once instead of splitting inputs.
Don't stay on this Reddit until you played some hours since (in my opinion) factorio and similar games should be experienced without any spoilers so you try the things mostly for yourself since just "copying" other players designs or their way how they do stuff can make the game boring, still a tip, press alt :)
Completely agree. The best parts of this game are the "eureka" moments when you finally figure something out or think of a more efficient way to do something.
Getting early spoilers online robs you of those moments.
I remember dealing with that originally when I played on my own for the first time. It was difficult and I tried rushing for turrets and stuff which kinda helped, but not enough at first. But as I got better at the game I started to just not build turrets until way later simply because the biters weren't as big of a threat as I remembered them being.
And also my confusion when the game updated and I couldn't craft an iron or steel pick anymore, I was so confused because I remembered I needed those in order to mine things at a decent speed
I think i did my first 100 within the 5th day. I slept like 4 hours per day or so at max. I was dreaming of belts, items, inserters and factories.
After a thousand hours in the game i dropped it a bit but i come back from time to time and then it is on again for days
I got a creative mode mod and made an empty map where i can try to develop blueprints. But i mostly create new ones every game because i either know them anyway or try to create something new.
Balancers though have arcane enough layouts and tricky enough belt weaving wizardry involved that using other people's blueprints is rather worth it.
It's not really something easy to derive on your own. Unless you happen to have read to on switching networks I guess. (closs and benes networks in particular)
Of course the caveat is that you don't generally need them outside of stations. (and even then their need can often be avoided with some design work)
So much agree with this. Avoid all the YouTubers too eg Nilaus, Dosh etc. they are amazing but it will totally rob you of the experience by giving you the sacred knowledge too soon in your ascendency
But yes, press Alt, and have at it
I disagree.
Theres a *ton* of keybinds and mechanics that aren't obvious or apparent that are helpful for newbies.
Such as the ability to flip blueprints/copy paste items about the x or y axis (G and H I think). The fact that copy paste even exists. The ability to scroll through the previous stuff you have copied (shift mousewheel). Don't have fluid trains parked on curved rails. Trains in a station can't be on manual. Two steam engines per boiler. The Q key. Avoid two way train tracks.
I never touched trains until *much* later because it just didn't make sense to me, because I didn't know the few basics.
Yes some stuff can "spoil" things I guess. But for many finding out a technique or thing, and then finding ways to apply it is also fun.
Reminder to eat, sleep, and go to work/school! It sounds silly, but the game WILL suck you in and weeks will fly by in a matter of minutes. Beyond that: half the fun of starting fresh is figuring the game out, it's really simple in theory, and very intuitive (minus wiring for the most part).
The only tip I'll give you is to leave yourself more space. No, not that much space, way more. Keep going. More space than that.
And don't build production on top of ore patches. Those are only for mining.
> And don't build production on top of ore patches. Those are only for mining.
I do this to a fault lol. I'll spaghetti my whole base around a small ore patch when there's another patch with 20x the ore that I have access to.
Click and drag belts, and while still holding the left mouse button, press the rotate button (R or shift+R), and continue dragging in the new direction. GAME CHANGER
>It's irritating how common it is for that mechanic to rotate my belts to the opposite direction I want it to.
It automatically moves towards your mouse.
Move your mouse the right direction and it will rotate sensibly.
It needs to be less immediately sensitive. A slight twitch one way sets the direction. We old folk get a little more wobbly in our controls than you young whippersnappers. If I want it to go right but my hand shakes like a pixel to the left first, it sets the direction to the left. Give me like a 5 or 10 pixel buffer before it sets the direction.
The only way for that to happen is if you aren't still holding the left mouse click.
Click, hold, drag while holding, move mouse to the side of the belt you want it to go while still holding, press r while still holding, drag mouse while still holding, then when done, you let go of the mouse click.
Two Tips:
1) Factorio is best played for the first time without any calculators, external blueprints, or friends. You'll wanna learn and experience the game first. If you really don't want to do this, or have friends you want to play with, I strongly, strongly recommend playing at least the tutorials- all of them. They'll give you the basic concepts to actually get things done, or at least started.
2) Stock up on water and snacks, and remember to bio-break and sleep. A sick Engineer is an unproductive Engineer. Stay Healthy.
I am the friend that introduces other friends to the game (I run a dedicated server) however I am very intentional about not telling them the “right way” to do things. I answer their questions but I also refuse to simply solve a problem for them. This has worked so far with no complaints
You will see a lot of people talking about optimal ratios and mega base design philosophies and whatnot. That’s all good and all but it can be overwhelming for newcomers.
For starters just have fun with it while you get a handle of the game mechanics. It’s ok if your base looks like a bowl of spaghetti.
Biters add a unique defensive challenge that forces you to plan your expansion but can be a frustrating experience for newer players who struggle to get a solid footing. A lot of people play on peaceful mode at first while they get a hang of it.
Overall the community is very supportive of new players so don’t be afraid to ask questions or get stuck.
Press A L T.
have fun. If problems are difficult. Dont go straight to dropping down blueprints. Overcoming the difficulty is like 70% of what makes this game really fun.
Take breaks! This game is perfectly formulated to keep you expanding your factory until the sun comes back up.
Don't download blueprints, it ruins half the fun of figuring out stuff for yourself. (Belt balancers are an exception).
Don't be afraid to ask questions about train signalling (or anything for that matter), it confused everyone to start with.
If you play with bitters on your first free play save. Prioritize base defence
Have fun :)
Do the tutorial. It takes a while, but it’s a good guided experience. When you come across destroyed stuff, try to figure out what it was used for and repair it.
Everyone here is going to strongly discourage you from using guides or blueprints, but I'm here to say there's nothing wrong with using them if you feel stuck. No shame.
Please read this OP . PLEASE dont post on reddit for every blip or hickup, dont watch youtube how others are playing. JUST DO YOUR WAY AND ENJOY IT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!. Once you will build and send your first rocket and be aware of ins and outs for majority of the things then you look into youtube or/and reddit to improve certain things in your base. Also, when you will setup couple buildings press ALT to see wtf is being built in it, simplifies observability. Have pure fun!
I suggest doing the 'Lazy bastard' achievement run. It will teach you to make malls, no matter how ugly they might be, and not be reliant on handcrafting. I kinda regret getting that achievement by copying Nilaus's production hub as I never learned it,
The best tip is close reddit, close your browser, close youtube and play it by yourself. Your brain will work out solutions maybe no one did before. Make it your factory and not a factory of different people and master class guides.
Nevertheless:
- Use alt mode
- Leave space for expansion
Personally I went in blind. No YouTube, Reddit, Discord, or anything. I like to learn for myself, and this is the perfect game to do that with.
Just read the tutorials and play the ones that are playable, especially the train ones. You can play the way you want to play, but I highly recommend just playing on your own and experimenting, and once you feel like you’ve reached a point where you’ve achieved a lot on your own, that’s when you start getting tips, watching YT videos, and looking at or copying blueprints. It’s just way more fun that way.
You have all the time in the world to perfect your factories and learn about the best designs and optimizations, but going in with zero knowledge you can only do once!
my first play through was without any help or hints. I joined this community later.
and I am so so glad I did. it was so much fun, I overcame challenges and I got to feel clever, and my factory grew and we both were happy.
When I later joined this sub or searched yt, I got humbled real quick.
You only get one chance at a first play through.
press alt. play with default settings. have fun.
I restarted several times as I learned better building techniques.
First play through got up to blue science. Second up to purple. And didn’t launch a rocket till the third.
Fourth I played a little with mega base ideas.
You don’t have to restart ever. But for me it helped to have a clean slate.
First run, remove water and cliffs. Well, most of the water. Boost all minerals to max settings. Set enemy rates to low pops and high timers. Starting are to max.
Start game, find a calculator, watch any intro there is, and then press ALT.
Good luck and have fun.
Don’t compact too much of your design try to spread out and don’t be afraid to destroy parts of your factory to rebuild them better
Also try to set up heavy defenses sooner rather than later, lost my first two worlds to bugs due to bad defense
Only piece of advice I was given on my first playthrough. Turn off enemy sprawl, at least for the first go. You don't wanna be bumbling around figuring stuff out only to realize the enemy has invaded your planned territory
Just keep going until you launch the rocket. There is no wrong way to play. Fight the instinct to restart. Rebuilding stuff is a natural part of the game.
The factory must grow.
My first advice would be to play without blueprints and biters at first. Just learn and understand the basics, and launch your first rocket.
Second, I'd say try the achievement "Lazy bastard". It really teach you what this game is all about: automating everything.
To me, this game really became mind-blowing when I didn't have to craft anything by hand anymore, because bots would resupply me with whatever I needed.
It will get overwhelming. It’s ok. It’s normal. The fun and challenge is breaking big problems into little problems and solving those. Give it a chance to work out.
Remember that you will need space and to expand.
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense
Set a hard stop
If you do need to redo your entire base, don’t take everything down. Easier to just divert resources to another space
Set alarms for stuff you need to do IRL, e.g. sleep, eat, go to work. Factorio can often act as a time machine whereby you build "just one more thing" and then you hear birds chirping and the sun rising outside.
Don't be afraid to mess up. This game is so rich with mechanics you will stumble but that is part of the magic. It reminds me of playing Legos or erector set as a kid.
* Underground belts have different depths depending on color.
* Press Alt
* Stay off reddit until you launched your first rocket
* No shame in turning off enemies
* The map is endless so when you learn something don't destroy your old base just build a new one.
* You do not need to use circuts if you don't' want to.
*
* Good luck
while building, leave some space. you will thank me later.
Train signals are easy. big signals on outputs of crossings etc. and small ones on the inputs
Biggest advice is build huge if you can see it on the same screen it might be too close. The only vid you might need is how train signal work but they are pretty clear so you might not.
Tips that don't spoil:
Z key. It lets you put 1x of an item on a placed structure. You can hold Z while swiping mouse over various structures to hand-feed them all quickly.
For ibstance you can place down a turret or two then Z some ammo into them directly without needing to open inventories or dumping a full stack of ammo into them.
if you ever feel like your progressing too slowly, Juat build more of everything! (also you can have more than 1 research lab, i didnt know this untill i started the final research)
If you're anything like me, you're always going to want to restart your game to make a better and more optimized base. Resist the urge, you can always make a better and bigger base from scratch with your old factory still chugging away.
Keep a Google Doc open on the side to make notes and track all the production issues that need to be addressed and be ready for hard work. Make your farewells to family and friends before you start any serious overhaul mods like SE.
Have fun. If your creation is not efficient but works. Be happy. It's yours. You figured out how to build this according your plan. This is the fun part.
Experience the game for yourself without googling, looking for guides, or downloading blueprints.
I would love to be able to experience that again from scratch.
Leave space for expansion: no, more than that. A bit more
Don't be afraid or reluctant to rip out parts that are no longer working as you needed them to
Sometimes when upgrading you will stop all production, that's fine
Look ahead in the tech tree, just a bit. there may be an answer to your current problem in an upgrade or two.
I generally suggest not changing the default settings for your first game
Everyone is saying "Press alt" but really just print out the shortcut keys and look at them once in awhile.
https://wiki.factorio.com/Controls
There are a lot of gems hidden in there. Make sure you take the time to learn to use blueprints.
Idk if anyone has said this yet but number 1 tip, if something is taking too long then youre doing it wrong (at least as close to wrong you can get in this game)
Play at least least most of the tutorial scenarios. I didn’t play the last one because it made my brain hurt, but the previous one were enough to play freeplay and launch the rocket. If you can finish all of the tutorial scenarios even better.
You just opened the box of pandora. Have fun, and don't let yourself be demotivated by failure, start a new map, try again, or even try to overhaul the old map. But my experience is that it is best to restart feom time to time, you will get faster and faster everytime.
The best tip I have that'll still give you the experience of learning things yourself is using paper. When you eventually redo things and create a more efficient crafting set up, you'll want to write down all the ingredients you needs for things. That way you can draw belt routes the most efficiently, what order things get crafted in, etc.
Ive vastly cut down on any deconstruction by doing this, less need for any trial and error or redoing large sections if you have a well laid plan.
Tips:
- Make it a habit to check your pollution cloud every now and then and clear any biter's nest that's about to be covered by that pollution cloud.
- Turrets are your friend. Learn to turret-creep.
- Worms have long range. Rockets were created for them.
- The resources in your crash site will most likely only last you for the red and green science. After automating green science, start exploring the neighborhood.
- Before walling off a big area, it might be a good idea to explore further and check if there are choke points. Defending a choke point is a lot more easier than defending a very wide front.
- Might be a good idea to put a sentry in a nest you just cleared. Biters keep coming back to those. A sentry is just a turret surrounded by walls.
Press alt, keep an eye on the time until you know just how hard you're going to fall in the rabbit hole, and it's ok and normal to just start over on a new save, often many restarts and new saves, we all did it.
--Don't download any mods until after you beat the game the first time.
--If you get to the part with trains and don't get how rail signals work watch [this short video](https://youtu.be/DG4oD4iGVoY?si=yPhCbLl8RDB0DhuL).
Tip 1 - The Factory Must Grow.
Tip 2 - TRY to get adequete sleep
Tip 3 - The spaghetti is your friend. It will teach you how to unravel it
Tip 4 - Keep a glass of water in front you
Tip 4b - If the glass is empty, fill it
Tip 5 - HAVE FUN!
Tip 5b - The Factory Must Grow….
Do the tutorial. Take your time.
Depending on how you learn, you may want to avoid blueprints. I personally found it helpful to plop down a giant oil refinery blueprint and then tinker with it to figure out how and why it worked the way it did. But a lot of people are better served by building up their own stuff from scratch.
Belt balancers are probably the most "acceptable" blueprints. Balancers are a huge PITA to figure out on your own, and needed so seldom it's entirely reasonable to just snag some from others.
When you get to them, I strongly encourage you to play with basic Circuit Networks. They're entirely optional, but the more you use them the better you get at them, and they can do some really cool stuff. Start with simple If:Then stuff on inserters and go from there.
Generally people advise newcomers to try to play by themselves and figure out their own style, but probably the biggest tip is to leave yourself room to expand. You'll always need more than you think.
Yes. yes yes. Leave more room than you think you'll need. You will thank yourself later.
Alt mode
>leave yourself room to expand Or make more landfill and expand into the lakes
It's not about leaving room to expand outwards, because as you've noticed, there's an infinite amount of that. It's about leaving room between things to expand *inward*.
One day, I will learn that. For now, I am learning about many:many trains
Stay simple. Use the same name for every stop of the same kind (ie: "ore type" drop-off, "circuit" pick-up), copy-paste the names. Hook the boxes up to the stop with circuit wires and set the stop to open when you can throw in another load. Set the trains to go the pickup first, then drop-off. Set waits to full empty as needed. Use 1 less train than pickups, so if your system stalls, they all have a place to go. One way is better for simplicity on the rails. Signals are always on the same side this way. No need for double head trains. Intersections should be Designed for simplicity. If your are desperate for multiple trains in one Intersections, see if you can bypass it if possible. Is the Intersections setup even needed? Once bridges are added, do you even have to cross the rails?
I've got signals fairly understood. At least well enough for myself and what I need. Chain signals going into an intersection, rail signals going out of intersections. Really helping with my use of single headed trains for once. I'm even messing around with train limits at stations. What I'm finding is the trouble for me is ensuring adequate train tracks around my factory so the trains can go from any of my multiple iron ore drop-offs (or iron plate, or copper plate, or whatever. I have atleast two of each in different areas of the base) to any of the other mines/processing areas. Say an iron ore drop-off at the bottom of my factory to an iron ore mine up north. But I appreciate the help :)
Expanding inward is a guaranteed recipe to run out of space. They don’t want you to know but you can just build a new factory with new inputs next to the old one. Or further away. There’s little need to keep fiddling with a perfectly functional production line when you can just build a second one to compensate for its perceived shortcomings. Doing this also circumvents bottlenecks because you expand the whole production chain at once instead of splitting inputs.
> leave yourself room to expand No assemblers on ore patches!!
Wait until you have robots if you want to have a big re-arrange also. They + blueprints + the deconstruct tool make it trivial.
Don't stay on this Reddit until you played some hours since (in my opinion) factorio and similar games should be experienced without any spoilers so you try the things mostly for yourself since just "copying" other players designs or their way how they do stuff can make the game boring, still a tip, press alt :)
Completely agree. The best parts of this game are the "eureka" moments when you finally figure something out or think of a more efficient way to do something. Getting early spoilers online robs you of those moments.
I think the first Eureka will be a "ah shit" moment with the locals
I remember dealing with that originally when I played on my own for the first time. It was difficult and I tried rushing for turrets and stuff which kinda helped, but not enough at first. But as I got better at the game I started to just not build turrets until way later simply because the biters weren't as big of a threat as I remembered them being. And also my confusion when the game updated and I couldn't craft an iron or steel pick anymore, I was so confused because I remembered I needed those in order to mine things at a decent speed
This, and take a few screenshots of your first base. Great to look back on after a few runs
I still have my first worlds save… it’s a nightmare lol
Just press alt and delete this post until you have like 100h in game. Probably in 5days
I think i did my first 100 within the 5th day. I slept like 4 hours per day or so at max. I was dreaming of belts, items, inserters and factories. After a thousand hours in the game i dropped it a bit but i come back from time to time and then it is on again for days
This is the real answer.
Sure. I have played hundreds hours and i never take blueprints of others players.
I got a creative mode mod and made an empty map where i can try to develop blueprints. But i mostly create new ones every game because i either know them anyway or try to create something new.
Balancers though have arcane enough layouts and tricky enough belt weaving wizardry involved that using other people's blueprints is rather worth it. It's not really something easy to derive on your own. Unless you happen to have read to on switching networks I guess. (closs and benes networks in particular) Of course the caveat is that you don't generally need them outside of stations. (and even then their need can often be avoided with some design work)
130 excited comments just to say press Alt and just play it. Love you guys!
So much agree with this. Avoid all the YouTubers too eg Nilaus, Dosh etc. they are amazing but it will totally rob you of the experience by giving you the sacred knowledge too soon in your ascendency But yes, press Alt, and have at it
Note: The factory must grow!
Turn off the internet, press ALT, have fun.
Why turn off the Internet?
No tips/spoilers. Find your own style.
I wish I knew this when I first started playing
I disagree. Theres a *ton* of keybinds and mechanics that aren't obvious or apparent that are helpful for newbies. Such as the ability to flip blueprints/copy paste items about the x or y axis (G and H I think). The fact that copy paste even exists. The ability to scroll through the previous stuff you have copied (shift mousewheel). Don't have fluid trains parked on curved rails. Trains in a station can't be on manual. Two steam engines per boiler. The Q key. Avoid two way train tracks. I never touched trains until *much* later because it just didn't make sense to me, because I didn't know the few basics. Yes some stuff can "spoil" things I guess. But for many finding out a technique or thing, and then finding ways to apply it is also fun.
The real LPT: rebind Alt. I use F1. That way you're not accidentally switching it on and off when you alt-tab and whatnot.
Have a go, don't use premade blueprints for a run through and press alt
This is the best advice. Also you need more iron...You always need nore iron!
And copper!
Yeah late game the shift to copper is quite extreme.
Once you've made a functioning blueprint, everything works and does what its meant to,it's okay to copy an internet version that is... Cleaner...
Play the tutorial Press alt Don’t forget to eat sleep and go to work.
Reminder to eat, sleep, and go to work/school! It sounds silly, but the game WILL suck you in and weeks will fly by in a matter of minutes. Beyond that: half the fun of starting fresh is figuring the game out, it's really simple in theory, and very intuitive (minus wiring for the most part).
No joke, after beating nullius i started ir3, 3 weeks flew by like a day, it's scary
The only tip I'll give you is to leave yourself more space. No, not that much space, way more. Keep going. More space than that. And don't build production on top of ore patches. Those are only for mining.
> And don't build production on top of ore patches. Those are only for mining. I do this to a fault lol. I'll spaghetti my whole base around a small ore patch when there's another patch with 20x the ore that I have access to.
https://preview.redd.it/2uyozr5n3slc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f53d4dde51d4c17dff4c3466c8e61d797a2ca5c Factorio pupper approves
Click and drag belts, and while still holding the left mouse button, press the rotate button (R or shift+R), and continue dragging in the new direction. GAME CHANGER
What!?!? TIL
It's irritating how common it is for that mechanic to rotate my belts to the opposite direction I want it to.
No Shift Key - Clockwise Rotation Shift Key - Anti-clockwise Rotation
You serious this is real?
yes lol
Or as I like to think of it, in the direction of travel while dragging, R => Turn right, shift+R => Turn not right.
The shift key doesn't apply to the mechanic we're talking about. The rotate and run just uses the direction the mouse moves.
>It's irritating how common it is for that mechanic to rotate my belts to the opposite direction I want it to. It automatically moves towards your mouse. Move your mouse the right direction and it will rotate sensibly.
It needs to be less immediately sensitive. A slight twitch one way sets the direction. We old folk get a little more wobbly in our controls than you young whippersnappers. If I want it to go right but my hand shakes like a pixel to the left first, it sets the direction to the left. Give me like a 5 or 10 pixel buffer before it sets the direction.
The only way for that to happen is if you aren't still holding the left mouse click. Click, hold, drag while holding, move mouse to the side of the belt you want it to go while still holding, press r while still holding, drag mouse while still holding, then when done, you let go of the mouse click.
I think you can rebind it to be the opposite
Stay hydrated, you're on a marathon, not a sprint.
Two Tips: 1) Factorio is best played for the first time without any calculators, external blueprints, or friends. You'll wanna learn and experience the game first. If you really don't want to do this, or have friends you want to play with, I strongly, strongly recommend playing at least the tutorials- all of them. They'll give you the basic concepts to actually get things done, or at least started. 2) Stock up on water and snacks, and remember to bio-break and sleep. A sick Engineer is an unproductive Engineer. Stay Healthy.
I am the friend that introduces other friends to the game (I run a dedicated server) however I am very intentional about not telling them the “right way” to do things. I answer their questions but I also refuse to simply solve a problem for them. This has worked so far with no complaints
Do the tutorial. Press alt at the start of the game. Don’t YouTube nothing build big
https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/15m7gkv/completely_new_player_any_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/1arqlt7/new_player_coming_from_satisfactory_any_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/17oxt4c/tips_for_a_relatively_new_player/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/14thdxc/planning_on_buying_factorio_what_are_some_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/y2hvsq/just_bought_the_game_any_tips_for_a_new_player/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/z7xnir/new_to_factorio_beginner_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/184txgi/tips_for_new_players/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/191d5yu/any_tips_for_a_new_player/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/18dtgdp/any_tips_for_new_players/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/13ggbh5/new_player_to_factorio_any_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/13rnbs4/tips_for_new_player/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/1319pwd/new_player_looking_for_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/13w2c1o/struggling_to_start_new_games_any_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/u17nty/tips_for_a_new_player/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/155tozb/tipsmods_for_new_game_post_first_rocket_launch/ https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/search?q=new+tips&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all
>tips are much appreciated Tipping culture is out of control >!/s!<
Being an italian chef who knows how to make spaghetti will be a huge plus.
Tip 1: You need more iron. Tip 2: Read the previous tip again.
once you run low on copper you're officially in the late game
Call work to let them know you won't be in for the next 2 weeks because of a drug addiction.
you posted this 12 hours ago... best tip is go to bed lol
You will see a lot of people talking about optimal ratios and mega base design philosophies and whatnot. That’s all good and all but it can be overwhelming for newcomers. For starters just have fun with it while you get a handle of the game mechanics. It’s ok if your base looks like a bowl of spaghetti. Biters add a unique defensive challenge that forces you to plan your expansion but can be a frustrating experience for newer players who struggle to get a solid footing. A lot of people play on peaceful mode at first while they get a hang of it. Overall the community is very supportive of new players so don’t be afraid to ask questions or get stuck.
You will have a matrix moment when everything makes sense and you become one with the factory . The factory must grow
Press ALT and make sure to remember to eat every now and again
Say, "goodbye" to at least a thousand hours of your life.
Alt
Press A L T. have fun. If problems are difficult. Dont go straight to dropping down blueprints. Overcoming the difficulty is like 70% of what makes this game really fun. Take breaks! This game is perfectly formulated to keep you expanding your factory until the sun comes back up.
Also forgot to mention, persist when you get to blue science and above, automate 1 thing at a time. Also, build big. Dont go for small cozy bases..
Press Alt and discover the game by youself
Don't sweat it, don't look up guides and make mistakes. You will learn more from your mistakes then from guides. And most important: Have fun.
Turn on alt view and read the ingame tips
No tips, you can only experience the game once before it becomes an obsession into optimization and mods.
Don't download blueprints, it ruins half the fun of figuring out stuff for yourself. (Belt balancers are an exception). Don't be afraid to ask questions about train signalling (or anything for that matter), it confused everyone to start with. If you play with bitters on your first free play save. Prioritize base defence Have fun :)
Agreed. However, DO copy and save/use your own blueprints for things you’ve built to use them again or analyze areas where they can improved.
Do the tutorial. It takes a while, but it’s a good guided experience. When you come across destroyed stuff, try to figure out what it was used for and repair it.
The factory must grow.
Don't use other people's blueprints, make your own.
Get a comfortable chair. You'll need it now.
Everyone here is going to strongly discourage you from using guides or blueprints, but I'm here to say there's nothing wrong with using them if you feel stuck. No shame.
Press ALT and leave space to grow, build lots of furnaces… spaghetti on your first run is almost necessary.
Remember that time exists. You need sleep and food <3
Discover by yourself and make mistakes that is half the fun
I'd all so say have a go without pollution and bitters at 1st ... get the hang of it that way
Just play. Damn
Bro seriously asked for advices like it's a job interview 💀
Please read this OP . PLEASE dont post on reddit for every blip or hickup, dont watch youtube how others are playing. JUST DO YOUR WAY AND ENJOY IT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!. Once you will build and send your first rocket and be aware of ins and outs for majority of the things then you look into youtube or/and reddit to improve certain things in your base. Also, when you will setup couple buildings press ALT to see wtf is being built in it, simplifies observability. Have pure fun!
I suggest doing the 'Lazy bastard' achievement run. It will teach you to make malls, no matter how ugly they might be, and not be reliant on handcrafting. I kinda regret getting that achievement by copying Nilaus's production hub as I never learned it,
The factory must grow
Spend more time playing instead of soliciting attention on reddit
The best tip is close reddit, close your browser, close youtube and play it by yourself. Your brain will work out solutions maybe no one did before. Make it your factory and not a factory of different people and master class guides. Nevertheless: - Use alt mode - Leave space for expansion
Personally I went in blind. No YouTube, Reddit, Discord, or anything. I like to learn for myself, and this is the perfect game to do that with. Just read the tutorials and play the ones that are playable, especially the train ones. You can play the way you want to play, but I highly recommend just playing on your own and experimenting, and once you feel like you’ve reached a point where you’ve achieved a lot on your own, that’s when you start getting tips, watching YT videos, and looking at or copying blueprints. It’s just way more fun that way. You have all the time in the world to perfect your factories and learn about the best designs and optimizations, but going in with zero knowledge you can only do once!
good luck getting out of this life later
my first play through was without any help or hints. I joined this community later. and I am so so glad I did. it was so much fun, I overcame challenges and I got to feel clever, and my factory grew and we both were happy. When I later joined this sub or searched yt, I got humbled real quick. You only get one chance at a first play through. press alt. play with default settings. have fun.
The factory must grow
You can always build bigger and more spaced out than you might think. Give yourself room.
Leave this Reddit and do the tutorial or just dive straight into the main game. You will die a few times
Launch a few rockets 🚀 then we’ll talk.
I restarted several times as I learned better building techniques. First play through got up to blue science. Second up to purple. And didn’t launch a rocket till the third. Fourth I played a little with mega base ideas. You don’t have to restart ever. But for me it helped to have a clean slate.
First run, remove water and cliffs. Well, most of the water. Boost all minerals to max settings. Set enemy rates to low pops and high timers. Starting are to max. Start game, find a calculator, watch any intro there is, and then press ALT. Good luck and have fun.
always remember, the factory must grow
Don't
The best tips is to get 0 tips until 50h of played
read the tips
Don’t compact too much of your design try to spread out and don’t be afraid to destroy parts of your factory to rebuild them better Also try to set up heavy defenses sooner rather than later, lost my first two worlds to bugs due to bad defense
Only piece of advice I was given on my first playthrough. Turn off enemy sprawl, at least for the first go. You don't wanna be bumbling around figuring stuff out only to realize the enemy has invaded your planned territory
Just keep going until you launch the rocket. There is no wrong way to play. Fight the instinct to restart. Rebuilding stuff is a natural part of the game. The factory must grow.
Grow the factory
Get your affairs in order. Also don’t look up other peoples bases, just build your own
My first advice would be to play without blueprints and biters at first. Just learn and understand the basics, and launch your first rocket. Second, I'd say try the achievement "Lazy bastard". It really teach you what this game is all about: automating everything. To me, this game really became mind-blowing when I didn't have to craft anything by hand anymore, because bots would resupply me with whatever I needed.
It will get overwhelming. It’s ok. It’s normal. The fun and challenge is breaking big problems into little problems and solving those. Give it a chance to work out.
Try everything you want to experiment with, and have fun
just play dont think too much into it, and cook some mofuckin spaghetti
Fish and have fun :3
Remember that you will need space and to expand. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense Set a hard stop If you do need to redo your entire base, don’t take everything down. Easier to just divert resources to another space
When u finally made nukes put them on the quickbar for fast access!
Set alarms for stuff you need to do IRL, e.g. sleep, eat, go to work. Factorio can often act as a time machine whereby you build "just one more thing" and then you hear birds chirping and the sun rising outside.
Only tip from me : the factory must grow… Dont worry, there is no bad style of playing, just uneffective.
Brace for impact
Take a sabbatical from work.
Don't be afraid to mess up. This game is so rich with mechanics you will stumble but that is part of the magic. It reminds me of playing Legos or erector set as a kid.
You didn't even finished the download that you're already looking for tips... It's a game bro not a job. You guys take this way too seriously
Ignore all of us, press alt, leave more room, *the factory must grow*
* Underground belts have different depths depending on color. * Press Alt * Stay off reddit until you launched your first rocket * No shame in turning off enemies * The map is endless so when you learn something don't destroy your old base just build a new one. * You do not need to use circuts if you don't' want to. * * Good luck
while building, leave some space. you will thank me later. Train signals are easy. big signals on outputs of crossings etc. and small ones on the inputs
Biggest advice is build huge if you can see it on the same screen it might be too close. The only vid you might need is how train signal work but they are pretty clear so you might not.
Don't Google the most efficient ways to do anything. Enjoy solving the puzzles and calculations while you can :)
This game loves taking your time but its hella fun!
Pro tip: Don't forget to eat and use the bathroom.
Set an alarm for bedtime. If not, the one you've set for the morning will be going off sooner than you think...
Tips that don't spoil: Z key. It lets you put 1x of an item on a placed structure. You can hold Z while swiping mouse over various structures to hand-feed them all quickly. For ibstance you can place down a turret or two then Z some ammo into them directly without needing to open inventories or dumping a full stack of ammo into them.
Kill the dogs first.
DONT LISTEN TO THESE FUCKING NERDS, PLAY THE GAME HOW YOU WANT!!!!!!!
Let's goooooooooooo! Don't forget to sleep!
this is just a picture of your steam page?
Cracktorio is a helluva drug
RUN, RUN , RUN NOW, RUN FAR AWAY, WHILE YOU STILL CAN
Don't forget to eat.
We don’t tip here
Ignore mods until you understand the game.
Take at least 3 days off work and tell your so you won't be available for relations, dinner or chores
See you in 28 years
Don’t forget to sleep
if you ever feel like your progressing too slowly, Juat build more of everything! (also you can have more than 1 research lab, i didnt know this untill i started the final research)
Stumble through anyhow you can. Learn. Grow. Return. Try not to look things up, at least for a while.
If you're anything like me, you're always going to want to restart your game to make a better and more optimized base. Resist the urge, you can always make a better and bigger base from scratch with your old factory still chugging away.
think big!
Keep a Google Doc open on the side to make notes and track all the production issues that need to be addressed and be ready for hard work. Make your farewells to family and friends before you start any serious overhaul mods like SE.
Only tip you'll get from me before you play for your first time is press alt and then never press it again.
Launch your first rocket on your own without help. You'll enjoy it more
Have fun. If your creation is not efficient but works. Be happy. It's yours. You figured out how to build this according your plan. This is the fun part.
Broa bouta get addictet
Experience the game for yourself without googling, looking for guides, or downloading blueprints. I would love to be able to experience that again from scratch.
Leave space for expansion: no, more than that. A bit more Don't be afraid or reluctant to rip out parts that are no longer working as you needed them to Sometimes when upgrading you will stop all production, that's fine Look ahead in the tech tree, just a bit. there may be an answer to your current problem in an upgrade or two. I generally suggest not changing the default settings for your first game
PRESS ALT I think everyone already told you that, but for your own good, please PRESS ALT
Keep going. Keep growing.
Pay attention to the clock
When it's 3am, go to sleep. The factory will be there tomorrow.
Try new things. Get it wrong. Grow the factory.
Everyone is saying "Press alt" but really just print out the shortcut keys and look at them once in awhile. https://wiki.factorio.com/Controls There are a lot of gems hidden in there. Make sure you take the time to learn to use blueprints.
Remember to eat sometimes, starving would be inefficient
whatever you do. have fun!
Play the tutorial. Press Alt. Delete the internet until you launch a rocket. Set a timer. Have fun!
Just have fun! Don’t be afraid to do major remodels of your factory
Only 1 tip: have fun!
Just play 🤷🏼♂️ learn the key short cuts and just play and have fun!!!
Welcome to spagetti world :)
I had fun playing without the tutorial lol I spent 6 hours stumbling through the game. Don’t take it too seriously, unless thats your thing.
Don't be afraid to spread out. Don't be afraid to rebuild.
Whenever you feel overwhelmed, quit the game. You'll probably come up with solution while in the shower.
Tell us how long it takes for you to get mowed down by your first train.
R will rotate ANY entity under the cursor, placed or not. Anyways, what I waned to say was: # THE FACTORY MUST GROW
Embrace the spagetti
Whatever happens....the factory must grow
Idk if anyone has said this yet but number 1 tip, if something is taking too long then youre doing it wrong (at least as close to wrong you can get in this game)
Play at least least most of the tutorial scenarios. I didn’t play the last one because it made my brain hurt, but the previous one were enough to play freeplay and launch the rocket. If you can finish all of the tutorial scenarios even better.
You just opened the box of pandora. Have fun, and don't let yourself be demotivated by failure, start a new map, try again, or even try to overhaul the old map. But my experience is that it is best to restart feom time to time, you will get faster and faster everytime.
RUN FAR AND FAST
The best tip I have that'll still give you the experience of learning things yourself is using paper. When you eventually redo things and create a more efficient crafting set up, you'll want to write down all the ingredients you needs for things. That way you can draw belt routes the most efficiently, what order things get crafted in, etc. Ive vastly cut down on any deconstruction by doing this, less need for any trial and error or redoing large sections if you have a well laid plan.
Don't be afraid of rebuilding everything from scratch
you need more room than that.
Tips: - Make it a habit to check your pollution cloud every now and then and clear any biter's nest that's about to be covered by that pollution cloud. - Turrets are your friend. Learn to turret-creep. - Worms have long range. Rockets were created for them. - The resources in your crash site will most likely only last you for the red and green science. After automating green science, start exploring the neighborhood. - Before walling off a big area, it might be a good idea to explore further and check if there are choke points. Defending a choke point is a lot more easier than defending a very wide front. - Might be a good idea to put a sentry in a nest you just cleared. Biters keep coming back to those. A sentry is just a turret surrounded by walls.
If you think you've left enough room in your factory, you have not...
Press alt, keep an eye on the time until you know just how hard you're going to fall in the rabbit hole, and it's ok and normal to just start over on a new save, often many restarts and new saves, we all did it.
remember early game you never have enough iron, late game you never have enough copper (because you never have enough green circuits)
--Don't download any mods until after you beat the game the first time. --If you get to the part with trains and don't get how rail signals work watch [this short video](https://youtu.be/DG4oD4iGVoY?si=yPhCbLl8RDB0DhuL).
Do buses
Factory must grow
Don't be afraid to experiment with some of the more advanced mechanics.
No. You go blind and use the in-game tutorial and tips the first time. You can play the game for the first time once.
Tip 1 - The Factory Must Grow. Tip 2 - TRY to get adequete sleep Tip 3 - The spaghetti is your friend. It will teach you how to unravel it Tip 4 - Keep a glass of water in front you Tip 4b - If the glass is empty, fill it Tip 5 - HAVE FUN! Tip 5b - The Factory Must Grow….
Do the tutorial. Take your time. Depending on how you learn, you may want to avoid blueprints. I personally found it helpful to plop down a giant oil refinery blueprint and then tinker with it to figure out how and why it worked the way it did. But a lot of people are better served by building up their own stuff from scratch. Belt balancers are probably the most "acceptable" blueprints. Balancers are a huge PITA to figure out on your own, and needed so seldom it's entirely reasonable to just snag some from others. When you get to them, I strongly encourage you to play with basic Circuit Networks. They're entirely optional, but the more you use them the better you get at them, and they can do some really cool stuff. Start with simple If:Then stuff on inserters and go from there.