Category: Geekery

Satisfactory: Roundabout Mk2

So there I was, building a rail line through the jungle, when I reached a point on the map at which it made sense to place a roundabout. As I started in on the build process I’ve used a couple dozen times now (type ’roundabout’ into the search field to see other posts about the development of this process) I realized that the requirements of the approach and exit placement weren’t going to fit the location. I needed an alternative.

At middle right you can see the connected approach line from the north, but getting that to bear right into the westbound exit was going to be a nightmare. Never mind joining up the northbound exit, the stub for which is shown at lower right.

At first I thought of doing a criss-cross interchange but I prefer having the option of letting a train loop back around if necessary at every one of these intersections. Still, I figured that an interchange would probably fit this particular location better than a roundabout so I went looking for information on how best to build one.

I didn’t find that. Instead, I found guidance on how to build a different style of roundabout, approaching it as more of a modified diamond than a rounded square. The difference is largely academic in the long run, but the practice of building it is definitely trickier.
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25 February, 2024
Satisfactory: Progress Without Progress

Here’s a summary of how today’s hours upon hours of Satisfactory went for me, in order to illustrate how sometimes you move forward by moving sideways… a lot.

Please enjoy this view from hundreds of meters above sea level as I descend from a very, very high drop pod crash site. My hands were sweaty the entire time, yes, thankyouverymuch.

I can’t progress further in the game without clearing Phase 3, which means I need to make Modular Engines and Automated Wiring to feed to the Space Elevator.
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17 February, 2024
Expertise Is No Guarantee

In June of last year I threw together a monitoring solution for a very weird problem. This afternoon I fixed a glaring hole in my solution which prevented the value comparison script from ever, ever working properly.

The problem: Agents (managed computers) are wandering from client to client in ConnectWise Automate. Techs claim not to be moving agents around, and I believe them because this isn’t the sort of thing you can “oops!” and screw up with one wrong mouse click. It takes deliberate effort… and none of us are that bored. This might be merely a nuisance except that it’s also causing billing errors, with clients looking at their detailed invoice and asking, “What’s ComputerXYZ doing here? That’s not mine!”

The solution: A new custom data field on each computer logging the current Location identification number of that computer, populated initially by a one-time script. Every Client (customer) in the system contains one or more Locations (organizational units). Locations have display names but also identification numbers, which is good because most clients’ Locations are some variant of “Main Office.” Every night, a script runs which compares the computer’s current Location ID to the one “on file,” and emails me if there’s a discrepancy.

Easy peasy. It took me all of maybe 90 minutes to throw this together. And yet. It didn’t work, because I overlooked a value field in an “IF” check in the comparison script.

The lesson, here? Test everything, even if you’re doing something you’ve done dozens of times before, even if you think “I can do this in my sleep.” Had I checked the results just a bit more thoroughly after the solution went “live” I’d have caught the problem. Instead, I found out after months of frustration, wondering why the monitoring hadn’t ever caught anything. (And the “anything” is still definitely happening so it should have been caught!)

6 February, 2024
Satisfactory: Oilands Ho!

As previously noted, this new save sees me starting out where most brand new players start (yet I never have): The southwestern grassy starting field. It has upsides and drawbacks, all of which I took into account before making my fateful, game-changing decision.

(Okay, there’s one upside I didn’t think entirely through beforehand. I’ll get to that.)

Along the west coast of the game map (Satisfactory uses a fixed game map, it’s the same for everyone for every play through) one finds the second best concentration of crude oil in the game. I know there’s an official, agreed-upon term for the site but I’ve always called it The Oilands.

I have built a plastic-and-rubber factory on that particular crude oil node at least three times before. I think I have the hang of it by this point.

Islands, with oil, get it? Of course you do, and you wish you’d thought of it first.
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31 January, 2024
What Percent Complete?

I cannot believe, some days, that we as a society have allowed Microsoft to get away with this for years upon years without rising up, grabbing torches & pitchforks, and marching upon Redmond Washington in pure rage.

“This”? This:

This image courtesy of the [cuss]ing piece of [cuss] server that we’ve spent the last few working days trying to get to perform reasonably again after it went haywire starting last month.

One hundred percent complete means it’s done. It most assuredly does not mean “now wait for another two, ten, or up to thirty more minutes.” Except to Microsoft, obviously.

23 January, 2024
Satisfactory: Early Permanence

The primary guiding principle of the “New Clear Plan” save is of building production for the Phase X space elevator shipments on a much more permanent basis than I’ve done in previous saves, solo and co-op alike.

Phase 1, the very first shipment, requires 50 Smart Plates. There’s no point building a special facility just to make those. That’s more work than one lonely Assembler deserves and at that early stage you lack nearly all of the tools required to make a good-sized structure workable. So, that one got a pass.

Please enjoy this glaring (ahem) example of how pretentious I can be about screenshots in this game. I offer it in lieu of any shots of the factory I’m actually writing about, which looks like a complete mess right now. Thank you for your patience.

I’m at Phase 2 right now.
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22 January, 2024