As we’re still in recovery from the move (which isn’t truly over since there’s still boxes and piles of stuff in various parts of the house), here’s a few bullet points of “how I’m doing at this point of my life”:
(more…)Category: Geekery
-
Satisfactory – Phactory Phase 3
I sent the Phase 3 materials shipment up the Space Elevator a few play sessions ago. So, how has my overall approach to this new save (the “New Clear Plan”) gone so far?
In short: A qualified success.
There’s a neat light show when you send the Space Elevator up, but capturing the best single instant in a screenshot is too tricky for my skills. In long: Well, let’s dig into that…
(more…) -
Satisfactory – Entirely Too Silly
What do we, as a family, get up to when we’re technically “done” with the game but want to wait out the production of Phase 4 products into the Space Elevator to fully round out the game save?
Well… this:
If you want to skip ahead to the really silly parts, go to ~2:15 (h:mm) to see Spud build The Ladder of Babel, and about ten minutes later he discovered the fun to be had with driving vehicles over jump pads and at that point pandemonium ensued… featuring airborne factory carts.
-
I Just Wanna Download
It shouldn’t have been this difficult.
(more…) -
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.
(more…) -
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.
(more…)