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.

I’m at Phase 2 right now.

I still need Smart Plate, but also Versatile Framework and Automated Wiring. Since I ran the numbers before I started this save I know that I will only ever need a maximum output of 5 per minute for Smart Plate production and 10 per minute for Versatile Framework. (Let’s… not talk about the Automated Wiring problem, other than to say “I won’t be building the full eventual required output just yet.”) With absolutely no good reason not to simply build production capacity for all of those two products I’ll ever need, I got to work laying out the facility structure and placing machinery.

The point of the exercise is to have four belts feeding into the Space Elevator, one from each of the four eventual sections making the end-game Phase 4 products (Thermal Propulsion Rocket, Nuclear Pasta, Magnetic Field Generator, Assembly Director System). As with my previous save’s Phase 4 project, I want to produce one per minute of the items I need 1000 of total, and four per minute of the items I need 4000 of total. Theoretically I should be able to flip a switch, start Phase 4 production, and have all four products ready to send skyward at more-or-less the same time.

Unlike the many hours of waiting (and troubleshooting) involved in my last attempt due to staggered production starts and supply chain issues, you see. I learned from my mistakes! For instance: This time I’m building as little as possible at the actual Space Elevator site. We’re not going to end up with a messy monstrosity like the Final Destination project.

(No, no, it’ll be a whole new kind of messy monstrosity!)

Versatile Framework production at ten per minute total only involves two Assemblers. No overclocking required, even! They’re fed by storage bins at the moment so the inputs aren’t fully automated… but that’s easy to change later on when I have trains and drones available. I had that all built in well under an hour. All I need to do is restock the feeder bins periodically and that shipment part is done.

Smart Plates at five per minute could be easily done, but not with the production I had on hand. Note that I’m starting in the land of low-output resource nodes so even though I have a full time automated “basic iron and copper products” facility now, there’s not enough production available therefrom to make the Phase 2 (let alone Phases 3 and 4) Smart Plate output happen. However!

Thanks to some luck with my hard drive scavenging, I have the “alternate recipes” Iron Wire and Cast Screws. This means that I can efficiently make the Rotors and Reinforced Iron Plates needed for the Smart Plates… from just a modest supply of iron. Lucky me, right next to where I sited the Space Elevator is a pair of (impure) iron nodes. With Mk2 Miners, they give me just enough material to make this happen.

As of last night’s end of session I have fully automated Smart Plate production, enough to last me the entire game. I will never need to beef that up. (Though… given some of the spaghetti belting, I may reroute things later on. If I’m bored enough.)

I don’t even have petroleum products or trains yet and I’ve already built two factory sections that are already fully capable of handling the end-game workload needed to send off the Phase 4 shipment. I’m rather proud of that.