I am, once again, for the Nth time now (for differing values of ‘N’ depending on if you count all the multiplayer saves or not) back on my you-know-what.
Yes, I’m leaving the “Quantum of Solids” save behind, possibly for good. (Before that came “New Clear Plan,” before that came “Choo Chooing Scenery,” before that was… “eSthetics,” I think?) After some agonizing over whether to start fresh again or not, then more agonizing over which starting zone to select, then further agonizing over arguably the most crucial decision (what to name the thing)… this afternoon I started a save titled, “Upend Away.”
It’s been a month since my last post about Satisfactory, and to be honest I’ve been on a sort-of-break from the game while I wrestle with how to cross the finish line on my current somewhat-botched save. (The nuclear power plant is a mess, but replacing it would mean building a whole second one elsewhere, and the first one took long enough as it is! And that’s not the only problem.)
I might yet start fresh soon. We’ll see. I’d have liked getting two FICSMAS events in a row out of one save but if I’m going to be miserable the whole time, why bother? But if I start fresh I want to kick that off before month end so I’m ready for presents to start falling out of the sky…
Anyway: I’m here to talk about the Dimensional Depot and how its ability to make all sorts of materials available anywhere in the map changed one of my long-held snobby opinions about alternate recipes.
I have my coworkers to thank for this one, as it turns out.
I may wander off, I may restart time after time, I may abandon more saves than I finish… but I love this game as much now as I ever have. It’s gotten me through my diabetic years (and the pandemic years, both of which are ongoing) at least as much as any other piece of entertainment you could name, and moreso than most.
This image uses one of the new screenshot Photo Mode filters added in version 1.1, the “Noire” filter in particular.
Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Satisfactory’s version one point oh release. The reasons I keep coming back are varied and probably too many to count, but I’ll count some of them here anyway, in no particular order:
For some reason, when I got to the point of wanting to replace some of my early power plants (coal, maybe some regular-fuel) with nuclear power, I decided to build the biggest plant I’ve ever made in the game, solo or multiplayer. This is my “1.0” save, started when the game officially left Early Access last autumn.
I ran the numbers and decided that 4 uranium fuel rods per minute feeding 20 power generators was exactly the right number to aim for.
What the hell was I thinking?
Please allow me to offer some advice if you want to follow in my virtual footsteps. I made some mistakes; perhaps my hubris will be partly absolved if I can help others avoid them.
I’ve been taking a bit of a break from my solo Satisfactory save, mainly because dealing with the logistics of nuclear power is a major headache when you have to build every last concrete foundation, conveyor belt, and hunk of machinery involved all by yourself.
Luckily, several of my coworkers agreed to join me on a new multiplayer save.
I didn’t even know there was a “huge helmet” option. It’s properly ridiculous, and I mean that in the best way.
Unlike with the two-year-long multiplayer save with the kids, I’m not trying to impose any sort of restrictions on how these guys build out their projects. Huge concrete slabs hanging in the air? Fine, cool, as long as we’re getting results. And with four sets of hands (minus one of our players in the most recent session) it’s amazing how much progress you can make. We’ve gone from “nothing” to “coal power and steel production” in about six in-game hours. Never mind the mountain of research we’ve already unlocked.
I’m having a blast, playing with people who are coming at the game from very different perspectives. We have one guy who’s roughly at my level of time spent really digging into the game, one who’s kind of a blueprint-based speed runner (I’m not judging here, I could honestly be better about using blueprints), and one who had barely touched the game at all before we started this run.
What will we achieve? Fun, if nothing else, I hope.
To be clear: There are videos on YouTube which can show you how to do this, but I don’t like scrolling back and forth through a video to tease out the details of a process. If you’re like me in that regard, here’s a tutorial for making a single-track train spiral structure in Satisfactory.
Note that you can (and should) play around with materials and other design elements. Maybe you want sign-based lighting on yours? Sweet, go for it!
