Tag: Satisfactory

Posting about the game Satisfactory by Coffee Stain Studios.

  • Satisfactory: So You Want A Huge Nuclear Power Plant

    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.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: Side view of a large power plant bordered on both sides by train stations, the foreground station being surrounded by water pipes leading to water reservoirs on the floor above. To the far left is a row of refineries.

    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.

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  • Satisfactory: Team Building Exercise

    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.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: In the rocky desert sits the Hub station and a couple of crafting benches. In the foreground are three pioneers (player avatars), one with a ginormous helmet, another one seated (actually disconnected from the game session).
    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.

  • Satisfactory: Spiraling Into Control

    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.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: In the desert, a railway spiral to nowhere stands in mute testament to the author's desire to craft a proper tutorial document.

    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!

    Let’s get started.

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  • Satisfactory: Logistics Floors Rock

    It’s been an entire month since my last Satisfactory post, hasn’t it? Not that I haven’t been playing, it’s just that I haven’t done anything particularly noteworthy. I haven’t picked up any more strange bomb-shaped gifts, don’t worry! I’ve just been chugging away, making progress toward nuclear power.

    (What’s that, you ask? What about the Turbofuel plant? Have I maxed that out yet? Of course I haven’t. Never mind, though! It’s time for the new and the shiny!)

    To that end, I needed a factory that can churn out a sufficient quantity of something called an Electromagnetic Control Rod. Today I completed that factory… and actually put a roof and some walls & windows on it, even.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: Atop a coastal bluff sits a factory, several floors high, wrapped in concrete and glass. Along the water runs a dual-carriageway train line.

    The details of the factory itself aren’t that interesting. What I want to highlight is the use of logistics floors.

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  • Satisfactory: FICSMAS Takes Its Toll

    Well, this is moderately embarrassing.

    Satisfactory video game screenshot: A player character lays sprawled in desert sands, with an instructional message overlaid which reads, "Press RMB to Respawn."
    Insert “record scratch” meme, here.

    There I was, minding my own business, preparing a new site for a couple of electronics products (Remote Control Units and High Speed Connectors) when I saw something shiny.

    We all like shiny things, right?

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  • Satisfactory: FICSMAS 2024

    With the 1.0 release of Satisfactory comes the first “true” version of the annual FICSMAS event. The inaugural rendition came in December of 2020, right at the time I’d just bought the game… which made for a slightly odd first impression, indeed. The developers tinkered with it a bit once or twice since then but mostly it was just a low-priority side-project amusement for the team.

    This “northern lights” effect is a new addition for 1.0, and I love it. I want it all year ’round, now.

    Now, though, it’s fully fleshed out and polished to a higher sheen. Let’s get into it.

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