So today i got this feeling that killed some of my previous playthroughs. Right as i finished the tungsten crucible i thought of what’s my next goal would be, and i really want to start automating gathering minerals a.e. making the bedrock drills. But after a bit of research i realized that not only would i need a metric ton of materials and new tech like electricity at high tiers, my previous production lines are semi-semi-semi automatic, and needed a lot of reworks. It gives this kind of existential dread that made me feel the urge to take a break(which is obviously a trap that leads to abandonment).
Basically my question is: am i doing it fundamentally wrong? Maybe i should’ve fully automate things as i progress and not try to jump over my head…
i would also really love to hear about your experience on this topic, did this happen to you in some form or another maybe? Maybe you got some tips for me)
i guess it is in some way a reflection of the mess in my head As it takes a lot of concentration and order to make something that just works, efficiently its a different subject!
Oh i guess it would be helpful if i described some of the tech im using…
The main burning fuel source for me is gas
Theres 16 rubber trees with ballsacks
large steel crucible powered by 5 dense and 1 normal chromium bb’s
normal crucible with dense chromium bb
Distillation tower, although all outputs is capped at 64buckets and the excess is dumped (a big fan of the fact that 100% efficient one can power itself with diesel and kerosene)
RU machines are powered by 4 invar diesel engines in series, for KU ones like crusher i opted for steam power since the rotational engine is half as cool (all the machines are steel)
basic al line with manual AlF3 and Cryolite and automated alumina
no titanium
huebnerite line since its near me in a bedrock vein
fully manual dynamite “glassware”
Also its all connected with horrendous spaghetti of black 2.0 rubber pipes
AAAnd a lot of fluids from processes gets dumped, if cant be used in the same process
You are right… I must say after reconsidering some things, i am now at an optimal point for efficiently automating everything, since i got the means to smelt things automatically… Now just have to tidy things up
I understand the dilemma you have. It’s easy to get into a mindset of doing the bare minimum to get to the next step in progression and then feel stretched thin. I would suggest focusing on completing a processing chain or a piece of automation to a level where it’s basically just a simple input->output. It doesn’t have to look nice, or be compact, or be a permanent fixture, but what matters is that you have the convenience of loading up the input and just focusing on a new project while your stuff runs worry free. Of course you can always re-visit old setups to improve.
On the topic of titanium, you really only need a single ilmenite or rutile vein to supply your titanium needs til you’re well through fusion. I would highly suggest, if you haven’t, to invest in proper ore processing, not just for titanium. In addition, silk touch the large ores you get from veins and bring them home, then dynamite them at home to save inventory space (3x3x3 of ore, dynamite in the middle).
Also focus on getting plastic; covers are essential in proper automation.
You got this man, just keep pushing and look for new things to automate.
I have a great obsession to over-optimize ore processing output. Or put differently I really hate “wasting” certain ores when I know that in the future I will be able to process them using more advanced machinery to get extra output. For this reason I tend to rush for basic ore washing and sulfuric acid vitriol processing as fast as I can. For this reason when I am in the early game I never process for example tetrahedrite because I know that I will get a bunch more copper from it when I use sulfuric acid. This problem got even worse for me when I learned that I can use fortune to get more ore output. With that knowledge I just cant break those normal ore blocks with normal pickaxe but I only break the small ores and rush to get either boomsticks (it still hurts my brain that I will be wasting something by not using dynamite that has fortune 5) or fortune pickaxe. I am trying to overcome this urge as it makes playing very hard when it makes me focus more on ways how to maximize the ore output or rather minimize “waste” instead of playing. Whenever I am making screws using the early game method with a file I hesitate, because even a single nugget wasted bothers me. Sure it will be just a tiny fraction from the whole ore vein which I will be mining to get through early game and the rest will be processed using better methods that have better gains but probably because of the type of autism I have I can not stop caring But to be fair it used to be worse, on my first playthrough I just started to know the processing methods and did not get that far - I stopped, when I got back to GT I knew the ore processing little bit more and that made me care little bit too much, I started optimizing, on the 3rd I realized that I dont enjoy that kind of grind when I count every single nugget to get the minimum possible amount of ores processed using the early game methods to reach better processing and efficiency, well now… I almost learned how to not care that much and just enjoy playing, but it still bothers me
As it takes a lot of concentration and order to make something that just works, efficiently its a different subject!
But to be fair it used to be worse, on my first playthrough I just started to know the processing methods and did not get that far - I stopped, when I got back to GT I knew the ore processing little bit more and that made me care little bit too much, I started optimizing, on the 3rd I realized that I dont enjoy that kind of grind when I count every single nugget to get the minimum possible amount of ores processed using the early game methods to reach better processing and efficiency, well now… I almost learned how to not care that much and just enjoy playing, but it still bothers me