David's Space

Author: David

  • Satisfactory pause, new game, other work

    Satisfactory pause, new game, other work

    Taking a pause from Satisfactory for the time being to work on my other websites, and I also found a new game to consume my time.

    I have had some more down-time lately, unplanned, but it has been fine. Working through some fun medical stuff. The Ontario healthcare system needs some attention and love. Unfortunately Doug Ford is incapable of providing either unless he or his buddies can profit. Maybe I will post a rant about that later. We’ll see.

    So, there are some games that I can rotate between at the same time and some games that I can only really play because it requires some focus. The strategy and logistics games are part of that. I can only play one game at a time in that category. Mostly I just play one game at a time anyways. Sometimes I play on my Minecraft SMP server in the midst of another game.

    Anyways, I had been playing Satisfactory, and then I switched to Transport Fever 2 for a bit. Then I recently bought Captain of Industry, and I am hooked. I sat down to play a session and suddenly it was 4 hours later. For me it is the perfect blend of Satisfactory and Transport Fever 2. It is exactly what I want to play right now. Of course I will come and go from this but I have built up a nice rotation of games to play.

    Aside from gaming, I also do website stuff. I mentioned it before in my first post here but I have been migrating everything to WordPress. Not because I think WordPress is the best tool to make websites with, but it is a good tool. Despite the tool running the company behind it. That has been one of my holdups with switching entirely to WordPress, Matt freakin Mullenweg and his irresponsible tech bro-isms. However I eventually came around to understanding that WordPress would let me get started with minimal friction. I had so many grand plans but I just never started because the barrier to entry was too high and my current work-life balance does not allow me the luxury of sitting down and dedicating time to developing new technical skills. Perhaps in the future though.

    In the meantime, I plan to learn plugin development for WordPress, I already have the foundations and just need to learn to work within WordPress’ plugin framework. I am developing my first plugin for my server community’s website to display our server archives. Exciting stuff, but starting simple and I can get more complex as I go. Next will be a plugin to post updates to Discord and Chatto. I might write more about Chatto later. I am awaiting their v0.5 release to start approaching my community about it.

    Anyways, that is all I have to say for now. I hope somebody enjoyed my rambling.

  • Satisfactory: Logistics Epiphany

    Satisfactory: Logistics Epiphany

    Enabling larger projects by separating resource gathering from factory building

    I was learning more about another favourite game of mine, Transport Fever 2, and the video I was watching talked about logistics hubs and the benefit of hooking up resources to the transport network meant that they would be available for use anywhere in the network. Now the logistics handling in Transport Fever 2 is much more automatic than Satisfactory in terms of allocating resources and materials. But the concept of connecting materials first and then sending them off to manufacturing later made something click in my brain.

    When I start to build a large factory, the most intimidating aspect of it is sourcing materials and importing raw materials or parts. In the early game this is the most efficient way, direct to factory. But as parts get more complex it gets more challenging to efficiently import materials and avoid spaghetti and/or convoluted and inefficient transport networks.

    The Plan

    Starting with Sandstorm Logistics Hub, which I wrote about earlier, I will begin bringing resources to the hub and setting up train stations to be able to transport these resources to nearby factories.

    Longer term I might replace my starter factories and decommission them in favour of a consolidated factory, but that is not even on my list at the moment.

    Regional Hubs

    I will start with Sandstorm Logistics Hub as my first regional hub. These regional hubs will be connected to a central logistics hub, more on that later, and resources will be distributed that way.

    Regional hubs are gathering spots for all the materials in a region of the map, hence the name. From there, materials will be distributed to factories within the region, and transported in or out via this hub.

    Central Hub

    The central hub is a mega-project for later, and I will need to do some R&D on how to best balance resources so that I can automate resource sending. I think it may be as simple as saturating storage containers with resources and therefore any demand will not exhaust supply to another regional hub. I will experiment and see how that goes.

    I want to get my first regional hub going before commencing work on the central hub. I am currently unsure where I want it located.

    Hub Design

    I am thinking of having at least two yards in each hub area. A large yard for the main system where train car arrangement is standardised, and then a smaller yard where local trains come and go.

    The main yard (yard A) will have a siding for inputs from the central hub, and a siding for outputs to the central hub. Including two through tracks.

    Resource Tracking

    I have a spreadsheet to track inputs and outputs from each hub, and transfers. This way when I am designing factories I know what I have to work with, or the alternative, knowing if I must secure more resources for the desired output.

    Next steps

    Now, this has me excited to play and work on end-game parts to complete the game and space elevator. I was always daunted by building large factories and organising inputs and finding/sourcing materials near a good site to build on.

    Now I am split into two modes; resource gathering, and planning and building. I will have a good sense of what resources are available. When I am planning a large factory I can decide what I want to produce and then work on gathering the resources required from wherever in the map now rather than relying on what is close enough geographically to use.

    This may have been obvious to some players but I never stuck to a save this long to reach this realisation.

  • Satisfactory: Transport Transformation

    Satisfactory: Transport Transformation

    Massive transformation underway, but like other large projects in takes time

    I love large projects, I think I am slowly getting better at them. The biggest challenge I had for large projects in the leisure category of my life was finishing them. Now I just keep track of where I am at with them, and I will bounce around to other projects and finish it over time.

    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing a road with a light leading towards concrete foundations.
    My road blueprints in the Sandstorm Logistics Hub
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing a road leading down underneath some foundations where a road network continues on to connect the parts of the logistics hub with other factories.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing a large area covered with foundations, and a rail line running up through the centre of the image. In the background is a rail yard of sorts, and the half-dismantled building behind that.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing a large area covered with concrete foundations and truck stops in the middle. There is also a power tower clipping through the foundations.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing two streetlamps lighting up a road underneath my logistics hub.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. In the foreground there is a train station, in the main area of the screenshot is a half-dismantled building in the desert.

    I have been hard at work building my new logistics hub. I still need to work on a better way to track what each place is called, and what the code for it is. I sense a spreadsheet in my near future. But I have been making lots of progress and I am happy with it. Even made more after I took these screenshots.

    The train line is in the process of being re-aligned, and will eventually be fully, and properly, integrated into the design of the hub. I am hoping to keep building off of what I have and eventually expand to a city of sorts connected by roads and trucks running through.

    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. There is a two-track rail line running through this photo, including temporary tracks run in the upper middle.
    Another example of the re-alignment happening to my rail line

    I have many rail lines to remove so I can free up some space and add trucks in for small logistics transfers. My ultimate goal is to have long trains running between the stations. I would love the look of that.

    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing a road running through the desert with streetlights and crisscrossing power cables. In the upper right is a rail corridor.

    Here is a long stretch featuring the road blueprint I made. I am very happy with it. I like having the curb, and it helps it integrate into large swaths of other foundations and not seem out of place.

    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing a truck depot with two truck stops in front of a factory town. There is a rail line running in the background on the left.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing a rail line broken in two segments that are yet-to-be-connected. In the middle there is a power tower, and the HUB area with storage containers and blueprint designers.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Showing a hypertube snaking around obstacles, and a power tower is sitting in the foreground to the left.

    I have lots of things to do still, such as clean up the truck depots and figure out if I want to make them look nicer, and how. Then re-aligning some rail lines. Luckily this corridor was not being used yet, so I can take some time. I think I will need to raise everything below and rebuild my HUB area around the road and rail network. This will be a large undertaking but I can integrate the old with new stuff and create an underground city for things that can stay. I have a fondness for “renovating” things instead of tearing down. Though the foundations need to be good. That old building I am tearing down, was not build on the world grid and therefore is not useful so I am tearing it down. The HUB area is built on the world grid so it is salvageable.

    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Shows the sun, space elevator and captures a number of factories dotting the skyline. On the left is a rail line and a train is approaching.

    I leave you with this photo that I particularly like. That rail line to the left has already disappeared since I swapped it to a truck connection utilizing my new road.

    There is much more to come. I hope you enjoyed reading and seeing the screenshots. I am having a great time sharing them and my progress. It also helps keep me on track and remember what I am up to in the game when I have to pause for work or life. Until next time.

  • Satisfactory: Picking up where we left off

    Satisfactory: Picking up where we left off

    Trains & Trucks & Transport, oh my!

    Having been inspired by greyduck.net’s play-through and posts about Satisfactory I decided to revisit the game on a server I host for my friends and me. The last time I touched it was in January of this year (2026). Since then, update 1.2 has been released. This update massively improves the way “road” vehicles can be pathed. I am very excited to give it a try. I have grand plans.

    State of the save

    Here is an introduction tour to the current state of the save. I will share more areas as I do more posts.

    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. View from my WMD Factory under-construction of the spire in my starter city.
    View of the spire from my WMD factory in-progress.

    In the current save I began by building with modules I created in the blueprint designer. These modules were for various basic parts or materials and I would expand vertically and stack one on top of the other. Now as I got into the later stages of the game I have pivoted to creating large factory floors and designating areas for production. Also when I can, manufacturing the parts locally to the nodes and then transporting them into the factory for the final steps of assembly.

    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. The view includes a tower in the background in the left third, and some storage containers from the game in the lower portion of the photo.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. The city is cast in shadow but contains a few short buildings with one extremely tall tower that extends out of frame. There are large transmission power lines in the background running into the distance.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. Down the centre of the photo is a rail line that leads into a large structure that is under construction.
    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. The photo is a night time view of a "city" of factories on foundation platforms.

    There is another view of the spire, though this was before I unlocked radar towers. Next is the manufacturing campus at the base of the tower. Then a view of the WMD Factory in progress. There will be a name for this factory later. Finally, the last photo is my basic steel component manufacturing campus.

    Transport Overhaul

    Screenshot from the game Satisfactory. The desert landscape with rail bridges running across it, and a large warehouse-style building in the background.
    The future site of Sandstorm Logistics Hub.

    The large building in the background of this photo is the future site of Sandstorm Logistics Hub. I like to give my larger projects names so I can theme them after it, make signage, all that fun stuff.

    The rail network will be getting a significant realignment to accommodate my new transport philosophy, and to facilitate a network of road vehicles. I do like the blueprints I have created, I plant to continue using them for the time being.

    In the meantime, next time you see this save there will likely be a lot of temporary rail infrastructure keeping things connected while I integrate trucks and tractors into my builds.

    Looking into the future

    As always, with great planning comes great responsibility. This game is one of my favourites but gaming time is lower down my list of priorities these days.

    Satisfactory

    I am going to re-work my entire transport network with this. Prior to 1.2 I would consider trains as the only viable, reliable, transport option. Now with this new pathing I am excited to use trucks and tractors for regional transport, and building massive transit hubs for inter-regional transport. Inspired by real-life logistics networks. My goal is to lower the barrier for transporting goods short distances, and when there is enough demand being able to put it on rail to move a lot of it great distances.

    Progress Sharing

    I plan on posting every month or so. My post frequency will vary with my play frequency. I am not committing to anything so that I do not feel any pressure to write. But when I do have updates I will start compiling a post to share.

  • Hello, world!

    My first post on my new blog.

    I will be the first to admit that I have had nearly a dozen first posts across the many many versions of my blog. So who can say if this one will be the first of many posts on this blog or if I will end up replacing WordPress with something else in the future. My journey has lead me back to this CMS after some time. More on that below. At this time though I am happy with having a platform like WordPress to be able to create content on.

    Why WordPress? Well the answer is pretty simple and unfortunately boring. It is what I have time and capacity for. It gives me a website out of the box that I can just leave at default settings, and while not perfect, is good enough. I have been adopting this philosophy lately because I noticed that I was drowning in projects and things I wanted to do. Perfect is the enemy of good, and I just need good enough.

    I love the concept of static site generators, I think it is brilliant and would be perfect for my blog. However they are not perfect for me. I am a busy person with a full-time job that sees regular overtime. I also have pets, a partner, and.a household to take care of. I love the concept but I cannot commit to the execution. Likewise with other frameworks like Wagtail, Gatsby, Next.js, 11ty/Build Awesome, or whatever the framework-du-jour is.

    I discovered that I enjoy and understand the systems administration aspect of self-hosting more than programming and coding. I used to make websites by hand with just HTML, CSS, and some copy-pasted javascript. It was fun, but for right now I just want a platform that lets me easily publish. Otherwise I will never do so because I want to make that “perfect” website with the neat framework that I want to learn all about.

    Anyways, I am excited to be here, excited that you are reading this (thanks for reading!), and I am excited to see what I post in the future, and how the site may evolve. I may or may not plan on doing light theme and plugin development, but this time I am not putting any pressure on myself to do so. The website is started, everything else can be extra.