Exploring New Strategies for Efficient Smelting (2024)

Hello Factorio Community,

I’ve been playing Factorio for a while now and I’m constantly amazed by the depth and complexity of the game. One area I’ve been focusing on recently is smelting. I’ve tried a few different setups, but I’m always looking for ways to improve efficiency and throughput.

I’ve been experimenting with a setup that uses a combination of electric furnaces and productivity modules, and it seems to be working quite well. However, I’m curious to hear about other strategies and setups that you all have found to be effective.

Here are a few questions to start the discussion:

What’s your preferred smelting setup and why?
How do you manage the balance between efficiency and pollution?
Have you found any unconventional strategies that work surprisingly well?
I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts and learning from your experiences. Let’s share our knowledge and help each other become better Factorio players!

A happy life consists in the tranquility of mindhttps://geometry-free.com

Welcome to the community. ^^

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

What’s your preferred smelting setup and why?

Productivity Modules in the electric smelter rows, Speed Modules in the beacon rows (hooked up to some circuit network to shut them off when the smelters are idling). As simple as that.
Because it is the most efficient setup. Not all that many options really.

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

What’s your preferred smelting setup and why?
How do you manage the balance between efficiency and pollution?

I am straight forward: I don't care about pollution.
If the native wildlife has a problem with that they are free to complain to local company representative (aka turret) of their choice. xD
Other people may have a different approach to that however. ^^

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

Have you found any unconventional strategies that work surprisingly well?

I tried a lot of other things that I had ideas for or other people came up with over the years, but in the end I always went back to using what I wrote above; the simplicity of it beats all the complex designs. In the end all that matters is "ore in"->"plates out". ^^

That said with upcoming 2.0 and the expansion a lot of my playstyle might change.
There is the quality system; Speed Modules will affect quality negatively. So beacons with speed modules not be the best approach to it depending on where you want to use the plates and if you want higher quality plates already.
Also there will be additional productivity endless researches; so Productivity Modules everywhere may become somewhat superfluous towards endgame.
Then there is also space travel and the new Foundry you get on Vulcanus; since it gives molten iron/copper and allows direct casting and other such things, has a different size than electric smelters it will definitely also require overthinking layouts and when to use it.

Overall I might not focus on increasing productivity as much anymore; or only as a part of the whole. It will definitely take some theory crafting in spreadsheets, some practice trial & error to find something that is satisfying to me.

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

What’s your preferred smelting setup and why?

24 stone furnaces on each side of a yellow belt is my favourite starter, because it upgrade nicely into steel furnaces and red belts.
Later in game i like using productivity module and speed beacon with electric furnaces and sometimes instead no beacon and efficiency modules in the furnaces.

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

How do you manage the balance between efficiency and pollution?

On/off, those are exclusive to me, if i care about pollution i'm never going to use productivity module. Nowhere. Maybe it's a mistake and it would save me some pollution to use in the silo or in labs surrounded by beacon who have efficiency module themselves but i haven't delve into those calculations. I just go for the simpler self-imposed challenge of trying to have everything at -80% pollution, and that include furnaces. They only have 2 slots, that's 2 modules tier 2 to achieve the cap in pollution reduction. If i don't care about pollution, most of the time, then productivity modules in furnaces surrounded by beacon with speed module.

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

Have you found any unconventional strategies that work surprisingly well?

Not sure if it fit there but trying to make every machine produce only 20% of its pollution worked surprisingly well to my eyes and is something i would only do rarely. Furnaces can produce a lot of pollution due to their base pollution and their number, so changing design to avoid pollution for the minimal had a strong impact when done. It makes super long lane of furnaces when you reach blue belts but their inserter are not super fast like in beaconned setups, and less bulky, they have a relaxing feel to me.

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

What’s your preferred smelting setup and why?

Hmm, I guess I'm similar to mmmPi above me here with the 24 stone furnaces and yellow belts and then upgrade to steel and red, but I have it spaced enough that I can upgrade to electric without having to deconstruct the whole thing + surroundings. I do have other electric furnace builds that aren't meant to be a direct upgrade, but I don't use beacons anywhere in my builds.

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

How do you manage the balance between efficiency and pollution?

I don't. I just build and do what I like.

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

What’s your preferred smelting setup and why?

Standard Speedrunner stone/steel furnace arrays using inserters for coal early game.
14 electric furnaces in 8/8 beacon lines late game.

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

How do you manage the balance between efficiency and pollution?

Nuclear power and artillery ("Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"), but miners get 3 E1 modules each because they're cheap and built into my blueprints (This will probably change with Quality Modules).

olfactometer wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:38 pm

Have you found any unconventional strategies that work surprisingly well?

Landmines are suprisingly effective behind a single layer of wall. The AoE stun hits biters just before they damage the wall, which gives your flames time to land, and bots can replace them without stepping into friendly fire. The Landmine-Snap-to-Grid mod is very helpful for designing blueprints that use this.