how does this game not stress you out?

[shy elm]

if you're stressed that much about biters (and you're not a masochist)
i'd recommend just turning them off

plenty of people do that for their first run too

[vague elbow]

To me, it boils down to a simple thing

If you Take a step Back, you should realize

There's not really any threat

You aren't under a time crunch

Build some automated defenses, Upgrade them every once in a while, and Bug attacks arent a Problem anymore

A wave attacking you solves itself, you can chill

Deposit runs Out? That's Not a death sentence

You almost certainly have the Materials needed to make a new Outpost lying around. Just Shift priorities as needed, and you can do it. Not Like your Base will suddenly implode when Cooper runs Low for a Bit, I hope

Recipie Chain for something new Turns Out to be complex and will Take quite a Bit of effort to manage? That's okay, Take your time. One step at a time

You dont need to fear anything, you can Take as Long as you want

And as Long as you Take one step after another, it is Impossible to Not arrive at your Destination Eventually, No Matter how small your steps

Theres No need to Sprint all the time

Let yourself Walk and the Game can Be downright relaxing

[upper tundra]

Yeah it's about your mindset, at least if you turn biters off

If you turn biters off, nothing bad can happen. The WORST case scenario is that your factory is idle, which is fine

[stable kayak]

Hard to say what you're doing wrong without some screenshots. Do you have any specific questions that you need help with?

[fallen drift]

how does this game not stress you out?
Early on it did.
One of the tutorial missions spawned a lot of biters, which made me afraid of them. I didn't want to disable them, but with the settings I used for the first run(s), I essentially pulled their teeth.
Biters are the only mechanic that put pressure on you. Without them, you have all the time you need.

Factory size is not the same as skill.
Some people just like to build big. Are those factories any good? I dunno. But if they aren't well designed, they're not for me.

Also, a lower science production will reduce resource consumption, giving you more time to set everything up.
If you cannot keep up, your factory is too fast. There's no harm stopping research to direct the remaining resources into making items for mining outposts, etc. (see comments about biters).

[bold horizon]

this is what ive got currently,,am not used to doing main bus but its going a bit better after taking a break for a while

my current issue is getting more iron plates,,since i put in a steel furnace stack its put a dent in my main line,,i just need to belt some more raw ore from another patch and make another furnace stack though

also im hoping that didnt ping you,,sorry if it did, i forgot to disable it

[bold horizon]

also trying to figure out how to get iron plates to my steel furnace in a better way too

[fallen drift]

I don't see a skill issue here. Keep doing what you're doing and you're bound to end up in space.

[fallen drift]

Could be better, but it's good enough imho.

[scenic haven]

Good

the "good" checklist?

1. does it work?
2. does it require no player input?
3. do all the machines work as much of the time as possible?

[bold horizon]

i think my biggest issue is just getting overwhelmed once i start getting into the later game things like oil processing or rocket parts..this one seems a lot easier to bring materials to wherever i need to though

[fallen drift]

Yeah, that was/is also my biggest problem. The complexity and size of everything increases a lot.
Once you've done it a couple times, you'll realise it's more or less the same thing all over again.

Inputs -> processing -> outputs turns into inputs -> complex processing -> output

If you need more iron, looks like the next thing to focus on is your first mining outpost.
First step is to decide how you want to transport the ore* to your factory (belt, train, etc.), then build it.
Factorio is designed so that the majority of resources needed to complete the game is used in science production. When your factory is starving, pause the science production to free up resources for construction.

*usually it's ores, but you can also import plates (or even finished products), I recommend against that at this point though.

[fierce mauve]

First of all: Stop looking too much at what others do/have built. Seems to me like you're just unnecessarily comparing them to yourself.
2: Just take your time? Who cares if you need a couple hours more to reach space than someone else?
3: if you feel like something takes up too much of your time, you probably didn't automate it enough.
In your case, it's likely defenses. Automate turrets, place more of them, set up automated ammo distribution for those turrets. All of a sudden you likely won't have to worry about biters for a long time anymore.

[upper tundra]

Getting overwhelmed is a very common feeling, and its something you can learn how to work through. I find it helps to break things down and work on the very next tiny step I need to do, and do those one at a time

Like for oil processing, you just pick ONE ingrident (heavy fuel), and work on handling that. Then, when thats done, move on to the next one, and repeat

[leaden heart]

Don't be afraid to just try things. I learned this because I spent around 2-3 hours frantically looking up guides on how to set up a drone network when in the end, it was so easy to set up and only took me 5 minutes once I decided to try it myself. I spent so long looking up guides because I was worried about the little details. Also, don't be afraid to start over on a particular part of your production or even make a new base to fix production and lack of space on certain productions, (like green circuits) but don't delete your old one, it can still serve a lot of different uses. If you do remake a base from scratch, take your time with it, as you have a lot more resources to plan things out.

[bold horizon]

am about to get oil processing with this main bus world,,,ive got plenty of materials this time,,and automating stuff has been a lot easier thankfully

[upper tundra]

It'll ALWAYS feel overwhelming approaching a new problem, its OK! You can learn to work through that feeling if you want, you just gotta do it in small approachable steps

[bold horizon]

just got oil refining set up and prepared for advanced refining later,,now its just getting plastic and red circuits made and into my bus

might be too many refineries but this should get me pretty far

[bold horizon]

going a lot better this time,,this is how it looks now ^^

also ive been a lot more aggressive with biters and setting up defenses far away..so a lot less nests too

also almost getting to chem science in less than 10 hours instead of 20 in my last run

[hasty wraith]

what kinda defenses are we talkin about? Cuz flamethrowers are pretty OP... just sayin. My stress from biters went way down once I had flamethrowers set up

[fallen drift]

Don't even need flamethrowers when you keep biters out of the pollution cloud.

[hushed rock]

My usual strategy is to get tank asap and let rockets tell biters to get the 🇫 🇺 🇨 🇰 🇴 🇫 🇫 my actory

Making some safe perimeter, when getting closer to pollution cloud repeat it

[hasty wraith]

yea tanks + flames are pretty 💪

also a fun way to clear forest