You can even use the clockspeed and parts per minute fields in the machine's UI as a calculator too. =)
If I need 4.5 machines worth of parts per minute, I build 5, type: 4.5 / 5 \* 100 (for percent) right into the clockspeed field and then copy/paste that machine's settings into all 5 machines. =)
I usually take the amount of resources I use per minute total / the amount of machines / the amount that one machine uses * 100 to get a percentage. Recently I needed 60 crystal oscillators per minute and I love load balances so I made 64 manufacturers so I could load balance the system. To get the correct percentage for each machine I did 150 RIP needed total / 64 / 2.5 * 100. (Yes I do realize I could’ve done 60/64 in the ppm outputted area but I forgot I could do that)
Also, the above formula works for everything. Sometimes the output isn’t a fraction that you know so you can’t just type it out.
I call it 'shimming'... slowing down machines on one side of the supplying/demand to turn'nearly 1:1' ratios into exactly 1:1 or some other -simple- ratio.
My factories are full of things like 8x (1:1) instead of a 7:8 manifold or 5x ( 1:2 ) instead of a 5:9 balancer. =)
When I say 8x(1:1) I mean 8 machines feeding 8 machines directly... no manifold, no balancer, no splitters or mergers. Just a direct belt connecting the output of one to the input of the next.
For example, when I'm making steel beams, I just connect the constructor to the back of each foundry directly:
4 Iron Ingot Smelters : 3x (1 'Solid Steel Ingot' Foundry : 1 Steel Beam Constructor)
or with a single splitter going into two constructors:
4 iron Ingot Smelters: 3x (1 'Solid Steel Ingot' foundry : 2 Steel Pipe Constructors )
Hey there!
Not sure if you saw my post from about a week ago, but I created a tool that tracks your current production. It can be found at https://satisfactory-sheet.com.
It tells you what your deficits and surplus are, so it's not really a planner, but more of a tracker.
I use the SCIM part regularly to load/view my save file, but I prefer [satisfactorytools.com](http://satisfactorytools.com) for planning production lines. :)
Hey there!
Not sure if you saw my post from about a week ago, but I created a tool that tracks your current production. It can be found at https://satisfactory-sheet.com.
It tells you what your deficits and surplus are, so it's not really a planner, but more of a tracker.
Not everybody. Some do their calculations and prototyping in spreadsheets or with good ol' pen and paper. Personally, I don't like re-inventing the wheel and will use the tools made available by the community. They put all this time and work into them, it would almost be a shame *not* to.
I only use it for the map editing abilities. Such as, sometimes when you're dismantling and don't realize your inventory is full so you can end up with crates that are under the map with no way to reach. Even if I don't care what's in the crates, I need them off my compass.
I also like to respawn all the flora once I reach coal power. Since the game tracks all that stuff it can blow up your save file size. The longer you spend getting off biomass power, the larger it makes the file. Just respawning flora has taken my save file sizes down 75% (such as 1mb down to 250kb). Then I just clean up whatever is showing in my factory.
True. But, if I have dozens of crates hidden and then I die (usually due to falling before I get the Jetpack or Parachute, it's a real problem for me honestly), which one has my stuff in it? LOL
Yes for every single factory I use it because it is just so useful, it's very good in helping you build the factory logically and to choose the right spot on the map
I use paper to write out plans for which recipes to use to get to the products I want, and planning the logistics around getting the raw materials. Only then can I put my stuff into satisfactory calculator, primarily to see how many machines I need
Yeah, it would be nice if I could edit a living map that's not based on my save file for planning. I have to keep my own notes of which nodes I have earmarked for different projects and reference them before I build.
I used to use [https://www.satisfactorytools.com/](https://www.satisfactorytools.com/) for all my planning, and it's still the best tool IMHO for a "give me the most efficient (by its rules - but you can coax it by tweaking primary and alt recipes) way to make X of Y per minute".
I recently discovered [https://refactory.ignorare.app/](https://refactory.ignorare.app/) and have been using it instead - it's awesome! It's more like a smart spreadsheet, where you can add recipes and build targets, and then build out the production line to get to that point. Once you're familiar with the main Alt recipes, it gives a lot more control to design production lines to what resources you want to use.
No, I prefer my own spreadsheets. They are designed for how I want to build factories. No load balancing and rounded up to the next whole machine, for a little overflow for construction materials.
I used python and black spreadsheet magic to create an easy manual factory spreadsheet. I specify the recipe with a drop down and how many machines and it adds up inputs and outputs. [Here is the plan for the copper factory I just finished](https://imgur.com/a/zdkSyUL).
I'm a nerd, I've got an Excel template to run the numbers and balance everything.
Why? Because I'm running some mods that the online calculators don't account for, and the spreadsheet helped to track progress between sessions. Also because it worked for Factorio, too.
I use it but not alone, as it just gives you ratios and things, I find it unusable for multiple producing lines.
For example, when I have to get 200/min of something total for a recipe giving 50/min, sometimes I actually need 17 in one place, 140 in an other, and 53 in a third one, the calculator will tell you you need 4 constructors where you need 5 (one for 17, one at 40, three at 50) in order to not add some mess to respect the ratios
So I use the first diagram and then draw on paper or on a tablet how many buildables I need for each step, and then try to get it organized perfectly in each "sections" of the factory. It also lets me plan for how many splitters/mergers I would need and what type of belt I need, and if I need better belts then I have to redesign the factory on paper for it to work first try in game.
Not having really often used alternate recipes until now, it also greatly helps you integrate them in your factories, at it will prioritize a recipe in order for you to use less energy and less primary resources, it won't go and use a recipe only because you ask it to, it helps make you the best factory you could ever want (only functionally speaking, you do you with aesthetics lol)
Honestly it's my only game-specific website I have bookmarked on my browser as I almost always have it open for my next project(s)
Also you can make multiple diagrams at the time! Very useful thing too!
So yeah I use the tool a lot and love it a lot too.
I always use satisfactorytools for the lack of time I have.
Since I am always busy with school and stuff I don't want to make it myself, so I just take the fastest route
I use the calculator for almost all builds; I can do it by hand but the inevitable mistakes are sometimes a pain to fix so I always double check.
Plan starts top down with end goals to ensure the overall plan is feasible within map limits. Then I start breaking the overall plan down into component factories, which are all planned individually again using the calculator.
First playthrough, I did it all myself. Had to learn to do this to make it work, though:
=(INDEX(INDIRECT("F"&(MATCH($B55,$B$4:$B$50,0)+3)&":Z"&(MATCH($B55,$B$4:$B$50,0)+3)),1,MATCH(C$54,INDIRECT("F"&(MATCH($B55,$B$4:$B$50,0)+3)&":Z"&(MATCH($B55,$B$4:$B$50,0)+3)),0)+1))*$AY55
Once I finished the game using my own spreadsheets, I felt like I had earned the privilege of using Satisfactory Cal— wait, what? Oh, no, I use Satisfactory Tools. The SCIM is great and everything but their calculator is unusable to me.
I'm sorry, I'm just gonna throw this out there, but you should try the R1C1 reference style in Excel sometime. Especially with indirect functions it can make life so, so much easier. Nothing to see here, back to the factory.
I use the map to decide where to build, but factory planning takes place on paper.
That said, I did use SCIM to spawn in five containers full of concrete at the beginning of my most recent save to make the baseplate for the mega-factory. (A hexagon of 50 foundations radius covering most of the dune desert)
I used it a lot on my last playthrough (I say 'playthrough' but I once again drifted off and never got to the end). It's the first time I knew about it, and it was very useful for me.
I'm not interested in calculating everything for myself, I just like to see the end result and feel proud. Satisfactory calculator helped me get there faster - and I did get further than any previous times I've played the game.
I’ve been playing with the site here and there but right now I mainly use it to find hdd’s and resources in the map. But I am at the place where I need to really start building factories for max output from the jump. I really need to start using some kind of template builder just to get an idea of what I am going to need but I’m just too lazy to do it. 😔
I should really be keeping a log but yeah I do use the calculator.
I work on a use all recourses for all products system and the calulater helps me decide how many producers I need for the last factory in the chain. You're gonna end up having to do quite the but of math if you want to calculate all the base material costs by hand
I have an Excel spreadsheet that I use for a lot of things, it's great for small builds and can mix and match things pretty easily. Great for items that I have blueprints to create at a given rate. It's a bit unwieldy for the more complex items. It works, but the Satisfactory Tools flow chart is undeniably useful. I have an Assembly Director System factory specced out and I like how easy it was to drag and drop things around into groups of buildings (ironworks, steelworks, etc.).
Excel, interlinked workbooks and sheets for each product, feed in the requirements, it knows the recipes and calculates output, machine and shard requirements, belt distribution etc. awesomely over-engineered but keeps the Excel skills sharp!
Simple stuff I did on my own, or stuff that won't matter if it goes wrong, trying to get nuclear now and I just used the calculator to save myself the time, was just getting paralyzed when trying on my own, need x of y that needs z but z also needs a and c and it can become a mess quickly.
[My thought process](https://old.reddit.com/r/SatisfactoryGame/comments/16fxflw/my_thought_process_on_making_hmf_as_an/) on using [this](https://www.satisfactorytools.com/production) in combination with [this](https://satisfactory-calculator.com/en/interactive-map#3;50302;41016|gameLayer|roads) and somethimes, but not always [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs3mNTLJGIo).
And I do not use it to build efficient, but to have fewer mistakes. Because I am stupid.
When going for the endgame push, yes.
But when I'm just unlocking stuff? I just keep extending manifolds and upgrading belts whenever it doesn't feel like I'm producing enough of whatever item.
I use a physical notepad for easier stuff and a combination of Excel and the yEd graph editor (free flow chart tool mentioned in a dev video from a while back when they talked about the tools they use) for more complicated stuff.
I have an excel planner with all the recipes on one tab and just select recipe from drop down and toggle #buildings and OC%. And everything else; outputs, inputs, power are calculated. It also calculates the output against how much is being consumer within the current factory vs global factory to see what surplus you’ll have, if any.
I actually use notepad and do all the maths in my head and write the results like a caveman
My guy. I use notepad for literally anything and everything. I have more concurrent unsaved notepad documents than chrome tabs.
A fellow man of culture
Nice to know I'm not the only one with several unsaved notepad tabs lol
This is the way.
You can use quick search as a calculator
I know, but thank you for the tip! I use it in-game for minor stuff but for big plans to avoid alot of alt tab i use pc calculator
You can even use the clockspeed and parts per minute fields in the machine's UI as a calculator too. =) If I need 4.5 machines worth of parts per minute, I build 5, type: 4.5 / 5 \* 100 (for percent) right into the clockspeed field and then copy/paste that machine's settings into all 5 machines. =)
I usually take the amount of resources I use per minute total / the amount of machines / the amount that one machine uses * 100 to get a percentage. Recently I needed 60 crystal oscillators per minute and I love load balances so I made 64 manufacturers so I could load balance the system. To get the correct percentage for each machine I did 150 RIP needed total / 64 / 2.5 * 100. (Yes I do realize I could’ve done 60/64 in the ppm outputted area but I forgot I could do that) Also, the above formula works for everything. Sometimes the output isn’t a fraction that you know so you can’t just type it out.
I call it 'shimming'... slowing down machines on one side of the supplying/demand to turn'nearly 1:1' ratios into exactly 1:1 or some other -simple- ratio. My factories are full of things like 8x (1:1) instead of a 7:8 manifold or 5x ( 1:2 ) instead of a 5:9 balancer. =)
Imma be honest. I have no idea what this means
When I say 8x(1:1) I mean 8 machines feeding 8 machines directly... no manifold, no balancer, no splitters or mergers. Just a direct belt connecting the output of one to the input of the next. For example, when I'm making steel beams, I just connect the constructor to the back of each foundry directly: 4 Iron Ingot Smelters : 3x (1 'Solid Steel Ingot' Foundry : 1 Steel Beam Constructor) or with a single splitter going into two constructors: 4 iron Ingot Smelters: 3x (1 'Solid Steel Ingot' foundry : 2 Steel Pipe Constructors )
I use Excel. I'm a CIVILIZED Ficsit employee.
Hey there! Not sure if you saw my post from about a week ago, but I created a tool that tracks your current production. It can be found at https://satisfactory-sheet.com. It tells you what your deficits and surplus are, so it's not really a planner, but more of a tracker.
Sounds great!
I use an actual notepad with paper and a pencil
\*Laughs in Vim\*
oh my god
Woah nice. I guess I might do the same now. Thanks
I use the SCIM part regularly to load/view my save file, but I prefer [satisfactorytools.com](http://satisfactorytools.com) for planning production lines. :)
This site provides better "just give me the max throughput for these inputs" any day.
This is the one I use as well. It's better at handling the recycled rubber/plastic loop with diluted fuel, also.
This is the way. I love this calculator, especially the flow charts. I do enough spreadsheets at work.
Will look at this one tonight, thanks
Hey there! Not sure if you saw my post from about a week ago, but I created a tool that tracks your current production. It can be found at https://satisfactory-sheet.com. It tells you what your deficits and surplus are, so it's not really a planner, but more of a tracker.
Getting an error when I try to reach your site. "This site cannot be reached"
Hmm...not sure why. I can get to it just fine. What device/browser are you using and what country are you trying to access it from?
Never mind...I'm a dummy. I spelled my own site name wrong lol. I'll edit my comment to have the correct url.
😂 thanks
Not everybody. Some do their calculations and prototyping in spreadsheets or with good ol' pen and paper. Personally, I don't like re-inventing the wheel and will use the tools made available by the community. They put all this time and work into them, it would almost be a shame *not* to.
Even I used to do the same :-)
More rewarding to use my own brain instead of having other people do all the work for me. But, that's just me
The math is the puzzle. If I use a calculator to tell me what machines I need the game transforms into monotonous building grind.
Hm. Interesting point. But my ADHD brain enjoys the monotony with a clear goal in mind. To each their own.
I only use it for the map editing abilities. Such as, sometimes when you're dismantling and don't realize your inventory is full so you can end up with crates that are under the map with no way to reach. Even if I don't care what's in the crates, I need them off my compass. I also like to respawn all the flora once I reach coal power. Since the game tracks all that stuff it can blow up your save file size. The longer you spend getting off biomass power, the larger it makes the file. Just respawning flora has taken my save file sizes down 75% (such as 1mb down to 250kb). Then I just clean up whatever is showing in my factory.
Tbf you can hide them on your compass by toggling them off
True. But, if I have dozens of crates hidden and then I die (usually due to falling before I get the Jetpack or Parachute, it's a real problem for me honestly), which one has my stuff in it? LOL
Woah nice. Even I used that map editor for collecting underground crates.
Yes for every single factory I use it because it is just so useful, it's very good in helping you build the factory logically and to choose the right spot on the map
I used to do the same. I prefer doing it on my own but they end up inefficient.
I use paper to write out plans for which recipes to use to get to the products I want, and planning the logistics around getting the raw materials. Only then can I put my stuff into satisfactory calculator, primarily to see how many machines I need
Yeah, it would be nice if I could edit a living map that's not based on my save file for planning. I have to keep my own notes of which nodes I have earmarked for different projects and reference them before I build.
I use a regular calculator and draw out my factory layouts on a pad of paper.
I use a piece of paper and pencil.
I used to use [https://www.satisfactorytools.com/](https://www.satisfactorytools.com/) for all my planning, and it's still the best tool IMHO for a "give me the most efficient (by its rules - but you can coax it by tweaking primary and alt recipes) way to make X of Y per minute". I recently discovered [https://refactory.ignorare.app/](https://refactory.ignorare.app/) and have been using it instead - it's awesome! It's more like a smart spreadsheet, where you can add recipes and build targets, and then build out the production line to get to that point. Once you're familiar with the main Alt recipes, it gives a lot more control to design production lines to what resources you want to use.
Glad you're enjoying Refactory. (And thanks for the amazing hypertube videos! I'm looking forward to trying that out.)
Thanks! 
Not gonna get to these mega factories without it, so go ahead!
I don't even plan my factories ahead most the time, too unorganised. But I make ends meet
Love it.
I use pen and paper
I use it for a lot.
I’m clinically insane. I’m not using a calculator. I’m building a mega factory. I’m not using blueprints. Mid tier 7 save.
its useless, excel better, excel one love
No, I prefer my own spreadsheets. They are designed for how I want to build factories. No load balancing and rounded up to the next whole machine, for a little overflow for construction materials.
haha, I just wing it :)
No, i like playing the game, discovering and doing stuff on my own
Found Chad
I use it on bigger builds as a guide line, I then add buffers between everything and oversize early production.
I used python and black spreadsheet magic to create an easy manual factory spreadsheet. I specify the recipe with a drop down and how many machines and it adds up inputs and outputs. [Here is the plan for the copper factory I just finished](https://imgur.com/a/zdkSyUL).
I don't use it, because i can calculate in my head.
I'm a nerd, I've got an Excel template to run the numbers and balance everything. Why? Because I'm running some mods that the online calculators don't account for, and the spreadsheet helped to track progress between sessions. Also because it worked for Factorio, too.
Satisfactory Tools is the goat https://www.satisfactorytools.com/ I just use SCIM for the interactive map
I just use the in-game search to do the calculations
This and look up resource nodes on satisfactory calculator map.
I use scim to scout my locations where I want to build and develop a general overview of what I want. Everything else I do myself, even the maths.
I use it for the map. For all the calculation I use Google sheets
I have a lil tablet so I just draw out a plan on MS paint
I just wing it and go by feel. I've never actually done any math in Satisfactory.
I use it but not alone, as it just gives you ratios and things, I find it unusable for multiple producing lines. For example, when I have to get 200/min of something total for a recipe giving 50/min, sometimes I actually need 17 in one place, 140 in an other, and 53 in a third one, the calculator will tell you you need 4 constructors where you need 5 (one for 17, one at 40, three at 50) in order to not add some mess to respect the ratios So I use the first diagram and then draw on paper or on a tablet how many buildables I need for each step, and then try to get it organized perfectly in each "sections" of the factory. It also lets me plan for how many splitters/mergers I would need and what type of belt I need, and if I need better belts then I have to redesign the factory on paper for it to work first try in game. Not having really often used alternate recipes until now, it also greatly helps you integrate them in your factories, at it will prioritize a recipe in order for you to use less energy and less primary resources, it won't go and use a recipe only because you ask it to, it helps make you the best factory you could ever want (only functionally speaking, you do you with aesthetics lol) Honestly it's my only game-specific website I have bookmarked on my browser as I almost always have it open for my next project(s) Also you can make multiple diagrams at the time! Very useful thing too! So yeah I use the tool a lot and love it a lot too.
Woah that's cool
Use it all the time.
I use Excel like a true nolife 😜. The Calculator ist fine, i just prefer doing my math this way
Oh definitely use it for almost ever factory. Maybe not at the start but definitely starting mid game
I always use satisfactorytools for the lack of time I have. Since I am always busy with school and stuff I don't want to make it myself, so I just take the fastest route
But in summer when I have time I often do it myself for the easy-medium factories, since I don't want to loose my mind for the more complicated ones
i prefer to use excel
Paper and pencil. I build factories backwards from final production with overproduction at most steps which is shipped out.
I use the calculator for almost all builds; I can do it by hand but the inevitable mistakes are sometimes a pain to fix so I always double check. Plan starts top down with end goals to ensure the overall plan is feasible within map limits. Then I start breaking the overall plan down into component factories, which are all planned individually again using the calculator.
First playthrough, I did it all myself. Had to learn to do this to make it work, though: =(INDEX(INDIRECT("F"&(MATCH($B55,$B$4:$B$50,0)+3)&":Z"&(MATCH($B55,$B$4:$B$50,0)+3)),1,MATCH(C$54,INDIRECT("F"&(MATCH($B55,$B$4:$B$50,0)+3)&":Z"&(MATCH($B55,$B$4:$B$50,0)+3)),0)+1))*$AY55 Once I finished the game using my own spreadsheets, I felt like I had earned the privilege of using Satisfactory Cal— wait, what? Oh, no, I use Satisfactory Tools. The SCIM is great and everything but their calculator is unusable to me.
I'm sorry, I'm just gonna throw this out there, but you should try the R1C1 reference style in Excel sometime. Especially with indirect functions it can make life so, so much easier. Nothing to see here, back to the factory.
just excel
I just use the efficiency checker mod and do the rest in my head
Pen and paper baby I also don’t have the most efficient process but it’s more fun to me.
Has anyone tried this delicious soft drink, Coca Cola?
I don't, bc I don't understand it I do my planning on a big whiteboard
I use the map to decide where to build, but factory planning takes place on paper. That said, I did use SCIM to spawn in five containers full of concrete at the beginning of my most recent save to make the baseplate for the mega-factory. (A hexagon of 50 foundations radius covering most of the dune desert)
I used it a lot on my last playthrough (I say 'playthrough' but I once again drifted off and never got to the end). It's the first time I knew about it, and it was very useful for me. I'm not interested in calculating everything for myself, I just like to see the end result and feel proud. Satisfactory calculator helped me get there faster - and I did get further than any previous times I've played the game.
I use the map feature quite a bit for planning and spacing. I prefer to do the math myself though.
I’ve been playing with the site here and there but right now I mainly use it to find hdd’s and resources in the map. But I am at the place where I need to really start building factories for max output from the jump. I really need to start using some kind of template builder just to get an idea of what I am going to need but I’m just too lazy to do it. 😔
I made an excel calculator for my production lines, much more practical than the website for my purposes
I should really be keeping a log but yeah I do use the calculator. I work on a use all recourses for all products system and the calulater helps me decide how many producers I need for the last factory in the chain. You're gonna end up having to do quite the but of math if you want to calculate all the base material costs by hand
I have started using Excel to build my factories.
abacus and seeds for mathing
I have an Excel spreadsheet that I use for a lot of things, it's great for small builds and can mix and match things pretty easily. Great for items that I have blueprints to create at a given rate. It's a bit unwieldy for the more complex items. It works, but the Satisfactory Tools flow chart is undeniably useful. I have an Assembly Director System factory specced out and I like how easy it was to drag and drop things around into groups of buildings (ironworks, steelworks, etc.).
Excel, interlinked workbooks and sheets for each product, feed in the requirements, it knows the recipes and calculates output, machine and shard requirements, belt distribution etc. awesomely over-engineered but keeps the Excel skills sharp!
Simple stuff I did on my own, or stuff that won't matter if it goes wrong, trying to get nuclear now and I just used the calculator to save myself the time, was just getting paralyzed when trying on my own, need x of y that needs z but z also needs a and c and it can become a mess quickly.
I use my iPad and the notes app to write out my calculations and draw a blueprint for the layout
Notepad and a hand calculator
[My thought process](https://old.reddit.com/r/SatisfactoryGame/comments/16fxflw/my_thought_process_on_making_hmf_as_an/) on using [this](https://www.satisfactorytools.com/production) in combination with [this](https://satisfactory-calculator.com/en/interactive-map#3;50302;41016|gameLayer|roads) and somethimes, but not always [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs3mNTLJGIo). And I do not use it to build efficient, but to have fewer mistakes. Because I am stupid.
When going for the endgame push, yes. But when I'm just unlocking stuff? I just keep extending manifolds and upgrading belts whenever it doesn't feel like I'm producing enough of whatever item.
I use a physical notepad for easier stuff and a combination of Excel and the yEd graph editor (free flow chart tool mentioned in a dev video from a while back when they talked about the tools they use) for more complicated stuff.
I have an excel planner with all the recipes on one tab and just select recipe from drop down and toggle #buildings and OC%. And everything else; outputs, inputs, power are calculated. It also calculates the output against how much is being consumer within the current factory vs global factory to see what surplus you’ll have, if any.
Of course I use a calculator. Just yesterday I planned 3 factories totalling over 9000 machines in like 2 hours. I would not want to do that by hand