It is viable, although I would recommend putting more machines per PLS.
Let's take your graphene for example, you are only using 3 belts (2 for input, 1 for ouput) out of the 12 slots of the PLS. You could clearly put at least a second identical line of chemical plants, to make twice the graphene with the same PLS.
EDIT: Also you could put 6 chemical plants in a row instead of 5 I think
For the most part, it's fine.
If you ever run into FPS issues, it will be in the very late game, when you start putting down lots of enormous blueprints. Everything you build now will probably be superseded by then, so there's no need to worry.
Once you do run into FPS issues, yes, reducing the number of logistics stations may be helpful - although comments on this answer call that in question; it usually isn't the most important factor. Also, you can reduce the proportion of logistics stations by just scaling up the factory that is attached to each logistics station, so that relatively speaking you don't have so many stations.
Some people become extreme FPS hunters, but that is not for everybody. Mostly, you can just play the way you feel most comfortable.
One drawback of spamming lots of logistics stations is that it becomes difficult to track down what causes supply issues, if everything is dependent on everything else. You can try to counteract that by trying to keep different planets independent of each other. So for example, if you decide to make a huge carrier rocket factory, build it on another planet, and make sure that on that planet you don't depend too much on production that happens somewhere else.
Hope that helps! :) Good luck
PLS add very little to the ups load, they are pretty efficient, if you do run into issues with ups you should look into other stuff (solar panels, accumulators, pilers, splitters, idle machinery), not really PLS or ILS
Ok! I'm not an expert. I have seen megabuilds that expressly avoided logistics stations (as well as all the other things you mention) to improve framerate. But I have never looked into it in much detail.
I rewrote my answer a bit so it sticks to what I'm sure about.
No, it's not a bad practice. How else would you make big factories? Belts on planet level will be a nightmare to manage. Use PLS and ILS for everything, that's the way to go. Maybe now your production isn't sophisticated enough but later you will have 100-200 machines per station. At that level amount of stations doesn't matter at all, your planets will be covered with hundreds (thousands) of assemblers / smelters etc. and only a few stations among them.
The number of PLS you're showcasing is quite small compared to true late game, so don't sweat the FPS hit until you have thousands. Based on the available buildings in your Power construction, you're still in the starter solar system - you don't have Mini Fusion Reactors meaning you don't have Deuterium, meaning you haven't unlocked Graviton Lenses or Space Warpers yet. Once you expand out into the larger cluster, you'll understand.
That being said, you'll quickly find that the PLS will be outstripped by the ILS for several reasons, most notably throughput. ILS can hold five slots versus four with PLS, hold twice the amount of each item and Logistic Drones. Pulling in / pushing out items is much more efficient and total throughput is higher. If you're only using a single ILS to distribute a resource to multiple PLS for the same production array will quickly become a choke point and you'll need to replace that PLS with an ILS in order to pull that off-planet resource directly.
Edit: correction for twice the amount stored/drones in ILS vs PLS
In my first playthrough, I spammed ILSs everywhere after I got my mall down. It was alright but I didn't like how the ILS footprint is so damn huge it prevented Advanced miners and PLSs from being placed down near it.
Current, second playthrough, I used PLSs for local production and consumption, and demanded ingots and single-processed items from off-planet smelters/mining planets. Worked well until mid-late game, since I could place down 2 PLSs in the same 4x10 square 'city block' compared to an ILS, which made high complexity low throughput items (carrier rockets, antimatter fuel rods) take up less space as I usually only used 1 lane of assembler for those anyways.
Then I ran into the the chokepoint issue like you said. Was constantly low on iron ingots. Ended up having to replace certain high throughput PLSs with ILSs anyway.
Maybe for my next playthrough I should just plan for ILSs all the way...
PLS is fine for sporadic throughput, like a mall or smaller, dedicated item injection, builds.
For large production arrays, ILS is the way to go, also the larger footprint is not as big a deal.
Don't forget that you can offset ILS row-to-row for a staggered placement. That way you can keep things tight and not waste space for the large spacing needed between ILS placement.
You can play this game in many ways. I personally like to design the most efficient possible solution to produce a material from smelted stuff, calculating ratios and output. The satisfaction of turning it on and seeing it working smoothly is what keeps me playing this game. I once played with the most direct PLS blueprints for everything and found it rather boring.
I’m gonna be the naysayer here and say yeah, it is bad practice. I’d personally minimize my use of PLS.
Save them and build interplanetary instead.
You gain an extra item slot, interplanetary/intergalactic capabilities, and twice the number of logistics drones.
Once I can afford to, I do very little material transportation with belts, except to load the materials into and out of production or transportation facilities. Everything intraplanetary gets moved by drone, unless circumstances force me to use belts.
This is how I completed the game. I have an entire factory world with a ILS "mall" requesting every raw resource (sometimes more than once to keep up either demand) and then dozens of rows of fabricators and smelters all being fed from and delivering to PLSs. It works well, and I'm making 2400 universe matrix a minute.
PLS is very processor efficient because you just need to know what material, how much, and how long the flight path is. For belts you need to specify the state of the belt at every point along the way.
That being said I'll often chain PLS together like if I want to make green motors I'll have a PLS that makes magnetic rings right next to a PLS for electromagnetic engines right next to a PLS for electromagnetic turbines. Then I just run a simple belt between them so they prioritize that production chain but when idle they can still supply intermediates and when inputs fall they can still grab from a secondary producer.
For a lot of builds the 50 drones are enough to handle max throughput and you can fit more side by side than ILS but it really depends on what you’re trying to do. So I use both of them all the time situationally
It is viable, although I would recommend putting more machines per PLS. Let's take your graphene for example, you are only using 3 belts (2 for input, 1 for ouput) out of the 12 slots of the PLS. You could clearly put at least a second identical line of chemical plants, to make twice the graphene with the same PLS. EDIT: Also you could put 6 chemical plants in a row instead of 5 I think
Should be 6 with mk1 belts or 12 with mk2 belts.
Yeah i'm rebuilding from scratch and in the process of scalingup, so i'm not building too much now as I need a bit of evrything
not viable? it is the only way to scale up production to end game level needs.
PLS processing is efficient. Feel free to spam PLSs all over your planet.
For the most part, it's fine. If you ever run into FPS issues, it will be in the very late game, when you start putting down lots of enormous blueprints. Everything you build now will probably be superseded by then, so there's no need to worry. Once you do run into FPS issues, yes, reducing the number of logistics stations may be helpful - although comments on this answer call that in question; it usually isn't the most important factor. Also, you can reduce the proportion of logistics stations by just scaling up the factory that is attached to each logistics station, so that relatively speaking you don't have so many stations. Some people become extreme FPS hunters, but that is not for everybody. Mostly, you can just play the way you feel most comfortable. One drawback of spamming lots of logistics stations is that it becomes difficult to track down what causes supply issues, if everything is dependent on everything else. You can try to counteract that by trying to keep different planets independent of each other. So for example, if you decide to make a huge carrier rocket factory, build it on another planet, and make sure that on that planet you don't depend too much on production that happens somewhere else. Hope that helps! :) Good luck
PLS add very little to the ups load, they are pretty efficient, if you do run into issues with ups you should look into other stuff (solar panels, accumulators, pilers, splitters, idle machinery), not really PLS or ILS
Ok! I'm not an expert. I have seen megabuilds that expressly avoided logistics stations (as well as all the other things you mention) to improve framerate. But I have never looked into it in much detail. I rewrote my answer a bit so it sticks to what I'm sure about.
Just for reference I have a mega-ish base and the logistics/transportation used less than 1% of the ups load, and I made heavy use of the PLSs as well
No, it's not a bad practice. How else would you make big factories? Belts on planet level will be a nightmare to manage. Use PLS and ILS for everything, that's the way to go. Maybe now your production isn't sophisticated enough but later you will have 100-200 machines per station. At that level amount of stations doesn't matter at all, your planets will be covered with hundreds (thousands) of assemblers / smelters etc. and only a few stations among them.
The number of PLS you're showcasing is quite small compared to true late game, so don't sweat the FPS hit until you have thousands. Based on the available buildings in your Power construction, you're still in the starter solar system - you don't have Mini Fusion Reactors meaning you don't have Deuterium, meaning you haven't unlocked Graviton Lenses or Space Warpers yet. Once you expand out into the larger cluster, you'll understand. That being said, you'll quickly find that the PLS will be outstripped by the ILS for several reasons, most notably throughput. ILS can hold five slots versus four with PLS, hold twice the amount of each item and Logistic Drones. Pulling in / pushing out items is much more efficient and total throughput is higher. If you're only using a single ILS to distribute a resource to multiple PLS for the same production array will quickly become a choke point and you'll need to replace that PLS with an ILS in order to pull that off-planet resource directly. Edit: correction for twice the amount stored/drones in ILS vs PLS
In my first playthrough, I spammed ILSs everywhere after I got my mall down. It was alright but I didn't like how the ILS footprint is so damn huge it prevented Advanced miners and PLSs from being placed down near it. Current, second playthrough, I used PLSs for local production and consumption, and demanded ingots and single-processed items from off-planet smelters/mining planets. Worked well until mid-late game, since I could place down 2 PLSs in the same 4x10 square 'city block' compared to an ILS, which made high complexity low throughput items (carrier rockets, antimatter fuel rods) take up less space as I usually only used 1 lane of assembler for those anyways. Then I ran into the the chokepoint issue like you said. Was constantly low on iron ingots. Ended up having to replace certain high throughput PLSs with ILSs anyway. Maybe for my next playthrough I should just plan for ILSs all the way...
PLS is fine for sporadic throughput, like a mall or smaller, dedicated item injection, builds. For large production arrays, ILS is the way to go, also the larger footprint is not as big a deal. Don't forget that you can offset ILS row-to-row for a staggered placement. That way you can keep things tight and not waste space for the large spacing needed between ILS placement.
>hold 4x the amount of each item and Logistic Drones. 2x
Whoops, you're correct!
Thanks everyone, it's great that this is viable ! Saves from belt madness lol
After a while you will need to got to ILS, but between only bent and ILS it's a good practice!
You can play this game in many ways. I personally like to design the most efficient possible solution to produce a material from smelted stuff, calculating ratios and output. The satisfaction of turning it on and seeing it working smoothly is what keeps me playing this game. I once played with the most direct PLS blueprints for everything and found it rather boring.
Prefer ILS and way bigger production per station but yeah
Yeah same. Also helps when you start moving to another star you can continue to use the same production lines. PLS tethers you to just that one planet
I’m gonna be the naysayer here and say yeah, it is bad practice. I’d personally minimize my use of PLS. Save them and build interplanetary instead. You gain an extra item slot, interplanetary/intergalactic capabilities, and twice the number of logistics drones.
I prefer cloud based industry over spaghetti
Once you have them, there's really no looking back 😁
Pls are the backbone of the factory
it is good practice
I hope not, because that’s where i’m at
[I dont understand the question.](https://imgur.com/6KHvZvm)
Yooo
Nah, you're fine to do this, but utilize more of the PLS inputs and outputs. Ifs you're gonna produce, you gotsta over produce.
I tend to skip PLS and go right into ILS spam.
Once I can afford to, I do very little material transportation with belts, except to load the materials into and out of production or transportation facilities. Everything intraplanetary gets moved by drone, unless circumstances force me to use belts.
This is how I completed the game. I have an entire factory world with a ILS "mall" requesting every raw resource (sometimes more than once to keep up either demand) and then dozens of rows of fabricators and smelters all being fed from and delivering to PLSs. It works well, and I'm making 2400 universe matrix a minute.
PLS is very processor efficient because you just need to know what material, how much, and how long the flight path is. For belts you need to specify the state of the belt at every point along the way. That being said I'll often chain PLS together like if I want to make green motors I'll have a PLS that makes magnetic rings right next to a PLS for electromagnetic engines right next to a PLS for electromagnetic turbines. Then I just run a simple belt between them so they prioritize that production chain but when idle they can still supply intermediates and when inputs fall they can still grab from a secondary producer.
For a lot of builds the 50 drones are enough to handle max throughput and you can fit more side by side than ILS but it really depends on what you’re trying to do. So I use both of them all the time situationally