Yknow, when i started playing this game i didnt think id have to do this much math.
Yknow, when i started playing this game i didnt think id have to do this much math.
Optimising the oil residue-creating part of my turbofuel factory. This isnt super advanced math but still.
Try not to accidentally become a competent process engineer
I blame factorio pyanodon's mods for my life choice to become a chemical engineer. And no, i have not finished it, at some point i just realized that i need a degree in chemical engineering to fish that mod
One nice thing compared to Factorio is that the ratios in this are pretty approachable - I know some people go fucking crazy trying to be hyper optimized about power usage but, tbh, there's a fuckton of power available unless you start power-slugging production buildings so the math has always felt manageable to me.
me when recycled rubber and recycled plastic balancing
I keep a journal in a text file and do what I call "watneying" after Mark Watney of The Martian. Looks a bit like this:
80 rubber plants (4 gangs of 20) will produce 1600 HOR/min. The turbo blend fuel recipe takes HOR, Fuel and Coke, plus sulfur. 15 fuel, 30 HOR and 22.5 coke/min. Need to figure up the fuel and coke in terms of HOR/min
Diluted fuel takes 50 HOR/min and makes 100 fuel/min.
Petrol coke takes 40 HOR/min and makes 120 coke/min.
So we're talking about 30 raw HOR, 7.5 fuel HOR and 7.5 coke HOR/min. So 45 HOR/min plus some sulfur becomes 45 turbofuel/min.
My play time counter in this game is wildly inaccurate because I spend about as much time looking at the map, wiki and planning in my text document as I do in-engine building factories and shooting piggies.
Why don't you just use a solver instead of doing linear programming with pencil and paper?
"yOu WoN'T aLwaYs haVe a CaLcUlator aROund."
And other statements from the 90s
The solver didnt work for what i wanted to do /:
That when you get out python or Matlab, or if insanity beacons Fortran, or maybe even c++
I think that suggestion about Matlab is silly, that's so overkill.
But, in case you ever run out of graph paper, consider Desmos, I use it a lot because it's simple:
ChatGPT, Gemini and alike are good in this. And before/still also WolframAlpha. They even display and explain the steps to you. You should still check if the results make sense, but my experience so far is very positive.
joy of accomplishment? :)
Same reason I still do mortar math on paper in games that actually have it matter. It's more fun that way, and I can do it faster than going to a website and plugging it in.
So you don't forget how to do it?