Going to be a BIG chain of posts because I'm quite happy with how this turned out :D So we'll start out with how I started this whole thing. I wanted to find a good supply of resources away from my main base so I could really dedicate an area to cranking out more complicated things, since my main base is more of a generic parts supply depot now. I found a place not too far from where I spawned that was near a large lake, had 4 coal deposits, an iron deposit, limestone deposit, and copper deposit to mine! Plus there was oil nearby, so that was a definite plus!

So it became decided, I was going to build a new facility out there! Set up a couple miners and constructors to make a shitton of steel tubes and copper sheets so I could construct a HUGE series of hypertubes because trucking back and forth would be a pain and drain on resources. Though I had to build some bombs to clear out some rocks along the path chosen, but that wasn't too difficult. And then came the task of figuring out what I was going to do, especially with all my resources on so many levels. So, big factory time!

First thing I did was move things around. Set up the foundation, realized the iron miner could take up a 1x2 foundation layout, and decided to work from there! 2 smelters on either side, some conveyers, wall it in, and I can just literally build around this centerpiece! Oh shit that's going to be a lot of walking just to get up to the copper platform where my base of operations is. So stairs time! Because of an invisible obstacle directly behind the miner, I placed the stairs there since the first flight will clear the obstacle no problem. Also decided to see how I could lay out floors without running into clearance issues with the miner and smelters. Smelters take up 3 layers, so building a second floor wasn't going to be difficult with that in mind. The problem was the miner. That thing is TALL, and turns out it takes up 4 layers ...maybe 5. I forget. But okay, that's not a big deal, I can work around that. And it turns out the copper platform was 6 layers up, so making a third floor at that level wouldn't be too difficult.

But now how to power this? I'm going to be drawing a LOT of power when this thing gets fully operational, so I'm going to need more than 1 coal generator, and certainly not haphazardly placed wherever. Oh of course! Let's move the water extractor out a bit... can I place the power plants on either side? Oh good I can! ...oh dear they're partially submerged. Welp! Good enough I suppose! (That platform behind the water pump wasn't there at first, I'll get into that later.) Okay! Now I've got enough power to keep things running, and I can expand the power plant as I need later with how much space there is!

So Like I said the miner and smelters are going to be the centerpiece of my factory, but completely walled in so I don't accidentally fall down from an upper level. And it looks nice that way from outside the mining center. And it turns out the miner itself goes up 4 layers! Anyway, the first floor's basic layout was figured out, so now it's time to figure out floor 2. For the time being I'm not doing any overhangs, so from the outside the building will just go straight up without jutting out anywhere. To make life easier I put up a small platform that connects the copper section to the new factory, with plans to expand that further later. But now I've got 2 layers of empty space directly above the miner. Do I just wall it in and forget it exists?

Heck no! Welcome to floor 2.5! ...it's not very big, and I have no idea what I'm actually going to do with it, but the space is open if I need it! Floor 3 is definitely super basic at this point, only really serving as a connection between the factory and my work area.

But I'll cover that in the next post. Anyway, I got the idea that I'm eventually going to expand my power plant, so I need a way to properly hook everything up. So welcome to my mini power distribution center! I discovered I could put a foundation support pole in the water, and it fits quite a few power poles on it! Arranging them in a plus pattern allows me to hook up power supplies to individual poles, connect those to the center pole, and the center pole to the rest of the power grid! Now I have plenty of room for expansion without having to disconnect anything!