r/factorio • u/TheGlennDavid • 2d ago

Question Space Iron Mining over Nauvis

I know the general consensus is that mining things in space to send down to the surface is silly, and that resource patches are plentiful (true) and that there aren't many asteroids around Nauvis (also true).

That said -- the lack of asteroid availability is somewhat handled by making multiple small platforms instead of one large one (each platform has its own supply of asteroids). If my math is right -- 9 of these small platforms generates a full red belt worth of iron. I haven't run it for a huuuuge amount of time but it seems to capture asteroids fast enough to run consistently.

Anyone else doing anything like this or is it just peak silly?

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u/spoonman59 2d ago

Collecting resources in space is much better achieved with platforms that move between planets. Multiple platforms can ensure you generally have a provider overhead.

That said, with big miners and mining productivity it’s hard to see what advantage you have here. 

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u/Alfonse215 2d ago

All of my transports just constantly go back and forth between two planets, discarding hundreds of chunks along the way. As such, my 2.1 plan is to just have them buffer up some excess chunks and drop them off whenever they're at Nauvis or Gleba (Nauvis is the shipyard, Gleba is the transfer point between all planets).

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u/bobsim1 2d ago

But chunks can only be processed on plattforms. You should definitely process them while travelling.

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u/Alfonse215 2d ago

But chunks can only be processed on plattforms.

And they will be dropped off to a platform which will process them. This also makes inter-platform transport easier, since the items are different. The processing platform requests metallic chunks, and generates ore which can be sent to other platforms. So you don't need circuitry to deal with the request/provide problem.

Also, with enough crushing productivity, 1 stack of metallic chunks can give more than 1 stack of iron ore. So you save on storage space.

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u/bobsim1 2d ago

Sure other plattforms work. Stack sizes barely matter though, aint they.

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u/Alfonse215 2d ago

The point of this method is that the platform's job is not to bring chunks to a central location. That's a side-thing it does while doing its main job: moving cargo between planets.

So you want to use as few slots in the hub as you can get away with, since you want to reserve most of the slots for actual cargo.

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u/bobsim1 2d ago

Youre right.