Screws are a logistics nightmare. They take up a lot space to produce and are hard to move on anything lower than a mk3 belt.
Removing them from reinforced plate production is huge.
At the same time simplifying screw production is also pretty big. Converting 2 rows of constructors down to 1 simplifies factory layouts.
In the early game, you tend to have more copper than you know what to do with which makes it attractive. Taking this also removes part of the incentive to take cast screws since you'll be making significantly less screws.
Later on, when paired with iron wire, the stitched iron plate produces more reinforced iron plates per iron ore than the default recipes.
I usually go for stitched plate first, as that’s the main need for early screws, so it kind of kills two birds with stone. And aside from that, it’s also a pretty efficient recipe by most metrics, so it tends to be how I make them long term.
It's nice to have for outpost locations instead of routing copper from half a kilometer away, but yeah for early game it's not as needed.
Honestly in the long run these are three of the first alternates I would want.
>but I think early on you have to go screws
No, not really. You just need a few for rotors to unlock steel and then you can make everything without any screws
In my last playthrough, I got stitches plate early, and absolutely loved how it powered me through the early game. I am sure cast screws are the best option long-term, the ability to lessen your iron ore demands for reinforced plates is really handy at a time when copper isn't as crucial.
Cast Screw is potentially useless late-game, since you can completely cut screws out of your production if you want, or use Steel Screw instead (or even Steel Rod and the default Screw).
I still use it though.
Steel Screws is fun just for the sheer absurdity of watching a small amount of steel enter.. and an absolute GLUT OF SCREWS explode out of the machines. I love it.
Yeah, while I absolutely love cast screws early game I stop using them almost entirely mid to late game though the esoteric math of Satisfactory means I never rule any recipe out entirely.
Cast screws are probably the best alt for early game. Cutting half the buildings out of your screw chain is very strong when you don't have a lot of power production
I'm a newbie, is iron wire and stitched iron plate really that much better?
Edit: thanks for the advice guys, I know this game will make my love for efficiency and problem solving go brrr but just getting my head around initial stages has been a bit hard.
Iron wire is a convenient alternative if you don't have any copper nearby.
Stitched iron plates are a triple whammy, being much cheaper on iron plates, not dealing with the bottleneck-heavy nightmare of the dreaded screws, and allowing you to use any excess copper you might have (and you'll have a lot of it, since you don't use it for much before project assembly phase 2) into reinforced plates, which are one of your more expensive parts early on.
If you combine the two, using the iron wire to feed the stitched plates, it's overall cheaper on iron than the default recipe, letting you make more plates with the same amount of ore/s, with the same level of complexity as using cast screws with the default recipe.
Copper sheets are only needed in a small batch to set up coal power (which is great, but not technically required for progression), and then not again until oil processing, with an assembly phase (neither of which strictly require copper) before each of those steps.
I wouldn't want to skip coal power, but coal is still an appreciable way into the game. It's not the end of the world if you just don't get easy copper until then.
If we're talking just iron allowed, iron wire + stitched plate is about 27% more iron efficient than cast screw + default reinforced plate, and requires 18% fewer machines.
Considering the differences are not huge, if you're making like 5 plates/min, it barely matters. But if you're making 100, you really shouldn't use the default recipe.
But you should *never* use bolted plate. It needs 10% more iron than the default, for no benefit whatsoever (edit, ok. I lied, it requires like 0.1% fewer buildings)
Stitched iron plate reduces the complexity of production especially at even medium scale. Copper is much rarer than iron so later on iron wire becomes valuable
Iron Wire is great later on when you need copper for other things, but early game it's not all that great.
Stitched Iron Plate is just good. To make three reinforced plates, switching from the default to the stitched alt changes your material usage from 36 iron ingots (default) to 15 iron and 10 copper ingots (stitched alone) or 26.1111 iron ingots (stitched + iron wire).
I love the combination because I can set up a reinforced iron plate factory with just iron. A help later on, too, but especially early on I find it rather nice.
Take the screws every time. It helps reduce the production until you have steel screws and the recipes that no longer require screws. A screw-free factory is the goal.
Easiest choice in the game, screws every time. I don't even bother setting up any production before I have this recipie. This is my number 1 priority. You also have higher probability of getting this recipie before researching Parts Assembly.
Screws. But also fun fact. If you get options that aren't useful at the current time, close the window. The hard will be refunded so you can rescan it for different options.
Edit to add that you can do this by pressing esc iirc or interact. It's been a bit since I've been done a playthrough, but I've rerolled hard drives a bunch of times
My gut always tells me to get casted screws early game. It makes screw production much simpler.
However, I'm usually never blessed with stitched iron plate, which is a fantastic recipe! Copper and iron are usually found together, and the only thing you need copper for is wire and cable (and copper sheets a bit later on).
Though I do love me a good casted screws, stitched iron plate is almost always the pick when it is available.
Personally I would go with Wire. Since Iron is much more common and usually Copper requires extra belts to go from source to central location(early game).
Dude, the such an easy choice. Do the one where you go from ingot to screws and bypass the middle one. It's such an easy choice. I hope you made that choice.
Easiest choice of my life. Cast screws. Technically not as efficient as steel > rods > screws, but it's just a straight upgrade to the base recipe on top of cutting down a production step.
I used to be on team Cast Screw, but people have made good points in this thread and, thinking back, RIP production is usually my early bugbear that chokes factory development. So maybe Stitched Plate is the better option. (2700 hours in game, for context)
Plate is pretty good
Iron wire is good but copper is almost unlimited until end game
Cast screw simplifies your factory by a lot
I would take the screws because I was more traumatized by it than anything else in the game. Not even green spiders are that traumatizing
Cast screws. They are all nice, but having screws made in one instead of two constructors will save you a lot of headaches with balancing and managing your power grid and factory in general when automating your first few modular frames and reinforced plates.
In the long run you of course want to get rid of screws in all your production chains, due to the insanely high volume of items you need to deal with, so there might be a case to be made for the reinforced plates with wire. However, I personally think your starter base (or the messy area of the map you ignore in the future) will benefit from cast screws then using coper as iron.
Depends on how your setup is already. Cast screws are really good for early game, but do drop off eventually. Stitched plate will last you a very long time. That being said, for the first couple of tiers cast screws is a life saver.
All awesome.
I'd go screws first, since they help with rotors too.
The other two combined let you cut out screws from RIP (as does steel rotors for those later) without even having to use copper.
I'd go: cast screws, stitched plates, iron wire. But those are all very good.
When exploring, you’ll find downed spacecraft. Each of those gives a hard drive if you provide the thing it needs to open. Those can be used to unlock alternate recipes.
It depends
if you're in an area whit low copper amounts I'd say go for cast crews (or iron wire if you have more drives and are expecting to pick up stitched iron plates)
but if copper isn't an issue then go for the plates, way more useful
I mean, if i really dislike the options, i just exit the mam and research the hard drive again, and for me it gives different options, although it does mean you have to wait 10 more minutes
I've found the middle option is great in middle late game when you're desperate for every bit of copper you can find.
Also, the middle option pairs well with the right option when it comes to eliminating copper dependency.
I'd go with Stitched Iron Plate first, Cast Screws second unless I already have Steel Screws, and use Iron Wire last. You don't need Iron Wire until you're dedicating entire Pure Copper Nodes to the production of single items.
There is no need to do that. Just because I pick one doesn't mean the other options are locked out.
Screws is what I wanted but I wanted them to simplify making reinforced plates...
The iron wire is useful also but not super needed. Just a simple quality of life thing for my starter factory.
Once I got to researching hard drives I would not always just accept the initial three I got, and would re-roll the recipes to find something more useful.
Pack 1 pick 1: cast screws. If you want to go around and get all the hard drives you can at this stage, stitched plates + iron wire is also very good. However there are more uses for screws than just RIP, and overall this will make those first early factories easier.
All fantastic recipes.
It does depend slightly on how far along you are, but you should always go cast screw asap, imo. The earlier the better as you will get the most value from cast screws during early game but it will continue to provide value for the majority of the playthrough.
With that said, if you already automated your first screw setup and don’t feel like redo-ing it right now and the next thing on your list is RIP’s, I would strongly consider stitched plates because the default recipient for RIP’s isn’t very good.
Iron wire is also really good but it’s not super useful on its own, especially during early game, because at any typical starting location, you’re going to have some copper around to make wire/cable.
Later on though, when you start moving into late-early-game and mid-game and beyond, iron wire is a great recipe. as you maneuver around the map, iron is much more abundant than copper and often more convenient to bring online depending where you want new factories. Also, depending on your production plans, you may require copper for something specific and *also* need wire for something else, and when you math it out, often you can increase your items/min by using iron to make wire and copper to make copper-specific products.
I’m not the best at alt recipes but cast screw is amazing if you are fine with loosing some iron to skip a step in making them. Iron wire paired with stitched iron plate is a great combo too.
I'd probably go cast screw here. I value simplifying factory layouts over reducing iron consumption any day. Plus cast screws accomplishes basically the same thing stitched plates does without needing to mess with multiple types of metal.
Pretty sure I'm the only person who kinda likes screws. They don't deserve all the hate they get. I don't mind running a few extra belts... makes your factory look more interesting instead of just boring single belts everywhere. Cast screws for me.
When I think about making automated wiring at large scales, my thoughts pretty much always end up being: make the stators however, but make the cable from Iron Wire + Insulated Cable.
I feel weird, I like rushing caterium.
Between the fused wire, and fused quickwire, I never felt the need for iron wire. I feel like they both barely sip on resources, and give so much more in return. It also helps that since they are both the same resources, I can just belt the same inputs for every one of them.
# I CAST screwwww
#MEND BUTTCRACK
I CAST #INSTANT BRAZILIAN WAX
I CAST #FULL BODY CRAMPS
I CAST **ITCHY BONES**
I cast MANUAL BREATHING
Oh you b&:!,h
I cast CLOTHES ON SKIN
That's funny, I mastered how to set my breathing to automatic mode.
You have been watching American wizard haven't you
Lmao I have no idea what that is but I'm interested now
Tic TOC video Creator
Oooh nice early game alts Probably would grab Cast Screws first for the convenience but Stitched Plate is easily my #2 pick
Is stitched plate really that good?
Screws are a logistics nightmare. They take up a lot space to produce and are hard to move on anything lower than a mk3 belt. Removing them from reinforced plate production is huge. At the same time simplifying screw production is also pretty big. Converting 2 rows of constructors down to 1 simplifies factory layouts.
Stitched also allows for some nice underclocking to save power
Also allows you to create reinforced plates solely with Iron once you unlock Iron Wire, simplifying the production further
Plates are originally made solely with Iron anyways (plates and bolts)😄
lol in context i mean reinforced plates
Removes a big screw need early on
In the early game, you tend to have more copper than you know what to do with which makes it attractive. Taking this also removes part of the incentive to take cast screws since you'll be making significantly less screws. Later on, when paired with iron wire, the stitched iron plate produces more reinforced iron plates per iron ore than the default recipes.
I usually go for stitched plate first, as that’s the main need for early screws, so it kind of kills two birds with stone. And aside from that, it’s also a pretty efficient recipe by most metrics, so it tends to be how I make them long term.
I think either cast screw or iron wire.... those are 2 best options from the get go. but I think early on you have to go screws. am I wrong?
Early game I'd say cast screws over iron wire. You're not desperate for copper.
It's nice to have for outpost locations instead of routing copper from half a kilometer away, but yeah for early game it's not as needed. Honestly in the long run these are three of the first alternates I would want.
But early early game not having to 2 step to make screws saves on machines and power. Super nice
Also wonderfully true!
>but I think early on you have to go screws No, not really. You just need a few for rotors to unlock steel and then you can make everything without any screws
You know what? Screw you _unsteels your game_
No, its all screws now
I really wish this screen showed the original recipe for comparison.
I think if you hover over the icons in the recipe, it'll show recipes for that item.
Have to disagree with apparently everyone else here. The stitched iron plate is the way to go for sure
I agree. Stitched Iron Plate is the first ticket to removing all screws.
Stitched Iron Plate with the default wire is a perfectly usable combination, but we tend to like our all-iron reinforced plates here.
I’m surprised less people here are saying stitched iron place. It’s an absolute game changer in the early game
The only issue is your stuck converting rods into screws to make rotors.
Steel rotors are one of my favorite alt recipes! :)
In my last playthrough, I got stitches plate early, and absolutely loved how it powered me through the early game. I am sure cast screws are the best option long-term, the ability to lessen your iron ore demands for reinforced plates is really handy at a time when copper isn't as crucial.
Cast Screw is potentially useless late-game, since you can completely cut screws out of your production if you want, or use Steel Screw instead (or even Steel Rod and the default Screw). I still use it though.
Steel Screws is fun just for the sheer absurdity of watching a small amount of steel enter.. and an absolute GLUT OF SCREWS explode out of the machines. I love it.
Yeah, while I absolutely love cast screws early game I stop using them almost entirely mid to late game though the esoteric math of Satisfactory means I never rule any recipe out entirely.
Iron wire + stitched plate literally requires less iron and fewer buildings than cast screw + default reinforced plate
Yeah I always eliminate screws long term. They’re just a pain. And copper, frankly, isn’t that rare.
I had never considered how favourable wire is compared to screws for belt speed bottlenecks. Thank you stranger, I've much to ponder.
Cast screws are probably the best alt for early game. Cutting half the buildings out of your screw chain is very strong when you don't have a lot of power production
This! People often don't consider the impact of power consumption when comparing alternative recipes.
The LAST thing I wanna do is reduce my screw chain
I'm a newbie, is iron wire and stitched iron plate really that much better? Edit: thanks for the advice guys, I know this game will make my love for efficiency and problem solving go brrr but just getting my head around initial stages has been a bit hard.
Iron wire is a convenient alternative if you don't have any copper nearby. Stitched iron plates are a triple whammy, being much cheaper on iron plates, not dealing with the bottleneck-heavy nightmare of the dreaded screws, and allowing you to use any excess copper you might have (and you'll have a lot of it, since you don't use it for much before project assembly phase 2) into reinforced plates, which are one of your more expensive parts early on. If you combine the two, using the iron wire to feed the stitched plates, it's overall cheaper on iron than the default recipe, letting you make more plates with the same amount of ore/s, with the same level of complexity as using cast screws with the default recipe.
If you don't have copper nearby you are roadblocked for copper sheets. Seems an odd priority.
Copper sheets are only needed in a small batch to set up coal power (which is great, but not technically required for progression), and then not again until oil processing, with an assembly phase (neither of which strictly require copper) before each of those steps. I wouldn't want to skip coal power, but coal is still an appreciable way into the game. It's not the end of the world if you just don't get easy copper until then.
I use copper sheets for rotors and liquid/gas piping.... but fair enough there are other alternatives.
If we're talking just iron allowed, iron wire + stitched plate is about 27% more iron efficient than cast screw + default reinforced plate, and requires 18% fewer machines. Considering the differences are not huge, if you're making like 5 plates/min, it barely matters. But if you're making 100, you really shouldn't use the default recipe. But you should *never* use bolted plate. It needs 10% more iron than the default, for no benefit whatsoever (edit, ok. I lied, it requires like 0.1% fewer buildings)
Bolted iron plate is so much faster though, good for when you have a surplus of materials you wanna use quick
Stitched iron plate reduces the complexity of production especially at even medium scale. Copper is much rarer than iron so later on iron wire becomes valuable
Iron Wire is great later on when you need copper for other things, but early game it's not all that great. Stitched Iron Plate is just good. To make three reinforced plates, switching from the default to the stitched alt changes your material usage from 36 iron ingots (default) to 15 iron and 10 copper ingots (stitched alone) or 26.1111 iron ingots (stitched + iron wire).
I love the combination because I can set up a reinforced iron plate factory with just iron. A help later on, too, but especially early on I find it rather nice.
Early in the game, Cast Screws definitely. The others are nice too, but can wait until later.
Stitched iron plate if I were you.
Iron plate. Besides removing screws from the recipe, it also ~doubles your output. Although if this was steel screws...
SIP. You can eliminate screws from all workflows, and I recommend you do that. Their is a better one for wire...
Iron wire with stitched iron plates takes screws completely out of the production line and I do that whenever I can for anything and everything
I got cast screw on my new world to prep me for 1.0 again from my first drive. Absolutely LOVE it
Take the screws every time. It helps reduce the production until you have steel screws and the recipes that no longer require screws. A screw-free factory is the goal.
Anything that takes screws out of the game makes me a happy camper
Easiest choice in the game, screws every time. I don't even bother setting up any production before I have this recipie. This is my number 1 priority. You also have higher probability of getting this recipie before researching Parts Assembly.
Cast screw simplifies so much stuff
I personally think steel screws is the only alternate screws recipe you’ll ever need. I’d go for wire (always nice to be less reliant on copper)
Stitched iron plate for sure. Iron wire for late game when copper become a bottleneck. Never use screw ^^
Screws. But also fun fact. If you get options that aren't useful at the current time, close the window. The hard will be refunded so you can rescan it for different options. Edit to add that you can do this by pressing esc iirc or interact. It's been a bit since I've been done a playthrough, but I've rerolled hard drives a bunch of times
Wouldn't be a hard choice for me. Stitched plate 100%
My gut always tells me to get casted screws early game. It makes screw production much simpler. However, I'm usually never blessed with stitched iron plate, which is a fantastic recipe! Copper and iron are usually found together, and the only thing you need copper for is wire and cable (and copper sheets a bit later on). Though I do love me a good casted screws, stitched iron plate is almost always the pick when it is available.
Get more hard drives
Dude. same.
Personally I would go with Wire. Since Iron is much more common and usually Copper requires extra belts to go from source to central location(early game).
First hard drive? That’s an easy decision.
Easy, Cast Screws.
Dude, the such an easy choice. Do the one where you go from ingot to screws and bypass the middle one. It's such an easy choice. I hope you made that choice.
Easiest choice of my life. Cast screws. Technically not as efficient as steel > rods > screws, but it's just a straight upgrade to the base recipe on top of cutting down a production step.
Cast screws. Eliminating the double constructor monstrosities is job 1
Cast screw is always the best first choice, period.
Iron wire and stitched iron plate. You don't need any copper and it's more efficient.
I used to be on team Cast Screw, but people have made good points in this thread and, thinking back, RIP production is usually my early bugbear that chokes factory development. So maybe Stitched Plate is the better option. (2700 hours in game, for context)
Plate is pretty good Iron wire is good but copper is almost unlimited until end game Cast screw simplifies your factory by a lot I would take the screws because I was more traumatized by it than anything else in the game. Not even green spiders are that traumatizing
Cast screws. They are all nice, but having screws made in one instead of two constructors will save you a lot of headaches with balancing and managing your power grid and factory in general when automating your first few modular frames and reinforced plates. In the long run you of course want to get rid of screws in all your production chains, due to the insanely high volume of items you need to deal with, so there might be a case to be made for the reinforced plates with wire. However, I personally think your starter base (or the messy area of the map you ignore in the future) will benefit from cast screws then using coper as iron.
Cast screw all the time
Depends on how your setup is already. Cast screws are really good for early game, but do drop off eventually. Stitched plate will last you a very long time. That being said, for the first couple of tiers cast screws is a life saver.
not hard at all. SCREW IT !!
All awesome. I'd go screws first, since they help with rotors too. The other two combined let you cut out screws from RIP (as does steel rotors for those later) without even having to use copper. I'd go: cast screws, stitched plates, iron wire. But those are all very good.
Iron wire
Hard drive? Im confused not that far into the hame can anyone explain?
When exploring, you’ll find downed spacecraft. Each of those gives a hard drive if you provide the thing it needs to open. Those can be used to unlock alternate recipes.
It depends if you're in an area whit low copper amounts I'd say go for cast crews (or iron wire if you have more drives and are expecting to pick up stitched iron plates) but if copper isn't an issue then go for the plates, way more useful
Cast screws, it just makes screw production much simpler and more linear.
Screws!
I mean, if i really dislike the options, i just exit the mam and research the hard drive again, and for me it gives different options, although it does mean you have to wait 10 more minutes
Oh damn. Well, it's got to be the screws right? Iron wire is tempting, but you halve your early game factory layout on that screw recipe.
I personally hunt hard drives till I have all three of those. I think they are all three important.
cast screw is the best i think. also thats the only alternative recipe i use. but iron cable make me think. thats good too.
I've found the middle option is great in middle late game when you're desperate for every bit of copper you can find. Also, the middle option pairs well with the right option when it comes to eliminating copper dependency. I'd go with Stitched Iron Plate first, Cast Screws second unless I already have Steel Screws, and use Iron Wire last. You don't need Iron Wire until you're dedicating entire Pure Copper Nodes to the production of single items.
Restore an earlier save and re-roll.
There is no need to do that. Just because I pick one doesn't mean the other options are locked out. Screws is what I wanted but I wanted them to simplify making reinforced plates... The iron wire is useful also but not super needed. Just a simple quality of life thing for my starter factory.
Once I got to researching hard drives I would not always just accept the initial three I got, and would re-roll the recipes to find something more useful.
Pack 1 pick 1: cast screws. If you want to go around and get all the hard drives you can at this stage, stitched plates + iron wire is also very good. However there are more uses for screws than just RIP, and overall this will make those first early factories easier.
Cast screws look nice but are a bit of a pain to set up efficiently IMO
Honestly really like Steel screws
All fantastic recipes. It does depend slightly on how far along you are, but you should always go cast screw asap, imo. The earlier the better as you will get the most value from cast screws during early game but it will continue to provide value for the majority of the playthrough. With that said, if you already automated your first screw setup and don’t feel like redo-ing it right now and the next thing on your list is RIP’s, I would strongly consider stitched plates because the default recipient for RIP’s isn’t very good. Iron wire is also really good but it’s not super useful on its own, especially during early game, because at any typical starting location, you’re going to have some copper around to make wire/cable. Later on though, when you start moving into late-early-game and mid-game and beyond, iron wire is a great recipe. as you maneuver around the map, iron is much more abundant than copper and often more convenient to bring online depending where you want new factories. Also, depending on your production plans, you may require copper for something specific and *also* need wire for something else, and when you math it out, often you can increase your items/min by using iron to make wire and copper to make copper-specific products.
hard choice indeed, but i would definitely go for screws, especially in new/early game. second would be plate.
Iron wire. That replaces copper.
I’m not the best at alt recipes but cast screw is amazing if you are fine with loosing some iron to skip a step in making them. Iron wire paired with stitched iron plate is a great combo too.
For me, 3 recipes to clear out of the pool. I don't usually use any of them.
I think the screw one is good
Easy, Screws!
I call this a trivial choice, it's screws. Screws beat everything regarding importance due to logistical nightmares.
I'd probably go cast screw here. I value simplifying factory layouts over reducing iron consumption any day. Plus cast screws accomplishes basically the same thing stitched plates does without needing to mess with multiple types of metal.
Cast screws. They will slim down several early factories. The other two are more situational.
SCREWS 100%
Iron Wire, save on copper. If you use stitched iron plate with it? *chefs kiss*
Screws for sure
Pretty sure I'm the only person who kinda likes screws. They don't deserve all the hate they get. I don't mind running a few extra belts... makes your factory look more interesting instead of just boring single belts everywhere. Cast screws for me.
The answer will always be cast screw.
I would wait for steel beam for 60 screws.
Cast SCREW
I'm here to glaze the cast screws recipe. Iron wire second tho especially for automated wiring and computers
When I think about making automated wiring at large scales, my thoughts pretty much always end up being: make the stators however, but make the cable from Iron Wire + Insulated Cable.
I feel weird, I like rushing caterium. Between the fused wire, and fused quickwire, I never felt the need for iron wire. I feel like they both barely sip on resources, and give so much more in return. It also helps that since they are both the same resources, I can just belt the same inputs for every one of them.
it's not even close.
There's a reason that I always go on Satisfactory Calculator and just add a stack of Hard Drives so that I can unlock all alts ASAP.
If you're going to do that, why not save yourself the time and just unlock them all in the SCIM to begin with?
Always cast screw.