FactoryPlanner VS factorio-replay-timelapse

(Or you can just use a site like factoriolab or a mod like factory planner to do the math for you and have perfect ratios anyway. The only wrong way to play is whatever way you don't find fun.)

Use Factory Planner to figure this kind of stuff out. https://mods.factorio.com/mod/factoryplanner

SE has quite complex recpies, especially for space science and processing of the new ores. I would have stopped playing a long time ago if it hadn't been for planner mods like Factory Planner ( https://mods.factorio.com/mod/factoryplanner ). I found Helmod's interface to be rather complicated so I mostly use Factory Planner even though I keep both around (Helmod provides some additional options like planning your build around the amount of available ingredients or number of crafting machines). With the "matrix solver" feature, you can plan a factory layout that produces the amount of materials you need and takes care of most/all byproducts. This makes the process of planning fun instead of tedious and then putting it in action and watching your new factory section go brrrrrr as it produces a new shiny thing for you to enjoy feels very rewarding.

Using a planner like YAFC, Foreman, Helmod, and Factory Planner is highly recommended. Also, the following mods are recommended for a megabase needed to finish a high-multiplier game:

FactoryPlanner or Helmod - Helps designing production chains. Quite complex at start, but well worth it. Factory Planner is the newer and cleaner design.

Factory planner. This mod allows you to plan out the production before hand (makes making everything pretty way easier as you know how many machines are needed)

Secondarily, you could use a mod like Helmod and/or Factory Planner to help you figure out how to make items. These mods are better focused for chains - i.e. breaking down an item (e.g. a science pack) down into smaller parts (e.g. ores), but they can also serve the function of letting you know which machine to use for which recipe.

I personally use the Factory Planner mod because it has some nice in-game features like automatic blueprints from the calculation.

I think you can specify a save file in the CLI when launching the game. In that case you could automate unpacking the save zip, append a screenshot command to the control.lua, then launch the unpacked save directory with the CLI, and it'll automatically take the screenshot at launch. You could take some inspiration from my timelapse tool for parts of that.

I'll also plug my own tool, which works with a replay save rather than the live game.

The script, and a collection of related tools, is available here: https://github.com/emlun/factorio-replay-timelapse