Traveling to other planets in Factorio: Space Age requires a spaceship, which is constructed in orbit from a space platform. You simply create the design and launch the construction resources via rockets.
Once the ship is assembled, you can fly to the space platform yourself—though it’s a shame you can only take your armor and weapons, as you have to completely clear out your inventory, including ammo. Then again, who says you can't stash resources in the ship's cargo hold and then drop them off on the target planet right after you arrive?
Ship's equipment
1) Production compartment
There are only three resources in space:
- Ice
- Carbon
- Iron
You receive one of the asteroids depending on which one the collectors catch—and only after it has passed through the crusher. Rocket fuel is crafted from three basic resources at chemical plants: water is made from ice; fuel oxidizer is produced from iron and water; and the rocket fuel itself is created from carbon and water.
You can also smelt the iron into metal for crafting basic turret ammo.
The design error in the screenshot above is having two iron crushers. The correct solution is to place two for ice, one for carbon, and one for iron.
2) Logistics compartment
Here, conveyors transport ice, carbon, and iron to chemical plants, while turret ammunition is unloaded from the space hub to avoid waiting for it to be crafted from iron.
3) Fuel and energy compartments
Four chemical plants: two of them melt ice into water and store it in tanks; the third produces fuel oxidizer from water and iron; and the last one manufactures the rocket fuel itself from carbon and water.
I had to install a large number of batteries and solar panels—while there was still space—because laser turrets had to be added to the design. But why, if there’s no one to fight in space?
Space is not empty
Halfway to another planet, you might realize that space is anything but empty—there are vast numbers of asteroids between planets and in orbit that will simply tear your ship apart for spare parts if you lack turrets and the ammo to feed them.
This is the second ship I’ve built; the first one flew without laser turrets, with a minimal supply of ammo, and without an item buffer at the hub for instant replacement in the event of ship destruction.
It ended with the ship arriving at the planet Vulcan completely out of ammunition, while asteroids slowly began tearing the structure apart. The decision was made to land on the planet and send the ship back to the base on Novis, where there are no asteroids in orbit.
Only half the ship made it to the base; chunks of ice and rock had smashed away the entire upper manufacturing section and parts of the power systems along the flanks during the transit. Yet, as long as the engines functioned and the hub remained intact, the ship managed to break through to its home location, where it could be rebuilt in autonomous mode by launching resources from the base into orbit.
The Twitch streamers generally build ships that are three or four times smaller—featuring a sensible design, a single engine, and lower resource costs. After all, the more engines you have, the faster you fly—and the more asteroids you end up smashing into with your face. The principle of "slow and steady wins the race" works perfectly here.
Arrival
As I recall, the story was that if a ship ran out of fuel halfway there, gravity would pull it into the orbit of the nearest planet. It’s best to test that out.
Upon arriving at the planet, you launch yourself onto the surface via rocket, followed by the necessary resources from the ship's cargo bay. You can then send the ship back to base for supplies: while you're busy crafting, it will fly to Nauvis on its own, load up with items based on your filters, and return to you.
Additionally
I’d also like to add the Twitch channel of Tatusyaka, a speedrunner and holder of *Factorio* world records: