• 8 Posts
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Joined 1 month ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2025

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  • I don’t play in creative mode, or with any cheats, if that’s what you’re asking. This save started from scratch and unlocked as I went along. It’s my 3rd or 4th one, and is tied for the farthest I’ve ever progressed.

    After going through the early game a few times now, I think my recommendation is a mix between the two: beeline (however much you’re comfortable with) to a certain midpoint, where you’ve got most of the real powerful stuff unlocked, then start being more methodical/thoughtful/permanent. In this playthrough, I started building permanent stuff after unlocking coal power and Mk.3 belts, and I think that was actually early. I think I should have waited for Mk.4 belts. That ensures you have access to all the really important cosmetic buildables, like pillars and beams, as well as some really important functional stuff like smart splitters and trains.












  • I don’t do budgeting, per-se. For personal expenses, the idea of pre-planning everything we’re going to spend just seems like overkill. Maybe that’s just cause we’re not close enough to the poverty line for real financial hardship. But I find a reactive approach works well, rather than proactive.

    I keep an accounting ledger that I update every 1-2 weeks. The ledger is just a big Excel (actually LibreOffice Calc) file that I setup with some formulas and pie charts to make it easy to see when expenses are outpacing income, and what our biggest expenses are if we need to cut down for a while (spoilers: it’s utilities and food).

    I’ve tried a handful of different free accounting applications in the past, but never found one I liked for the above purposes. I ended up starting a project to make my own, like a year ago, but I haven’t gotten around to finishing it. The spreadsheet approach has been working well enough. All the custom app would do is help automate the data entry.