Intro

Compass Valley is a preset map that is available with Factorio Access. It uses the regular world generator but has a specially chosen map seed that generates a pretty neat map. We recommend new players to begin on this map instead of a randomly generated map because it would save them from the headaches of annoying resource distributions, such as ore patches in the middle of forests or cliffs. In addition, having the same map as everyone else can make it easier to discuss how you approach things as you play the game.

To start a new game in Compass Valley, you can select it from among the preset maps.

Compass Valley is a good area to crashland because it has resources scattered in a fairly practical way. The rare and most valuable feature of the map seed is the small oil deposit that is within 150 tiles of the spaceship, while typically oil is located several hundred tiles away and in much larger amounts. The name of the valley comes from its circular shape and its layout providing something useful in roughly every direction of the compass.

The crash site is at co-ordinates zero, zero, which is just east of the 50-tile-wide lake that is at the heart of the valley. Around this lake there is plenty of open space in every direction except for the north. Beyond the open spaces there are forest areas, and around them is a loose ring made of cliffs that mark the edges of the valley. Most of the useful resources are located in the eastern half of the valley and most of the south and west areas are clear enough for building.

Locations

If we take zero zero as our reference point, to the north we have the spaceship wreck and a forest beyond it.

To the northeast is a group of large and huge rocks that provide an easy one-time supply of large amounts of coal and stone.

To the east we have a patch of copper ore. Just south-east of it, and touching it from the corner, is a larger patch of iron ore. A little farther off from the iron ore patch is a coal patch and more huge rocks.

To the south, and slightly again to the east, is a stone patch. Also to the south is another large forest area, just beyond the clearing with a few sparse trees in it.

To the south-west is a large open space that is ideal for building large factory areas. The space stretches until the southwest edge of the valley, which has a third large forest.

To the west, nearby, is the central lake of the valley with its slightly jagged shoreline, serving as a good water supply.

To the northwest, a little beyond the lake, is another large open space that also contains the convenient lone oil deposit.

In terms of terrain, the east of the valley is dry (dirt 1 to dirt 3), with a sandy area just beyond the ore patches. Meanwhile the west half of the valley is lush grass (grass 1 to grass 3) and there is mostly sparse grass (or grass 4) to the south of the crash site and mostly a mixture of dirt variants to the north.

Beyond the cliffs of the valley, if you keep traveling further in any direction, you will find more ore patches, more oil, and also perhaps enemy structures. Some of the significant locations will be noted now:

Far to the north, there is a large iron ore patch among the trees, at +200, -300.

Far to the north-east there is the glowing lake, with uranium ore along its shores, at +250,-120. It is not an ideal spot for mining uranium in large amounts. Beyond this lake is an area with very many oil wells, at +400, -300.

Far to the east, there are more dry lands, with large coal and oil deposits and a few large lakes. Notably, there is a large uranium ore patch at +700, +200.

Far to the south is a large iron ore patch, at -70, +250. There are some stone deposits nearby to it.

Far to the west are more lush areas, and several large lakes.

Map image of Compass Valley

Preset settings

The preset game settings for new players starting on Compass Valley are the following:

1. Resource richness (also known as the density of ore patches) has been set to 400% so that individual mining drills would last longer. Many players like to do this because the starting area ore patches are comparatively shallow and normally you may need to pick up and move around mining drills very often as the ore runs out.

2. Cliff generation has been largely scaled down so that cliffs are not snakey and like mazes to navigate through, but instead they are sparse and mostly rectangular.

3. Enemies have been set to peaceful mode so that they do not attack, even if you go near them, unless you attack them first. This makes combat optional, except for when you need to clear enemies away from a new and distant resource patch. Peaceful mode is a popular choice for many first-time players who want to learn the main mechanics of the game before learning combat. It also suits the mod because combat is only partially accessible right now.

4. In connection with making combat optional, enemy bases start farther away from the crash site than usual. Also, enemy evolution is tuned so that time does not affect it but destroying enemy bases affects it a lot and pollution affects it much less than usual.

5. All other settings are the default settings.

If you prefer to use the same map seed but define your own set of game settings, the seed for the Compass Valley map is 381 406 12 04.

Tips

• A great thing to do early on is to mine some huge rocks so that you get large amounts of coal and stone quickly.

• The lake shore to the west and northwest of the crash site is good for setting up some steam power. You can run a coal belt directly north from the coal patch and then westward from just north or south of the crash site. It is practical to leave a few tiles of space between the waterside and the boilers, and to bring part of the water supply pipe underground so that you can walk around the area easily.

• The south and southwest clearings are big enough to fit most or all of your factory. There is only a handful of trees amid these areas and the dense forests mark the south and west edges.

• Keep in mind the general factory building tips such as keeping ore patches clear so that they can be mined later, and leaving plenty of space between every production area (such as 10 tiles) in case you need to cross new belts across the factory.

• You can use the early game achievements for guidance. Click here to go to that page.

Space Measurements

• The lake in the valley's center has a messy shape but it fits within a rectangle that is 50 tiles wide and 55 tiles high, except for one of the extra puddles in the Northeast corner.
• From the East edge of the lake until the ore patches, there are 60 tiles.
• From the South edge of the lake until the thick part of the South Forest, there are 75 tiles.
• From the North edge of the lake until the thick part of the North Forest, there are 20 tiles.
• The oil well is also about 20 tiles North from the North edge of the lake, and it is 25 tiles West from the West edge.
• West Clearing: After the oil pool, there is a large clearing in the West of the valley about 100 tiles wide and over one hundred tiles high before meeting any large obstacles both in the North and the South directions. It overlaps with the South Clearing.
• South Clearing: The South part of the valley is a clearing that is about 75 tiles high and 240 tiles wide, marked at the edges by the lake to the North, the ore patches to the East, and the Southern Forest, and the Western Forest boundaries. It overlaps with the West Clearing.
• Northeast Clearing: This large clearing begins at the Northeast corner of the main spaceship wreckage. It is about 100 tiles wide until reaching a forest in the East and similarly 120 tiles high up to the North. It extends out of the boundaries of the valley that are normally marked by the four edge forests.

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