This is a cross-post from r/factorio - feel free to upvote there for visibility :) Thank you!

I’m back, baby, and so is my mall! All fresh, sexy, and ready for you to use! Based on my past designs and remade for 2.0.

https://preview.redd.it/qjo9es86axwd1.jpg?width=2774&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ff3c2d17c0faee74575f4d1cb80abbf7501e6ce

But what is it?

If you’re familiar with my past design, you could call it “Modular Mall V3.0 for 2.0 - A Mall to end all Mall Designs,” but frankly, I never really liked that title.

I don’t want to stop you from designing your own mall from scratch—that’s half the fun! But if you don’t wanna do that, then this is definitely the best mall for you!

Right, but what is it really?

TL;DR: A mall that fits YOUR needs. No fuss, no nonsense. Easy to use, clean, and convenient.
Place any module in any order, leave out what you don’t need, and place multiple of what you need more of.
Based on a proven design, updated to 2.0 changes and with valuable feedback incorporated.

Blueprints and Pictures are at the bottom.

In case you know the old version there’s a changelog at the bottom as well including some notes on design decisions. Otherwise, let me hit you with a wall of text:

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1. Features & Design Philosophy
2. Major Changes for v3.0
3. What it doesn’t do
4. Call for Feedback
5. Blueprint, Pictures & Changelog

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1) Features & Design Philosophy

Before I go into the design constrains and features, let me sell you on it with a pitch like last time:

Do you suffer from one or more of these issues after grabbing a mall blueprint from the internet?

• You don’t need any trains for your robot empire—but it required at least 9001 new bots per hour? No problemo! Skip the trains and make more bots—yes more! (Also heresy! All hail the train!)
• You don’t know no circuit wizardry and don’t want nuffin of them cursed magic thingies in your mall? Just save the space! Can’t feel inferior if it’s not even in your mall!
• Don’t like running down your mall to grab turrets because that idiot creator put them at the very end? No one got time to waste in a death-world—put them at the front and show those biters who’s boss!
• Your solar farm is still too small, but production can’t keep up? And why is there even steam in that mall... or nuclear? Don’t they know true power is harnessed from the sun? Get rid of it—heck, place more solar production! :)
• Impress your friends, impress the ladies (or boys)—heck, impress your mom! You can say “I designed this mall,” and it’ll be… well… sorta kinda technically true, I guess? :)

So what is it, and why does it do the things it does the way it does?

• One Mall for Everyone: 13 Elements, 4 Mainbus connector styles & infinite combinations.
• 2 Layout options: normal & double wide that still fits between roboports.
• Place in the order of YOUR liking.
• Need something badly? ADD multiple versions of the same module.
• Don’t need something? LEAVE it out!
• Now you changed your mind? Just add it back in!
• This mall grows with you, your needs, and your research progression—truly modular.
• Accessible and useful early (red/green science tech)—includes a convenient upgrade planner for later too.
• Made for everyone—non-discriminatory and inclusive: Even for those weird people who don’t belt their gears.
• For real though this should work for everyone - even without Space Age in 2.0 unless I missed something (let me know!)
• Compact design to keep things neatly together to save you time on your shopping spree.
• You’re tired of going to the store in the real? Don’t want to grab items from chest? Upgrade to Bot-Prime same-day delivery with Provider Chest for every product.
• All Chests pre-limited to sane amounts to not waste resources on e.g. 2900 Lights? (we all been there..)
• Insane amount of underground belts? ✅ Check!
• No complicated belt-management or merging. Just add inputs as labeled and the Mainbus-Connector does the rest.
• Supports piped and bot-delivered lubricant.
• Everything relevant is belted for throughput; only concrete (2 items require it), reinforced concrete (2 items require it), and processing units (1 item requires it) are using requester chests—but you can either hand feed or side load if you prefer that.
• Fits between roboports if you use a roboport-grid for your base.
• Lights included so you can even resupply at night & straight power pole lines for those who are OCD about it.

2) Major Changes

• Recipe changes and feature updates for 2.0:
  • E.g. no more filter inserters (Hooray! Those never made sense to me as a separate thing).
  • This also resulted in merging of the old power and inserter modules.
  • Used the new parameters where they made sense (TIPP: for single parameter blueprints, the info on what is required of you is hidden in the header bar of the window.)
• Made changes to previous bottlenecks based on playtests and feedback.
• Adjusted design to be more convenient early on, when you are most likely to start the mall (red/green science only).
• Added support for Logistic Network Embargo Achievement.
• Split the Upgrade Planner into 3 different tools: Belts, Assemblers & Chests so you can adapt to your progression.
• “Wait does that mean… no more logistic chests?! Are you insane?” Yes—I mean maybe—but hear me out: When you start using the mall, you likely won’t have the research already, so you end up manually replacing them with regular chests anyways. Using regular chests from the start and giving you a tool to put them all back with 1 easy click makes the early game more convenient, helps those that want to play without bots for various reasons (achievements!), and while it seems like a step back at first, it made it feel better during actual play. Designing is one thing—actually using it is another. Give it a try and let me know if I was right or wrong.
• I finally added some Ammunition. Yes, I always said I would make a second combat mall, but I never really felt the need for it. More importantly, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not as vital to automate all the combat things, as it is to automate some of the ammunition for all of the players—for that reason you get Shotgun Shells and Magazines. And since it is module-based, you can still leave it out if you play on peaceful.
• What about capsules? Read the Feedback section below :) But the quick and dirty answer is this: I am guilty of never using them so I tried forcing myself by including them. I mean heck, there is an entire research tree around them, so I wanted to encourage myself to get in the habit early by including the option to play with them. I tried to keep it small for compactness but I fear I went too small with it. I just don’t know how many you really need since I never used them. Likely I’ll either make a proper (probably quite large) module for them or leave them out entirely. Do read the feedback section please and let me know!

3) What it doesn’t do:

• I won’t include any items that require you to venture to space for its ingredients. Once you get there, you’ll know it doesn’t make sense to add it to a belt-based mall like this, AND it should keep this mall working for all Factorio 2.0 players—even those without Space Age.
• It doesn’t mess with quality. Feel free to add quality modules, but to seriously produce any quality items in numbers you need a dedicated setup—but you can use this mall to build that :)
• I still won’t add Labs. And you can’t convince me that they are essential for a mall either. We both know you won’t ever touch them again after your science setup is done :)
• No wood or burner items outside the steam power module.
• It doesn’t include combat items that benefit from having its own, larger production due to using unique ingredients (e.g. explosives) and/or having slow production times.
• Same goes for modules—build a dedicated module (sub-)factory and thank me later.
• Aside from Labs, it also doesn’t include items you will likely need in very low quantities during your playthrough and/or want high-quality versions of (combat armor, armor modules, did I mention labs?, vehicles, …)

4) Call for Feedback

While I am quite happy with the current design, I know I’m biased. So please share your thoughts or criticisms with me. Did I miss something? Is something not working? Would you do it all differently? Even if we disagree, I’d love to hear your input on features or changes. If your need isn’t a very niche one and your argument is solid, I will include it in the next iteration.

In fact, even tell me if it’s all perfect already—appreciation aside, that too is valuable feedback :)

Most of all, I am currently curious about how people’s actual playtest experience is with this mall, as well as the combat capsules in the alternative ammo module. Did you use them? Did such small production keep up with your needs? Should I make a separate, larger module, or does no one use them anyways and I should remove that alternative module version because it’s unnecessary bloat/feature-creep?

5)

• Blueprint String: click me!
• Changelog: click me!
• Pictures: click me!
• FactorioBlueprint.tech: click me!
• FactorioPrints: click me!

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This is the first in multiple blueprints I plan to share for Space Age and Factorio 2.0:

• Modular Mall: You are here!
• Grid-based Rail System: [LINK to post goes here when it is out]
• Grid-based Defences: [LINK to post goes here when it is out]
• Maybe more? :)