Once your first setup works, the next gains usually come from cleanup. Fewer leaks. Better routing. Smarter containment. More respect for what the environment is already doing. This is where the game starts rewarding judgment instead of panic.
A stronger factory rarely comes from a single trick. It shows up as tighter loops, shorter support paths, and layouts that let the environment work with you instead of against you.
Steam that leaves the system is completed work thrown away. Contain it so the Dryer and Condenser get their input, instead of letting the loop bleed value.
Checkpoint: no steam escapes and the Dryer and Condenser keep running on their input.
Overly long routes add travel time and jam points. Redraw each line to the shortest path that still feeds its machine, and group related systems close together.
Checkpoint: material reaches every machine over a shorter line with nothing backing up.
Terrain like lava can route or contain a flow you would otherwise build machines to move. Read what the environment already does before adding more gear to fight it.
Checkpoint: terrain holds a boundary the machines no longer need to contain.
Each leak above points to the deeper page that fixes it.
Dryer, Condenser, and how to keep the gas in the loop instead of the air.
Evaporation, corner leaks, and building reservoirs that hold their level.
Footprints that keep support paths short and the loop contained.
The habits that stop these leaks from creeping back as the factory grows.