I usually get all the way up to arcosphere.. and then start the map again because I've build so many automated versions with tons of grav machines to try and get me back, and I always end up with a bucket load of 1 type, and 1 of almost everything else. At least this'll allow me to get to the end-game, but I feel it's cheating a bit :D

Just FYI: There is a math to arcospheres, and you can reliably and predictably transform them as you need them.

Well yes.. and no. While there may be a formula, it's far from perfect especially when some of the recipes transform to 2 of the same thing and nothing else. Also, each new thing you research provides a new recipe, and therefore a new line for the quadratic, and then the formula again gets skewed by needi.ng a lot of thing a, and none of thing b.
I would love to see a blueprint for a perfect arcosphere line because I spent days on it and never managed to work out a completely balanced production (which then self-corrected every time you used something for construction)

So did I, and I have it, or rather the closest approximation possible. If you have discord, we can talk about it if you'd like. Dullahan#8032

Na.. to be honest once I get to that stage the game just feels like waiting and waiting for Naq to be mined, and there's little else to do that wait for it, so I get bored and start again (with the build challenge).