🆕 Beginners Tips

First 30 Minutes

1. Mine 10 iron + 5 copper ore by hand (F key)
2. Craft a burner miner, place it on a coal patch, fuel with 5 coal
3. Build a stone furnace — smelt iron plates
4. Craft 10 more burner miners — 5 on iron, 5 on copper
5. Build assembling machine 1 — hand-craft gears for its first cycle
6. Research Automation (10 red science packs)
7. Set up red science: 5 assemblers = 45 SPM

Key Early Resources

Resource	First Use	Later Use
Iron ore	Plates → gears, belts, assemblers	Everything
Copper ore	Plates → wires, circuits	Circuits
Coal	Burner fuel, power	Plastic, grenades
Stone	Furnaces, rails	Walls, concrete

Iron gears are the bottleneck. Run 2+ gear assemblers at all times.

Science Setup

Red science: 1 copper plate + 1 iron gear → 1 pack.

SPM Target	Assemblers	Gear Makers	Copper/min
30 (starter)	3	1	22.5
45 (solid)	5	2	37.5
60 (fast)	7	3	52.5

Green science: 1 inserter + 1 belt → 1 pack. For 45 SPM, you need 6 science assemblers + 2 belt assemblers + 2 inserter assemblers.

Lab chaining: Feed science onto a belt past the labs. Use inserters to pull from the belt and pass between labs.

Science Progression

Science	Color	Components
Automation	Red	Iron gear + copper plate
Logistic	Green	Belt + inserter
Military	Gray	Piercing rounds + walls + grenades
Chemical	Blue	Engine + red circuit + sulfur
Production	Purple	Electric furnace + productivity + advanced circuit
Utility	Yellow	Processing unit + flying robot frame + efficiency
Space	White	All sciences + satellite

Factory Layout

The Main Bus

Run parallel belts of common materials through your factory. Leave 3-4 spaces between lanes for underground belts.

Starter 4-lane bus: 4 iron plate belts → 4 copper plate belts → 1 steel belt → 1 green circuit belt → 1 plastic belt → gaps.

Direct insertion saves belts and UPS: smelter → wire assembler → green circuit assembler → bus.

Scaling Up

Don't tear down your starter base — just build a new, larger section elsewhere. Each expansion should triple your output.

Biter Management

Biters attack when your pollution cloud touches their nests.

Early Defense

• 4-6 turrets near the base, hand-fed yellow ammo
• 1 radar to reveal biter positions
• Clear nests inside the pollution cloud with Submachine Gun + 100 ammo

When to Expand

Signal	Action
Pollution hits nests	Clear those nests
Biter kills a turret	Add 2 wall layers + more turrets
Attacks at 3+ points	Full perimeter wall
Evolution hits 25%	Upgrade to red (piercing) ammo

Common Mistakes

1. Piping oil long-distance — use trains or barrels instead
2. Overbuilding before automation — belts before assemblers
3. Skipping efficiency modules — T1 modules in miners cut pollution by 30%
4. Belting everything late-game — bots are better for high-value items
5. No solar buffer — build 10-20 panels before coal runs low
6. Manual crafting mid-game — if you hand-make it, automate it next
7. Keeping stone furnaces — upgrade to steel (2× speed) when you have steel