Early Game Automation — Smelters, Conveyors & Your First Factory

The Automation Threshold

Manual mining works for the first 30 minutes. After that, you must automate. The rule is simple:

If you've crafted something more than 5 times by hand, it's time to automate it.

This guide walks through your first automated production line — iron ingots — and the principles that scale to more complex factories.

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Tier 1: Basic Smelting Array

Your first automated process: ore → ingot. Here's the layout:

Required Components

Component	Amount	Materials	Crafting Time
Mining Drill	1	15 Iron, 10 Copper, 6 Gears	45s
Stone Furnace	1	30 Stone, 10 Clay	30s
Wooden Conveyor	8	8 Wood, 4 Fiber	20s total
Storage Box	2	20 Wood, 10 Iron	20s each
Wind Turbine	2	20 Iron, 8 Copper	30s each

Production Math

Input:  120 Iron Ore / min (one Tier-1 drill on a standard node)
Output: 60 Iron Ingot / min (one Stone Furnace smelting rate)
Loss:   None — 1:2 ratio is exact for Tier-1

Bottleneck: The furnace.
Upgrade to: Brick Furnace (unlocks at 100 smelts crafted)
New Output: 90 Iron Ingot / min

TIP: Place your furnace one tile lower than your conveyor. This creates a natural gravity feed. Actual game mechanic? No. But it looks right and helps you read the flow at a glance.

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Belt Balancing Basics

When you split one belt into two, the split isn't always even. Here's how to balance:

{
  "belt_splitter_formula": {
    "input": "1 belt at 60 items/min",
    "output_a": "30 items/min (straight)",
    "output_b": "30 items/min (side)",
    "note": "Split ratio is exactly 50/50 — verified in v0.3.2 physics"
  }
}

Balanced belts matter because:

Uneven split → One machine starves → Entire line stalls
                                  → You waste minutes debugging
                                  → You rebuild the whole thing
                                  → Repeat three times
                                  → Alt+F4

Save yourself the pain — use a Balancer Block from the start:

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Power Distribution

Your first factory needs power. Here's what works early:

Generator	Material Cost	Power Output	Fuel	Notes
Wind Turbine	20 Iron, 8 Copper	6W	Wind	Inconsistent, best paired with battery
Solar Panel	15 Copper, 10 Silicon	4W	Sunlight	Daytime only, 0 at night
Thermal Generator	25 Iron, 5 Copper	15W	Coal/Wood	Reliable, requires fuel
Hand Crank	10 Iron, 3 Gears	3W	You	Emergency only, drains hunger

Power Math for Early Factory

Mining Drill:     6W × 1 =  6W
Stone Furnace:    4W × 1 =  4W
Conveyor (8 tiles): 0.5W × 8 =  4W
────────────────────────────────
Total Demand:              14W

Recommended supply: 2 Wind Turbines (12W avg) + 1 Solar Panel (4W peak)
= 16W peak, ~10W average — tight but works

WARN: If total supply drops below demand, machines cycle on/off randomly. This causes belt backups that are a nightmare to debug. Always build 20% overhead.

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Blueprint: Starter Factory Layout

Copy this layout exactly for a 3-minute setup:

Layer 1 (Bottom) — Resources
  [Mining Drill] → [Storage Box]
  
Layer 2 (Middle) — Smelting
  ↑ Conveyor ramp ↑
  [Furnace] → [Furnace] → [Furnace]
  
Layer 3 (Top) — Output
  [Storage Box] ← [Storage Box]

# Factory efficiency calculator
def factory_output(drills, furnaces, belt_tier=1):
    ore_per_min = drills * 120
    ingot_per_min = furnaces * (30 if belt_tier == 1 else 45)
    bottleneck = min(ore_per_min, ingot_per_min)
    wastage = abs(ore_per_min - ingot_per_min)
    return {
        "ore_input": ore_per_min,
        "ingot_output": bottleneck,
        "wastage": wastage,
        "efficiency": f"{bottleneck / max(ore_per_min, ingot_per_min) * 100:.0f}%"
    }

print(factory_output(2, 3, 1))
# {'ore_input': 240, 'ingot_output': 90, 'wastage': 150, 'efficiency': '38%'}
# Solution: add more drills or upgrade belts

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Scaling Beyond Iron

Once you have iron automation running, expand in this order:

Iron Ingots (stable) 
    → Copper Ingots (parallel line)
        → Steel production (unlocks at 500 total smelts)
            → Circuit boards (requires copper + silicon)
                → Automated crafting (Tier-2 workbench)

Each tier requires roughly 2× the resources of the previous. Plan your base area accordingly.

TIP: Leave 3× the space you think you need. Every player who said "this is enough room" has rebuilt their factory at least twice. Triple it.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Belt stopped moving	No power	Check turbine connection
Furnace not smelting	No ore on input belt	Check drill → conveyor alignment
Items piling up at splitter	Output belt full	Add more furnaces or storage
Machines cycling on/off	Power deficit	Build more generators
Factory on fire	Unknown	This isn't normal. Report to devs.

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Changelog

Version	Changes	Date
v0.3.2	Belt splitter ratio confirmed 50/50, power consumption values updated	2026-04-30
v0.3.0	Added Hand Crank generator, Solar Panel buffed from 3W→4W	2026-04-15
v0.2.5	Initial publication	2026-03-28