Factorio
A construction and automation game where you crash-land on an alien planet and build a factory that mines, smelts, and manufactures at ever-larger scale. No bosses, just the science pack tech ladder you climb by feeding colored packs into labs.
The science pack ladder
| Pack | Color | Unlocks | Key ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automation | Red | The first pack. Hand-crafted at first to bootstrap automation. | Copper plate, Iron gear wheel |
| Logistic | Green | Belts and inserters, and most basic tech once automated with red. | Transport belt, Inserter |
| Military | Grey | Combat and defense technology. | Piercing rounds magazine, Grenade, Wall |
| Chemical | Blue | Oil processing and plastic. The first real complexity jump. | Sulfur, Advanced circuit, Engine unit |
| Production | Purple | Trains, modules, and electric smelting. | Rail, Electric furnace, Productivity module |
| Utility | Yellow | The most complex pack. Robots, blue circuits, rocketry intermediates. | Processing unit, Flying robot frame, Low density structure |
| Space science | White | Base game: infinite research only. Space Age reworks the recipe. | Base game: launch a Satellite from a Rocket silo |
| Metallurgic (Space Age) | Orange | Vulcanus pack, made in the Foundry from free molten metal. | Molten copper, Tungsten carbide, Tungsten plate |
| Electromagnetic (Space Age) | Pink | Fulgora pack, made in the Electromagnetic plant. | Accumulator, Electrolyte, Holmium solution, Supercapacitor |
| Agricultural (Space Age) | Green | Gleba pack, made in the Biochamber. Spoils over time. | Bioflux, Pentapod egg |
| Cryogenic (Space Age) | Cyan | Aquilo pack, made in the Cryogenic plant. Gates the endgame. | Fluoroketone (cold), Ice, Lithium plate |
| Promethium (Space Age) | Dark | Deep-space pack for the deepest infinite research. | Biter egg, Promethium asteroid chunk, Quantum processor |
Factorio 2.0 (free) and the paid Space Age expansion both released October 21, 2024.
Top tips
- Automate everything you use more than a couple of times. Twenty minutes of automating early saves hours later.
- Get red and green science automated and feeding labs early. That is the first real milestone.
- Leave space. Whatever footprint you think you need, double it. A cramped start forces spaghetti.
- Run a loose main bus. Two iron, two copper, one green circuit, and one steel belt is enough to learn on. A clear direction of flow matters more than a strict layout.
- Fix the start of the chain before the end. Do not scale assemblers while the factory is starved for ore. Feed the front first.
- Set up oil as soon as you reach blue (chemical) science. It is the first big complexity jump and blocks a lot of tech.
- Manage pollution to manage attacks. Enemies only attack when pollution reaches a nest, and pollution drives evolution.
- Do not over-clear nests early. Each spawner kill nudges evolution up, so clear what you must, not the whole map.
- Research for your current bottleneck, not the flashiest tech. The main path is to unlock the next science tier, then branch.
- Use blueprints once you understand a design, so you stop hand-placing the same smelter column over and over.
Guides
ratios
- Key Ratios quick
The handful of community ratios worth memorizing: smelting, mining, science assemblers, and oil cracking. Verify any exact build against a calculator.
- Starter Blueprints and Builds quick
What to build first, the loose main bus, and why you should teach yourself the ratios before importing other people's blueprint strings.
progression
- The Science Pack Ladder quick
The whole tech spine on one page. The six base-game packs, the Space Age planet packs, what each gates, and the order you climb them.
- Space Age Planet Order quick
The commonly recommended first-playthrough planet order, why Vulcanus goes first, and why Aquilo is saved for last.
planets
- Nauvis: The Starting Planet deep
The home planet and the only place in the base game. Every base-game ore, crude oil, uranium, and the biters whose attacks your pollution invites.
- The Space Age Planets deep
Vulcanus, Fulgora, Gleba, and Aquilo, plus the space platforms that carry you between them. What each planet gives you and the challenge each one sets.
systems
- Belts, Inserters, and Logistic Bots deep
The three ways material moves around your factory: belts for steady high throughput, inserters to load and unload, and logistic robots for messy low-throughput delivery.
- Circuits and Combinators deep
The circuit network wires buildings together and controls them with signals. Optional for finishing the game, essential for tight self-regulating designs.
- Trains deep
Trains move large quantities of material over long distances, which belts cannot do efficiently. They arrive around the purple-science era and scale the late game.
- Power and Nuclear deep
From coal-fired steam to solar, nuclear reactors, and Space Age fusion. How each power tier works and when to step up to the next.
- Oil Processing and Fluids deep
The first big complexity jump. Crude oil refines into three fractions you have to balance, and fluids move through pipes that have throughput limits over distance.