Factory Automation Beginner's Guide

Factory automation is the backbone of StarRupture. Without it, you will spend all your time manually crafting items instead of exploring, fighting, and progressing. This guide walks you through setting up your first automated production lines and understanding the core factory mechanics.

The Production Pipeline

Every production chain follows the same pattern: Extract raw ore, transport it via Rail to a processing building, transform it into refined materials, and then transport those to the next stage. The basic pipeline is: Ore Excavator to Smelter (makes bars), Smelter to Fabricator (makes components), and then components to specialized buildings like the Furnace, Refinery, Mega Press, or Assembler for advanced products.

Extractors

Each resource type has a dedicated extraction building. The Ore Excavator handles Titanium, Wolfram, and Calcium deposits. The Helium-3 Extractor works on purple geysers. The Sulfur Extractor collects from dangerous sulphur vents. The Goethite Laser Drill handles late-game Goethite deposits. Place extractors directly on top of resource deposits and connect their output socket to a Rail heading toward your processing area.

Processing Buildings

The Smelter is your first processor, turning raw ore into bars. The Fabricator takes bars and produces components (rods, sheets, wire, plates, powder). The Furnace handles high-temperature recipes like Ceramics (Wolfram Powder + Calcite Sheet). The Refinery processes Helium-3 into advanced materials. The Mega Press and Assembler are late-game buildings for the most complex recipes, often requiring components from multiple production chains.

Rail Connections

Rails are one-directional: they carry items from one building's output socket to another building's input socket. Each building has a fixed number of input and output sockets. When connecting buildings, pay attention to the rail direction arrows. A common beginner mistake is connecting rails backward. Rails also distribute power across your base, so every building connected to the rail network shares the same power grid.

Your First Automated Line

Start simple. Place one Ore Excavator on a Titanium deposit, connect it by Rail to a Smelter, and then connect the Smelter to a Fabricator. Add a Solar Generator v1 to the rail network for power. This gives you automated Titanium Bar and Titanium Rod production. Duplicate this setup for Wolfram Ore to get Wolfram Bars and Wolfram Wire flowing. With these two lines running, you can focus on exploration and combat while your factory handles material production.

Balancing Production Ratios

One Ore Excavator may not produce enough raw ore to keep a Smelter running at full capacity, or one Smelter may produce bars faster than a single Fabricator can consume them. Pay attention to which buildings are idle and which have backed-up inventories. If a Smelter is always full of output, you need more Fabricators downstream. If a Smelter is always waiting for input, you need more Ore Excavators upstream. Balanced ratios are critical for efficient production.

Storage Depots

Storage Depot v1 and v2 act as buffers in your production lines. Place them between production stages to absorb surplus output during high-production periods and feed downstream buildings during low-production periods. Storage depots are also useful as central warehouses where you can manually retrieve items you need for construction or deliveries.