Factorio early game walkthrough [1.0]: tips on how to ace your first hour

14.08.2020

Factorio early game walkthrough

Skip beneath if you wish to get caught straight into my Factorio early game walkthrough. But first, a few factors price rapidly mentioning:

I’m utilizing a number of non-game-changing Factorio mods on this walkthrough (Bottleneck, Even Distribution, EvoGUI, and Squeak Through). All of those will be present in our Factorio mods for 1.0 information. None of them change the game, so that you’ll nonetheless have the ability to use this walkthrough as a information to your personal games.
I’m on no account a Factorio grasp, nor a speed-runner. But I do have 850 hours in Factorio on the time of writing, and I understand how to start out sturdy in a brand new world. Hopefully you’ll achieve some use from this walkthrough.
The seed for the world on this walkthrough is 759782236, in the event you want to play alongside in the identical world as me.

This is the world and game setup that I used for this Factorio walkthrough.

Note: the rationale it says “Default [modified]” within the top-left is as a result of I set the Research queue availability to “Always”. The world itself has not been altered in any means.

Starting a brand new game of Factorio

First step is establishing your new world. If you’re the kind to go away your world as much as probability, then skip this part. Otherwise, there are some things you would possibly wish to search for when selecting your world:

Plenty of close by iron, copper, and coal (and at the very least a bit of stone).
All the ore patches clustered round your beginning space ought to ideally have a little bit of area between them.
Green areas with loads of forest will assist soak up some air pollution, which can provide you extra time earlier than the Biters come a-knocking.
Look for pure chokepoints to assist with defending your manufacturing unit, however make certain the area you’re left with is giant sufficient to suit all the things you want.

I’d additionally advocate that Factorio newcomers allow Peaceful Mode earlier than they start, as this can forestall Biters from attacking you till you assault them for the primary time.

Once you’re joyful together with your world and game settings, let’s get began.

Step 1: Iron, Coal, Copper, and Stone

Your first steps ought to contain getting absolutely the fundamental sources up and operating. Here’s what I do:

If there are giant rocks close by, then mine them earlier than you do anything. These rocks offer you coal in addition to stone, and they’re by far the quickest method to receive these sources early on.
You begin with a single drill and a furnace in your stock. Place the drill on high of some iron, place the furnace adjoining in order that the drill feed straight into it, and place some coal in each.
Manually mine some coal whilst you await the furnace to smelt iron ore into plates.

When you get sufficient plates and stone, create a few new drills and place them in your coal patch, each feeding into one another. Then place 1 coal inside one of many drills. This supplies an limitless supply of coal till each drills are stuffed up. You can now periodically return and accumulate coal from these drills everytime you want extra coal.
Continue to construct new drills and furnaces as you get sufficient plates, and place them onto your iron patch so you’ll be able to enhance your iron plate manufacturing price.
After you’ve gotten maybe 5 pairs of miners/furnaces on iron, place a brand new pair on the closest copper patch.
Next, place a drill or two on stone, and have them merely output uncooked stone right into a chest.
Continue filling your drills and furnaces with coal, and constructing extra of each, till you’ve gotten round 8-16 pairs on iron, 4-10 on coal (all feeding into one another), 1-Three on copper, and 1-Three on stone.

While all this is happening, chop a couple of timber (prioritise timber which might be on high of your ore patches, as they’ll have to be eliminated anyway), and proceed to mine any giant rocks within the neighborhood.

The beginnings of Steam Power and Science

After you’ve bought the fundamentals arrange on every of your 4 ore patches (which ought to solely take about 5-10 minutes), you’ll have to get energy up and operating so you can begin researching new applied sciences. Here’s what to do:

Build an Offshore Pump, a Boiler, two Steam Engines, and 10-20 Pipes.
Find the closest supply of water which has a considerable amount of empty land adjoining, and place your Offshore Pump on the coast.
At this level I like to position down a blueprint for my future Steam Power module of my manufacturing unit, so I can plan forward by way of area and sources. You can discover the precise blueprint I take advantage of on our Factorio blueprints information.

Whether or not you employ a blueprint, join your Boiler to your Offshore Pump, and join your two Steam Engines to your Boiler (you’ll be able to chain Steam Engines collectively in a line with a Boiler on the sting, and each Engines will take within the Steam from the Boiler).
Construct some Small Wooden Poles. Place one adjoining to your Steam Engines, after which place one or two extra, extending out in a line to a close-by patch of free area.
Around your last pole, place two Labs. Then hit “T” (by default) to carry up your Research display, and choose Automation as your first tech to analysis.
Craft 10 Red Science, inserting them inside your Labs (break up evenly between each) as and once you end crafting them, till the Automation expertise is accomplished.
If you’ve gotten free time whilst you wait, verify again in your ore patches, ensuring all the things is fuelled and amassing any iron, copper, coal, and stone you’ve obtained.

Generally in Factorio you’ll wish to minimise the quantity of handbook crafting you do. But to try this, you’ll have to analysis Automation, which unlocks the Assembling Machine. Once you’ve completed that, we are able to begin to make life simpler.

First steps in the direction of automation

Want to know what “making life easier” seems to be like? Check the screenshot beneath.

It might look advanced, however it’s useless simple to arrange, and it means you’ll by no means need to manually assemble Red Science ever once more. In a nutshell, this tiny module turns iron plates into gears, after which turns these gears (together with copper plates) into Red Science, that are then fed into your Labs. Automatically. This is once you begin really taking part in Factorio.

You will want: 3 Assembling Machines, 7 Inserters, 2 Iron Chests, and sufficient Small Electric Poles to energy all of it.
Deconstruct your two Labs, since you’ll be utilizing them as a part of this building. Use the above screenshot as a information when inserting every element, and ensure the inserters are all oriented accurately (use “Alt-Mode” to view all orientations by tapping Left Alt).
Fill the highest chest with Copper Plates and the underside chest with Iron Plates. For the time being, you’ll have to manually refill these chests when wanted.
Once this automated analysis advanced is ready up, queue up the next techs on this order:
- Logistics (provides you Underground Belts and Splitters)
- Military (provides you the Submachine Gun)
- Turrets (provides you Turrets… duh)
- Electronics (required with a view to analysis…)
- Fast Inserter (once more, fairly self-explanatory)
- Logistic Science Pack (provides you inexperienced science, which is required for many techs within the game)
- Weapon Shooting Speed 1 (makes you and your turrets extra highly effective)
You might discover that this meeting space will construct Red Science sooner than your Labs can use them. This being the case, all it’s essential to do is construct a pair extra Labs and daisy-chain them along with Inserters, as per the screenshot beneath:

Your first venture: Full Steam Power Module

So far you’ve gotten hopefully been filling up gaps in your time topping up your mining areas with coal, and amassing iron and copper plates out of your furnaces. But as soon as Logistics is researched you can begin to busy your self together with your first main venture: increasing your Steam Power module.

A single Offshore Pump supplies sufficient water for 20 Boilers, which collectively generate sufficient steam to energy 40 Steam Engines. Steam Engines are bloody costly to construct manually, so we gained’t hassle with all of these but – however we are able to place down all the things else in preparation, then add Engines progressively to satisfy our steadily rising energy demand.
The blueprint I take advantage of accommodates two such Steam Power modules, and when stuffed it’ll take us very comfortably via the early game and far of the mid-game too. The Boilers are fed by a belt of coal which we weave round units of burner inserters. These inserters will plonk coal into chests, that are then collected by extra inserters and positioned straight into the Boilers.

Logistics is required for this blueprint, since you want Underground Belts with a view to weave the belts across the inserters and chests. Make certain additionally to position down poles so to hook up all this incoming energy to your grid.

Preparing for the Biters

If you determined to allow Peaceful Mode, then establishing defences gained’t be as urgent a matter. But in the event you didn’t, you then’ll wish to begin setting up fundamental turret defences the second you unlock Turrets.

The second you end researching Military, construct and equip a Submachine Gun in your primary weapon slot. The SMG is by far your strongest private defence device in the interim.
The second you end researching Turrets, construct 10 Turrets. Place them close to your different buildings, specializing in the place you expect to be attacked (i.e. within the course of the Biter nests you’ll be able to see on the map).

You’ll have to hold these Turrets fed with ammo (in addition to holding sufficient ammo in your particular person to help with defences in a extra versatile method).
To assist present sufficient ammo to your wants, it’s nicely price establishing a fast and soiled ammo-making module out of a pair of Assembling Machines. Fill a chest with Iron, have inserters transfer the iron into every Assembler, after which have the Assemblers output ammo into one other chest. See my instance beneath.

Keeping issues operating easily

At this level, there are some things that you would be able to be getting on with, so it’s price simply rapidly outlining them right here:

As all the time, proceed to verify again in your ore patches, making certain that they keep fuelled with coal, and taking any sources that your constructions have output since your final go to.
Continue so as to add to your steam energy module as wanted. When you construct your first few Electric Mining Drills, place them on coal, so to begin to feed a belt of coal into your boilers.
Be aware of Biter assaults. Check how your defences are holding up at any time when there’s a Biter assault, restore as essential with Repair Packs, and hold all of your turrets crammed with ammo.
Research each expertise that requires solely Red Science. The order doesn’t matter an excessive amount of at this level.
Keep topping up the chests that provide your Assembling Machines.

Your first full belt of Iron Plates

By across the 40 minute mark in my world, I’ve completed all of the pure Red Science techs, attached some coal miners to my Steam Power module, and adequately defended my base from the primary few Biter assaults. Now it’s time to embark on our subsequent massive venture: placing collectively the primary full belt of Iron Plates.

As all the time when embarking on a medium-to-large venture, I’ll begin by plopping down a blueprint. This blueprint is a smelting module with 48 stone furnaces (the precise quantity it’s essential to smelt a full yellow belt of iron plates). There’s additionally a load of belts, splitters, underground belts, poles, and – the costliest facet of this module – 48 quick inserters and 48 long-handed inserters.
Notice that there are two belt inputs for this module. They are interchangeable, however one should be for Iron Ore (to smelt), and the opposite for Coal (to gasoline the furnaces). Make certain you orient the module in order that these inputs are pointing within the basic course of these ore patches, making it simple to hook them up with belts.
You can assemble these 96 inserters manually (it’ll take about 7 minutes), or, if you wish to be really Factorian about it, you’ll be able to assemble a bit of module to assist velocity up this course of. I didn’t really do that on the time in my world, I simply crafted all of it manually. But with this module, you’ll be able to discover ways to enhance on what I did.

Pictured above is a really small Green Circuit building module. Later on you’ll be able to increase it out and substitute the chests with enter and output belts carrying the related supplies, however for now this can do properly. The building of inexperienced circuits is what actually slows down the handbook crafting of inserters (to not point out Electric Mining Drills, which we’ll even be needing numerous quickly), so place this module someplace close by, hook it as much as energy, fill the chests with copper plates and iron plates, after which periodically return to choose up the inexperienced circuits.
With a pleasant stack of inexperienced circuits in your stock you’ll discover that crafting the inserters takes far much less time. Once that’s completed, it’s a easy matter of ending up your smelting module.
Once the smelting module is prepared, it’s essential to begin correctly mining your iron ore patch. You’ll want 30 Electric Mining Drills to replenish a yellow belt with ore. There are all types of how to put out your miners on a patch of ore, however that is how I love to do it:

What you’re seeing listed here are good straight columns of drillswith belts between them, making the drills simple to depend and the belts simple to handle. The solely draw back is that the ability poles have to be positioned in the course of the belts, so that you’ll want to make use of underground belts to jump over every pole, rising the price of your entire module. But it’s price it.
Make certain that you simply don’t place too many drills on a single facet of a belt at any time. It takes 30 drills to fill a belt, which suggests you’ll be able to have not more than 15 drills on a single facet. But apart from that, simply hook all of it as much as your furnaces, hook up your coal in the same method, and also you’ve bought your first full belt of iron plates up and operating – all inside an hour.

Next steps – from early game to mid-game Factorio

This is so far as I’ve taken my walkthrough world, however I’ll finish this information with a number of subsequent steps to assist pave the best way so that you can exit the early game and enter the mid-game.

After your first full belt of plates (which ought to all the time be iron), the subsequent step needs to be to do precisely the identical with copper. With a full belt of every of those very important sources, you’ll be able to dismantle your outdated burner mining drills for good.
To proceed with analysis, you’ll have to automate Green Science. Once you’ve gotten a full belt of copper and iron prepared, it is a superb time to position down our early game science blueprint from our Factorio blueprints information, and start to fill it in and hook all the things up.
With Science up and operating as soon as extra, you must analysis in the direction of Automobilism and assemble your first automotive. Suddenly your mobility is drastically better than earlier than, and also you’re higher ready to answer threats and transfer about your ever-expanding manufacturing unit.
Fill up all ore patches within the speedy neighborhood with drills (and, within the case of iron or copper, as many furnaces because it takes to smelt the ore into plates).
Begin building of your primary bus. An excellent newbie’s primary bus ought to embrace 2-Four belts of iron, 2-Four belts of copper, 1-2 belts of inexperienced circuits, 1 coal belt, 1 metal belt, and 1 stone belt. This might be your largest venture up to now, however the excellent news is that when you’re completed, you’re just about within the mid-game. With a primary bus, you can begin to drastically enhance the scale of your manufacturing unit and the manufacturing of absolutely anything you want.

Of course, whilst you’re doing all of this you need to be increasing your steam energy module to accommodate to your rising energy demand, and holding your manufacturing unit well-defended in opposition to Biter assaults. If any Biters increase to a brand new nest that’s too near your manufacturing unit, take your automotive out and destroy it earlier than it will get to deal any injury. Use Piercing Rounds and Grenades to destroy enemies rapidly.

After that? Just hold chasing the calls for set by your analysis, pal. That’s the end-goal – finishing sufficient analysis that you simply unlock the power to construct a rocket and end the game. Of course, when you get to that time you’ll be too hooked on Factorio to truly cease taking part in after your rocket launch. You’ll most likely wish to tear all the things down and create an excellent bigger manufacturing unit able to launching a rocket each 5 minutes. Go forward! We’ll wait.

If you’ve any extra questions that want answering, maybe on a extra particular subject than I used to be in a position to cowl on this walkthrough, then be sure you take a look at our different Factorio guides by following the hyperlinks beneath.

Factorio guide and top tips – Our sensible high ideas for Factorio newcomers.
Factorio early game walkthrough – How to ace your first weeks in a brand new Factorio world.
Factorio mods for 1.0 – Here are the perfect Factorio mods we have ever used.
Factorio console commands – The most helpful cheats in Factorio revealed.
Factorio blueprints – How to make use of blueprints, and one of the best blueprints we have discovered.