Production

Production blocks can refine ores into materials, and assemble and disassemble items. The factory block category includes Refineries, Basic Assemblers, Assemblers, and Survival Kits

The Production tab in the Terminal lets you control factory devices, if any exist on this grid. Pressing K while targeting a production facility cargo door will default to the Production tab.

If there are several Assembly-capable blocks on a single ship or station, specific Assemblers/Survival Kits can be selected on the Production tab from a drop-down menu.

Assembly means turning ingots into components. Disassembly means turning components back into ingots. Don’t mix these two modes up.

Inventory

• A Production block's input inventory accepts material type items.

• The output inventory accepts Component, Consumable, and Tool type items that have been assembled.

• The same inventory also accepts components and tools that the players placed there for disassembly.

Note: Though part of the process, Refineries are not listed in the Production tab because they pull ores automatically (see also Conveyor Sorter for more control). You queue up ores by placing them in the Refineries’ Inventory tab.

Usage: Assembly

Some aspects of the usage are the same for Survival Kit, Basic Assembler, and Assembler.

The Assembler requires refined materials in its inventory. Either insert them manually, or let the Assembler pull materials from an adjacent cargo container or Refinery placed with the conveyor ports lining up.

Optionally, connecting the Assembler and material sources to a Conveyor system is immensely helpful in keeping Assemblers running optimally, so that they can push components and pull input materials from cargo containers.

Note that Assemblers will not pull Iron ingots from conveyored Survivals kits. This is important, because even though there is enough materials to begin queuing production, the Survival Kit withholding ingots will take priority.

On the Production tab:

1. On the left side, select an Assembler if you have several.
2. On the right side, make sure that it is in Assembler Mode.
3. On the left side, browse through the Blueprint tabs and click the item that you want to produce. (Hover the mouse pointer for tooltips.)
   • Large Grid Blocks
   • Small Grid Blocks
   • Components
   • Build Planner queue
   • Equipment
   • Weapons
   • Tools
   • Ammunition
4. The items are queued up on the right side.
   • To reprioritise items, drag&drop queued items on the right side so the urgent ones are first (leftmost).
   • To cancel production of an item, click it in the queue on the right side to remove it.

The assembled items are output into the Inventory.

If you are out of input materials, production halts until you supply more.

Usage: Disassembly

The (Basic) Assembler is also capable of recycling items back into materials, destroying the item but returning the same amount of materials as it took to create the item. A Basic Assembler can only disassemble the items it knows how to produce.

Disassembly is useful in salvage or looting situations, when players have excess amounts of items, and they urgently require ingots to build a different items.

On the Production tab:

1. On the left side, select a Assembler if you have several.
2. On the left side, browse through the Blueprint tabs and find the items you want to recycle. Hover the mouse pointer to read tooltips.
3. On the right side, make sure that you are in Disassembly Mode.
4. On the left side, click the icons to start recycling items.
   The items are queued up on the right side.
5. If you need to reprioritise, drag&drop queued items to reorder them.
6. To cancel recycling of an item (maybe because you still need it), click it in the queue to remove it.

The recycled materials are output into the Inventory.

Progression

You build up your production chain as follows, no matter whether the progression option is on or off.

1. You start with a Survival kit which can refine rocks and produce basic components.
2. With the components it produces, you build the Basic Refinery and the Basic Assembler.
3. To be able to (dis)assemble advanced components and to refine all ores, you will need to build an advanced Refinery and an advanced Assembler.

Survival Kit
|
|_ Basic Refinery
|  |_ Refinery
|     |_ Power Efficiency Module
|     |_ Speed Module
|     |_ Yield Module
|
|_ Basic Assembler
   |_ Assembler
      |_ Power Efficiency Module 
      |_ Speed Module

Production Tips

Assemblers are integrated with the Build Planner.

Connecting your production blocks and some cargo containers to a Conveyor system is immensely helpful in keeping production running smoothly. Production blocks can pull through conveyors what they need, and push their output into cargo containers when their inventories are full.

Can't find the right Assembler in the Inventory? Select it on the Production tab and click Inventory in the bottom right to jump to it quickly.

Can't find the right Assembler in the Control Panel Screen? Select it on the Production tab and click Control Panel in the bottom right to jump to it quickly.

How much X and Y do I need to produce Z?

Make sure you're in Assembler mode. The Production tab has three columns.

• In the left column, hover the mouse over what you want to produce.
• In the middle column, it shows you the total needed materials, out of how many you have in storage.
• In the right column, it lists the equivalent total required components.

This is useful information so you can plan ahead in early game to mine just enough common materials to upgrade to the next tier; or in late game so you gather enough rare materials to build endgame blocks; and to prepare for speedruns.

Which item Z should I recycle to get material X?

Make sure you're in Disassembly mode. The Production tab has three columns:

• In the right column, hover the mouse over which items you can recycle.
• In the middle column, it shows you the total materials (ingots) to gain if you recycle it.