Factory Layouts

Recipes and values

Stone is the end product. Each press needs both raw dust and sand, through two dedicated inputs. That is the whole design problem: split incoming dust so the chambers get enough to make sand, and the presses get the rest directly.

Ratios

• 1 Pressure Chamber : 2 Stone Presses — the safe default. The chamber slightly oversupplies sand, which just queues.
• 1 Capsule Catcher keeps roughly 2 chambers and 4–5 presses busy.
• Catchers land about one capsule every 9 seconds, so throughput per catcher is capped regardless of how many robots you own.
• Belt speed is fixed — the real limit on a line is the belt, not the machines.

Layout 1: starter sand line ($800)

1. 1
   Place a Large Solar Tracker first

   Let it charge while you build the rest. It needs to be within range of the chamber.
2. 2
   Lay a short belt from your Packager / robot line

   Then snap the Pressure Chamber onto the end so the input side faces the belt.
3. 3
   Belt the chamber's output to the station intake

   Sand sells on arrival, three times the price of dust.
4. 4
   Add a second tracker before night

   Two trackers keep one chamber running all night.

Layout 2: first stone line

Split your incoming dust with a splitter. Branch one goes into the Pressure Chamber. Branch two goes into a second splitter that feeds the dust inputs of two Stone Presses. The chamber's sand output goes through another splitter into the sand inputs of both presses. Merge the two stone outputs and belt them home.

Layout 3: 2 catchers · 4 chambers · 8 presses

This is our standard mid-game block. It is balanced so the outbound belt never backs up, and it can be stamped out again and again next to the first one.

1. Build on foundations so everything lines up. Place the eight Stone Presses in a row, four and four, with a merger on the centre line between press 4 and 5.
2. Lay the outbound stone belt first: short turns from each press into a chain of three mergers on each side, all into the central merger, then to the station.
3. Work in pairs of presses. For each pair, a splitter lines up with the sand inputs of both presses, and a short belt stub lets a Pressure Chamber snap straight onto it.
4. For the dust inputs of the pair, a short belt plus two stacked splitters. Use Ctrl + scroll to lift the dust line over the sand line where they cross.
5. Connect each Capsule Catcher to two Pressure Chambers with a splitter and two short half-circle belts. Face the catcher's output inward.
6. Add power: 2 trackers per chamber and 3 per press, plus a few spare.

This is the layout that pays for a JONAS every few minutes in the mid-game. In the very late game you produce so much dust that you can skip new factories and sell directly.

Layout 4: mega factory

The largest single block we have run stable uses two Capsule Catchers: one feeds four to five Pressure Chambers, the other feeds the dust inputs of twelve Stone Presses. Around 26 JONAS were enough to keep it fully supplied. Output per press varied (roughly 140–230 stone in the same period) because presses closer to the chambers get sand first; centring the chambers on the line evens this out.

A simpler alternative that is easy to repeat: one catcher into three Pressure Chambers, each chamber feeding its own Stone Press, plus a second catcher sending raw dust straight to those three presses.

Power

Only build Large Solar Trackers: about 16 kW in daylight and a 10 kWh battery. Use 2 per Pressure Chamber and 3 per Stone Press. If batteries are near empty at dawn, add more. Mountains around a station delay sunrise, and polar stations get very long nights. More on the Power page.

Belt and splitter technique

• Build the trunk line first, then drop splitters onto it, then place machines on each branch.
• Stacked splitters directly behind each other give a clean three-way split; do not chain too many or flow gets uneven.
• Stacked mergers work better than they look. Join four lines by putting mergers back-to-back.
• Scroll while placing a splitter or merger to change which side the output lands on.
• If a piece will not snap, press F to return to snapping mode.

Troubleshooting

• Catcher stays full: you need more processing or an overflow. An unconnected catcher sells automatically.
• Machines idle at night: not enough solar, or batteries were empty at sunset.
• One branch never gets sand: the splitter is upstream of a blocked belt. Check for a stray capsule or sand pile blocking a belt.
• Can't place a machine: dust or loose sand under the footprint. Clear it first.
• Huge queue after a vehicle dump: normal. Add an overflow branch to a Packager so it drains while you are away.