Early Game Milestones - Factorio-Access/FactorioAccess GitHub Wiki

Early Game Milestones

Since there is a lot you can do at the start of the game, one can often wonder what they should do. Before the mod had the tutorials built in, we offered some high-level guidance using these milestones. They can be considered as unofficial achievements. Each is connected to wiki chapters.

  1. No more hand mining: Have at least one mining drill for producing iron ore, copper ore, stone, and coal.

  2. Now we’re cooking: Have at least one furnace dedicated to producing iron plates, copper plates, and stone bricks. Tip: Mining drills can directly output into furnaces.

  3. Continuous coal: Have a group of coal-producing burner mining drills refuel itself with the help of transport belts, burner inserters, and maybe chests. Alternatively, you can have the drills just feed each other directly.

  4. Cloud machine: Fill a boiler with water and fuel. The water needs to come inside pipes from an offshore pump placed at the edge of a lake.

  5. Power up: Run an electrical machine using power from an electric network made of electric poles supplied by a steam engine.

  6. Now we know: Complete a technology research using a lab supplied with power and science packs.

  7. Parallel production: Make an assembling machine craft science packs while you do the same manually.

  8. Smelting line: Use transport belts and inserters to supply a line of furnaces automatically with coal and ore. Tip: Long handed inserters can reach over one belt and take from the belt beyond it while still feeding the same furnace.

  9. Close the loop: Have your boilers automatically refueled via electric mining drills, transport belts, and inserters.

  10. Look, no hands!: Use transport belts, electric inserters, and other machines to build a system that produces and consumes automation science packs entirely by itself.

  11. Machineception: Have an assembling machine making assembling machines for you. This can be the start of a production area where machines are produced to help speed up building the factory.

  12. Leveling up: Finish researching a technology that requires two different types of science packs.

  13. Tough stuff: Set up a handful of furnaces for the automatic smelting of steel using transport belts and inserters. Tip: One furnace that smelts iron plates is just fast enough for supplying one furnace that smelts steel plates.

  14. Now you’ve got it: Build a system that produces and consumes both automation science packs and logistics science packs by itself. Tip: You may prefer to remove the system you had built before and start over. This is a normal part of the game.

  15. Pump up the future: Build a pumpjack over an oil pool. Tip: Oil deposits tend to be far away from the crash site and pumpjacks require electricity.

At this point, multiple different systems can be unlocked through the tech tree, such as solar power or train systems, but the main technology branch to follow is oil products. In terms of mass production, on top of iron and copper, you will also need a significant production of electronic circuits and steel. Welcome to the mid game!

See also: