Factory system overview¶

Factories are the backbone of a nation's logistics. They turn resources from nodes into useful materials, cargo crates, components, and eventually vehicles. A successful factory network needs miners, haulers, factory operators, and defenders working together.

The basic production chain¶

1. Gather resources. Mine resources from nodes, or use an Extraction Factory to create passive income from a node.
2. Process materials. Send natural resources such as iron, coal, crude oil, and latex to a Production Factory to make steel, gasoline, or rubber.
3. Make cargo crates. Use a Workbench Factory to turn resources into the crates needed for vehicle components.
4. Build components and vehicles. Deliver the required crates to an Advanced Factory, select a vehicle, and supply each of its components. When every required crate has been deposited, that component starts crafting.
5. Protect the logistics chain. Cargo and factories are targets. Read Bombing and defence to learn how bombing damages factories and how to defend your haulers and production sites.

Choosing the right factory¶

Extraction Factory¶

An Extraction Factory produces passive resource income from the node where it is placed. Only one can be placed in a node. They are especially valuable on nodes that produce hard-to-find resources such as aluminium, latex, tungsten, crude oil, and chromium.

Production Factory¶

A Production Factory converts raw resources into steel, gasoline, and rubber. Production Factories can only be placed in a Factory Resource Node. Their recipes have multiple inputs, a production time, and a variable output, so make sure your logistics team can keep them supplied.

Workbench Factory¶

A Workbench Factory turns resources into crates for Advanced Factory components. Workbench Factories can only be placed in a Factory Resource Node. It is the link between basic resource production and vehicle construction, which makes it an important target for the enemy.

Advanced Factory¶

An Advanced Factory builds vehicles from component crates. Advanced Factories are placed by staff, and each town can have only one. Vehicle choices are grouped by production year; check the vehicle's component list before gathering cargo so that several components can be supplied at the same time.

Moving cargo¶

Cargo must be physically transported between factories. A player can carry one cargo crate, a truck can carry three, and a train can carry ten. Enter the chunk containing the source factory in the transport vehicle to load cargo, then enter the destination factory's chunk and exit the vehicle to deposit it.

At an Advanced Factory, deposited cargo must still be assigned to the required component in its GUI. Click the component to consume the matching cargo crate.

Factory health¶

An explosion in a factory's chunk can damage it. When factory health reaches zero, the factory receives an efficiency penalty; repeated bombing can increase that penalty. Cargo vehicles can also be attacked, dropping their cargo for either side to recover.

Keep factories and transport routes protected with fighters, anti-air, ground escorts, and cargo recovery teams. See Bombing and defence for the full damage, recovery, and defence rules.