Wiki / Updated 2026-08-20
Machines and Workshops
Set up workshops that stay supplied and useful.
A workshop is only productive when its recipe, workers, inputs, output destination and demand all align. Build from the required output backwards, then observe a complete input-to-store cycle before duplicating the machine.
Route
Do this in order
- 1
Choose the exact output needed by the objective, army or next production step.
- 2
List its immediate input and place reachable raw or intermediate storage.
- 3
Connect the workshop by road, assign workers and protect enough hauling labor.
- 4
Reserve output space near the consumer or next processor.
- 5
Watch several current-patch cycles and change only the slowest handoff.
Build production from the destination backwards
Start with the item the mission, armory or next workshop actually consumes. This keeps labor and materials attached to a live task instead of creating disconnected production.
- Final consumer and required item
- Output store and free capacity
- Workshop recipe and worker
- Input store and upstream producer
- Road, range and hauling capacity
Diagnose by inventory pattern
Use stock movement rather than permanent building ratios because Early Access balance can change.
- Empty input: upstream production or delivery is behind.
- Full input and idle machine: check workers, recipe and output space.
- Full output and empty consumer: repair storage, range, road or hauling.
- Growing finished stock with no consumer: stop expanding the line.
Lookup
Workshop handoff table
| Machine group | Input | Output | Completion check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food or crop processor | Harvested crop | Usable food or processed crop | Recipe selected, input reachable, output destination free |
| Medicine workshop | Herbs and listed medical inputs | Medicine | Hospital demand and a short delivery route |
| Metal processor | Ore | Processed metal | Raw store near processor; output store near equipment workshops |
| Weapon workshop | Processed military materials | Weapons | Armory destination and protected hauling capacity |
| Armor workshop | Processed military materials | Armor | Armory space and enough stock for the planned recruitment branch |
| Logistics support chain | Materials listed by the current build | Transport capacity or route consumables | Do not invent fixed ratios; observe several current-patch cycles |
If it does not work
An idle workshop with workers usually lacks the exact input, output space, a reachable carrier or current demand. A full processor beside an empty downstream workshop is a transport handoff failure, not proof that another processor is needed.
Completion signal
The workshop completes repeated batches, its output leaves without manual intervention and downstream stock trends upward.
Next moves