Starter base: early ratios, power, defense and first science

Phase one: burner to electric

Every game starts with a burner miner, a stone furnace, and a handful of plates. The goal of the first phase is to get electric mining drills and assembling machine 1s running before the coal supply becomes a bottleneck. The burner mining drill has a crafting speed of 0.25 and draws no electric power, but it burns fuel directly and needs to be fed by hand or by inserters. The electric mining drill also has a crafting speed of 0.5, meaning it mines at the same rate, but it draws 90 kW from the network and can be supplied with modules later.

To sustain one plate per second from a stone furnace line, you need 3.2 stone furnaces. The stone furnace has a crafting speed of 1 and draws 90 kW of fuel energy (burning coal or wood directly). The plate recipe takes 3.2 seconds per plate, so each furnace produces 0.3125 plates per second, and 3.2 furnaces produce one plate per second.

Target output	Stone furnaces	Burner/electric drills for ore
1 plate/s	3.2	4.0
2 plates/s	6.4	8.0
4 plates/s (one yellow belt)	12.8	16.0

A full yellow belt carries 15 items per second. To fill a yellow belt with plates, you need 48 stone furnaces. That is more than a starter base needs immediately; a half-belt of iron and a quarter-belt of copper is enough to reach the first two science packs. The furnace line can be expanded later by adding more furnaces alongside the existing ones.

Minimum viable smelting layout

The standard starter smelter is a row of stone furnaces fed by a belt of ore on one side and a belt of coal on the other, with plates output onto a third belt. Each furnace is 1.0 tile wide, so a row of 3 furnaces spans that many tiles. Leave a one-tile gap every few furnaces for underground belt exits if you plan to run multiple ore types past the same line.

Build iron first. Iron plates feed gears, circuits, pipes, inserters, and almost every early recipe. Copper comes second, at roughly half the scale. Stone is needed only for furnaces, walls, and early ammo, so a small brick of four to six stone furnaces is sufficient until steel production begins.

When electricity comes online, the stone furnaces do not need to be replaced immediately. They keep burning coal and producing plates while the electric network is built. Steel furnaces are a direct upgrade with crafting speed 2 (twice the stone furnace) and the same 90 kW fuel draw, but they require steel to build. Electric furnaces come later and draw 180 kW each but offer module slots and no on-site fuel.

First science: automation and logistic packs

The ratio solver gives the assembler counts for one automation science pack per second using assembling machine 1s. The solver picks the fastest available machine for sub-components, but for a starter base the top-level assembler count is the number to build first.

Automation science (red packs)

Step	Assemblers (AM1)	Notes
Automation science pack	10	5s craft, AM1 speed 0.5

Ten assembling machine 1s produce one automation science pack per second. Each pack needs one copper plate and one iron gear wheel. The iron gears need two iron plates each, so the chain consumes one copper plate and two iron plates per second. In stone furnaces, that is 3.2 furnaces for copper and 6.4 for iron, plus one assembling machine 1 making gears. The solver reports 4.8 total furnaces when using electric furnaces (crafting speed 2); stone furnaces require twice as many because they craft at speed 1.

Logistic science (green packs)

Step	Assemblers (AM1)	Notes
Logistic science pack	12	6s craft, AM1 speed 0.5

Twelve AM1s produce one logistic science pack per second. Each pack needs one inserter and one transport belt. The inserter needs one iron gear and one electronic circuit; the belt needs one iron gear and one iron plate. The electronic circuits need iron plates and copper cable, which needs copper plates. The solver's full chain consumes 5.5 iron ore and 1.5 copper ore per second at the top level, which is a useful check when sizing the miner columns.

These counts are for one pack per second. Research consumes packs at a rate that depends on the research cost and lab research speed, but one pack per second per pack type is a solid starting target that keeps a small lab block of five to ten labs continuously fed.

Power: boilers and steam engines

The first electric network runs on boilers heating water into steam and steam engines turning that steam into electricity. The relevant prototype values from the extracted data are:

• Boiler fuel consumption: 1.80 MW (energy_consumption field)
• Steam engine steam consumption: 0.5 fluid/tick = 30 steam/second
• Steam engine effectivity: 1
• Offshore pump power draw: 60 kW
• Boiler target temperature: 165°C

The standard game configuration places two steam engines per boiler. Each boiler consumes 1.80 MW of fuel and heats water to 165 degrees; two steam engines together consume 60 steam per second, matching one boiler's output. This 1:2 ratio is a game mechanic based on the steam temperature and the engine's thermal conversion, not a value that needs to be memorised from a table.

One important honesty note: the extracted data/2.1/machines.json does not contain a max_power_output field for the steam engine (it is null in the data). The engine's electrical output in watts therefore cannot be computed from the extracted prototype fields alone. The heat capacity of water and steam, which would be needed to derive output from fluid consumption and temperature, is also not present in the extracted fluids data. This page does not quote a per-engine wattage as a computed figure. The 1:2 boiler-to-engine ratio and the steam consumption rate above are the values the data supports.

Setup	Boilers	Steam engines	Offshore pumps	Steam/s consumed
Minimum	1	2	1 (shared)	60
Small block	5	10	1	300
Starter block	10	20	1	600

A single offshore pump can supply a large number of boilers; the pump's own 60 kW draw is negligible. The practical limit is the pipe distance between the pump, boilers, and engines. Keep the water path short and direct, with underground pipes to cross the boiler and engine rows without breaks.

Turret and wall defense

Early biters are handled with gun turrets fed by firearm magazines, backed by stone walls. The extracted data gives health and range values for the relevant entities.

Entity	Health	Range (tiles)	Type
Stone wall	350	-	Barrier
Gun turret	400	18	Ammo turret
Laser turret	1000	24	Electric turret

The stone wall has 350 health and costs five stone bricks to craft. Two layers of walls with a one-tile gap between them is the standard early perimeter: the outer layer absorbs biter contact damage while the inner layer keeps biters from reaching the turrets. The gun turret has 400 health and a range of 18 tiles. Place turrets one or two tiles behind the wall so they can fire over it, and leave space behind the turrets for inserters or belts that resupply ammo.

The laser turret has 1000 health and a range of 24 tiles, with significantly more health than the gun turret. It requires no ammo but draws a large burst of power when firing, which is why it is usually added after the steam block is expanded. The laser turret's energy usage per shot is not in the extracted data, so this page does not quote a per-shot power figure.

A practical starter perimeter encloses the smelting and science area with walls on the sides facing the nearest biter nests, and turrets every six to eight tiles along the wall. Gun turrets do not need full perimeter coverage initially; covering the approaches from visible nests is enough until laser turrets and larger walls are available.

Initial mall layout concepts

A mall is a set of assemblers that produce the items you build with: belts, inserters, assemblers, miners, pipes, power poles, turrets, and walls. The goal of a starter mall is not maximum throughput but convenience: every item you need for expansion should be available in a chest without hand-crafting.

The simplest mall is a row of assembling machine 1s, each making one item, with output into a wooden or iron chest. Feed the row from a belt of iron plates and a belt of copper plates running behind the assemblers, with underground belt drops to bring plates to each assembler. Gears and electronic circuits can be made by dedicated assemblers on the same row and fed to the consumers by short belt or inserter connections.

Assembling machine 1 has no module slots and a crafting speed of 0.5, but that is sufficient for mall items because you consume them in dozens, not thousands. A single AM1 making transport belts produces one belt per second (0.5-second recipe at speed 0.5), which outpaces manual building. The same AM1 drawing 75 kW adds negligible load to the steam block.

The mall should grow as new items unlock. When logistic science unlocks fast inserters and faster belts, add assemblers for those rather than replacing the existing ones. Keep the mall separate from the science production area: science needs continuous, high-throughput feed, while the mall is intermittent and low-volume. A shared bus can feed both, but the mall should tap from the bus rather than block it.

Power planning for the first expansion

The starter steam block of ten boilers and twenty engines powers the initial assemblers, labs, and turrets, but it has limits. Each assembling machine 1 draws 75 kW, each lab draws 60 kW, and each electric mining drill draws 90 kW. A rough count for the starter base is:

• 10 AM1s for automation science: 750 kW
• 12 AM1s for logistic science: 900 kW
• 10 labs: 600 kW
• 20 electric mining drills: 1.80 MW

These numbers are steady-state draw and do not include laser turrets, which burst far above their idle consumption when firing. If laser turrets are part of the defense plan, expand the steam block before adding them rather than after the first brownout.

Solar panels and accumulators are the next power step, but they require oil processing for the accumulator batteries and a significant footprint. The steam block should remain the primary power source until the oil economy is running. The solar and accumulator ratios page covers the panel-to-accumulator ratio once that transition begins.

Transition to steel and oil

Steel production is the first major throughput increase after the starter science setup. Steel plates take 16 seconds to smelt from five iron plates, so a steel furnace line consumes iron at five times the plate rate. The same 3.2 furnaces per item-per-second rule applies, but the iron supply must scale accordingly.

Oil processing unlocks after the first two science packs. The initial oil setup uses one refinery running basic oil processing, with chemical plants for cracking and plastic. The oil processing ratios page covers the exact refinery-to-chemical-plant counts, but the starter configuration is one refinery with enough storage tanks to buffer each fluid and a single chemical plant for plastic.

The circuit network becomes useful at this stage for balancing cracking, but it is not required for the starter base. The circuit network guide covers the first cracking threshold setup once oil production is running.

What to build first: a build order

The following sequence is a principle, not a blueprint string. It lists what to build and why, with the ratios from the tables above, but the exact placement depends on the terrain and ore patch layout.

1. Mine iron and coal with burner drills. Craft stone furnaces and burner inserters.
2. Build 6 stone furnaces for iron (2 plates/s) and 3 for copper.
3. Craft an offshore pump, boilers, and steam engines for the first power block.
4. Switch mining to electric drills. Build 10 AM1s for automation science.
5. Add a gear assembler and feed it from the iron belt. Route copper to the science assemblers.
6. Build 5 to 10 labs. Start automation research.
7. Add 12 AM1s for logistic science and the inserter, belt, and circuit assemblers to feed them.
8. Build a stone wall perimeter and gun turrets on the exposed sides.
9. Start a small mall: belts, inserters, assemblers, miners, power poles, pipes, turrets, ammo.
10. Expand power to 10 boilers and 20 engines before adding laser turrets or oil processing.

No blueprint strings are provided on this page. The dimensions and ratios above are enough to lay out the base by hand, and building it manually the first time makes the layout trade-offs visible in a way that a copied blueprint does not.

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Related

• Smelting ratios — furnace counts for all plate types at scale
• Science pack ratios — assembler counts beyond the first two packs
• Oil processing ratios — the next production phase after starter science
• Solar and accumulator ratios — transitioning from steam to solar power
• Main bus design — organising the base as it grows beyond the starter layout
• How production ratios actually work