Building a Factory That Cleans for You

Quick answer

Buy the Building Tool ($50), place a Robot Vacuum Mk I ($250) on uncleared ground, and connect its output dock to the depot with a conveyor. Budget about $315 for the first working line. Add a Pressure Chamber only after that line reliably pays out, and add power before you add machines.

Your first automatic line

The Building Tool is $50 and unlocks structures, logistics, production and power. Alone it does nothing; it is the key, not the machine.

For the first setup, budget for:

• Building Tool — $50
• Robot Vacuum Mk I — $250
• Conveyor — $0.50 per metre (a 30 m run costs $15)

Total: roughly $315 before power equipment. Keep extra money available, because the first thing you will want to do is extend the belt.

Placement rules that save money

1. Pick ground the vacuum can actually reach — mostly dirty hexes in its radius.
2. Rotate the dock so its capsule output faces the route toward the depot.
3. Start the conveyor at the dock output, not at the depot.
4. Check the belt direction at every connection while building.
5. Extend into the depot's receiving area, not merely near it.

Robot Vacuums and their limit

The Mk II covers 18 more hexes than the Mk I for twice the price. That is close to double the area for double the money, so it is not a rip-off — but the fixed radius is the real limitation. Neither model follows the Moon. When the local ground is clean, the vacuum stops.

That is why the sensible expansion pattern is not “buy another vacuum next to the first one”. It is “place a new dock where its radius reaches fresh ground”. Two docks side by side overlap and waste coverage.

Conveyors, splitters and mergers

Conveyors are cheap per metre and expensive per mistake. The tool places up to 30 metres in one section; longer routes are built by extending.

Three rules cover most failures:

• Direction is per section. One reversed segment acts as a wall even if the belt looks continuous.
• A belt must end at an intake. A belt that stops next to a depot sells nothing; capsules pile up at the end.
• Mergers alternate inputs. Since 1.0.4 they alternate properly, which fixed a common starvation problem.

Splitters and mergers

A Splitter divides one route into branches. A Merger combines branches back into one. Both snap onto an existing conveyor, so you can expand a line without demolishing it.

A splitter may refuse to snap in a tight spot, especially close to a machine or surrounded by existing branches. Move further along the incoming belt and try a section with more open space rather than forcing it.

Conveyors can also be elevated and brought back down, which lets two branches cross without joining. An elevated crossing does not connect automatically — that is the point, and also the trap if you wanted them to merge.

Pressure Chamber and Stone Press

The inlet is on the side without the handle

This is the single most common automation mistake. The Pressure Chamber's input faces one direction and its output the other, and the difference is easy to misread when placing it near an existing belt. A machine sitting beside a conveyor is not connected to it.

Build the simplest possible line first:

Dust conveyor → Pressure Chamber → Sand conveyor → Depot

Watch the first capsule enter, then wait for sand to appear at the output. If nothing enters, the orientation is wrong. If dust enters but no sand appears, check power and the output route.

Power, day and night

A basic Solar Post provides 3 kW. Two posts give 6 kW, which is below one Pressure Chamber's requirement. A Pressure Chamber plus a Stone Press needs 28 kW before you count conveyors and other equipment.

Solar generation also depends on daylight. A system with plenty of nominal generation can still stop at night if stored charge cannot carry the machines.

J.O.O.N.A.S. and the Capsule Catcher

J.O.O.N.A.S. costs $20,000 and is the only cleaner that is not tied to a fixed radius. It seeks remaining dirty hexes across the Moon.

Patch 1.0.4 changed it substantially:

• Cleans one hex at a time, outside in, until it is 100% done.
• Fires capsules to the nearest Capsule Catcher while moving — no dock trips.
• Keeps cleaning when no players are nearby.
• Navigates around buildings and skips unreachable hexes.
• Shows which sector it is currently cleaning.

The Capsule Catcher costs $1,500 and holds up to 100 kg after 1.0.4. Without one, J.O.O.N.A.S. returns full and waits, which breaks the unattended cycle.

Finding the bottleneck

Follow one shipment through the entire route. The place where it stops is the answer.

1. Collection: does the machine release dust into the transport system?
2. Transport: are capsules moving continuously, or stalled at one point?
3. Processing: is the machine accepting its required inputs?
4. Power: does the grid have enough generation and stored charge?
5. Delivery: does output actually reach the depot and produce a payout?

A pile of capsules before a machine means that machine cannot keep up. A pile between two machines means the later stage is the problem. A pile at the end of a belt means there is no destination at all.

Full cost table

Next: the Packager guide if you are still carrying dust by hand, or the money guide if your factory runs but the income is unimpressive.