Production and research

Start production

Build a workstation from Architect > Production, select it, and choose Add bill. Pick the recipe and set its mode:

Mode	Use it for
Do X	A fixed batch of equipment or supplies
Until X	Maintaining a reserve, such as meals or medicine
Forever	Continuous processing when ingredients are available

Bills can be suspended. Their order, research requirements, skill requirements and ingredient filters affect which work can start. Production on the bottom bar gives a broader view of the colony’s manufacturing.

Cooking hearths and electric stoves prepare food; butcher tables process corpses; crafting benches make equipment and medicine; tailoring benches make clothing; stonecutters make blocks. Compost bins mature their contents without a worker continuously standing at them. Nest boxes need a hen to brood the egg.

Materials and quality

For clothing, choose a material in the bill or allow any suitable textile. Cloth, leather and wool give different insulation. Skilled work can produce better-quality gear. Finished goods still need to be hauled to a stockpile.

A bill controls the recipe, quantity and material separately. Here the tailoring bench is ordered to make three wool parkas. View full screenshot

Some recipes need one ingredient from each group. Alternatives within a group are interchangeable; separate groups are all required. Consult the recipe catalog for exact ingredients and stations.

Recycle worn gear

Use an Electric smelter for suitable weapons and armor, and unravelling bills for textiles. Salvage filters choose worn, tainted, poor-quality or any eligible gear. Forbidden and currently worn items are left alone. Salvage yields a quarter of the original ingredient amounts, rounded down, preserving the material used.

Research new technology

1. Build a Research bench and enable Research work.
2. Open Research with T.
3. Choose a project whose prerequisites are complete.
4. Let a researcher work until the required points are reached.

Research can unlock buildings, recipes and crops. Completing one project does not automatically start another. A powered electric research bench works faster after Electrical appliances.

Select an available project in Research, then let a colonist with Research work use a bench. Selecting a project does not finish it immediately. View full screenshot

The research catalog lists the full tree, costs and prerequisites. For example, Masonry → Smithing → Electricity leads into powered equipment.