Build Your First Steam Power Plant and Automated Gear Line

Your first useful power plant needs one offshore pump, one boiler and two steam engines. Build this small unit, connect a lab, then automate gears from iron plates. Leave room to extend the plant when the factory’s demand grows.

Unlock the equipment first

In base game 2.0.77, smelting 50 iron plates triggers Steam power, unlocking the pump, boiler, engines and pipes. Smelting 10 copper plates triggers Electronics, unlocking circuits, cable, the lab, ordinary inserters and small electric poles. Once both technologies are complete, crafting a lab unlocks the red science recipe.

Next, handcraft 10 red packs, put them in a powered lab and select Automation. This separate research unlocks assembling machine 1 and the long-handed inserter. Electric mining drills require their own research, costing 25 red packs at default settings; keep the burner miners working meanwhile. These steps follow the 2.0.77 technology definitions.

Gather the plant’s components

These are the ingredients for each item, so make two copies of the steam-engine recipe. Allow extra materials for connecting pipes, poles, belts and inserters.

Equipment	Ingredients for one
Offshore pump	2 iron gears + 3 pipes
Boiler	1 stone furnace + 4 pipes
Steam engine	8 iron gears + 5 pipes + 10 iron plates
Lab	10 electronic circuits + 10 iron gears + 4 transport belts

A gear uses two iron plates, a pipe uses one iron plate, and a stone furnace uses five stone. Each red pack uses one copper plate and one gear. These quantities match the base-game recipes.

Connect water, steam and electricity

1. Place the offshore pump on a valid shoreline. Connect its outlet to a boiler’s water connection, directly or through pipes. The pump needs neither fuel nor electricity. Offshore pump.
2. Find the boiler’s separate steam output. Its other two opposite connections carry water. Connect the steam output to an engine, then connect the second engine through the first engine’s remaining port.
3. Supply coal to the boiler. At full load, it consumes 6 water per second and produces 60 steam per second at 165°C. Each engine can use 30 steam per second and produce 900 kW, giving the pair a maximum of 1.8 MW. Boiler, steam engine.
4. Place a pole close enough to cover each engine and extend connected poles to the lab and working machines. A small pole’s supply area is 5×5 tiles; its wire reach is longer, at 7.5 tiles. A wire passing nearby does not automatically power a machine outside the supply area. Small electric pole.

Feed the boiler with a burner inserter taking coal from a chest or belt. It can reserve some coal for itself and continue during an electrical outage. Keep spare coal accessible: that inserter cannot restart an empty supply line by itself. Burner inserter.

Make the first gear line run

After researching Automation, place an assembling machine 1 inside pole coverage and select the iron-gear recipe. Use an input inserter from a plate chest or belt, then an output inserter into a gear chest. Supplying plates by hand at first lets you check the machine and arm directions before extending the entire production chain. Assembling machine 1.

Extend backward to your furnaces when that works. Stone furnaces still need fuel as well as ore; electricity does not replace their coal. Once electric mining drills are researched, face each drill’s output arrow toward its receiving belt. Stone furnace, electric mining drill.

Diagnose a stopped plant

For no power, check boiler fuel, water input, the separate steam connection and the pole chain. For slow machines, click a pole and compare demand with available production. Steam engines reduce output when demand is low, so an idle plant need not display its maximum. Electric system.

For stopped gears, inspect ingredients, output space and inserter direction before adding another assembler. Then build steady red and green science, using the belt and inserter guide when materials stop moving.