Getting Started
Use the Forge Hammer to bootstrap plates, rods, rings, and the first MI components without committing to a full machine room.
Forge HammerBasic bronze partsEarly rubberManual plate/rod recipes
Checkpoints
- Keep copper, tin, iron, coal, clay, and redstone visible in storage.
- Make extra plates and rods when a recipe asks for one; they repeat constantly.
Relevant Machines
Steam Age
Build a compact bronze steam line before scaling. Steam machines are slow, but they teach the loops you will automate later.
Bronze BoilerBronze MaceratorBronze MixerBronze Cutting MachineBronze Compressor
Checkpoints
- Route steam before items; a dry machine creates confusing partial setups.
- Use the Cutting Machine for rods as soon as lubricant is available.
Relevant Machines
Steel Age
Coke Oven and Steam Blast Furnace unlock steel. Steel unlocks durable steam machines, the first Quarry, and the Packer/Unpacker loop.
Coke OvenSteam Blast FurnaceSteel PackerSteel UnpackerSteam Quarry
Checkpoints
- Treat hatches as part of the multiblock material budget.
- Automate coke before the quarry so steel production does not pause every few minutes.
Relevant Machines
Electric Age
The Assembler and LV machines move MI from hand-fed stations to renewable component production.
Analog CircuitAssemblerLV powerElectric MaceratorElectric Quarry
Checkpoints
- Separate power storage from production so overclocking spikes do not brown out the line.
- Use assembler recipes even when crafting recipes exist; they often save ingredients or effort.
Relevant Machines
Aluminum And Oil
The Electric Blast Furnace opens aluminum. Oil then becomes the long chemical bridge toward plastics, rubber, diesel, and higher circuits.
Electric Blast FurnaceAluminum chainOil Drilling RigDistilleryChemical Reactor
Checkpoints
- Keep lubricant production visible; cutting recipes quietly depend on it.
- Buffer oil fractions separately because later recipes consume them unevenly.
Relevant Machines
Midgame Materials
Stainless steel, titanium, clean casings, and larger boilers turn the base from a collection of machines into a power and material platform.
Vacuum FreezerDistillation TowerLarge Diesel GeneratorTitanium casingsStainless steel chain
Checkpoints
- Build multiblocks with service space around hatches.
- Track byproducts instead of voiding them until you know which late chain needs them.
Relevant Machines
High Pressure
Pressurizers and Heat Exchangers let steam infrastructure produce and move much more energy per block.
PressurizerHeat ExchangerLarge Steam TurbineHigh Pressure Boiler
Checkpoints
- Label HP and normal steam pipes; mixing them up is expensive to debug.
- Move high-pressure fluids with the same care as high-tier EU.
Relevant Machines
Nuclear And Fusion
Nuclear introduces layout-dependent energy production. Fusion moves the base into plasma handling and endgame EU scales.
Nuclear ReactorImplosion CompressorFusion ReactorPlasma TurbineSuperconductor infrastructure
Checkpoints
- Plan nuclear access around the grid, not just the shell.
- Do not build fusion until fluid buffering, power transfer, and cooling are already boring.
Relevant Machines
Extended Industrialization
EI adds batch machines, farms, wireless/Tesla systems, solar loops, and quality-of-life tools that fit into the MI chain.
Bending MachineAlloy SmelterFarmerProcessing ArraySolar Panel
Checkpoints
- Use EI batch machines when a single MI machine becomes a throughput bottleneck.
- Keep EI recipes labelled separately in storage patterns so vanilla MI progression stays understandable.
Relevant Machines