Objective: Secure Coal and Stone Production

Learn how to efficiently secure coal and stone production in Factorio. This guide covers basic automation for these essential resources, setting you up for a thriving factory.

Alright, let's talk about getting the ball rolling with coal and stone in Factorio. These are your absolute bread and butter resources early on, and getting them automated is one of your first big goals. Think of it like this: without a steady supply of coal and stone, you can't smelt iron or copper, and you can't make the basic machines you need to expand. So, let's get this sorted!

What You Need to Know:

• Coal: This is your primary fuel source for boilers, which in turn power your steam engines. You'll also need it for some crafting recipes.
• Stone: Essential for making stone furnaces, which are more efficient than your starting iron furnaces. You'll also need it for concrete and brick production later on.

Getting Started:

When you first drop into a new game, you'll see coal and stone patches scattered around. Your first step is manual mining. Just walk up to a patch and hold down your mining action (usually right-click and hold, or just left-click if you've got the auto-mine setting on). You'll see a little progress bar fill up as you collect resources.

Automating Coal and Stone Mining:

This is where the real Factorio magic begins! You'll need a few things:

• Miners: These are the machines that do the automated mining. You'll need to research and craft them.
• Belts: These transport the mined resources from the miners to wherever you need them.
• Inserters: These are the robotic arms that pick up items from one place (like a miner or a belt) and put them somewhere else (like a furnace or a chest).

Setting Up Coal Mining:

1. Find a good-sized coal patch.
2. Place your miners directly on top of the coal patches. Make sure they're oriented so the output side (usually facing away from the coal patch) is ready to feed into a belt.
3. Lay down a transport belt next to the miners.
4. Place an inserter between the miner's output and the belt. The inserter will grab coal from the miner and drop it onto the belt.
5. Run that belt to a storage chest or directly to your boilers if you're ready to set up power.

Setting Up Stone Mining:

It's pretty much the same process as coal, just with stone:

1. Find a stone patch.
2. Place miners on the stone.
3. Lay down a belt to collect the stone.
4. Use an inserter to move stone from the miner to the belt.
5. Run the belt to a storage chest or directly to your stone furnaces.

Pro-Tip: You'll eventually want to set up dedicated stone furnaces for smelting iron and copper. This frees up your starting furnaces and keeps things organized. Just run a belt of coal and a belt of iron/copper ore to a line of stone furnaces, with inserters to load them and unload the plates.

Getting these two resources automated is a huge step. It might seem a bit fiddly at first, but once you've got it working, you'll be amazed at how much faster you can progress. Happy building!