Nauvis starter factory checklist

This is a practical Nauvis opener checklist written for Beltworks players. It is not a megabase guide. It is the sequence that prevents the classic “no power / no green circuits / science stalled” spiral—and it tells you when a blueprint saves time versus when you should still hand-place.

Goals for the first factory

Stable burner-to-electric power handoff without blackouts.

Plate and gear throughput that can feed green circuits.

Red and green science automated before you drown in manual crafting.

A mall spine (or small craft area) for inserters, belts, and assemblers.

Room to expand smelting and circuits without tearing everything down twice.

Minute-zero priorities

1. Secure coal, iron, copper, and stone within a short walk.

2. Place burner drills + stone furnaces for iron and copper plates.

3. Build a small boiler + steam engine row; leave space for more engines.

4. Craft a mini lab pack manually only until belts can take over.

5. Research automation and logistics early so assemblers and inserters unlock on time.

Power checklist

Never run one engine “for now” next to ten drills—overcommit fuel and pipe length instead.

Keep coal on a belt dedicated to boilers; do not share that belt with plate furnaces.

Add radar and lights only after the steam row has headroom.

When you switch to electric drills, expand engines first, then swap drills.

Smelting checklist

Balance iron and copper plate lines; copper usually becomes the silent bottleneck for circuits.

Prefer a straight furnace column you can lengthen; avoid spaghetti that blocks the ore patch belt.

Keep stone/brick production small but dedicated so underground belts and rails are not starved later.

Green circuits (the real gate)

Green circuits eat copper wire and iron plates ruthlessly. Before you scale science:

Dedicate assemblers to copper cable feeding circuit assemblers directly.

Belt-limit or prioritize cable so plates are not all stolen by gear production.

Buffer circuits in a chest or lane before labs and the mall compete for them.

Science without drama

Automate red science as soon as assemblers exist; hand-feeding labs does not scale.

Green science needs inserters + belts crafted automatically—tie those recipes to the mall.

Place labs on a loop or spur you can extend; leave space for later packs.

When to use a Beltworks blueprint

Hand-build the first burner patch and the first steam row—you will learn ratios. Then search Beltworks for:

Compact early smelting columns.

Starter green-circuit blocks.

Belt balancers once you have four-lane messes.

Prefer designs tagged for your game version. Import into a sandbox first if the book looks huge. See How to import a blueprint string into Factorio and How Beltworks search works.

Common failure modes

Electric drills flipped on before steam capacity → brownouts → dead labs.

One copper patch feeding both wire and plates with no priority → circuit collapse.

Mall crafts taking every iron plate → science dies while you drown in chests of unused gear.

Building tight against ore patches → no room for electric drill upgrades.

Exit criteria: you are ready for the next stage

You can leave “starter” mode when red/green science runs without babysitting, green circuits buffer overnight, and you have a clear expansion lane for smelting. Then look at oil, steel, and your first main bus or block design—again preferring documented Beltworks prints over mystery megabase books.

Related guides

Finding Space Age and Factorio 2.0 blueprints for later planets, First trip to Vulcanus when you leave Nauvis, and How to upload a blueprint on Beltworks when your starter mall becomes worth sharing.