Factorio is game about automation. Gathers resources, fights enemy, and build factories. You will play as an engineer with a goal to launch a rocket into space. Overall, there is no solid rule with the only limitation is your imaginary and problem solving skill. Which can be summarised as :

• Patience.
  
  Logistics problems can be very frustration, but also very rewarding.
  
  
• Keep the Layout Organised.
  
  A "spaghetti" factory is not inherently bad, but a well-planned layout can makes logistic problems less painful and easier to spot.
  
  
• Biter Rush is No Joke
  
  Much like Zerg, Biters can overwhelm the engineer defend if they are not prepared or expanding their base too fast. So watch out for pollution spread since Biters will attack the base as soon as pollution reaches their nest.
  
  
• Engineering Can be a Game of Guessing or Calculating.
  
  Most logistic problems in the game can be solved by a simple solution (such as "adding more resources") until they don't. So knowing some of the machine ratio or basic maths can help.
  
  
• Any Mistake Might be Deadly
  
  In an automation game, any mistakes could lead to a chain of unfortunate event since machines don't think, so be careful!

Factory requires a large among of raw materials to operate. Running out of them can be fatal (like fuels) so watch out!

• The different between a running factory and ruined one is how resources are managed
  
  95% of the time, a factory will need tons of raw material. It is your job to keep the supply running.
  
  
• Don't just burn coal.
  
  Coals are essential to productivity and electricity. But depending too much on coal means a coal shortage can black out your factory. Having an variety source of electricity like solar or nuclear power can negate that.
  
  
• Raw woods, don't throw them away!
  
  Woods can be used as an emergency fuel. Storing them somewhere near a steam power plant and put them to good use in case of emergency.
  
  
• Use the rail network, you must.
  
  Rail system can deliver a lot of resources in quantity and less cost than an alternative (transport belts/robots). It is crucial for engineer to master the way of the rail.

Most machines are running on electricity. Without it, a factory will be as good as dead. There are three ways that electricity can be produced in game : steam power, solar power, and nuclear power, as shown here :

Offshore pumps

Boilers

Steam engines

Electric mining drills

1

20

40

≤18

Solar panels

Accumulators

100

84

Type

Given (per unit)

Consumed (per unit)

Bonus

Nuclear Reactor

40 MW

1 / 200 sec

+40MW neighbor core

Heat exchanger

~103 Steam/ sec

10 MW

-

Steam turbine

5.82 MW

60 Steam / sec

-

Bonus

Offshore pump

Heat exchanger

Steam turbine

Output

0% (1 reactor)

1

4

7

~40 MW

Bonus

Offshore pump

Heat exchanger

Steam turbine

Output

100% (2 reactors)

2

16

28

~160 MW

Bonus

Offshore pump

Heat exchanger

Steam turbine

Output

200% (3 reactors)

3

28

48

~280 MW

• Click on electric poles to see how much electricity you need.
  
  The first bar (satisfaction) need to be longer than the second bar (production). If electricity is not enough, your machines will run slower. Machines will be dead stopped if there is no electricity
  
  
• A table comparing steam / solar / nuclear power
  
  
  Comparison

  Steam Power

  Solar Power

  Nuclear Power

  Power Production Per Unit

  Moderate

  Low

  Extremely High

  Pollution

  Extremely High

  None

  Low

  Source of power

  Fuels

  Daylight

  Uranium Fuel Cell

  Technology Require

  None

  Solar Techs

  Nuclear Techs

  Resource Investment

  Low

  High

  Extremely High

  Space Require

  Moderate

  Extremely High

  Low

  Risk of Faunas Attack

  Extremely High

  Nearly Zero

  Nearly Zero

  Effect By

  Fuel Shortage

  Night Time

  Uranium Shortage
  
  
• Both steam and solar power are good combination.
  
  Steam power will keep your factory running at night and stop at day when solar power kicks in.
  
  
• Nuclear power will NOT stop burning your nuclear power cell like steam engines!
  
  Nuclear power cell will burn at constant rate (unlike other burner). Once you have nuclear power set up, it is advised to remove or plan other power sources carefully to avoid wasting your nuclear fuel.

Transport belts are one of the three methods (and the most basic way) to move stuffs around a factory. The belt required no electricity, but its speed is depending on its ties ranging from yellow (slowest), red, and blue (fastest).

• DO NOT mix items on the same side
  
  Each transport belt have two side (left and right). It is NOT advise to put different items on the same side. Unless the belt is carefully planned, the contaminated belt will cause the line to be stuck and led to further logistical problems.
  
  
• Avoid a 'Spaghetti' transport belts
  
  Curvy main bus* and assembly line may not necessary be ineffective, but straight main bus and assembly line are much more easier to organise and expand.
  
  (*) Note : "Main bus" is an organised pack of transport belt that carry a large various kind of item like a tree trunk which can be broken into branches to feed the resources to assembly lines. it is the most common way to set up a base in Factorio.
  
  
• A common way to mixing items on the belts is showing in the picture below :
  
  

Inserters are machines that can put material into assembly machines or others automatically. They will move items from its front (indicated with yellow line) to its back (indicated with yellow arrow) as long as they have electricity/fuels (and are programmed for filter inserters).

• There are 5 types of inserter, with different color and unique ability :
  
  
  Type

  Featured

  Speed

  Burner inserter

  Run with coals / Required no electricity

  Extremely slow

  (Normal) inserter

  Cheap to produce and low power drain

  Slow

  Long handed inserter

  Two tiles range

  Moderated

  Fast inserter

  Faster than normal inserter

  Fast

  Stack inserter

  Can take multiple items at once

  Fast
  
  
• Normal, Fast and Long handed inserter are essential. For instance,
  
  • Normal Inserters can provide material for assembling machines with long production time or low priority to lower electricity consumption.
    
    
  • Fast Inserters can provide material for assembling machines with short production time or high priority.
    
    
  • Long Hand Inserters can provide material for assembling machines from other belt, chests, machinery from 2 block away.
  
  
• Stack inserters are excelled at a train station
  
  They can pick up multiple items at once at high speed; very useful at load/unload cargo.
  
  
• Inserters will not put unrelated items to its target
  
  For example, they will not put items into an assembling machine that do not required such items (like copper ores into a gear assembly machine), or chests with a limited quota (set within the chest - shown as a red square) or anything but fuels into a fuel-powered machine.
  
  
• Inserter can interact with anything with item slots, such as :
  
  
  
  Furnaces

  
  Assemble machined

  
  Chemical plant

  
  Lab

  
  Gun turret

  
  Locomotive

  
  Cargo wagon

  
  Vehicles

  
  Boiler

  
  Burner mining drill

  
  Roboport

  
  Centrifuge

  
  Oil refinery

  
  Rocket silo

  
  Chests

  
  Buffer Chest

  
  Active Chest

  
  Passive Chest

  
  Requester Chest

  
  Storage Chest

Techs provide players with cool stuffs, better equipment, bonus, and advancement to win the game. However, one techs can only be researched at a time (multiple labs only speed the process up) so make it count.

Priority

First

Second

Machines

Advanced Electronics (2)
Automation (3)
Electric Energy Acumulators
Fluid Handling
Logistics (3)
Oil Processing
Rocket Silo
Solar Energy

Electric Energy Distribution (2)
Fast Inserter
Nuclear Power
Stack Inserter

Crafting

Logistic Science Pack
Chemical Science Pack
Production Science Pack
Utility Science Pack
Advanced Material Processing (2)
Advanced Oil Processing
Battery
Concrete
Electric Engine
Electronics
Engine
Explosives
Flammables
Low density structure
Lubricant
Plastics
Robotics
Rocket Control Unit
Rocket Fuel
Steel Processing
Sulfur Processing

Circuit Network
Cliff Explosive
Coal liquefaction
Kovarex Enrichment
Landfill
Laser
Logistic System
Military Science Pack
Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing
Optics
Space Science Pack
Uranium Processing

Military

Military (4)

Atomic Bomb
Defender
Distractor
Destroyer
Explosive rocketry
Flamethrower
Rocketry
Uranium Ammo

Modules

Modules
Productivity Module (3)
Speed Module (3)

Effectivity Module (3)
Effect transmission

Transportation

Railway

(Others)

Bonus

N/A

(All Available)

Armor Modules

N/A

(All Available)

Augmentation

N/A

(All Available)

Defense

N/A

(All Available)

• First priority techs are required to build a rocket silo in Factorio.
  
• Second priority techs are improving engineer's quality of life and work.

Train systems can transport resources at long range in low cost and quantity. It is required lots of skill to set its layout properly and effectively.

• A brief train setup procedure is :
  

  • Build railways
    
    Connecting your base to your destination with rail. Either by robots (through SHIFT key) or manually place the rail.
    
    
  • Place a train stop
    
    Place train stop on top of the rail at your destination and your base (if didn't have one). The arrow of the train stop MUST match the way of an incoming train, or the train will not dock in.
    
    
  • Setup item loaders
    
    The inserters can be either Fast / Filter inserters or Stack / Stact Filter inserters like this :
    
    
    
    
  • Place Rail Chain / Rail signal on crosses and junctions
    
    Rail Chain signals (the blue one) will indicate where the train should stop and set the rail to be a one-way rail (indicated by its arrow).
    Rail Signals (the three light one) can be placed beside the Rail Chain signals to set the rail to be a two-way rail again.
    
    In case of junction :
    
    • Rail Chain signals' arrow must be pointing toward the crossing / junction.
      
    • Rail signals' arrow must be pointing away from the crossing / junction.
    
    
  • Place your locomotives and cargo wagons on the rail
    
    Set a schedule on your locomotives and (optional) set filters by clicking a middle mouse on a specific (empty) slot in the cargo.
    
    Additionally, two or more locomotives can be placed on each sides of cargo to make the train move back and forward in an automatic mode. An example is shown below here :
    
    
    
    Note : it is not advice to set up a train like this but using a double rail system instead.
    
    
  • Set off the train
    
    Switch train mode to "Automatic" (in the train GUI) to set off the train.

  
  
• Avoid sharing a rail between two or more trains
  
  Especially for an inexperienced engineer who never built a multiple-way railway before. Running an experiment on your rail first to prevent a potential disaster or use a double railway instead.

Vehicle can be researched and used for various role with its unique features.

• General Info of land vehicle:
  
  
  Type

  Health

  Armor

  Lowest Top Speed

  Inventory slots

  Weapon

  Car

  450

  Light

  87.6 km/h

  80

  Heavy machine gun

  Tank

  2000

  Medium

  50.1 km/h

  80

  Cannon / Flamethrower / HMG

  Spidertron

  3000

  Heavy

  ~46 km/h

  80 + 10x6 grid

  Cannon / Flamethrower / HMG
  
  
• Weapons :
  
  
  Type

  Primary

  Secondary

  Support

  Car

  ---

  Mags

  ---

  Tank

  Cannon shells

  Mags

  Flamethrower ammo

  Spitron

  Rockets x 4 slots

  ---

  ---
  
  
• Tank is good at mid-game
  
  They can be used to crush faunas nests and providing player a additional protection and firepower. But be careful, tanks can get stuck and quickly surrounded by faunas quite easily.
  
  
• Car is the best vehicle to navigate around
  
  Knowing how to use car properly can help you expanding your base or exploring greatly.
  
  
• Vehicle are portable.
  
  You can put your vehicles in your inventory at anytime (by hold a RMB on it). But you can't use their extra inventory this way and have to refuel it every time you place them.
  
  
• Spidertrons can be remotely controlled.
  
  Spidertrons are expensive but can carry and use module equipment and can be ordered to moving around with a remote controller. Which making them a secondary engineer by practice (like using robot, firing laser, repairing, building, etc).

Robots can help player doing some chores or delivering goodies in a tight spot.

• How do Logistic chests work :
  
  
  Type

  Receive Item From

  Additional Taken / Recieve

  Storage Chest

  Active Provider Chest

  Engineers' Request / Trash Slots

  Requester Chest

  Other Logistic Chests

  Engineers' Trash Slots

  Buffer Chest

  Other Logistic Chests, but blue

  Engineers' Request / Trash Slots
  
  
• Passive Provider and Requester Chest are needed for a simple logistic network
  
  Request lists in Requester Chest can be set by cilck on the chest, click in a request slot in the middle of GUI (Graphical user interface), and select the item and number you want.
  
  
• Here is all info you should know about roboport :
  

  • Roboport's green area means the range of Construction robot. Brown area means the range of Construction and Logistic robot.
    
    
  • The brown area need to be connected in order to share robots and networks. The connected roboport will be shown with dash lines.
    
    
  • Construction robots (in Roboport) will take any available items in logistic chests (in its range) to build, repair, and reconstruction.
    
    
  • Logistic robots (in Roboport) will take items in logistic chests to another (in its range).
    
    See the table above to learn how item will be delivered for each chest.

  
  
• Here is all info about Personal Roboport :
  

  • Modular or Power Armors can be modified with a portable roboport to let Construction robots working from your inventory.
    
    
  • You can command your Construction robot (to build) by holding SHIFT key and places the building (in your cursor).
    
    
  • If there is not enough Construction robots in your inventory, A roboport (in range) nearby will sent their robots to complete your order (by using resources in its network).
    
    
  • Construction robots in engineer's inventory with active Personal roboport will exclusively take any items in engineer's inventory to operate.

You are not alone on this planet. Biters are hostile and will make your life miserable. You need to learn about your enemy as well as yourself, as the wise man once said, "Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories".

• Land Faunas
  
  
  Biter

  Range (m)

  Damage

  Speed (km/h)

  Health

  Small

  Melee

  7 (Physical)

  43.2

  15

  Medium

  Melee

  15 (Physical)

  51.8

  75

  Big

  Melee

  30 (Physical)

  49.7

  375

  Behemoth

  Melee

  90 (Physical)

  64.8

  3000

  Spitter

  Range (m)

  Damage

  Speed (km/h)

  Health

  Small

  13

  12 (Acid)

  40

  10

  Medium

  14

  24 (Acid)

  35.6

  50

  Big

  15

  36 (Acid)

  32.4

  200

  Behemoth

  16

  60 (Acid)

  32.4

  1500

  Worm

  Range (m)

  Damage

  Speed (km/h)

  Health

  Small

  25

  36 (Acid)

  (Static)

  200

  Medium

  30

  48 (Acid)

  (Static)

  400

  Big

  38

  72 (Acid)

  (Static)

  750

  Behemoth

  48

  96 (Acid)

  (Static)

  750
  
  
• Faunas Nest
  
  
  Type

  Health

  Spawner

  350

• Biters and Spitter will swarm and overwhelm their enemy in possible quantity.
  
• Biter and Spitter will not give up on attack or defend until they died.
  
• The attack direction are random and not specific.
  
• the number and strength of faunas are depending on pollution level of the world
  
• Spitter and worms will predict and shoot their acid ahead of moving enemy.
  
• Only worms will not move out of faunas' nest and will protect them to the dead.

There are a lot of choices to defend and attack in Factorio. You maybe provide with a pitiful firearm at first but as the tech go, you will get access to more firearms with high caliber and good defensive structures. Use them, plan them, adapt them as you must to survive on the planet and keep the factory grows.

• Personal Weapon
  
  
  Type of weapon

  Type of ammo

  Shooting speed

  Tech

  Pistol

  Mags

  Fast (4 / sec)

  [None]

  Submachine gun

  Mags

  Very Fast (10 / sec)

  Military 1

  Shotgun

  Shotgun shells

  Slow (1 / sec)

  Military 1

  Combat shotgun

  Shotgun shells

  Moderate (2 / sec)

  Military 3

  Flamethrower

  Flamethrower ammos

  Rapid (60 / sec)

  Flamethrower

  Rocket launcher

  Rockets

  Slow (1 / sec)

  Rocketry
  
  
• Support Weapon
  
  
  Type of weapon

  Base Damage

  Effect

  Tech

  Grenade

  35 explosion

  N/A

  Military 2

  Cluster grenade

  35 explosion

  Extra grenades

  Military 4

  Land mine

  250 explosion

  Stun large targets

  Land mines

  Slowdown capsule

  N/A

  Slow enemy

  Military 3

  Poison capsule

  8 poison / sec

  N/A

  Military 3

  Defender drone

  5 Physical

  N/A

  Defender

  Distractor drone

  7.5 Laser

  3 units / capsule

  Distractor

  Destroyer drone

  10 Electric

  5 units / capsule

  Destroyer
  
  
• Security Structure
  
  
  Building

  Damage

  Accuracy

  Speed

  Required

  Gun Turret

  (Depend on Ammo)

  Always hit

  Fast (10/s)

  Ammo

  Laser Turret

  20 (Laser)

  Always hit

  Slow (1.5/s)

  Electricity

  Flame Turret

  3 (Fire) + Ignition

  Low

  Rapid (30/s)

  Oil

  Artillery turret

  500 (Area of Effect)

  Hit on target

  Slothful (0.3/s)

  Artillery shell
  
  
• Defensive Structure
  
  
  Structure

  Health

  Usage

  Required

  Stone wall

  350

  Barricade

  Stone wall

  Gate

  350

  Entrance

  Gate

Fighting biters do not required much of planing since the player always have an upper hand of techs and biters have none but numbers. As long as the factory is well planned and well supplied, you will always win.

• Armor
  
  
  Type

  Grid Size

  Tech

  Investment

  Light armor

  N/A

  N/A

  Low

  Heavy armor

  N/A

  Heavy armor

  Fairly Low

  Modular armor

  5x5

  Modular armor

  Moderate

  Power armor

  7x7

  Power armor

  Slightly High

  Power armor MK2

  10x10

  Power armor 2

  Extremely High
  
  
• Armor Modules
  
  Disclaimer :
  • Every Modules with MK2 REQUIRED their weaker one to craft.
    
  • Every Modules is stackable, EXCEPT Nightvision and Discharge Defense.
    
  • Every Modules REQUIRED their own tech to craft.
  
  
  Power Generator

  Power output

  Grid Taken

  Solar Panel

  10 kW

  1x1

  Fusion Reactor

  750 kW

  4x4

  Energy Storage

  Power Capacity

  Grid Taken

  Battery

  20 MJ

  1x2

  Battery MK2

  100 MJ

  1x2

  Energy Shield

  Energy Usage

  Grid Taken

  Shield Points

  Energy Shield

  24 kW

  2x2

  50

  Energy Shield MK2

  36 kW

  2x2

  150

  Defense Device

  Energy Usage

  Grid Taken

  Damage

  Laser Defense

  600kW

  2x2

  75 (Range : 15)

  Discharge Defense

  [All Available]

  2x2

  100 (AOE : 8)

  Equipment

  Energy Usage

  Grid Taken

  Bonus

  Nightvision

  10 kW

  3x2

  Nightvision

  Exoskeleton

  200 kW

  2x4

  + 30% Speed

  Belt immunity

  100 kW

  1x1

  Immovable by Belt

  Portable Roboport

  Capacity / Charging

  Grid Taken

  Max / Recharge

  Working Area

  Roboport

  35 MJ / 20 kW

  2x2

  10 robots / 2 ports

  30x30 tiles

  Roboport MK2

  35 MJ / 20 kW

  2x2

  25 robots / 4 ports

  40x40 tiles

• Tactic 1 : Maintain your logistic network
  
  You can NOT win over the faunas without a well-supplied and well-maintained base. Reduce all possibility of logistic meltdown (resources shortage / radar shutdown / power outage / worn down defensive line) to make sure the faunas will stand no change against your mighty machinery.
  
  
• Tactic 2 : Best equipment first
  
  There is no need to safe your best equipment for the later use. Use them as you must.
  
  
• Tactic 3 : Kill them with fire. Burn the xeno.
  
  Faunas are weak to fire attack. But be careful not to burn a forest down. A wildfire can spread very quickly if left unchecked.
  
  
• Tactic 4 : No Senseless Massacre
  
  More of fauna nests destroy, the stronger they become. Only destroy their nest if it's necessary (like the nests that are too close to your base/outpost or on needed resources).
  
  
• Tactic 5 : Always Fortified Your Base
  
  Especially around a power plant or a vital part of base / transportation.
  
  
• Tactic 6 : Turret Creep
  
  It is not wise to approach faunas nests in the early game. However, with a help of gun turrets; you can somewhat eradicate a small nest without much of injury.
  
  To do a turret creep,
  
  • Place turrets near a faunas nest.
    
  • Quickly loaded the turret by Shift-click with mags and let the turret do the job.
    
  • Get closer and repeated until all the nest is destroyed.
  
  
• Tactic 7 : Multiple layers walls
  
  Walls can be place double for a better defense line. This tactic was used once in an ancient time to effectively slow down and pull back enemy siege.