Factories
Basics
Factories, at their basic level, will allow you to refine Resources. There is at least one factory (or food processing facility) that will refine every raw resource into a usable product for the Whiskers. Keep in mind that The Claws have a vested interest in you not doing this and will make your industrialization journey a bit harder. You will face increased industry taxes and be reliant on The Claws for Machinery to keep your factories functioning. Additionally, The Claws will not accept any refined product except Gold Bullion to pay your taxes.
You need to build factories to progress in the game, but you should do so judiciously to avoid running out of Machinery or paying more taxes than you can afford. As the game progresses, you will need to worry less about these factors.
Factories make up production chains, and it can get complicated to understand the interactions between all of the buildings. Consider your production chains to ensure they are operating efficiently and not running into shortages or leaving you with piles of unnecessary materials (especially those you cannot sell).
For example, the Weaver can directly produce woven cloaks from the raw material flax or it can make fabrics from threads which puts it in a production chain. Weavers accepts scissors as a catalyst which means producing copper bars at an Ore Furnace and further refining it at a Coppersmith.
Machinery
Machinery is the lifeblood of your factories. They are required to build every single factory and are consumed over time by your factories. Until you can produce your own (a late game research), you are completely reliant on The Claws to provide Machinery to you. You can obtain them via Supply Ships (eventually disappearing from the cheapest supply option) or as rewards for paying your taxes.
If you want to amass a good stockpile, paying the bare minimum for your taxes will make that task difficult. Larger quantities of Machinery are available at the 125% or 175% tax payment levels. It is in your best interest to use your limited re-rolls to try and locate a reward for Machinery rather than relying on the supply ship. If you need more from the supply ship, keep an eye on the fluctuating amounts of machinery parts they offer. Some packages are better for the price than others.
Make sure you stockpile Machinery for your first few winters. Remember, the only source of Machinery for the winter is the supply ship, and you will be charged their winter surcharge. This can lead to a nasty Spring tax collection event.
Productivity
Factories determine their production speed via a variety of factors, such as:
- the number of Whiskers assigned,
- guild bonuses from assigned workers,
- fulfilling optional production bonus slot requirements,
- the food the Whiskers are eating (varying production bonuses),
- temperature of the factory (cold will slow it down), and
- whether a Steam Engine is providing a boost.
Leverage as many boosts as you need to keep your supply chain functioning smoothly. Consider using a catalyst to increase the output of the facility even further.
Your factories only receive production speed bonuses from Whiskers while they are present in the factory. If a worker is off fetching input materials or delivering output goods, they will not contribute to the production speed at the factory. This is important to consider when you're locating warehouses, housing, etc. If your Whiskers are spending a lot of time traveling, it will reduce the effective productivity of your factories. That is, even if they're producing goods quickly, they won't be producing for as many hours of the day.
This high level of variability can make it difficult to pin down a good ratio of factories when working with multi-step production chains. A good place to start is the theoretical outputs of each factory, but you will still have to adjust. Even something like the uneven distribution of food (some getting high quality and others getting low quality) could throw a wrench in your calculations. You may just want to embrace the imperfection.
Catalysts
All factories have a specific catalyst which will increase their production output by +25 (same for all factories). Generally, there is a theme to a catalyst which can help you predict which set of factories will use which catalyst. For example, every factory in the fiber production chain (Weaver, Flax Spinner, Cotton Gin, Tailor) all use scissors and all of the ore processing facilities (Ore Furnace, Charcoal Furnace, Blast Furnace) use fire tongs.
In order to use catalysts, you must first produce them at factories. Some catalysts are single-purpose and they cannot be used for any other purpose (e.g. scissors). Other catalysts may be used in other supply chains (e.g. rope, oil). Take care in producing catalysts because single-purpose catalysts may be expensive and many cannot be sold. It is highly advised to set production limits on those catalysts to conserve resources and not end up with a warehouse full of scissors you cannot use for quite some time.
When you want a factory to use a catalyst, select the factory and turn on the toggle for using a catalyst. One of the assigned workers will perform a task to go fetch the catalyst (it will state that under their name). Once obtained, the factory will benefit from the catalyst until it is fully consumed. The number of catalysts stored and their consumption status is shown next to the toggle to turn catalysts on/off.
Catalyst usage is fairly slow and a single factory producing a catalyst can support a large number of factories requiring it. For example, one Coppersmith producing scissors can keep a dozen or more Weavers, Flax Spinners, Cotton Gins, and Tailors well stocked. Just be aware that workers assigned to these catalyst-creating facilities may idle a lot, especially if you have production limits set.
Guild Alliances
While factories may appear to be aligned with the Engineering Guild, this is definitely not the case. For example, the fiber production chain is preferred by Explorer's Guild Whiskers and the ore refinement facilities are preferred by the Mining Guild Whiskers. Some of the alignments may not feel intuitive, so be sure to look at the symbol associated with the building before assigning Whiskers.
Where possible, make sure all of your factories are staffed by the appropriate guild for additional production speed bonuses. While any Whisker can be assigned in a pinch (aside from requirements like Scholars and Apprentices), you should strive to match the guild with the factory. You can use a School to realign the guild of Whiskers, if you prefer not to hire more to fill in the gaps.
Craft Master/Apprentices
Many factories will have slots that require a Whisker to be an apprentice, craft master, or a scholar. These requirements come in various configurations such as requiring one to open additional worker slots, all slots requiring these specialties, or an optional specialty slot to boost production.
You may not have the work force that matches the factories you are trying to build. You will need to recruit the skills via Whiskers arriving on ships or use a School to modify the abilities of existing Whiskers.
Remember that the higher skill level of a Whisker also means the higher their demands. A scholar frequently comes with 4-star demands. As such, be sure not to recruit or convert too many of your Whiskers into these specialties. Once trained, a Whisker cannot be untrained. Stick to roughly the number you need for requirement slots and optional slots. There is no bonus for these skills unless noted by the factory in its worker assignment slots.
If you're running short on Whiskers, look for assignment slots that provide large bonus production speed and choose those if you cannot fully staff the building.
Pollution
Any factory that consumes Fuel to produce goods will also produce pollution while it is operating. This includes all of the furnaces which produce substantial amounts of air pollution while operating. The Sifting Tower is a notable exception in that it does not consume Fuel but still produces some pollution.
Pollution creates negative thoughts for your Whiskers based on the amount to which they are exposed (unless immune due to the "can't smell" trait). Currently, pollution will not physically harm your Whiskers, but they will receive negative bonuses to walking speed and production efficiency.
Make sure to locate your polluting facilities downwind and away from your Whiskers to minimize the impacts of your Fuel-consuming factories. If you are unsure of the wind direction for your island, place a Windsock decoration to inform you.
Other buildings also produce pollution, like food preparation buildings and Fuel-powered heating. It may be unintuitive but food preparation buildings should also be similarly located as industry, even though they produce less pollution.
It is impossible to avoid the colony-wide smog created by fuel-powered heating until you unlock Steam Radiators. The additional pollution can and will combine with other sources to exacerbate the situation.
