All info provided in this guide is accurate (as far as I am aware) as of the 27th of August, 2023. This guide is still a WIP, so the information provided is fragmentary at best, but presented here as I obtain it so that everyone can benefit from my work. I hope this guide is informative to everyone both rookie and veteran alike.


Also, for this guide, I will be starting a new world specifically to help both myself and others to start from the beginning, and work our way through the tech tree and to full automation. I look forward to seeing how this world will develop~!

Probably one of the most important parts of your factory, having an automated scout to both search the area and collect dropped resources will make things much easier to find new resource nodes and exploring the map. However, there are dangers around, so figuring out how to do this safely is important. In comes my first contribution, the Scout & Collect Squad.


This uses the 3 scout units you have from the very beginning of the game as one fully functional unit to search & collect the area, defend against basic threats, as well as supplying & storing their own power. You can replace the two supporting units with dash bots if you desire, but you will be lacking space for an additional internal component used for the Portable Shield Generator, so they will be less protected against any potential threats.

First off, the Scout Leader unit seen here is the absolute core to this whole squad operating. You will need both the Behaviours and Power Transference technologies researched, but once you do this is usable fairly early in your play-through.

Now as for the behaviour control programming, I've kept it as simple as possible.


First, it checks if it has taken damage. If not, then it will check the immediate area for any dropped items. If there are not any, it will then "scout" the area. This is a move command provided by the game itself, and helps you search the map automatically. If at any time it does find a dropped item in the world that is not in a blight area, it will then check if it has enough space to hold the item. If not, it will then return to the destination recorded in the "Signal" register of the unit.

Now, to set the "Signal" register of the unit, you will need to click and drag the slot shown here onto the destination of where you want the scout to drop off resources. In this case, I have marked my Command Centre as the drop-off point. The reason why I haven't set the "Store" or "Goto" registers is because it causes the bot to constantly bounce back and forth, which is not ideal. This way, the drop-off target is stored in the bot's memory, and we can then access that information at any time.

Now, notice I have small storage and a portable shield generator equipped. If you do not have either of these things, feel free to replace the shield with a repair kit, and replace the small storage with a small turret for extra firepower. And with that, you have your scout leader! If you wanted to run it as is, feel free, but be aware that it will not have any means of powering itself, as well as any means of defending itself if you do not have a turret equipped. This is where the other two bots come in~!

The Scout Support bot is your main means of powering your scouting squad without needing to return to your main power grid to recharge. With a solar cell, portable power field and capacitor, you will be able to generate all the power you will need for your scouting efforts. Now all you need to do is set the "Goto" register to be the Scout Leader bot and that's all you need to do~!


The Scout Guard bot is your optional muscle, useful for cases where your Scout Leader does not have a turret equipped, or you want a little more firepower to deal with threats as you automatically retreat for dear life. The small turret, repair kit and portable shield generator are highly recommended for equipping onto the guard to maximise up time against any external threats.

Potential Problems:

• Scout Leader can get stuck due to other units crowding around: Easy fix is to move them out of the way manually and then get them to re-follow the leader once it is unstuck. A better solution is being worked on, so pay attention to this space for further updates.

(WIP, TBC)

Everything here can be made from the very beginning of the game, with any researched technology requirements (if any) all located under the "Basic" tech tree.

Tech Requirement: None
We all know what this is, and if not you should. This will be one of the first buildings you build (ignoring the Command Centre), and will be responsible for refining your base resources into usable items for the rest of your factory. I suggest building at least 4 fabricators to supply your initial factory build, one of which should be on metal plates, while the other three are set to smelt metal bars.

A suggested setup until you build your first Uplink would be two of these fabrication units be built, supported by the two mining scouts to just focus on mining Metal Ore, while the third scout rocks another fabricator while running logistics and picking up any scattered crystal chunk off the ground. The Command Centre can house your fourth fabricator along with your first assembler.

Tech Requirement: None
Now that we have the basic machines all built up, it is time we actually build our very first mining bot to help with harvesting more metal ore, as well as the crystal chunks that we have been ignoring until now. The game does provide you with this blueprint too, but I thought it would be best to keep the naming scheme up that I will be using throughout my entire playthrough, so here you go.

You will want to build a dedicated storage block for each resource you are mining (both metal ore and crystal chunks), that way your miners can set them as their Store location. This will allow your mining bots to remain off the logistics network, as they will only move to store their inventories into the set Store locations when their own inventories are full, reducing congestion.


Tech Requirement: None
I like allowing logistics bots to have multiple uses, and this one will let you delete anything you have built with a single right-click after selecting the trash bot. Note that with only a single inventory slot, a lot of what you disassemble will be left on the ground unless you pick it up manually at this time, but later versions of this will fix this issue. This is an optional build, so only build this bot if you need something removed.

Tech Requirement: None
Again, this is an optional build, but this is technically the cheapest battle-capable unit you can make. If you need to deal with light threats around the base, consider rocking a team of these bots as your primary logistics bot swarm.

Tech Requirement: Basic - Basic Structures
This will be your primary means of developing your factory. While most other games would need a more complicated setup to deliver all the required resources to the their factory "malls", in Desynced you can just rely on your bots connected to the logistics network to handle all that complicated stuff. As a result, you can set this up extremely quickly. Below you can find a suggested layout that I love to use, so feel free to copy it! The 3 wide spacing between the build is a thing I like to do for my entire factory, as it allows for a good amount of space for the logistics bots to be able to move around with minimal congestion.

Keep in mind that when setting up each crafting recipe in the assembler you need to set the amount to craft to infinite. This way you only need to set this up once, and never look at it again (but we totally will later with improved versions of this unit).


Tech Requirement: Basic - Basic Structures & Basic Power
If you noticed, this was visible in the above layout. I use this as a core point in each "block" of my factory. Each "block" is a mix of buildings in a 5x5 area, surrounded by a 3-wide path for bots to traverse. Each additional power pole can be placed at the very edge of a previously placed power pole within an adjacent factory "block". This allows for easy factory expansion. Oh, and feel free to change the light, either with a different colour, or a different component entirely.


Tech Requirement: Basic - Basic Structures
Able to hold two small components, we can now compress our smelting setup.
(WIP)

This is where I'll be putting stuff to get things out ASAP. Expect minimal testing and near zero documentation here. Once I am happy with it and have enough time to take screenshots & write things up, it will be moved to somewhere more permanent.