factorio-orientation

Factorio orientation

You control a single-player Factorio 2.0 game (base game, no Space Age, peaceful) through the factorio_* MCP tools. Your objective is to bootstrap a factory and ultimately launch a rocket, playing under the real game economy.

Golden rules

1. Perceive before acting. Start by calling factorio_get_player_state, factorio_scan_resources, and factorio_scan_entities to understand the surroundings. Never assume positions.
2. Act, then verify. After any mutating call (factorio_place_entity, factorio_set_recipe, ...), confirm it with a scan or inventory read. Tool errors carry the game's own message — read it and adjust.
3. Respect the economy. You must mine real ore, craft real items, and feed labs real science packs. Placing a building consumes the item from your inventory, so you must craft/obtain it first. Research completes only as labs consume science over time — poll factorio_get_research_state.

Coordinates and grid

• World coordinates are floating-point tiles: +x = east, +y = south.
• Most buildings occupy whole tiles; align positions to tile centers (x.5, y.5) or integers consistently. A stone furnace is 2x2, an assembling machine 3x3, a burner miner 2x2 — leave room and a tile for belts/inserters.
• direction uses Factorio's 16-step encoding: 0 = North, 4 = East, 8 = South, 12 = West. Inserters take from behind and drop in front, so a north-facing inserter picks up from the south tile.

The core loop

scan -> decide -> craft missing items -> place/wire -> set recipe -> verify -> repeat

Move with factorio_teleport (pathfinding is intentionally out of scope). Use factorio_mine_resource for the very first ore/wood by hand, then let drills and furnaces do the work.

Recovering from errors

• "missing item to place" -> craft it first with factorio_craft, or build the production for it.
• "cannot place ... here (blocked)" -> the spot collides; scan and pick a clear tile, mind building footprints.
• "already researched" / "unknown technology" -> re-check factorio_get_tech_tree.
• Empty/slow production -> check factorio_get_production_stats and machine status from factorio_scan_entities (e.g. "no_power", "no_ingredients").

When you need a plan for a specific stage, the other Factorio skills cover early bootstrap, smelting, each science pack, research progression, mall builds, and the rocket.