Build your first block

In this example, the block makes one Automation science pack per second. The point is not to plan the entire science chain at once. It is to learn the block workflow and expose the ingredients that need their own plans next.

Create the block

1. Open Blocks from the main navigation.
2. Select New block in the block sidebar.
3. Add Automation science pack as the first goal.
4. Leave the goal rate at 1/s.

The first goal names the block and becomes its scaling anchor. Changing that rate later resizes the block while preserving the recipe choices you make.

Use the localized name

Pick Automation science pack, the name shown in Factorio. Internal prototype IDs are not needed for ordinary planning.

Choose the recipe and machine

Select the Automation science pack goal icon. The Recipes that make Automation science pack dialog lists every candidate from the synced data, ordered with the most useful choices first. Select the standard Automation science pack recipe, then choose an available assembling machine in its recipe row.

The standard recipe appears first here. Availability details underneath each candidate explain research or recycling requirements.

Fractional counts are intentional. A result such as 0.094 means that one machine has more capacity than this block needs. You can share that capacity, accept idle time, or scale the block; PyOps does not round the production math for you.

Read the block balance

The Block balance status tells you whether the selected recipes can satisfy the goals. A solved block separates its boundary flows into:

• Imports: ingredients the selected recipes consume but do not make inside this block.
• Exports: products or byproducts that leave the block.
• Goal: the target output that anchors the block.

For this first block, leave the ingredients as imports. That gives you a small, useful science-pack block and a concrete list of upstream products to plan next.

The solved example produces one Automation science pack per second. Its four imports become candidates for the next blocks.

A block is a boundary you choose

You could add recipes for the imported ingredients to this same block. You could also make one block per ingredient. Both can be correct: use boundaries that match how you want to build, operate, and reason about the factory.

When a block does not solve

Use the diagnosis shown near Block balance. The common first-block causes are a missing recipe for the goal, a recipe whose required ingredient has no source or import boundary, or a conflict between a goal, a Made in this block rule, and a recipe pin. Add or remove recipes deliberately; PyOps chooses rates for your recipe selection, not recipes on your behalf.

Once the block shows solved, continue to Read the Factory view.