Control block boundaries
A boundary keeps a production plan understandable. Goods consumed but not fully made inside the block cross the boundary as Imports. Net production leaves as a goal, surplus, or byproduct Export.
Leave a good as an import
An ingredient can remain an import even when a recipe inside the block could make it. This is useful when another block, a train network, or an existing part of the save supplies it.
Right-click an import to:
- Create block to make this using the current import rate as the new block's starting goal;
- Size block by this input when a fixed incoming supply should determine this block's output;
- jump to an existing block listed under produced in.
Sizing by an input locks that import rate and derives the primary goal from it. Use Unlock sizing from the same menu to return control to the goal rate.
Make a good inside the block
Left-click an ingredient or import chip to open Recipes that make good, then select a producer. This is the normal workflow. Adding a producer through the good's recipe picker automatically links its production to the block's consumers and prevents the solver from importing the shortfall.
The right-click actions are explicit boundary overrides:
- Make in this block (link production) links a producer that was added some other way, such as through recipe search.
- Require in-block production forbids importing the good before a producer has been added. The block reports the missing source as a solve warning.
- Made in this block — click to import instead removes the requirement and allows an import again.
Handle exports and byproducts
Net production that no selected recipe consumes becomes an export. Right-click an exported good and select Make a goal when the block should guarantee that output rather than treat it as incidental surplus.
To consume a byproduct inside the block, select its product chip and add a consuming recipe. PyOps then links production and consumption of the selected byproduct: all of its surplus must be consumed inside the block, even when the consumer recycles material back into an earlier step. The route marker on the recipe row records that boundary rule; the displayed building count is still calculated normally by the solver. Select the route marker to change or clear the link. If the consuming recipe is already present but unlinked, select the exported good and choose that existing recipe again to create the link without duplicating or resetting the row.
When several consumers should split the same in-block production, right-click a recipe name and open Pins — count / cap / route… to route a fixed percentage to that row. Percentage shares are explicit pins and display a % marker; they are separate from the automatic all-surplus route.
Goals and exports can coexist
A goal is a minimum target. Production beyond the requested rate remains visible as an export, so byproducts and constraint-driven surplus are never silently discarded.
Split a block when it becomes unwieldy
Right-click a recipe name and select Extract into new block. PyOps moves that recipe to a new supplier block and preserves the boundary rate between the two plans.
Use New sub-block from this row when the recipes should remain in one solved block but need a collapsible visual group. A sub-block changes presentation unless you explicitly promote it to a separately solved module.
Choose boundaries that match how the factory will be built and supplied. A mathematically valid giant block is often less useful than several blocks with clear train, belt, pipe, or operational boundaries.