====== Alloys and Core Tech ======

Many Slimefun factories do not fail because the player lacks one specific machine.
They stall because the player keeps running out of the same shared intermediates: metals, alloys, carbon products, wires, motors, batteries, and circuit-style parts.

===== The real bottleneck is usually intermediates =====

  * Big recipes are often built out of the same families of parts again and again.
  * If you only craft those parts on demand, every new machine feels expensive and slow.
  * If you batch them in advance, progression becomes much smoother.

===== The four material families to respect =====

^ Family ^ Why it matters ^ Example uses ^
| Base metals and dusts | The foundation for nearly every tech branch. | Machine frames, alloys, wires, plates, and upgrades |
| Alloys | Where many mid-game power and machine recipes begin to spike in cost. | Better machines, advanced components, stronger armor and tools |
| Carbon and compressed materials | A recurring requirement for upgraded tech and energy parts. | Pressing, machine parts, advanced crafting |
| Core tech components | The reusable "factory guts" of many recipes. | Batteries, motors, panels, coils, circuit boards, and similar parts |

===== What to batch early =====

  - Common ingots and dusts you touch constantly
  - Carbon, compressed carbon, and other pressed intermediates
  - The component chain behind power parts: wires, motors, batteries, and panels
  - The alloys that keep appearing in new machine recipes

===== Signs a part belongs in permanent stock =====

  * You used it in three different machine recipes recently
  * You hate rebuilding the same sub-recipes every session
  * It blocks progress more often than the final machine itself
  * You start saying "I only need one more motor, battery, or coil" every time you craft

===== A practical alloy mindset =====

  - Treat alloy production as a service line, not a one-off craft.
  - Keep a chest or shelf specifically for refined alloys and advanced metal parts.
  - When a new machine unlocks, craft extra if its ingredients are likely to appear again.
  - If your manual smeltery or press steps are the slowest part of the chain, that is your signal to upgrade into electric processing.

===== Core tech progression =====

  - Early on, the [[enhanced_crafting_table|Enhanced Crafting Table]] is the center of everything.
  - After that, your factory usually grows around the recurring tech parts that feed power and automation.
  - Once those shared parts are easy to make, pages like [[energy_and_electricity|Energy and Electricity]] stop feeling overwhelming because you already own the component pipeline they expect.

===== Good supporting upgrades =====

  * [[carbon_press|Carbon Press]] for recurring carbon compression
  * [[electric_press|Electric Press]] for repeated compression work
  * [[electric_smeltery|Electric Smeltery]] once alloy production starts dominating your crafting time
  * [[charging_bench|Charging Bench]] once rechargeable tools and gear enter your normal loop

===== Factory rule of thumb =====

  * Do not ask "Can I craft this machine once?"
  * Ask "Can my base keep making the parts that machine represents?"
  * If the answer is no, your next upgrade is probably not another end product. It is a better intermediate line.

===== See also =====

  * [[factory_bootstrap|Factory Bootstrap Guide]]
  * [[basic_machines|Basic Machines]]
  * [[energy_and_electricity|Energy and Electricity]]