TIPS FOR NEWCOMERS:

[Painter_Paul]

as the game stands, right now- (might get patched out later)
(1): You pretty much NEVER "NEED" an item to be on you, once you HAVE the shovel, Pick, Chainsaw, Jackhammer, Bolt Cutters, you just are able to use them (and all or your people)
You needn't carry them around and waste inventory space!
(2): Once you MAKE items for a quest (and sometimes place them down) as soon as the quest dings you can pick them up and put them in a box, or you are then free to cash them in for the Contracts, if need be) EXAMPLE: You'll never NEED or use 4 breweries, and 4 Beer Kegs again - and if you Place the blueprints DOWN and set them to be MADE by your minions, yet place the kegs and breweries all down before your slow people actually MAKE the tables and benches, the quest will ding and you can cancel the rest of the 4 Beer-Tables and 8 Beer benches! (ask me how I know)
(3): at the TOP RIGHT it shows how many Slaves, er, uh, "Friends" you have with you, as well as how much food you have stored in the floor cellar, Also the amount of Water? (I guess "thirst" maybe coming in a patch later?) as well as your amount of power you're USING vs how much you have AVAIL in your "grid", so if you have a bunch of tables and benches & need more POWER, just plop down another generator (or solar panel)
(4): The drill press is FINE for making the regular metal plates, it's faster than the Generic Workbench, but don't make GEARS in the grinder, they really aren't faster and needs repairs TWICE as fast as the Generic Workbench (wish we could specify which items the Minions use to Produce stuff in)
(5): You DON'T need an elaborate "House", your people are fine with a BED, and ONE Alpha wall section next to it on one side with some walkway space along the other side, you might want to leave a little room for their junk that each one likes near the beds too later on- But they don't NEED roofs, doors, windows, etc as the game stands right now.
(6); the People (once "Captured") are all following YOU and where you sleep, you cannot make an area of machines and beds for them in some OTHER zone and expect them to work there and stay there! you could have a whole farm set up in a later zone, and people working it, if you spend the night somewhere else, NO ONE will go back there and water the crops and re-plant seeds etc
(7): Dont CARRY around blueprints in your bag, Right click them and they will go into your "Blueprints" tab and free up bag space! - you always pull one one later, use it and right click it back
(8): if you miss click a stack of something and it disappears, TYPICALLY it will be there if you just save the game and shut down and re-log in (I even found something I dropped make it's way into the big red Box?)
(9): if you Make SEVERAL Level-2 research stations, and then after advancing to the level 3 Research Desk, your people set to research will still help you speed-up the work even on higher level problems (you can see how many people are currently working the selected research by the little green Flasks on the top right of any selected item)

If you have an other good tips or observations, post them as a comment, this game is EXCELLENT, but still quite buggy and theres not much info out there yet-

[arclight]

Is there a way to continue an interrupted blueprint item that you (not your minions) are building? Once I lose the bill-of-materials dialog, I can't seem to get the wireframe guide back and am left with a half-completed "dead" construction. It seems that the only solution is to completely deconstruct the item and restart building, ensuring everything is in your personal inventory before starting. The alternative is to set the item to an order for one of your minions with 'V' and let them build it as they get materials.

[Datsun Drift]

Originally posted by arclight:

Is there a way to continue an interrupted blueprint item that you (not your minions) are building? Once I lose the bill-of-materials dialog, I can't seem to get the wireframe guide back and am left with a half-completed "dead" construction. It seems that the only solution is to completely deconstruct the item and restart building, ensuring everything is in your personal inventory before starting. The alternative is to set the item to an order for one of your minions with 'V' and let them build it as they get materials.

Found this one out the other day. Make sure you have the next required material in your hotbar, then select that hotbar slot. It should continue with building the blueprint.
Another option is to pack one of the pieces you already put down. It will have you remake that part and continue on.

[Painter_Paul]

Originally posted by arclight:

Is there a way to continue an interrupted blueprint item that you (not your minions) are building? Once I lose the bill-of-materials dialog, I can't seem to get the wireframe guide back and am left with a half-completed "dead" construction. It seems that the only solution is to completely deconstruct the item and restart building, ensuring everything is in your personal inventory before starting. The alternative is to set the item to an order for one of your minions with 'V' and let them build it as they get materials.

So, when you hit tab and go into your blueprint section and look at the blueprint, a full list of everything required will be there and if you have enough it will be in green and if not, red- this will help when you plop down the blueprint to build, or set it for the villagers to do it for you, you'll know what items to leave in the big red chest or else it'll never get done?

[micks75au]

Dedicate one dude to make cogs, lots and lots of cogs, you will need thousands.