From empty tile to automated factory.

1. 1

   Move smoothly and use machine consoles

   Click the world, then hold the physical W A S D key positions to move. Movement uses physical key codes, so the same four keys work while a non-Latin keyboard layout is active. Use the mouse wheel to zoom, Shift + drag to pan, and C to center your operator. Click a machine for its compact summary and actions; open an advanced tool only when you need ports, code, or connection details.

2. 2

   Read the headquarters, then crank

   Select hq_main for the team resource ledger, grid totals, and Logs tab. Select crank_main and press the highlighted prime → turn → release controls in order. It supplies at most 6 MW and exists to recover a dead grid, not to run a full factory.

3. 3

   Build generation and cable it

   Place solar, wind, hydro, or coal generation. Select the generator, open Inspect → Physical connections, choose a nearby machine, choose Power, and connect. Amber cables and moving pulses show live flow; every machine reports supply, demand, allocation, storage, and whether energy reaches it.

4. 4

   Mine and build a physical route

   Place a powered miner cardinally beside iron, copper, or coal. Put a belt loader beside the miner, a connected chain of conveyors beside the loader, and a belt unloader at the far end beside storage or a consuming machine. Cargo is visible and advances one segment every four canonical ticks.

5. 5

   Name, configure, and network machines

   Rename the smelter to smelter_alpha. In its Ports tool, add the Production control preset; on storage_main, add the Storage reader preset. Review the generated source, then Apply. Create a powered Ethernet route from controller_main to both machines: use one direct cable to each target, or route each path through powered routers/relays. Direct cables reach 12 tiles; a router has eight jacks and an 18-tile radio diamond.

6. 6

   Write code only at a controller

   Select controller_main and open Code. Create a .tick file, validate, then deploy. Syntax highlighting, inline ghost text, Tab completion, Ctrl/Cmd+Space, and member completion after a dot use exact projected aliases and API signatures. They never bypass server compilation.

7. 7

   Use specialist consoles

   Select a powered market terminal to trade, a router/scanner/security terminal for network tools, and headquarters for resources and logs. To reorganize the floor, choose Move on an owned non-HQ machine and click its destination tile; cancel the placement cursor with Escape. Attached power and Ethernet cables must still fit their range at the destination. Remove is available behind a confirmation for owned machines except headquarters and the central project; the server refunds floor(original cost / 2) for each construction resource. Attached links and controller files give no refund, and local-buffer items or cargo on a removed belt/switch are lost—empty a machine before dismantling it.

8. 8

   Close the production loop

   Feed recipe inputs physically, then choose the recipe from a controller with machine.start(alias, port, recipe). There is no manual recipe selector. Watch the machine-local buffer rather than only the team ledger, and send finished goods through another loader line to storage. Build the next-tier assembler chain and use the market only for gaps or surplus. Your end goal is 20 circuits, 30 machine parts, and a powered central project on the uplink.

Deposits are finite. Team inventory and infrastructure are shared, but energy moves only through explicit power cables. The construction menu shows purpose, cost, and power before you place. Select any owned machine for live local telemetry.

Implemented recipes

Data cables control machines; they never teleport ore. Items leave a machine only through an adjacent loader, occupy visible conveyor segments, and enter a destination only through an adjacent unloader. Belts, loaders, and unloaders consume no power in this reduced ruleset. Their sprites show real topology: belts connect to every cardinal neighbor, while endpoint arrows face the authoritative source/destination machine.

1. 1

   Choose a source

   Place a loader cardinally beside a miner, smelter, assembler, storage, or headquarters that has a transferable item. Its arrow points from that source toward the belt, so a glance shows which machine is being unloaded. A loader pulls one suitable item only when the first belt segment is free.

2. 2

   Lay a connected belt

   Place four-neighbor conveyor tiles from the loader to the destination. Straight pieces, corners, T-junctions, and four-way crossings connect automatically; ordinary belts work in either direction. Cargo advances one segment every four ticks (2.5 Hz), and each segment holds one item. Occupied or broken routes visibly stall; deterministic shortest-path and stable-ID ties pick a route.

3. 3

   Install an unloader

   Put an unloader beside the final conveyor and beside its destination. Its arrow points from the belt into the authoritative destination. Smelters, assemblers, and coal generators are preferred over warehouses when they can consume the item; storage and headquarters act as shared warehouse endpoints.

4. 4

   Feed a recipe without starving one input

   A consumer route compares each required input’s machine buffer plus in-flight reservations against that recipe’s quantity. It chooses the lowest ratio and does not send one input more than one batch ahead. For iron_plate, mixed storage therefore feeds roughly two iron ore for each coal instead of filling the 32-unit coal limit first. The requested recipe must already be set by TickScript; the belt does not choose a recipe.

5. 5

   Branch automatically or script an A/B switch

   An ordinary T- or cross-junction can route toward any compatible destination. A conveyor switch has no manual routing control. Give switch_main a writable routing/route port and a powered controller route, then call conveyor.route("switch_main", 4013, "north", "east", "a"). A and B must be different cardinal directions; the last argument is exactly "a" or "b". The switch accepts cargo from any adjacent input but releases it only toward the script-selected output.

6. 6

   Watch stalls before rebuilding

   Each item is drawn on its current segment. Check endpoint arrows, the switch’s last server-confirmed A/B configuration, one-slot occupancy, destination compatibility, and the destination’s 64-total/32-per-resource buffer. The UI displays switch state but cannot change it. A broken route may reroute deterministically. Removing the occupied belt or switch deletes that cargo; it is never teleported or refunded. The match caps physical cargo at 512 items per team.

# tickrate-ports v1
port 4013 service=routing mode=write access=wired operations=route rate=60 logging=true

PRODUCTION CONTROL
# tickrate-ports v1
port 4013 service=control mode=read_write access=wired operations=start,stop,status rate=60 logging=true

STORAGE READER
# tickrate-ports v1
port 4013 service=inventory mode=read access=wired operations=count,status rate=60 logging=true

What each field means

Supported access values are local, wired, wireless, team, token, and public. The working route adapter enforces local/wired/wireless/public routing; token possession and richer team-route semantics remain reduced. Use wired for the first reliable factory network.

const MIN_ORE = 20;

fn enough(value) {
    return value >= MIN_ORE;
}

on tick {
    let ore = inventory.count("storage_main", 4013, "iron_ore");
    if enough(ore) {
        machine.start("smelter_alpha", 4013, "iron_plate");
    }
}

Every API available today

Build, cable, and power a market terminal, then select that machine to open Market. No other machine exposes the order book or manual order form. Submit a buy or sell intent with item, quantity, and unit price; the server reserves funds or goods, sorts orders deterministically, calculates fills, and delivers completed goods after a fixed delay.

# tickrate-ports v1
port 4013 service=market mode=read_write access=wired operations=quote,order,cancel rate=120 logging=true

1. 1

   Build and power the security equipment

   Select a powered scanner or security terminal and enter sweep. Both can sweep and probe; only a powered security terminal can analyze or exploit. Direct reconnaissance reaches 12 Manhattan tiles. Your powered routers and relays can extend the route with 18- and 12-tile radio ranges.

2. 2

   Find deliberate exposure

   Sweep finds powered enemy devices with wireless or public ports over direct 12-tile reach or your powered router/relay radio. Inspect a discovered device, copy its immutable ID and an exposed port number, then enter probe MACHINE_ID PORT. The log returns a probe_… ID and signature. A probe lasts 1,200 ticks, has three technique attempts, and can be reused from another scanner while it remains valid.

3. 3

   Analyze the signature

   On the security terminal, try analyze PROBE_ID frame_trace|memory_map|nonce_audit|identity_graph. The signatures map to protocol-desync, firmware-bounds, signal-replay, or trust-confusion classes. Wait until both the selected console and probe cooldown ticks have elapsed before the next stage. A wrong technique consumes an attempt and applies a 20-tick cooldown; correct work uses a 5-tick cooldown.

4. 4

   Exploit or defend

   Match the class with sequence_resync|bounds_clamp|nonce_replay|trust_forge, then enter exploit PROBE_ID TECHNIQUE patch CONST VALUE. Only a numeric top-level constant on an enemy controller/server can change, for 300 ticks; its name must be exact uppercase-style source syntax and its value must be −10,000..10,000. The reduced slice never reveals enemy source or constant names, so a valid name comes from team knowledge or observed scenario information—not from sweep. Defenders may add a matching hidden guard to the exposed port. Sweep spends no hostile port request; probe and a route-valid exploit consume ordinary port rate and logging.

Signature decision table

Worked example: a replay-profile target

sweep
probe device_0042 4044
analyze probe_0091 nonce_audit
exploit probe_0091 nonce_replay patch MIN_MARGIN 15

Errors that tell you what to do next

A wrong technique, matching hidden guard, missing constant, or already-patched file is intentionally reported only as a rejected technique in the attacker’s security log. It consumes one attempt and applies the 20-tick failure cooldown without revealing which hidden condition failed.

1. 1Produce the project inputs20 circuits and 30 machine parts.
2. 2Reach the central uplinkPlace the project only on the highlighted 4×4 center zone.
3. 3Supply 30 MWRoute 30 MW to it through connected power cables.
4. 4ActivateSelect it and send the authoritative activation command.