Machinefall’s economy works when gathering, production, and delivery stay in balance. This guide shows where the nine raw and intermediate resources come from, what the four combat supplies contain, how all 29 timed recipes connect, and why an otherwise functional factory can stop.
For construction prices and building placement, see the Buildings and Construction Costs guide. Equipment and vehicle stats are covered in the Units, Vehicles, and Equipment guide.
The Economy in Three Steps
Acquisition brings wood, water, stone, food, waste, and rags into the settlement. Lumber camps, lumberyards, wells, quarries, farms, junkyards, ruined houses, and marketplaces form this first layer.
Conversion turns those basics into useful materials and products. The waste plant is the central bridge: it converts waste into rags, metal scrap, plastic scrap, or electronic scrap. Workshops then turn wood, rags, stone, and scrap into equipment, ammunition, and vehicles.
Delivery keeps the first two layers connected. Workers move nearby goods through storage buildings, while depots, ports, and airfields carry full vehicle loads along configured routes. A production site with plenty of nominal stock can still sit idle when its inputs are stored too far away or its output storage is full.
Raw and Intermediate Resources
The Source or chain column gives the repeatable way to obtain each economy resource. The unlock is the technology that opens that resource or its producer.
| Resource | Source or chain | Unlock | Main uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | Lumber camp or lumberyard; no material input | Lumber camp | Early construction, tools, bows, roads, and basic vehicles |
| Water | Well; endless supply with no material input | Well | Construction, field irrigation, and population growth |
| Food | Farm workers water, tend, and harvest fields | Agriculture | Population growth and radar searches |
| Stone | Quarry built on a hillside; no material input | Mines | Construction, roads, walls, and siege weapons |
| Waste | Junkyard built near waste dumps; no material input | Junkyard | Feedstock for rags and all three scrap resources |
| Rags | Collected from houses or made from 1 waste at a waste plant | Collecting rags | Backpacks, bows, armor, bandages, and early vehicles |
| Metal scrap | Waste plant: 1 waste becomes 1 metal scrap | Waste plant | Weapons, armor, vehicles, advanced buildings, and launches |
| Plastic scrap | Waste plant: 3 waste becomes 1 plastic scrap | Plastic scrap | Rifles, elite armor, explosives, aircraft, and launches |
| Electronic scrap | Waste plant: 4 waste becomes 1 electronic scrap | Electronic scrap | Advanced weapons, zeppelins, radar, and launches |
Wood and water support the opening settlement, but waste becomes the most important bridge into advanced production. A steady junkyard-to-waste-plant flow supplies every scrap type; metal supports weapons and ground vehicles, plastic supports explosives and advanced equipment, and electronic scrap supports top-tier weapons, aircraft, radar, and launches.
Farming and Population Supplies
A farm can employ two workers and stores up to 200 items. Its workers carry water to nearby fields, spend 5 seconds watering each field, wait through a 60-second growth period, then harvest 1 food and deliver it back. Worker travel and delivery add to that minimum cycle, so clustered fields, water, and storage keep farms productive.
Water and food also expand the population through repaired houses. Water supplied through a marketplace adds the second floor and a new recruit; food adds the third floor and another recruit. These house supplies are one-time costs, not continuous upkeep.
Supplies and Ammunition
Supplies are produced like other factory goods, then stored and distributed to compatible units or defenses. The payload is the amount carried by one completed supply item.
| Supply | Made at | Recipe | Base time | Payload | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quiver | Archery | 1 wood | 1s | 300 arrows | Bow ammunition, including ballista tower reserves |
| Bandage | Field hospital | 1 rag | 3s | 1,000 health | Restores 1,000 health when used for healing |
| Ammo box | Ammo factory | 1 metal scrap | 3s | 300 bullets | Rifle and machine gun ammunition |
| Explosives | Ammo factory | 2 plastic scrap | 3s | 100 grenades | Grenade launcher and cannon ammunition; also used in tanks and launches |
Quivers and ammo boxes each carry 300 shots, while explosives carry 100 grenades. Bandages carry 1,000 points of healing. Route hubs enable all four supply types by default, which makes them natural resupply centers when their routes are configured to move the supplies your army actually uses.
Complete Production Chains
Every timed building recipe appears below. Base time is the amount of production work required for one result; multiple workers accelerate that work, as explained in the next section. Farms use the separate field cycle above and therefore do not appear in this table.
Gathering and Basic Inputs
| Building | Product | Materials | Base time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lumber camp | Wood | No material input | 1s |
| Well | Water | No material input | 10s |
| Lumberyard | Wood | No material input | 1s |
| Quarry | Stone | No material input | 10s |
| Junkyard | Waste | No material input | 1s |
Settlement Essentials
| Building | Product | Materials | Base time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carpenter’s shop | Backpack | 1 wood; 1 rag | 5s |
| Carpenter’s shop | Wooden bat | 2 wood | 5s |
| Field hospital | Bandage | 1 rag | 3s |
| Archery | Bow | 2 wood; 1 rag | 5s |
| Archery | Quiver | 1 wood | 1s |
Recycling and Scrap
| Building | Product | Materials | Base time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waste plant | Rags | 1 waste | 1s |
| Waste plant | Metal scrap | 1 waste | 1s |
| Waste plant | Plastic scrap | 3 waste | 3s |
| Waste plant | Electronic scrap | 4 waste | 4s |
Arms and Supplies
| Building | Product | Materials | Base time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armory | Warhammer | 1 wooden bat; 2 metal scrap | 15s |
| Armory | Rifle | 2 metal scrap; 2 plastic scrap | 15s |
| Armory | Veteran armor | 3 metal scrap; 3 rags | 15s |
| Advanced armory | Shock baton | 1 warhammer; 10 electronic scrap | 30s |
| Advanced armory | Grenade launcher | 1 rifle; 10 electronic scrap | 30s |
| Advanced armory | Elite armor | 1 veteran armor; 10 plastic scrap | 30s |
| Ammo factory | Ammo box | 1 metal scrap | 3s |
| Ammo factory | Explosives | 2 plastic scrap | 3s |
Vehicle Production
| Building | Product | Materials | Base time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cart maker | Cart | 10 wood | 30s |
| Shipyard | Raft | 30 wood; 5 rags | 50s |
| Shipyard | Barge | 30 wood; 20 metal scrap | 100s |
| Garage | Truck | 20 metal scrap | 30s |
| Garage | Tank | 50 metal scrap; 10 explosives | 60s |
| Hangar | Hot-air balloon | 10 wood; 50 rags | 50s |
| Hangar | Zeppelin | 50 plastic scrap; 20 electronic scrap | 100s |
Production Speed and Stalls
Factory progress increases with the number of workers currently present. One worker completes a 30-second recipe in about 30 seconds of production time, two workers in about 15 seconds, and four workers in about 7.5 seconds. Travel, input delivery, and output collection are separate, so real throughput is lower when workers spend time away from the building.
A recipe consumes all of its inputs when production begins and adds the result when the work finishes. Production will not start without the complete input batch. It also pauses when no worker is present, the desired output is disabled, an input is disabled and not already stored, the output has no free storage space, or the relevant technology is unavailable.
For buildings with several recipes, use the small resource icons in the storage panel to enable the outputs you want and disable the ones you do not. If a factory appears stuck, first check its worker count, then its input amounts, output toggles, and free capacity. Only after those checks should you trace the delivery route back to storage.
The waste plant is easiest to tune this way. Rags and metal scrap each use 1 waste and 1 second of base work; plastic scrap uses 3 waste and 3 seconds; electronic scrap uses 4 waste and 4 seconds. All four conversions therefore consume 1 waste per worker-second, so the important decision is which output your current production chain needs.
Storage and Long-Distance Delivery
Storage capacity is shared by all enabled goods. Default limits are starting targets, not separate guaranteed compartments, and you can reconfigure them for the settlement’s current job.
| Building | Capacity | Best default role | Starting resource focus | Transport |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small storage | 500 | Early local storage | Wood, water, and rags start at 100 each; stone, food, waste, and metal scrap start at 50 each | Local transfer |
| Medium storage | 2,000 | Mid-game local storage | Common resources and metal scrap start at 200; plastic and electronic scrap start at 100 | Local transfer; carts stored here can support units |
| Large storage | 5,000 | Large local stockpile | All nine raw and intermediate resources start at 400 each | Local transfer; trucks stored here can support units |
| Depot | 3,000 | Ground route hub | Supplies start enabled at 100 each | Four starting carts |
| Port | 3,000 | Sea route hub | Supplies start enabled at 100 each | Four starting rafts |
| Airfield | 3,000 | Air route hub | Supplies start enabled at 100 each | Four starting hot-air balloons |
Nearby storage and production buildings transfer compatible enabled goods locally. Roads shorten those trips: dirt roads raise movement speed by 50%, while gravel roads raise it by 100%.
Long-distance hubs need both a route and a full vehicle load before they send cargo. The route sets its direction and allowed resource types. When a delivery never leaves, check that the origin has enough of the selected goods to fill its vehicle, the destination accepts those goods and has free space, and the route points the intended way.
Late-Game Resource Sinks
Advanced production draws heavily on scrap. A tank costs 50 metal scrap and 10 explosives. A zeppelin costs 50 plastic scrap and 20 electronic scrap. Keeping waste collection and all three scrap conversions active before those technologies arrive prevents a sudden late-game shortage.
The radar is a repeating strategic sink. Its first silo search consumes 50 food and 100 electronic scrap. The next search costs 100 food and 200 electronic scrap, and every later search adds another 50 food and 100 electronic scrap to the previous cost.
Launch pads and space shuttles each require metal scrap, explosives, plastic scrap, and electronic scrap to build, then are consumed when launched. Reserve those materials separately if you do not want routine weapon, vehicle, and ammunition production to spend them first. Their exact construction costs are listed in the Buildings and Construction Costs guide, while their progression steps appear in the Technology Tree and Objectives guide.