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In Substructure, a stalled line is usually caused by the first broken handoff, not by the machine that appears idle. Trace the finished product backward, find the first empty input or full output, then check every required item and fluid, cross-layer transport, environmental conditions, and belt-converter speed. Repair that handoff, let the chain stabilize, and only then add machines or supply.

This method fits the game’s multi-layer factories, agriculture-dependent production, elevators, programmable platforms, variable-input recipes, and belt converters. Because Substructure is a forthcoming PC title and no official numeric production ratios have been published, the guide uses observable symptoms and documented mechanics rather than invented machine counts.

What a stalled line looks like

A production line can stop in several different ways. The visible symptom is not always the cause, so classify the symptom before changing the layout.

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An input is empty

An empty input means the machine is waiting for something upstream. The source may be an extractor, a recipe choice, a belt segment, storage, an elevator, a programmable platform, power, or an environmental condition affecting a plant or resource. Follow that input backward until you reach the first place where material stops moving.

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An output is full

A full output usually means the machine has nowhere to send its product. Inspect the next belt, receiving machine, chest or other storage, and any platform or elevator that should carry the material onward. Adding another producer to a full output normally makes the backup larger rather than restoring flow.

One machine is starved while another is backed up

This is a distribution problem. A lane may be delivering more material to one consumer than it can accept while another consumer receives nothing. It can also happen when a converter receives items too quickly, or when a cross-layer transfer is intermittent. Trace each branch separately instead of judging the whole belt as healthy.

The line runs, then stops

Intermittent operation often points to a missing companion input, a time-dependent environmental condition, storage that fills and empties in cycles, or a transport link whose delivery cadence does not match the machine. Watch the line through more than one production cycle and identify which handoff changes state first.

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The reliable diagnostic order

Use the following sequence whenever a factory stops. It prevents a common mistake: increasing extraction before discovering that the real bottleneck is downstream.

  1. Begin at the final product. Identify the machine or storage that should receive the finished item. Is its input empty, or is its output unable to leave? Record the first abnormal handoff you can see.
  2. Work backward one handoff at a time. For an empty input, inspect the preceding machine, belt, storage container, elevator, or platform. Stop at the first point where material is absent, delayed, or routed elsewhere. For a full output, move forward until you find the blocked belt, receiving machine, storage, or transfer device.
  3. List every required input. Check ordinary items and fluids separately. A variable-input recipe can accept one of several alternative ingredients, but its mandatory companion inputs still have to arrive. One satisfied ingredient does not prove that the recipe is runnable.
  4. Verify recipe selection and supply. If a recipe allows alternatives, confirm that the items actually arriving are valid alternatives for that recipe. A mixed belt can be acceptable, but an invalid mixture or absent mandatory input can leave the machine waiting.
  5. Check power and machine state. A correctly routed belt cannot make an unpowered or otherwise inactive machine produce. Treat power as an independent check rather than assuming that material delivery proves the machine is ready.
  6. Inspect transfers between layers. A healthy belt on one level can still feed an empty machine on another if an elevator or programmable platform is not delivering. Follow the material through every layer transition.
  7. Check environmental timing. Light, humidity, heat, and other conditions can affect resources and plants. If production changes with illumination or another local condition, compare the machine’s state under the relevant conditions before rebuilding the recipe chain.
  8. Restore the first broken handoff. Remove the blockage, correct the route, provide the missing input, or fix the transfer. Then allow the complete chain to run before making another change.
  9. Scale only after flow stabilizes. If the original line runs continuously, add capacity where the next persistent shortage appears. Extra upstream production added before that point can convert a shortage into a downstream backup.

How to find the first broken handoff

Think of the factory as a sequence of handoffs rather than a collection of machines. A handoff includes the producing machine, its output, the transport route, and the receiving machine’s input. A line is healthy only when each handoff can pass material at the rate required by the next step.

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For an empty input

  • Inspect the immediately preceding output. If it is also empty, move upstream again.
  • If the preceding output is full, the connecting belt or transfer route is not accepting material.
  • If the belt contains items but the machine remains empty, check direction, branch routing, recipe validity, and the receiving machine’s input requirements.
  • If the belt is empty but the producer has inputs, check power, recipe selection, and whether a required output route is blocked.

For a full output

  • Look at the next belt segment first. A full output with no movement usually indicates a downstream blockage.
  • Check whether the receiving machine can accept that exact item and whether one of its other mandatory inputs is missing.
  • Inspect storage capacity. A full chest or other receiver can stop an otherwise functioning producer.
  • Follow the route to any elevator or programmable platform. A transfer that cannot complete can back up every machine before it.

This backward-and-forward method is more dependable than replacing the apparently idle machine. The idle machine may be the first visible victim while the actual fault is several handoffs away.

Variable-input recipes: alternatives do not remove requirements

The developer diary documents recipes that accept one of several alternative items while still requiring other inputs, including fluids. This creates a distinctive failure mode: a line appears supplied because one ingredient is present, but the machine remains stopped because a companion input is absent.

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Audit the recipe as a checklist

  1. Write down the alternative ingredient group: the items that can substitute for one another.
  2. Write down every mandatory item outside that group.
  3. Write down every mandatory fluid separately.
  4. Check the route for each requirement, including storage and layer transfers.
  5. Confirm that the arriving alternative is one the selected recipe accepts.

Mixed input belts can be valid for a variable-input recipe. Do not split a belt merely because it contains more than one accepted alternative. Split or reroute it when the machine’s feed rate, lane distribution, or downstream capacity requires that change.

When one alternative dominates

If one accepted item arrives consistently while another does not, the recipe can still run as long as all mandatory companions are present. If production stops despite a valid alternative on the belt, inspect the companion inputs before changing the alternative supply.

When a missing fluid causes the apparent mystery

Fluid delivery deserves its own inspection because a machine can have a full item input and still be unable to start. Trace the fluid route, its storage, and any cross-layer transfer just as you would trace a solid belt. Do not infer fluid availability from the presence of ordinary items.

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Belt converters and throughput-sensitive feeding

A belt converter is a belt-side machine that transforms items while they continue moving. It does not use ordinary input and output slots in the same way as a conventional machine. Its success therefore depends on whether an item remains in a processable position long enough for the conversion to occur.

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Signs that the converter is being fed too quickly

  • Items visibly pass the converter without changing.
  • The converter works sporadically even though the belt is continuously occupied.
  • A downstream machine receives fewer converted items than the upstream belt appears to carry.
  • Slowing or interrupting the feed changes the conversion result.

Use a loop when one pass is too fast

The developer diary suggests a looped system as one solution. Route items so that unprocessed pieces return for another pass, giving the converter additional opportunities to act. A loop can improve utilization without requiring a completely new production branch, but it adds routing to monitor. Confirm that converted items eventually leave the loop and that the loop does not feed a full downstream receiver.

Split a faster belt into slower lanes

Another documented option is splitting a faster belt into multiple slower lanes. Each lane presents fewer items to the converter per unit of time, increasing the chance that passing items are processed. Use this approach when the converter can handle the lane speed but not the original feed speed.

Transport arrangement When it helps What to monitor
Single lane The converter can process the passing items at the existing feed rate. Unconverted items and downstream starvation.
Looped lane Items need another pass through the converter. Loop exits, duplicate processing paths, and downstream capacity.
Split lanes A faster feed overwhelms one converter lane. Even distribution and whether each lane reaches a valid receiver.

Do not increase upstream extraction until the converter’s actual processed output is stable. A fuller input belt does not guarantee a fuller converted stream.

Elevators, programmable platforms, and layer boundaries

Substructure is built around cavernous layers. The official description identifies programmable platforms as a way to move materials and factory infrastructure between layers, while preview coverage describes elevators carrying materials between levels. These devices are not cosmetic links: they are production handoffs.

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Diagnose a cross-layer stall

  1. Confirm that the source level has material ready for transfer.
  2. Inspect the elevator or platform’s route and destination.
  3. Check the receiving level for available space and a valid destination belt or machine.
  4. Verify that the transferred item is accepted by the receiving recipe.
  5. Watch both ends during multiple cycles. A transfer can appear successful at the source while the destination remains starved.

Centralized processing versus local processing

Centralizing a recipe in one layer can make supervision and storage simpler, but it makes the line depend on longer routes and more elevators or platforms. Local processing shortens belts and reduces cross-layer handoffs, but it may require duplicated machines and duplicated input delivery.

Layout Strength Trade-off Best diagnostic question
Centralized processing One production area is easier to inspect and stock. More dependence on long transport routes and layer transfers. Is the transfer link, rather than the recipe machine, the first broken handoff?
Local processing Shorter belts and fewer cross-layer deliveries. More machines and input routes to maintain. Does each local branch have all mandatory inputs?

Choose the arrangement that makes the bottleneck visible in your current build. There is no published universal ratio that determines when one layout is superior.

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Agriculture, light, and environmental conditions

Agriculture powers manufacturing and research in Substructure, and the official description says that resources and plants can depend on light, humidity, heat, and other conditions. Preview coverage specifically reports that sunlight speeds plant production while darkness slows it. A day or night transition can therefore resemble a machine imbalance even when the recipe has not changed.

Separate environmental slowdown from a logistics fault

  • Observe whether the plant or resource rate changes when illumination changes.
  • Check whether downstream machines continue consuming at their usual rate.
  • Compare the timing of the slowdown with light, humidity, heat, or another local condition.
  • Inspect transport anyway: an environmental slowdown can expose a second problem, such as a storage state or an intermittently supplied machine.

Do not compensate for a sunlight-related slowdown by immediately adding extractors or processors. First determine whether the environment is the intended rate limiter. Once conditions improve, the extra upstream capacity could create a backup.

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Design around changing conditions

Keep environmental producers easy to observe and avoid burying their output behind an inaccessible transfer. A visible buffer can show whether the plant is producing more slowly or whether the belt, elevator, or receiver has failed. Because exact cycle times are not published, use the behavior of your own running line rather than a fixed claimed ratio.

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Centralized or local, single lane or split: choosing a repair

When a line is unbalanced, first repair the existing handoff. Afterward, decide whether the layout itself makes future diagnosis difficult.

Decision Prefer the first option when Prefer the second option when
Centralized vs. local processing You benefit from one supervised recipe area and can keep transfers reliable. Elevators or platforms are the recurring bottleneck and local inputs are practical.
Single lane vs. split lanes The belt is easy to read and the converter keeps up. A converter misses passing items or one branch starves while another backs up.
Direct route vs. loop Each item is processed on the first pass. Items need another pass and the loop can be monitored safely.

Every added lane, loop, platform, or duplicate machine creates another handoff to inspect. Use the least complicated change that removes the observed bottleneck.

Recovery procedures for common failures

Final machine has no raw material

  1. Check every final-machine input, including fluids.
  2. Trace the first empty input backward to its producer.
  3. Inspect belts, storage, and layer transfers along that route.
  4. Confirm the recipe accepts the arriving item or alternative.
  5. Repair the earliest failed handoff and wait for the chain to refill before adding supply.

Final machine has product but the next machine is empty

  1. Inspect the final machine’s output belt.
  2. Check for a full receiving machine, chest, or platform destination.
  3. Verify that the destination accepts the exact product.
  4. Clear or reroute the blockage, then watch the handoff through several cycles.

One branch is full and another is starved

  1. Follow each branch from its split to its receiver.
  2. Identify whether the split is uneven, one receiver is full, or one lane crosses a failed layer transfer.
  3. Rebalance routing only after confirming both receivers can accept the material.
  4. If a belt converter is involved, test split lanes or a loop rather than simply increasing the shared feed.

Plant production slows unexpectedly

  1. Check light first, because sunlight is reported to speed plant production while darkness slows it.
  2. Inspect humidity, heat, and other relevant conditions described for that resource or plant.
  3. Check whether the environmental change coincides with a belt, storage, elevator, or platform fault.
  4. Allow the line to recover under suitable conditions before scaling machinery.

How to stabilize a factory after the repair

Once the first fault is fixed, resist the temptation to rebuild everything. Let material move through the entire chain and observe where the next persistent shortage appears. Then make one controlled change at a time.

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  • Keep mandatory item and fluid routes identifiable.
  • Place storage where a full receiver cannot silently block a critical producer.
  • Make elevators and programmable platforms easy to inspect from both levels.
  • Give belt converters enough processing opportunity through a loop or slower split lanes when required.
  • Separate environmental producers from unrelated belts so light or other conditions can be observed.
  • Prefer a short, understandable route over extra capacity that creates hidden handoffs.

Document the symptom that justified each change. If the line stalls again, you can undo the last change and retest instead of losing the original reference point.

What is not yet established

No official numeric production ratios, machine-count recipes, or universal troubleshooting checklist have been published for Substructure in the available material. Do not rely on a claimed fixed number of extractors, belts, elevators, or converters unless the developers publish that figure for the relevant version. The dependable method is to observe the first empty or full handoff, verify every requirement, and account for layer and environmental conditions.

Why the friction matters

Stu Taylor, co-founder of Dubious Design, described the design goal plainly: "You need friction for it to be interesting." Mike Donoghue, also a co-founder, said the studio believes players gain satisfaction from solving problems and that its games work best when they are maddening players to some extent. In practical terms, a stalled line is intended to be a solvable logistics problem rather than a signal that the factory must be discarded. Trace it, isolate the handoff, and change one variable at a time.

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