Welcome fellow Space travelers and Androids. Here you are, crash landed on an alien world, infinite in all directions! It is up to you to survive, craft, and automate machine processing in order to conquer the FOUR mighty "Overmind" bosses! However setting up basic tier 1 ore automation can be a huge undertaking itself so I'll walk you through these First Four Nights using general terms. It is up to you to use what you learn in the tutorial and reference the Help Guide to learn about the fine details of all the machines and things.

You'll find that you carry with you a few prebuilt drills, hoppers, BASIC conveyor belts, white lasers, BASIC ore smelters, and some health boost sticks among other things. Use these items to start your world automation!
(Thank you DJ for packing these at the Mothership before we crashed 😭)

Firstly some quick keybindings:
(X) - Build gun, digging and placing blocks
(I) "EYE" - Inventory
(M) - Scanner and ore locator (ping)
(V) - Laser rifle (if built)
(F) - Grapple and repel hook, aka "fall damage machine"
(G) - Glow stick, for smoke signals
(B) - Screenshot mode, aka "afk screensaver"
(Z) - Zoooooooooooooom
(K) - Holobase, X-ray mode
(H) - Awesome help menu. This explains everything you need to know.
In other words, the coveted XIMVFGBZKH Keys if you prefer catchy acronyms...

The First Night for every space traveling Android is to get your copper and tin ores auto-smelting. In other words have your base setup with automated copper and tin ingot production. Before you can get started with ore automation take your time and complete the tutorial. Each step you learn in the tutorial can be directly applied to complete your ore automation!

Scanning the world around you!
Use the Scanner (M) to explore your world. SCAN EVERYTHING with the RMB on the surface and report back to your Research Station at the CPH. Now that you've scanned everything on the surface use the Scanner to locate all unknowns using the LMB to "Ping" for them, Your goal right now is to research copper and tin ore near the surface, no more than 10-meters deep or so. If you're lucky both copper and tin ore veins will spawn relatively near to your CPH! That or collect the loot from a few Large Rocks on the surface! Many ways to find these two ores. It is a good idea to read and understand your researched items as you process them at the Research Station.

Ore Drilling
Once you've researched copper and tin ore, you can utilize your Scanner again to "ping" for known ores near your CPH. Find a close copper vein and place one of the drills from your inventory on the ore with a hopper adjacent to the drill. The drill is an advanced item that you'll be able to craft at a later date after some of this ore automation is complete. Your copper ore drilling automation will require both power and storage/transport to and from your CPH.

Power delivery
Delivering power to the copper ore drill is best accomplished using the white lasers from your inventory. Place these white lasers in a daisy-chain fashion starting from the CPH to your drill for POWER transport. You can also manually charge drills using your internal suit battery for temporary needs but who has time to be running around??

Conveyor Belts - Ore Transport
We'll transport the copper ore from the hopper you placed adjacent to the drill using the basic belts from your inventory. Place the belts running from this storage hopper towards your CPH. You may not have the resources to craft new belts at this time so use what you carry. If you focus on setting up copper ore automation first additional belts can be crafted using copper ingots!

Ore smelting
For smelting any of the tier 1 ores you have two options; Ore Smelter & BASIC Ore Smelter. Near the CPH is one, advanced, Ore Smelter which is the most efficient and up-gradable. On the other hand the 4ea Basic Ore Smelters in your inventory are inefficient and cannot be upgraded but are great for setting up your early base automation!

For the sake of this copper ore run we'll dedicate the Ore Smelter at the CPH for smelting copper ore as its coming in. Be sure to use proper settings for input and output on your hoppers. This should complete your copper ore automation!

Tin ore automation
Now that copper ore automation is complete, repeat the same steps you just completed for tin ore . Tin ore is also relatively near the surface, no more than -10meters or so. Ping for known ores and find a good tin vein close to the base. Once found, use another drill from your inventory paired with more white lasers to route power from the CPH to the tin drill in a daisy chain manner, and place BASIC belts returning the tin ore towards the CPH. For tin ore processing utilize one of your BASIC ore smelters, from your inventory, for a dedicated tin ore automation line. Remember to use proper input/output settings on the smeltery hoppers.

CONGRATULATIONS! You've now just completed the "First Night in FortressCraft Evolved!"
Ideally you'll find both copper and tin ores relatively close to Home for ease of basic automation. Now you can sleep your first night in peace knowing your half way complete with Tier 1 ore automation! Tomorrow we will automate Iron ore!

Note:
During your first night in FortressCraft Evolved, Both copper & tin drills can be set, white lasers delivering power to each drill, and two lines of ore belts can be placed using everything you've carried from the crash!

Note Note:
There are many ways to orient and layout your ore smelter automation and power distribution. Use what works for you and your layout. You'll also want to try stay close to your CPH during the first four nights as this is your "Home" and main power supply. After surviving the first four nights feel free to branch your infrastructure out to the infinite world!

Suggestion:
I recommend using the Induction charger for a "Smeltery Bus" during early game to power all smelteries. For a visual walk through of The First Night see the video below which is a Speed Run for Tier 1 ores: Copper and Tin Automation complete in 11-minutes.

Good morning. Your First Night is complete and you now have copper and tin ore automation finished with ores making their way to their smelters. The Second Night for every space traveling Android is to get your iron ore auto-smelting! The Second Night requires us to start digging down into the ground but don't worry you shouldn't need to pass through the first level of caves and death drops...
So, while the copper and tin ores turn into ingots use this opportunity to start looking for iron ore!

Iron Ore spawn
Iron ore veins spawn deep, around -70meters or so. You can find iron ore veins in a few different ways and spelunking is the best way to appreciate the natural terrain gen and view all the surface flora and fauna. Spelunking is an adventurous but detour-ious route however its possible to find iron ore veins in caves! This is also where you can develop your grapple skills!
Finding and getting access to iron ore veins deep under the terrain takes effort and some pre-planning. There are two primary ways to start finding iron ore: Stairs or digging vertical... if you dare.

Accessing Iron Ore Veins
Whichever way you choose to dig down remember to use the Scanner to search for unknowns and report back to your research station for updates.
Once you find iron ore your next battle is in the routing power and conveyor belts to and from the CPH. I suggest placing a drill and hopper on the iron ore vein as a sort of "marker" to be visible in Holobase mode (K). Remember that although you can manually transport iron ore its best off automating it with belts and lasers from the start.

Powering your Iron drill
Now that your drill is set on the iron ore vein run back up to the surface to start running a power line from the CPH to the drill. The power line is a new line of white lasers in a daisy chain fasion, typically having to dig directly through the terrain as needed.
Use the holomode to help you direct white lasers straight out from the CPH horizontally first, and then straight down landing on top of the iron ore drill if you can. By this time you should be able to craft additional white lasers using the copper and tin ingots that have been auto-crafting while you dig.

Ore transport
Now that power is routed to the drill utilize this same path as the lasers to run BASIC conveyor belts. Once you have the iron ore belts routed from the drill to the CPH utilize another BASIC ore smelter from you inventory to begin iron ore automation at the surface. Craft additional mini-hoppers as needed and set the input settings.

CONGRATULATIONS! You've now just completed the "Second Night in FortressCraft Evolved!"
Hopefully you can accomplish routing the power and belts without encountering random ore veins and caves.

Note:
Be selective on your iron ore vein so that your iron ore drill is above level -80, you don't want to be feeding something inadvertently...

Suggestion:
For a visual walk through of The Second Night see the video below which is a Speed Run for Tier 1 ores: Iron Ore Automation complete in about 30-minutes from world startup!

Good morning terrain and cave explorer, you have completed the second night and have iron ore automation complete from an ore vein you found down deep. The Third Night for every Space Traveling Android is to get your lithium ore auto-smelting which will require machine auto-crafting and defensive planning.

Research and machine automation
Before you start searching for lithium ore you'll need to spend some time unlocking items in your research to start auto-crafting a few things.
Based on your research findings there are a FOUR items you'll need to start auto-crafting; tin plates, machine housing, copper wires, and iron gears. There are many ways to layout your base to auto-craft these items so find what works best for you and the terrain you're working with.
Once you have all four of these items auto-crafting you should be able to make yourself 1 new drill! You will have to craft this drill to mine lithium ore as you placed your final drill that you carried on the iron ore vein.
Additional research and crafting includes Base Defense items, here you will research and craft at least three Green Turrets which are critical for your base defense later!

Locating and Accessing Lithium Ore Veins
Lithium ore veins spawn even deeper than iron ore, typically around -120 meters or so. To complicate things, creatures starts spawning down here that feed on ores from the belts.
Finding and accessing lithium ore veins is similar to your struggles getting to iron ore using the Scanner. To access lithium veins you'll have to continue your stairs or vertical shafts from your iron ore adventure even deeper. Sadly it's not to practical to find lithium ore simply by spelunking as you can with iron ore. Be sure use your Scanner to find new unknowns as you descend deeper and report back to your Research Station with your findings. Alternately, when you find yourself in dense rock along your stair use the scanner to ping for "air" and locate caves since lithium ore often spawns naturally in hidden caves at these depths.

Drilling Lithium Ore drill
Once you find a lithium ore vein place your newly crafted drill on the vein along with a hopper. Similar to the iron ore power, begin on the surface to start running a power line from the CPH through the terrain as needed and land directly on top of your drill. Again, use Holobase mode to help route your power line. Be sure to watch out for the massive caves, death drops, and mushrooms at these deeper levels!

Lithium Ore Conveyor Belts and Defense
Now that you have power routed to your lithium ore drill the next battle is routing and protecting conveyor belts. Again similar to iron, place belts alongside your power line running from the drill to the surface. Down here you'll need to protect all belts below level -80 with the green turrets you crafted earlier. These green turrets have a limited range so be sure to space them as needed to get full coverage of the ore belts. Once you have lithium ore belts routed from the drill all the way to the CPH utilize another BASIC ore smelter from your inventory to begin lithium ore automation at the surface. Again, craft additional mini-hoppers as needed and set the input/ output settings.

CONGRATULATIONS! You've now just completed the "Third Night in FortressCraft Evolved!"
This third night required your first line of base defense and a lot of research and auto-crafting.
This completes your tier 1 ore automation! Unlimited Copper, Tin, Iron, and now Lithium ingots are at your disposal using these methods!

Suggestion:
Remember to always have items auto-smelting and auto-crafting while you dig to maximize your time and resources. For a visual walk through of The Third Night see the video below which is a Speed Run for Tier 1 ores: Lithium Ore Automation complete in 57-minutes from world startup! Just 27min after finishing iron ore automation!

Good morning, by now you have completed Tier 1 ore automation and started your early base defenses. You now have unlimited access to copper, tin, iron, and lithium ingots and all the combination of their parts. The Fourth Night and Beyond is when you start getting serious on research, base defense, and automation upgrades. Up until now you've explored down around -120meters or so and next you'll require additional resources from -900meters and beyond!

Research
By now you have the ability to research many items at the Research Station and have learned a great deal about the World around you. Be careful and attentive to not unlock to much Research ahead of your infrastructure needs as it's easy to loose your sense of direction and next auto-crafting needs. Your research goals on the Fourth night and Beyond starts with; Firstly, Craft your 3x3x3 Research Station (with own power supply source), and secondly, start auto-crafting of Research Pods for each of the tier 1 ores.
There is a lot of crafting, power generation, and infrastructure upgrades required to accomplish research automation so take your time and remember to read through the Research as you progress.

Base Defense
These first Four Nights are going to be pretty quiet for you other than keeping your lithium ore belts protected. During this time you may have heard some buzzing in the distance or terrain turning into a black substance on the surface. Soon you'll be getting visitors who dislike the bright light coming out of your CPH. It is up to you to defend your CPH as it's your only hope to get off this world. Early on you can defend your base manually using your own Blaster if crafted. This blaster works great but it wont be long before you're overpowered. Your second line of defense is the Arther Turret which has a powerful blast but has limited range and use. Your third and best line of defense is Green Turrets placed strategically on the surface to defend your CPH.
Note: Increasing power generation also increases your threat levels leading to more attacks on your CPH.

Early game power generation
Setting up tier-1 research production will let you quickly realize the need for additional power generation. Early game power is possible only from the CPH however, you can unlock PTG's (Coal powered generators) through your research. Utilize these PTGs paired with Green Turrets to defend your critical CPH from incoming threats that will get stronger each day.

Base Upgrades
As your automation grows you'll find out that you need more ores and faster as the BASIC belts are slow and the drills don't output much ore. Focus your early base upgrades by replacing BASIC conveyor belts with the faster conveyor belts, and upgrade your drills with motors and cutting heads. You'll find that maximizing even one conveyor belt run per ore type will be a tremendous accomplishment. This is your goal on base upgrades, high output of ores for auto-crafting.

Whats after Tier 1 ores?
Tier 1 ores (copper, tin, iron, and lithium) are just the beginning. Tier 2 ores are deeper in the ground than lithium and required a good deal of infrastructure upgrades and advanced crafting to mine. You'll have to learn how to traverse the frozen permafrost layers, walk through deep toxic dungeons, and transport ores hundreds of meters to the surface on your own. There are simply too many ways to build up your infrastructure and automate tier 2 ores that can fit in this Guide. Remember to read through your research, reference your help menu, and learn from your mistakes.

Stay safe out there and have a good night.