Welcome to my Industrial Annihilation early access quick reference guide.

This guide provides a straightforward technical reference for players of Industrial Annihilation. Its goal is to include some basic information about game controls, game mechanics, resource costs, and crafting component trees. It's purpose is to function as an organized resource for players to quickly identify what is needed to fabricate units and structures without having to sift through the in-game UI. This guide currently reflects the content available in the early access version of the game, and may not be regularly updated, but should serve as a starting point for those needing more information on the current state.

If anyone has any special requests for additional information to be added to this reference guide, leave a comment. I make no promises that it will be added, but I might consider it.

My fingers are cold.

dev-0.2.8 #124.067

This section provides an overview in-game controls and mechanics such as selecting units, queuing orders, and making control groups.

Much of this information is available in-game through the use of the F1 Help Menu or the default Mouse & Keyboard Settings, but here's a reference guide and refresher course for those who don't want to click through the several menus.

If it wasn't obvious, the camera can be controlled using the WASD keys. Alternatively, you can middle click like a sociopath.

---

Currently there is no option to select idle trucks, but you can quickly find commanders and idle construction units by selecting them and focusing your camera on them. If your camera is tracking a unit, you must deselect the unit or press the tracking key again in order to freely move your camera from the unit.

C - Select Commander
F - Select Idle Fabber
E - Focus on Enemy Commander
T - Camera Track Selected Units

If you are tracking multiple units, the camera will track the center of the group rather than any individual unit- not even the commander.

CTRL + (0-9) - Assign Control Group
(0-9) - Select Control Group


Control groups can also be assigned to structures to quickly select them, such as the Vehicle Bay. Note that double tapping a control group number will not auto-focus the camera on your units, so you will have to double tap your tracking key to focus on them. The exception to this rule is the commander, which can be focused on by double tapping C.
(The F1 help menu only shows digits 1-9, but control group 0 also works.)

Left Click a unit to select the unit.
Double Left Click a unit to select all units of the same type on your screen.
Shift + Left Click a unit to select the unit in addition to the currently selected units.
Shift + Double Left Click to select all units of the same type on your screen in addition to the currently selected units.

This applies to both units and structures, however only units or structures can be selected at once, and unit selection is prioritized.

---

Z - Stop
I - Assist
Q - Attack
M - Move
P - Patrol
E - Reclaim
R - Repair

B - Build Conveyor Belt
G - Build Connector

Shift (Hold) - Queue Order, View Queued Orders, & View Power Grid

Many commands can be mixed and matched to queue orders. If you don't know what queuing orders is, it means you give your unit a list of things to do, and the unit attempts to do them in order. These queued orders can be mixed and matched, so you can have your units move to a location, attack specific targets, attack-move back from the location so they destroy everything else in sight after primary targets are destroyed, and then return home to start patrolling between two points. This allows you to plan your offensive and defensive strategies in advance and then focus on other things while they are being executed.
Likewise, these commands can be queued between fabricating structures. Industrial Annihilation queues structures automatically, aside from that however, all units clear their entire queue when issued a new order without holding shift down. Learning to queue orders quickly and effectively is a valuable skill.

---

Using Stop will complete clear your selected unit queue(s) and cause them to stop in their tracks. Note that this also includes buildings, and completely clears the production queue from any building selected.

Using Assist will cause your units to follow the target unit and provide support to that unit. Fabricators will leave to gather resources and build anything currently being constructed by the unit, returning once finished to follow the unit again. Combat units will stay near the unit and attack anything within their range. This can be queued.

Using Attack will command your unit to either attack specific structures, or attack everything in their vision on their way to a target destination. Units will go out of their way to chase enemy structures and destroy them as they route to their destination. This can be queued.

Using Move does exactly what you'd expect. Your unit will travel to the target destination. This can be queued, however holding shift to queue the order also allows you to drag your mouse to create a 'formation', allowing your units to evenly space themselves along a freeform line. This gimmick can be useful for quickly forming a line of defense.

Using Patrol has two main functions. Clicking a point and dragging outward will cause your unit to travel to random points within the circle's range, effectively marking it as their 'patrol zone'. This is primarily effective for scouts when there is fog of war or for large swarms of units taking over an entire area of the map to form an area of denial. Alternatively, you can queue the patrol order to designate specific waypoints for the unit to travel between, which they will loop in a circle.

Using Reclaim is the way your fabricators remove obstacles in the terrain such as rocks or destroyed units and buildings. Currently this does not seem to serve any purpose but to clear up space, and fabricators do this automatically if there are removable obstructions before constructing. Like patrolling, if the mouse is dragged outward it will designate a circular area to remove debris from.

Using Repair is, I assume, the way to repair damaged units and structures, however at the time of writing this it does not function in-game and units will not react to the command.

These commands also apply to some structures. For example, the Vehicle Bay can be assigned to move, attack-move, patrol, or assist other units. Units produced by this structure will follow the order given to the structure itself.

---

The in-game camera can be rotated by holding the space bar and moving the mouse, allowing you to view the game at any angle you want. Additionally, you can scroll in or out with the scrollbar to zoom respectively. You can also use the arrow keys while holding space to rotate the camera along a single axis.

Zooming all the way out will enter a 'tactical view' of the battlefield and re-align your camera and reset your viewing angle. Quickly tapping the space bar once will also re-align the camera.

Pressing the Delete key will instantly destroy any selected structures or units. Structures will typically leave a destroyed husk to reclaim.

Pressing B while placing a conveyor will create an anchor point at your cursor so you can bend the belt around obstacles.

Queuing a Pickup point and a Dropoff point for a Truck will cause the truck to repeat the order until it is given a new one, much like a patrol point. This can be used to automate deliveries over longer distances, and can be done with multiple pickup and delivery points.

When you are placing structure blueprints to build, holding the left button down and moving the mouse lets you quickly adjust the direction the blueprint faces, as an alternative to tapping R during placement.

While in the middle of placing a structure, right-clicking or pressing escape will cancel the build placement and then force you to re-select your units.

Holding Q without a unit selected seems to rapidly zoom the camera in to the mouse, much like scrolling up, however this does not seem to have any purpose and I have not personally found a key which similarly zooms it back out. This may be a bug in the current build for all I know.

---

This section will explain the basic principles of how to transfer materials and energy between structures.

Connecting buildings seems pretty self-explanatory, but the way power is distributed among your structures might come off as a bit misleading. This will clear any questions you might have about how these things currently work.

The primary elements of IA's logistics system consists of three main things:

• Supply - Resources are generated by building extractors over mineral deposits or by fabricating them in a fabrication structure.
  
• Transportation - Resources are delivered from point A to point B through the use of trucks, conveyors, and connectors.
  
• Demand - Resources are only accepted by structures and units that either require them for a recipe or have the resource whitelisted for their storage.

Trucks are mobile units that essentially function as small, moving warehouses. They are no faster than a conveyor belt, and suffer from having to navigate around the map, risk being destroyed, and stand idle as they load/unload their resources to and from structures. Unlike conveyor belts however, they can easily have their inventory emptied, be re-assigned duties, and don't require any sort of infrastructure in order to function- plus the ability to queue pickup and dropoff zones means they can transport two ways or more, depending on how they are used.

Conveyors are basic-level transportation belts which move resources in one direction along a track at a constant speed. They currently have no resource cost to build and require no energy to operate. This is the primary method of operation for moving items short distances around a base, as they can be placed anywhere that they aren't obstructed, even if other structures are using the space. However, they only go in one direction and there is no optimal method for sorting different items on the same belt or removing overflow- and since there are dozens of different resources and materials in the game, they can quickly get in the way and cause clutter, and require some elbow grease to move around in quantity. Keep in mind that you can press B while placing a conveyor belt down to create anchor points and build them around obstacles.

Connectors are required in order for any structures to interact with each other by sending resources directly between them. Every structure has a limited number of connectors that can be attached, and they are considered a resource according to the developers. Connectors have a limited range as well and cannot be connected behind or directly perpendicular to the direction they connect from, and they transport materials at a constant rate. Multiple connectors can be used in conjunction with each other to increase the rate at which materials are transferred.

The game will give you a truck at the start of the game which can be a more effective solution for delivering resources over a longer distance without causing large amounts of clutter, however for optimal efficiency, conveyor belts and connectors will be the primary method of delivering items.

Keep in mind that conveyors have almost no effect on the rate of transfer. The only thing that affects how many items a conveyor belt can transfer a second is the number of connectors connected to it to transfer resources to and from it. As such, if conveyors start to build too much clutter, it's reasonable to build very short segments and connect them over small distances using connectors, which take less room on the screen and don't fill in gaps with excess items. Doing this may also make it easier to redirect sections of conveyors in order to make space for additional structures, without having to destroy the entire belt in the process. Here is a comparison of different transport methods.

Connectors are the only way to transfer items to or from a conveyor belt, aside from other conveyor belts. Conveyor belts cannot overlap or stack, and the belts will instead merge contents when approaching from the side. Connectors can be used to transfer items across other conveyor belts to bypass this, however the transfer speed will be limited by the number of connectors being used.

Here's a series of gifs to see what I mean.

---

Powering structures in IA is not as difficult as it may seem. Essentially, every structure that generates power, every structure that distributes power, and every structure that requires power has a 'ring' around it when you are placing its blueprint or holding down shift.

Most games with this type of power system would only allow structures that distribute power to have this working radius, and only structures inside that radius would receive power. Industrial Annihilation does not do this, and instead any structure's ring that is either inside of or touching any other structure's ring connects the two structures to the same power network.

This means a Substation is just as useful as a Sky Arc, and the two are interchangable- the only difference is the radius in which they work. This also means that you do not require any specific structures to relay power from a Windmill to a fabricator. The Windmill is sufficient to distribute its own power around itself.

Keep in mind that this does not have a limit on the number of connections. What this means is that if you power one structure, you are powering every structure that structure is touching, and every structure that structure is touching, so on and so forth. Closely-knit factories do not require a large, costly distribution method if they are designed in a way which can carry and distribute power along all the buildings which require it.

The Commander is literally a walking powerhouse. If it is destroyed, your base will explode and the game will be over, but that doesn't mean the commander can't pull its weight around your base. Not only does it have a decently sized health pool and damage output - one that can easily defend against early raids, but it can also store a huge amount of items on-hand and construct buildings twice as fast as fabbers, and also provides a small amount of power around itself.

The amount of power the commander can generate doesn't mean much, only providing 100mw (enough to power one basic fabricator at full efficiency), but it does mean that anywhere the commander is standing, a power network can connect to. In a pinch, this means the commander can be tactically placed to reconnect power networks while another fabber leaves to get materials for rebuilding your power structures.

Your commander also begins the game with a small assortment of useful resources:

• 150 Iron
  
• 60 Copper
  
• 10 Steel
  
• 30 Gears
  
• 20 Processors
  
• 20 Glass

Plan how to best delegate your resources and what to focus your attention on to get a good headstart early in the game. Without energy, your factory is as good as useless.

---

This section aims to explain some of the nuanced behavior of the in-game path finding. That's basically it. All of this is from my own observations and it may or may not help you with common issues of units refusing to work or taking the long way around structures instead of going between them.

Speaking of that, I feel as though this game likely uses some method of A* for its path finding, so my tests were basically just seeing at what level of gap between structures the units would be inclined to go between them rather than around.

I found no rhyme nor reason in their behavior. Sometimes the unit had no trouble going between a tiny gap, and sometimes they outright refused to go between a large gap.

This didn't seem to make a difference with the size of the unit [e.g. Commander vs Fabber]

However it was clear that if no other path existed, the unit would have no trouble going between the structures. You can even move the unit between the structures to force the unit to take the shortest path.

Even after all this, there are some buildings that the units could not pass, even with a small gap between them.

So I don't know man. Be space-aware cause your units can definitely get themselves stuck, and the only way to fix it is deleting either the unit or deleting the structure and rebuilding it- and if this is your commander, it can be quite problematic to have to dig your way out of your own base and rebuild it afterwards.

Further testing required. When I feel like it.

---

Metal Fab

• Steel - 3x Iron + Carbon
  
• Cable - 2x Copper
  
• Hard Coating - Silicon + Carbon

Adv Metal Fab

• Titanium Steel - Titanium + 2x Steel
  
• Carbon Fiber Cable - Carbon + 2x Cable
  
• Titanium Carbide - 3x Titanium + 3x Hard Coating
  
• Carbon Reinforced Titanium Steel - 6x Titanium Steel + 6x Carbon Fiber Cable
  
• Quantum Cord - 6x Carbon Fiber Cable + 6x Advanced Lubricant

Assembly Fab

• Drive Motor - 2x Iron + 2x Copper
  
• Gear - 3x Iron
  
• Shell - Explosives + Steel

Adv Assembly Fab

• Twist Drive - Cable + 2x Drive Motor
  
• Precision Combat Assembly - 3x Gear + 3x Steel
  
• Tac Nuke - 5x Plutonium + Shell
  
• Mega Drive - 6x Twist Drive + 6x TiCortex
  
• Advanced Combat Assembly - 6x Optical Processor + Precision Combat Assembly
  
• Centuraton - 10x Tac Nuke + 10x Tritium

Chem Fab

• Cyanofullerene Lubricant - Silicon + Sulfur
  
• Explosives - 2x Sulfur + 3x Water
  
• Methane - 2x Carbon

Adv Chem Fab

• Advanced Lubricant - 3x Cyanofullerene Lubricant + 3x Stellar Silicate
  
• Rocket Fuel - Explosives + Methane
  
• Heavy Water - 10x Water
  
• Catalyst - Copper + Sulfur
  
• TiCortex - Titanium + 2x Carbon

Electrofab

• Processor - Copper + 3x Silicon
  
• Glass - 2x Silicon

Adv Electrofab

• Optical Processor - 3x Processor + 3x Glass
  
• Titanium Glass - 3x Titanium + 2x Water + 2x Processor
  
• Titanium Silicate - Titanium + Silicon
  
• Cybernex Processor - 6x Optical Processor + 6x Stellar Silicate
  
• Uranium Glass - 4x Water + 4x Catalyst + 4x Titanium Glass
  
• Stellar Sillicate - 3x Titanium Silicate + 3x Catalyst

*Isotrope Fab

• Reactor Waste - 2x Uranium
  
• Plutonium - 7x Reactor Waste
  
• Tritium - 100x Heavy Water + 10x Catalyst

---

Resource Extractor [0mw/25mw] - 5x Iron

Storage Warehouse - 5x Iron

Water Well [500mw] - 5x Iron

---

Power Substation - 5x Steel

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel

Solar Gen [+250mw] - 10x Copper + 10x Glass

• Electrofab: Silicon > Glass

Wind Dynamo [+100mw] - 10x Gear

• Assembly Fab: Iron > Gear

Battery [10000mj] - 25x Iron + 10x Copper

Power Transmission - 25x Steel + 10x Carbon Fiber Cable

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Adv Metal Fab: Carbon + Cable > Carbon Fiber Cable
  
  • Metal Fab: Copper > Cable

Power Plant [+1210mw] - 50x Steel + 20x Drive Motor

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Assembly Fab: Iron + Copper > Drive Motor

Fission Plant [+5000mw] - 100x Steel + 25 Uranium

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel

Flux Capacitor [1000mj] - 10x Iron + 3x Optical Processor + 10x Cable

• Adv Electrofab: Processor + Glass > Optical Processor
  
  • Electrofab: Copper + Silicon > Processor
    
  • Electrofab: Silicon > Glass
• Metal Fab: Copper > Cable

---

All Basic Fabricators [100mw] - 18x Iron

Adv Metal Fab [300mw] - 40x Steel + 10x Cable

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Metal Fab: Copper > Cable

Adv Assembly Fab [300mw] - 40x Steel + 10x Gear

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Assembly Fab: Iron > Gear

Adv Chem Fab [300mw] - 40x Steel + 10x Methane

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Chem Fab: Carbon > Methane

Adv Electrofab [300mw] - 40x Steel + 10x Processor

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Electrofab: Copper + Silicon > Processor

Vehicle Fab [100mw] - 20x Iron

*Isotrope Fabber - 50x Titanium Steel

• Adv Metal Fab: Titanium + Steel > Titanium Steel

*Titan Gantry - 50x Titanium Steel

• Adv Metal Fab: Titanium + Steel > Titanium Steel

---

Laser Turret - 10x Processor + 10x Glass

• Electrofab: Copper + Silicon > Processor
  
• Electrofab: Silicon > Glass

Shield - 10x Processor + 10x Glass + 10x Steel

• Electrofab: Copper + Silicon > Processor
  
• Electrofab: Silicon > Glass
  
• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel

Rocket Turret - 10x Steel + 3x Explosives

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Chem Fab: Sulfur + Water > Explosives

Artillery - 250x Steel + 150x Cyanofullerene Lubricant + 100x Carbon Fiber Cable

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Chem Fab: Silicon + Sulfur > Cyanofullerene Lubricant
  
• Adv Metal Fab: Carbon + Cable > Carbon Fiber Cable
  
  • Metal Fab: Copper > Cable

*Boomstick - 50x Rocket Fuel

• Adv Chem Fab: Explosives + Methane > Rocket Fuel
  
  • Chem Fab: Sulfur + Water > Explosives
    
  • Chem Fab: Carbon > Methane

---

Fabber - 25x Iron

Rocket Truck - 15x Steel + 5x Gear + 5x Explosives

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Assembly Fab: Iron > Gear
  
• Chem Fab: Sulfur + Water > Explosives

Tank - 20x Steel + 10x Drive Motor

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Assembly Fab: Iron + Copper > Drive Motor

Attack Bot - 15x Steel + 10x Gear

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Assembly Fab: Iron > Gear

Adv Fabber - 10x Steel + 10x Twist Drive

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Adv Assembly Fab: Cable + Twist Drive
  
  • Metal Fab: Copper > Cable
    
  • Assembly Fab: Iron + Copper > Drive Motor

Mobile Artillery - 20x Titanium Steel + 12x Twist Drive + 20x Shell

• Adv Metal Fab: Titanium + Steel > Titanium Steel
  
  • Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
• Adv Assembly Fab: Cable + Drive Motor > Twist Drive
  
  • Metal Fab: Copper > Cable
    
  • Assembly Fab: Iron + Copper > Drive Motor
• Assembly Fab: Explosives + Steel > Shell
  
  • Chem Fab: Sulfur + Water > Explosives

Heavy Tank - 25x Titanium Steel + 10x Twist Drive

• Adv Metal Fab: Titanium + Steel > Titanium Steel
  
  • Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
• Adv Assembly Fab: Cable + Drive Motor > Twist Drive
  
  • Metal Fab: Copper > Cable
    
  • Assembly Fab: Iron + Copper > Drive Motor

Truck - 20x Steel + 15x Gear

• Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  
• Assembly Fab: Iron > Gear

---

*Atlas Titan - 100x Mega Drive + 100x Advanced Combat Assembly + 100x Carbon Reinforced Titanium Steel

• Adv Assembly Fab: Twist Drive + TiCortex > Mega Drive
  
  • Adv Assembly Fab: Cable + Drive Motor > Twist Drive
    
    • Metal Fab: Copper > Cable
      
    • Assembly Fab: Iron + Copper > Drive Motor
  • Adv Chem Fab: Titanium + Carbon > TiCortex
• Adv Assembly Fab: Optical Processor + Precision Combat Assembly > Advanced Combat Assembly
  
  • Adv Electrofab: Processor + Glass > Optical Processor
    
    • Electrofab: Copper + Silicon > Processor
      
    • Electrofab: Silicon > Glass
  • Adv Assembly Fab: Gear + Steel > Precision Combat Assembly
    
    • Assembly Fab: Iron > Gear
      
    • Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
  • Adv Metal Fab: Titanium Steel + Carbon Fiber Cable > Carbon Reinforced Titanium Steel
    
    • Adv Metal Fab: Titanium + Steel > Titanium Steel
      
      • Metal Fab: Iron + Carbon > Steel
    • Adv Metal Fab: Carbon + Cable > Carbon Fiber Cable
      
      • Metal Fab: Copper > Cable
    
    

    ---