the UI Changes in Update 3 rendered this guide kind of hard to understand with the new icons. i recomend going to game properties -> Betas and switch it from None to update2-legacy:

Mining is really complex in this game, so you will need to use this mining guide:
https://youtu.be/WL8jP9l2Q-0

Please note this mining guide was Pre-update 1 so the UI looks slightly different and the quality is lower, but the general principle is the same.

This is Captain Of Industry,a game where you are shipwrecked and gotta get settled in.
here i will introduce you to the basic mechanics of the game. there is a tutorial on what to build but i refined it better then the devs.

please head farther to contiune! anchors aweigh! (please note the ship has no guns at the start)

First Thing: GET IRON. it is needed to build stuff, repair stuff, research, make digger things,and a whole bunch of other crap. You cant mine stuff from the outset so we can melt down scrap metal from that broken down comm unit you start with. click that pouring metal caster thing on the bottom toolbar and select Blast Furnace. this will appear:

That Smokestack icon is the output for Exhaust. it harms the planet. but you dont have any other use for it. so vent it. left click to place the furance,then click the Trashcan icon in the bottom toolbar. the "Smoke Stack" is what you want. click that and place it on the port and press R to rotate untll it looks like this:

Now left click to place! now you are smoking!
But we dont just need a furnace! its not Factorio,where you just go Furnace and you are done. You need a Metal Caster! click the metallurgy icon agein,and click the Metal Caster. hold shift and place two of them. you shuold now see this:
Now that metal will get casted,if it gets to the things first. click that Conveyor Belt icon. click Moltan Channel. snap it to the furnace like so:

Do the same for the other port:

You shuold see something like this:

The Last Step is to get furnace fuel! it needs Coal. we cant mine it,so Charcoal will do. click the Coal Maker and place it near the furnace:

This has an Exhaust port on it. stick a smokestack on it! screw the enviroment!

FINALLY! WE CAN SMELT IRON! CONGRATS!
👏👏👏
Now wait for your truckers to build it and bask in its glory. see the smoke coil and rise into the atmosphere...
Its not working yet! what? why? you need wood! onto the next section!

(I had no pictures for this one! sorry!)

To get trees, click that sawmill icon the bottom. scroll out and find green trees. drag it. with Left Click. a chainsaw sound will play if you got trees and the COI error sound will play if you got none. click on that digger-thing near your wrecked dock. that is the Tree Harvester! give it two trucks using the "plus" button. it will automatically mine trees for you! DEFORESTATION IN PROGRESS

Now your iron shuold work! onto the next section!

Lets get some electical power! find the "High Voltage" icon on the toolbar and click the Diesel Generator. place it anywhere,but keep it close:

You cant make diesel yet,so build a Research Lab. its in Buildings-that "Factory" icon. here is what you shuold see after you place those three houses (a makeshift lab):

Once its made,click the lab and press "Start New Research" and see the glorious tech tree (i had basic diesel already researched):

2-Click on that "Basic Diesel" technology out of those you see. this will get "Construction" and "Repairs" for you as those are needed to research Basic Diesel:

Loading Diesel Please Wait....100%
Wait for them to google how to make diesel and proceed.

Just because you researched Diesel does not mean we have some. we got to go oil drilling! Find the newly created "Oil Drum" icon and press the "Oil Pump." Black bars are oil. zoom out to find them. hold Shift and place three oil derricks:

Connect them with Pipes (click the conveyor belt icon and select Pipe)

Now place a Basic Distiller (click the oil drum agein and select Basic Distiller)

Connect it up to your pipes (easy!) and then stick a Smokestack on the exhaust icon. you know how to snap by now. but you notice it makes Wastewater! Nasty! Onto the next section before you drown in crap!

To get rid of crap water generated by your Diesel setup,we must proceed to the ocean. click that trash icon and place a Liquid Dump on the shoreline:

Now your trucks will take Wastewater and place it into this entity to DUMP IT INTO THE OCEAN! BY BYE CRAP WATER! You may have seen a Water Drop with a Skull face on it with the wastewater dumping recipe. that means you pollute the water by doing this.

Now for that plastic crap your people make. click the icon that looks like houses stacked on top of one another and place a Waste Collection inside of one of those big green boxes next to those shipping containers that you turned into houses. Make a dumping zone using the Dumping tool (the truck dumping dirt on the ground icon) and just drag the green squares into the ocean. the mining guide talks about dumping too. now you wont drown in plastic waste! just mind the Landfill Pollution.

This step is simplictic but important. Place an Assembler 1 by going to the "Robotic Arm" icon and finding "Assembler I" on it. click that and place it near your furnace (i had no picture to show that sorry)

Then go to the Assembler UI and click the Construction Parts recipe (its the only one with three parts so its simple to find). Construct the Assembler 1 using your trucks. the trucks will take Bricks from the comm tower,Iron from your smelter,and Wood from trees. CLANG! you got constuction parts! onto the next section!

If you did not swap to update 2, you can skip this section.


Your brick supply is limited by those present in that broken comn unit you start with. so place down a Brickworks (in the robot arm icon) and place a Rainwater harvester (click that water drop above a swiggly line icon) near it and pipe it over. place a smokestack on the exhaust icon (in the trashcan menu) and you may want to place a Coal Maker near it (with a smokestack on the exhaust icon) for easier Coal Acsess. Now you are making Bricks!

Your stuff has some durability at the start,but that wont last forever. sooner or later,stuff is going to start breaking. deupending on the difficulty,it may either slow down or stop entirely. both are bad,so lets stop it by producing Repairs.

Click that "Factory" icon agein, and click that "Repair Depot (basic)" and place it down. Place it close to the furnaces.

It requires Mechanical Parts and Electronics to repair stuff (the gears wear out and wires degrade over time so this makes sense)

Mechanical Parts is simple. Iron -> Mechanical Parts. you can either place the assenbler I next to the output of one of the casters or near them. snapping it to the output will immeditely transfer the iron from the caster into the assembler

Electronics is a bit more complicated. its Rubber + Copper -> Electronics. here is how you get each componet:


For Rubber: Research "Synthetic Rubber" and place a Rubber Maker close to the oil distiller. connect it to the Diesel you are already making via pipes pipes are on the conveyor belt icon if you forgot). now is a good time to place a container where all the Waste Water will go. pipe both the Rubber Maker and the Basic Distiller (pipes are on the conveyor belt icon if you forgot already) to a Fluid Storage and set the container to hold "Waste Water." slide the red bar all the way to the left (this makes trucks try to keep it empty and thats what we want here) so now you have Rubber down.

For Copper: Research Copper Refinment. refer to the mining guide on how to mine Copper.
Place another furnace connected to casters connected to a smokestack. the copper that comes out is Impure Copper, so place a Copper Electrolysis nearby to purify it. it requires a lot of power (400 KW) so now is a good time to place another generator close to your first one. it needs Water to operate (it must get hot using so much power) so place a Rainwater Harvester or two and pipe them up together. place another Assembler I close to the mechanical parts one and set it to make Electronics.

Now your trucks wont break down on you!

At this point you can survive for a while! Contratulations! Now you have a comprehensive start to your industrial powerhouse! you can stay at this point for a while. but you must be aware of a few things:

1. Charcoal making is VERY inefficent and slightly polluting. you shuold get coal mining done as soon as possible.
2. Iron Scrap supply is also limited. you will need to get Iron Ore mining done but smelting ore is more polluting then scrap.
3. Diesel production is not a clean process - the Waste Water it produces is quite toxic. so dumping it into the ocean is not exactly a green solution,but proper waste disposal is not going to be unlocked for a while.
4. Your oil supply will run out eventually, and your basic diesel production is inefficent. you will need to research farther to get advanced oil production. the in-game tutorial messages can guide you past this guide here.
5. Wood is a non-renewable resource in this game,so try to move away from inefficent coal making and only use Wood for construction parts (and anything else that needs it in this game) to prevent softlocking due to lack of wood that spirals into no construciton parts and no construction parts means zero expansion.
6. dont overbuild unless you want to wait 50 hours to make all the parts :)
7. Pollution (air and water) will cause your populations Health to go down. if that goes to 0 population growth will pause (and you will eventually run out of workers) and if it goes negitive your people will begin dying off. so keep an eye on your emissions.
8. Sense Update 2, Diesel trucks pollute too, so be wary of your logistics. more trucks=more pollution=more health decline.