Guide: Rocket Circuitry

The first few rockets you will launch will be manual. But eventually, you're going to want rockets to be sent without your help at all. Depending on what setup you want, this can range from very simple circuitry requiring no combinators, to very complex ones.

This guide assumes you are a circuit beginner, and will guide you through the steps by explaining how they work. The goal is to show you various rocket setups, but also to teach you a little more about Factorio circuitry.


 * 1) Preparing the rocket

Regardless of what items you want in your rocket and what kind of logistic setup you want to design, at first, you will always need your rocket to be made.

Each rocket needs 1 capsule and 100 cargo rocket parts. They are inserted in the rocket like any assembler.

Capsules and Cargo rocket parts are well suited for bot transport, since they are required in very few quantities. You can even compress 5 cargo rocket parts into packed cargo rocket parts, and build an entire rocket with only 21 bot trips (1 for the capsule, 20 for the parts).

However, you can't simply put a requester chest and an inserter without any circuitry, because inserters will continue inserting even once the rocket is ready, inserting capsules and rocket parts as part of your cargo!

WIP