Epochs

BlockFactory's progression is split into six epochs, from Handwork to Nuclear. Each epoch brings a new logistics problem to solve, not just bigger numbers. Your current epoch is shown under the minimap.

How epochs work

• Every research belongs to one Knowledge Scroll tier, and that tier is its epoch. Research paid with Knowledge Scroll II is Epoch 2, and so on. Anything you can build without research is Epoch 0.
• Your epoch is the highest tier among the researches your team has completed. Finish your first Scroll I research and you are in Epoch 1.
• Each epoch ends with a "Scholars" research. It costs scrolls of the current tier and unlocks writing the next tier. See Knowledge Scrolls.
• Hand crafting only carries you through the start. From Epoch 2 on, every recipe can be automated, and the research costs assume you do.
• The music changes as your factory grows: calm in Epoch 0, playful and mechanical in Epochs 1 and 2, grand from Epoch 3 on.

Overview

Epoch	In-game name	Scroll tier	The new problem
0	Handwork	none (start)	Everything by hand; refill fuel into every machine yourself
1	Steam	I	Your first power grid: bring water and fuel to the boilers, make steel
2	Logistics	II	Throughput, ratios between machines, long distances to outposts (trains), first Golems
3	Oil	III	Fluids and by-products that must drain away, or everything stops
4	Industry	IV	Runes, space and efficiency, Hob-Goblins that build for you
5	Nuclear	V	Heat, chain reactions, uranium enrichment, nuclear waste

The techtree in the Outlander Test Site uses the names "I · Steam" to "V · Nuclear". Epoch 0 has no name in game; this wiki calls it Handwork.

Epoch 0: Handwork

You wake up in the bunker with two Wooden Drills in the lockers. You gather wood and stone by hand, smelt ore in a Brick Furnace and move items with Belt T1 and the Coal Grabber. Every machine burns fuel that you top up yourself.

The goals of this epoch are the Portal of the Ancient, your first Goblins, the Goblin Research Center and, with your first Outlander, the Outlander Test Site. Then you write Knowledge Scroll I and start researching.

Epoch 1: Steam

Research	What it brings
Steam Power	Water Pump, Water Boiler, Steam Generator, Small Power Pole, Auto Drill, Lamp
Automation	Fabricator T1, Grabber T1
Logistics	Underground Belt T1, Splitter T1, Iron Chest
Steel Processing	Blast Furnace, Steel Plate, Steel Beam
Goblin Carts	Rail and the Goblin Cart
Goblin Scholars	Knowledge Scroll II

Also: Hunting, Masonry, Firearms, Light Armor. See Power and Smelting.

Epoch 2: Logistics

The factory outgrows hand feeding. You balance ratios, add a second tier of belts and grabbers and connect outposts by rail.

Key research: Automation 2 (Fabricator T2), Logistics 2, Fast Grabber, Concrete, Fluid Handling, Coal Power, Railway and Rail Signals, Golemcraft (the Golem call and the Stone Golems Refinery), Goblin Logistics (the Goblin Hut, Logistic Chests and the Goblin Planner), Rangertower and Cryonics. The epoch ends with Golem Scholars, which unlocks the Golem Research Center and Knowledge Scroll III.

Epoch 3: Oil

Oil comes as fluids, and every refinery step makes by-products. If one of them has nowhere to go, the whole chain stalls.

Key research: Oil Processing and Advanced Oil Processing, Plastics, Sulfur Processing, Advanced Electronics, Silicon Processing, Solar Energy, Batteries, Logistics 3, Goblin Logistics 2 (Big Goblin Hut), Circuit Network and Programmable Interface. The epoch ends with Rune Scholars (Knowledge Scroll IV). See Oil Processing and Fluids.

Epoch 4: Industry

Runes make machines faster or more productive, and space and power start to matter.

Key research: Rune Etching, Rune Crafting and Rune Crafting 2 (Rune Modules and the Rune Beacon), Processing, Automation 3 (Fabricator T3), Advanced Smelting, Golemcraft 2, Hob-Goblin Construction (Hob-Goblins and the build modes of the Goblin Planner), Ancient Rites (build more portals), Golem Locomotive, Modular Armor. The epoch ends with Core Scholars (Knowledge Scroll V). See Rune Modules.

Epoch 5: Nuclear

Uranium has to be mined with acid, enriched and burned in reactors whose heat must go somewhere. Spent cells cannot be thrown away.

Key research: Uranium Processing (Uranium Golems Refinery), Nuclear Power, Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing, Golem Resonance (enrichment), Logistics 4, Hob-Goblin Construction 2, Rune Crafting 3. The last research of the game is Great Portal. See Nuclear Power and Great Portal.

See also

• Research
• Knowledge Scrolls
• Research Tree
• Outlander Test Site