Grease, Catalyst, Processing Guide

If you’ve reached the point where your colony needs refined liquids for advanced production, the question is no longer “what is this building?” but “how do I get it running without clogging my industry?” The Centrifuge processes liquids into Materials used elsewhere in the colony, and the key to making it work is simple: build the supply line first, then bring the processor online only when you can keep it fed.

Start with the upstream liquid supply before you place the processor

Do not treat the Centrifuge as a standalone workshop. The Centrifuge is a powered water building introduced in Update 5, and it only works when it has a directed supply of liquid inputs. That means you need to set up the badwater side of the chain first, because Badwater Pumps are required earlier in the chain to produce the input liquids the Centrifuge consumes.

If you rush the processor before the liquid flow is stable, you create a bottleneck you cannot solve with extra workers. The Centrifuge will stop whenever the inputs dry up, and every downstream line depending on Materials will stall with it. Start by securing the pumps, then route the liquid cleanly to the Centrifuge, and only after that should you expand the rest of the industry around it.

Quick reference

Place the Grease Factory on flat ground and reserve its footprint early

The Grease Factory is the other structure you need to think about in terms of layout, even before you know exactly how it fits into the broader chain. It occupies a 2x3 grid footprint and must be placed on flat surface tiles. That makes terrain preparation the main job here: if you do not reserve a clean rectangle now, you will waste time later trying to force it into a crowded industry block.

Plan your industrial district with that footprint in mind. Leave a flat 2x3 area open instead of filling every gap with paths or auxiliary buildings. The available construction information gives you placement and spatial requirements, but no construction chain details, so treat this as a layout problem first and a logistics problem second. The safest approach is to prepare the ground early and keep the build site free for when the rest of your line is ready.

Feed the Centrifuge continuously with tanks and power support

Once your supply line exists, you need to keep the Centrifuge from idling. The easiest way to do that is to place Tanks near the Centrifuge for both input and output liquids. This increases effective throughput by ensuring a steady supply and preventing interruptions.

Power matters just as much. The Centrifuge is a powered facility, so it depends on your colony’s power network to function. Don’t scale the line until the power side is stable. A well-supplied processor that keeps losing power is still an underperforming processor, and the same is true if your storage is too far away. Put the buffering close, keep the power steady, and you will get a much smoother production line.

The process is not complicated, but it is easy to sabotage with bad layout. If you want the Centrifuge to perform reliably, build the surrounding logistics before you expect full output from it.

Use the first output to support your bot economy, not to overbuild too early

The Centrifuge processes liquids into Materials used elsewhere in the colony, and that is where its real value shows up. Bot condition is improved by Materials produced from Extract, which makes this building especially important once Bots enter your economy. Until then, one Centrifuge is usually enough for your needs.

That is the trap to avoid: do not overbuild too early. A single Centrifuge is generally adequate until the colony begins producing Bots. Once Bots arrive, revisit capacity, because that is the point where one machine may no longer keep up with the demand for Materials that support Bot performance.

In practice, that means you should let the first Centrifuge serve as a measured foundation. Use it to keep your early and midgame production moving, and then expand only when Bot-related demand actually starts to pressure the line. Scaling before that usually creates more maintenance than value.

Watch worker safety and production scaling as you expand

There is one more thing to plan around: beavers assigned to work in Centrifuges face a chance of injury while operating the machine. Do not ignore that risk when you assign labor. If you stack too much work onto this building without thinking about healthcare, you can create avoidable strain elsewhere in the colony.

So as you scale up, match workforce planning to your medical support. If the line is small, keep it small and manageable. If the line grows because Bot demand grows, make sure your healthcare can absorb the added risk. That is the sensible order: solve the logistics first, protect the workers second, and then add capacity only when the bottleneck is truly the output side.

The key idea is to expand in response to demand, not in anticipation of it. Once Bots begin pulling harder on Materials, you can add more Centrifuge capacity and keep the chain balanced. Until then, a compact, well-supplied setup is usually the best setup.

Build order that keeps the chain stable

If you want the shortest path to a working setup, use this order:

1. Secure Badwater Pumps and make sure the input liquid flow is reliable.
2. Reserve flat 2x3 space for the Grease Factory and keep the site clear.
3. Place the Centrifuge on your powered network.
4. Add close Tanks for input and output buffering.
5. Assign workers carefully and keep healthcare in mind.
6. Expand only when Bot production makes the extra Materials necessary.

Follow that sequence and you will avoid the most common failure point: a processor that is built too early, too isolated, or too starved to do its job.