Spoilers: Mid game
Early Progression: Office to Manufacturing to Labs
Orient yourself in Abiotic Factor’s early sector progression and identify whether your blocker is an objective, route, or missing crafting requirement.
Work from your current sector
| Sector | Next guide |
|---|---|
| Starting in Offices | Office landmarks |
| Working with the Blacksmith | Manufacturing West |
| Entered the laboratory sector | Cascade Laboratories |
Follow the early checkpoints from Offices through Manufacturing and into Labs.
What opens the next sector?
| Current stage | Checkpoint to complete | Result to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Office Sector | Follow the Power Cell objective through Silo 3 and Flathill | A recovered Power Cell is used at the Manufacturing forklift |
| Manufacturing West | Follow the Blacksmith/Frake chain and repair all three colored electron pumps | The Synchrotron can be activated to open the Labs route |
| Cascade Laboratories | Work through containment access, security reset and the Mycofields objective | Obtain what is needed for Antethermite and open the goo-blocked Vacuum Chamber route |
For the materials and route at each checkpoint, open the matching sector guide. Finding an area on a map, obtaining an ingredient and completing its associated interaction are different milestones.
How do you recover when a walkthrough is ahead of your save?
- Read the active objective in your own game and note its exact task.
- Identify the last completed interaction: a conversation, a recovered item, a repaired object or an activated control.
- Compare that point with the sector guide rather than jumping to its last step.
- If a named item is needed, inspect recipe discovery, research, station and ingredients separately.
- After performing the interaction, check the objective again before leaving for another supply run.
When reporting a possible bug, include the current objective, the interaction performed, game version and whether you are the host or a joining player.
Name the blocker before gathering
- Route blocked: read the relevant objective and nearby instructions.
- Recipe missing: check whether it comes from an item, interaction, or conversation.
- Blueprint pending: complete its research step.
- Recipe known: check its required station and materials.
Discovering a recipe and researching it are separate steps. Carrying materials does not automatically complete both steps. For workstation problems, check the Crafting Bench separately.
Manufacturing checkpoint
One shopping checklist for the two sector gates
| Gate | Carry or complete | Detailed execution |
|---|---|---|
| Silo 3 keypad | Tier-one Keypad Hacker: 1 Controller, 1 LCD Screen, 1 Infrared Emitter | Office preparation and Flathill first-cell route |
| Manufacturing forklift | 1 recovered Power Cell, installed in the forklift | Return from Flathill; do not merely leave the cell in base storage |
| Train portal access | Meet Frake, revisit Blacksmith; craft Tram Station Key from 1 Controller and 4 Military Electronics | Manufacturing material run |
| Three electron pumps | Trade 1 Solder, 1 Axle Grease and 1 Reinforced Hose for the three repair parts | Trade table and pipe landmarks |
| Route to Labs | Repair every pump, then activate the Synchrotron | Labs next objectives |
These are two separate key recipes. Spending the Controller reserved for Silo 3 on unrelated crafting can delay the first gate; reaching Manufacturing does not mean you already own its Tram Station Key. The linked destination guides contain the construction quantities and required interactions for each row.
The objective sequence leads through the Blacksmith and Frake, then repairing three electron pumps and activating the Synchrotron. Use the dedicated location page before making repeated trips with the wrong trade materials.
Do not turn every delay into a base rebuild
Check the survival basics when supplies are the real problem, but keep the current progression objective separate. A better base cannot substitute for an unopened route or an uncompleted interaction.
When should you pause progression for supplies?
Pause when you cannot reliably return, feed yourself or use essential tools. Use the first-session checklist to restore those basics, then resume the specific objective. You do not need to complete every optional furniture project before attempting the next checkpoint.
If you are losing progress to night-time outages, fix the essential-device power circuit. If attacks are the problem, use base-defense preparation. If a laboratory door is covered in goo, follow Labs obstruction checks rather than repeatedly crafting a different hacker.
