Combat Basics

In Factorio you'll come across enemies known as Biters. These bug-like creatures can tear down your base in seconds if you build too close to their nests, or if they decide to invade you at night. Arming yourself with some combat knowledge will allow you to keep your base safe, so here's everything you need to know about the basics.

• Combat Basics
• How to Turn Enemies Off

Combat Basics

To defend yourself from biters, you'll need to craft weapons and turrets to defend your base from incoming swarms. To craft a gun, head over to your crafting menu with the "E" key, and click on the Combat section on the right-hand side. This is indicated by the gun icon in the top right.

Crafting a simple, but effective Pistol will use 5 Iron Plate and 5 Copper Plate. We recommend crafting one as soon as possible, in case Biters come for your base earlier than expected. You will also need to craft ammo for your Pistol, which requires 4 Iron Plates per magazine. Each magazine holds 10 bullets.

You'll need to equip the Pistol and ammo onto your character, which you can do by dragging both into the bottom left corner of the screen. You can see the area in the image below.

Once a Biter is in range, you can hit the Spacebar key to shoot them. They don't go down easy, so be aware of your spacing and keep a good amount of distance between you and the enemies.

As you progress in the Tech Tree you can build better weapons, armor, and turrets. This will allow you to better defend yourself and your base against the attacking enemies.

Enemies in Factorio will expand their territory every 4-60 minutes. This means more Biters will begin building nests and taking over more of the world around you. So as you progress your factory, you'll want to keep up with better weapons and armor as well. Don't neglect to upgrade your arsenal because the Biters aren't slowing down.

Biters will get more powerful and aggressive as your pollution of the planet rises. As you build more and more machinery, the difficulty of the Biters will increase. Small biters are found at the beginning of a game but will increase in size, damage dealt, health, and more, as time goes on.

How to Turn Enemies Off

You can choose to turn off enemies in Factorio if you find dealing with biters too stressful. When creating a new world, tab over to the Enemy section. Here you can check the box "Enemy Bases" off. This will remove all biters from your game and let you focus on building your factory in peace.

• Beginner's Guide and Tips
• Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts
• Starter Base Guide

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