Brave New Wonders Automaton Logistics and Behaviour Guide

Prove one delivery loop

Brave New Wonders moves materials through automatons rather than a conveyor-belt network. The developer recommends beginning with preset behaviours: the library covers common early logistics and teaches the words the command system expects. Select the worker for the current objective, choose a simple transport preset, and check that the resulting behaviour has actually been assigned. The first-automaton answer covers that tutorial question directly.

Keep the first job narrow enough to observe. Pick one item, one source and one destination, then watch a complete collection and deposit. If nothing reaches the destination, a larger factory will only hide the same fault. The developer's June command explanation uses a mine-to-warehouse flow to illustrate how actions and conditions become a visual graph; that example is a model of the system, not a command guaranteed to fit every map or worker.

Read the behaviour graph

Plain-language input is translated into a graph of actions and conditions. Read the graph before confirming it. For a basic transport task, look for the intended source, pickup action, destination and deposit action. Then check what condition sends the worker back to the start. A sentence that sounds clear to a human may produce a different graph than you intended.

The developer says the editor flags actions an automaton cannot perform. If that appears, shorten or change the instruction, or choose a capable unit. Treat the generated graph as the actual order. You can adjust it node by node; rewriting a long paragraph is not the only way to correct a single wrong action.

Diagnose a stalled automaton

Use the same order every time you investigate a route. First, verify that the selected unit has the new behaviour. Second, read the first graph node where progress stops. Third, check whether the source currently has the item and the destination can receive it. Fourth, confirm the worker can perform that action. Finally, if a condition controls the loop, inspect whether that condition can become true. These checks are an editorial troubleshooting sequence based on the developer's graph and logistics descriptions, not a claim about a specific error message.

If transport is merely slow, consider distance and role before rewriting a working command. In its post-demo feedback, the developer suggests placing a warehouse closer to a resource node, using miners to gather and movers to carry the result onward. Apply one change, watch another full trip and compare; do not treat this as a guaranteed best layout for every continent.

Add signals after the basics

The developer says production buildings can emit status signals after the related technology is unlocked. Those signals can turn a constant delivery into a conditional one, such as sending a worker only when a building needs more input. Set up the building's status signal first, then inspect whether the automaton graph listens for the intended state. Keep the ordinary pickup and drop-off path working while adding one condition at a time.

The June developer example mentions colored signals and inventory thresholds, but its specific values are examples, not universal settings. If the relevant technology is not yet available, use the basic preset and return to signal coordination later. A player-reported offline issue with plain-language generation is covered separately in the offline programming answer; no official offline roadmap was confirmed for that report.

Grow without losing track

Once one route is reliable, separate gathering, local storage and final delivery into jobs you can observe independently. The developer frames the later game around distinct continents, resource networks and Wonders. A short, working route is a better starting point for those systems than a long command whose failure point you cannot see. If you brought a demo or playtest factory forward, the developer says those saves carry into 1.0, while recommending a fresh start for players returning after many updates; see the save answer.

Sources and limits

City From Naught's official Steam announcements explain the starter presets, graph, signals, transport roles and launch save policy. The developer's text-command deep dive explains how an instruction becomes structured behaviour. The troubleshooting order here is editorial guidance. It does not provide a tested command string for a particular save or prove how the current offline generator behaves.