Moon Sweepers Automation Guide: Build a Fully Automated Factory

Sweeping millions of square miles of regolith with a starter toothbrush might be a hilarious premise, but manual labor will only take your lunar cleanup company so far. Mastering moon sweepers automation is the single best way to transform an underfunded, slow-paced sanitation crew into a multi-million-credit industrial powerhouse. As factory setups scale, mastering moon sweepers automation lets you process endless tides of lunar dust directly into high-value Moon Blocks without lifting a finger.

Whether you are playing solo or managing an active lobby of 16 workers, building an autonomous infrastructure frees your crew to focus on exploration, vehicle expansion, and large-scale clearing projects. Here is your definitive blueprint for constructing a zero-maintenance lunar processing line.

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Core Architecture: How Factory Automation Works

The basic automation loop in Moon Sweepers relies on closing the gap between dust collection on the surface and the export depot at your base. In the early game, players manually load collected regolith into drop bins and fire delivery capsules by hand. As you unlock automation tech, however, automated sweepers and stationary machinery handle harvest, transit, refinement, and final liquidation.

According to community reports and early player testing, an efficient factory line depends on four fundamental structures operating in sequence:

1. Junis Automated Cleaning Units: Autonomous surface rovers that continuously scour the moon, gather loose dust, and launch transport capsules.
2. Capsule Catchers: Sky-facing logistical depots that catch incoming material capsules launched from anywhere across the lunar surface and deposit raw dust onto conveyor splitters.
3. Pressure Chambers: Heavy pneumatic machines that compress raw lunar dust into dense pre-cast ingots.
4. Stone Presses (Moon Block Crushers): High-impact forming presses that convert pressurized regolith and secondary lunar dust into solid Moon Blocks, sending them straight to the base checkout terminal.

[ Junis Fleet Across Moon ] 
            │ (Orbital Capsule Delivery)
            ▼
   [ Capsule Catcher ]
            │ (Conveyors / Splitters)
            ▼
   [ Pressure Chambers ]
            │
            ▼
   [ Stone Presses ] ───> [ Base Selling Depot / Automatic Credits ]

By linking these components into a seamless loop, you completely eliminate manual hauling. Raw regolith never touches your player inventory; it enters the sky above your outpost and emerges at the selling bay as pure profit.

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Optimal Ratios and Factory Layouts

The key challenge in scaling your moon sweepers automation network is balancing throughput. If your Capsule Catcher receives more deliveries than your processing machines can ingest, intake lines back up, stalling your Junis units in the field. Conversely, starving your Stone Presses leaves expensive machinery idling under the sun.

The 1:3:3 Standard Modular Line

Player experience and community testing have revealed that the standard "magic ratio" for a basic processing cell consists of one Capsule Catcher feeding three Pressure Chambers, which in turn feed three dedicated Stone Presses.

In this setup, the primary Capsule Catcher routes raw lunar dust through a 1-to-3 splitter line into three parallel Pressure Chambers. Each Pressure Chamber then deposits directly into its own Stone Press. To meet the secondary dust requirement for Moon Blocks, a secondary Capsule Catcher feeds an auxiliary line directly into the three Stone Presses.

Capsule Catcher #1 ──> 3-Way Splitter ──> [3x Pressure Chambers] ──┐
                                                                    ├──> [3x Stone Presses] ──> Base Depot
Capsule Catcher #2 ──> 3-Way Splitter ──────────────────────────────┘

While 1:3:3 is standard, testing shows that an optimized 1:4:4 layout is also viable. Because conveyor splitters operate naturally in binary (1 to 2, 2 to 4) divisions, a 4-way split often results in cleaner, symmetrical piping that avoids the flow-rate hiccups sometimes seen on odd-numbered splitter configurations.

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Power Management: Surviving the Lunar Night

An automated line is only as reliable as the power grid driving it. The lunar cycle brings prolonged periods of total darkness, and an under-engineered electrical grid will bring your entire production chain crashing down the second the sun dips below the horizon.

When designing your electrical network for moon sweepers automation, community testing confirms a universal rule: ignore small and medium solar units entirely and build only Large Solar Trackers.

Small panels deliver inadequate peak wattage and carry negligible battery capacity, creating a tangled web of inefficient wiring. Large Solar Trackers automatically follow the sun across the sky for peak generation, and their built-in reserve systems provide substantial nighttime power.

To build an uninterrupted power grid, calculate your machine count using these proven operational benchmarks:

• Pressure Chambers: Require two Large Solar Trackers per chamber to guarantee uninterrupted operation through the dead of night.
• Stone Presses: Draw heavier loads during final stamping; each press requires three dedicated Large Solar Trackers to avoid nighttime brownouts.
• Logistics & Catchers: Draw nominal power and can share reserve spillover from adjacent solar arrays.

Over-engineering your power array by roughly 15% is strongly recommended. Dust storms or uneven terrain shadows can reduce tracking efficiency, and having an extra tracker on the network protects your presses from cold shutdowns.

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Fleet Coordination: Managing Junis Roaming and Capsules

Your factory floor cannot manufacture Moon Blocks without a steady flow of materials. That makes your autonomous mobile sweepers—the Junis fleet—crucial to the whole operation.

Following recent developer patches, Junis pathfinding and cleaning patterns have been significantly overhauled. Early versions often saw rovers getting stuck on steep crater lips or dropping offline when roaming too far from camp. Today, Junis units can roam anywhere across the moon without breaking their routine, systematically clearing sectors and launching loaded capsules back toward your base.

To maximize your field units alongside your moon sweepers automation hub, follow these logistical best practices:

• Maintain Empty Hopper Capacity: Ensure your Capsule Catchers never back up to 100% capacity. If a catcher is full, airborne capsules will bounce, abort, or delay dispatch, causing Junis units in the field to pause their sweep cycles.
• Proximity Drop-Offs: If you are clearing massive craters far from your main hub, consider placing local secondary depots. While Junis units can launch capsules across the entire planet, local staging areas help keep your recovery routes tidy.
• Fleet Ratios: For a standard 3-press factory module, deploy three to four Junis sweepers. This maintains a steady queue of incoming capsules without overwhelming your input hoppers.

For more game news, update patch notes, and multiplayer features, check out the Moon Sweepers on Steam store page.

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Step-by-Step Blueprint: Assembling Your First Autonomous Line

Setting up your first hands-free manufacturing line is straightforward once you understand how the components link together. Follow this step-by-step layout to get your initial production cell operational:

[Capsule Catcher 1]             [Capsule Catcher 2]
         │                               │
    [3-Way Split]                   [3-Way Split]
    ┌────┼────┐                     ┌────┼────┐
    ▼    ▼    ▼                     │    │    │
  [PC1] [PC2] [PC3]                 │    │    │
    │    │    │                     │    │    │
    ▼    ▼    ▼                     ▼    ▼    ▼
  [SP1] [SP2] [SP3] <───────────────┘    │    │
    │    │    │                          │    │
    └────┼────┴──────────────────────────┴────┘
         ▼
  [Export Conveyor] ──> [Base Selling Depot]

Phase 1: Positioning the Foundation

Choose a flat plain immediately adjacent to your main outpost. Avoid placing heavy machinery inside deep crater depressions, as low angles can cast long shadows that hurt solar generation.

Phase 2: Installing the Intake Hub

Place two Capsule Catchers side by side with roughly ten meters of clearance between them. Orient their conveyor export ports facing toward your base depot. Designate Catcher A for your Pressure Chamber line and Catcher B for your auxiliary dust feed.

Phase 3: Laying the Pressure Grid

Run a conveyor line from Catcher A into a splitter configured to divide raw regolith evenly across three outputs. Place three Pressure Chambers in a straight row, feeding one split line into each chamber's intake port.

Phase 4: Setting the Stone Presses

Directly in front of each Pressure Chamber, place a Stone Press. Run the output of Pressure Chamber 1 into the primary intake of Stone Press 1, repeating for units 2 and 3. Then, use a 3-way splitter from Catcher B to route loose lunar dust into the secondary intake of all three Stone Presses.

Phase 5: Routing the Export Trunk

Connect the output ports of all three Stone Presses to a single merged conveyor line running into your base terminal. Any Moon Block exiting the press will glide straight into the selling bay, instantly depositing credits into your team's bank.

Phase 6: Connecting the Large Solar Grid

Erect a dedicated battery-solar farm immediately north of the facility. Build a cluster of 15 Large Solar Trackers (six dedicated to the chambers, nine dedicated to the presses) and run high-voltage conduits directly to your machines.

Once your power grid is connected and your Junis units are deployed across the plains, your factory will run indefinitely without any human intervention required.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I build my factory anywhere on the lunar surface?

Yes. Thanks to recent patches improving rover pathfinding and logistics routines, you can build your industrial core anywhere on flat ground. As long as your Capsule Catchers have an unobstructed view of the sky, they will successfully receive dust shipments from Junis units operating anywhere on the moon.

Why are my Stone Presses refusing to craft Moon Blocks?

Stone Presses require two separate inputs to fabricate Moon Blocks: compressed dust cores from a Pressure Chamber and an auxiliary supply of loose, uncompressed lunar dust. If your press is powered but idle, check that both material lines are connected and flowing smoothly.

Which solar tracker is best for moon sweepers automation?

Always use the Large Solar Tracker. Small and medium panels do not produce enough sustained wattage or battery capacity to keep heavy machinery running through the lunar night. Budget two Large Solar Trackers per Pressure Chamber and three per Stone Press for continuous 24/7 output.

How many Junis rovers should I deploy per Capsule Catcher?

A balanced rule of thumb is three to four active Junis rovers per Capsule Catcher. Deploying too few rovers leaves your downstream processing machines waiting for materials, while deploying more than five per catcher can overflow the intake queue and cause rovers to idle in the field.