Smart Upgrade
Quick Summary: Batch upgrade belts, lifts, pipes, and power infrastructure across your entire factory in one operation.
Smart Upgrade is a powerful feature that lets you upgrade entire networks of infrastructure at once. Instead of manually replacing hundreds of belts or power poles one-by-one, Smart Upgrade scans your factory and upgrades everything in a single operation — with full cost preview and material deduction.
Introduced in: v26.0.0 (Phase 5)
Press K while holding one of these items in your build gun:
- Conveyor Belt
- Conveyor Lift
- Pipeline
- Pipeline Pump
- Power Line (wire)
- Wall Power Outlet
The Smart Upgrade Panel will open, showing two modes: Radius and Network Traversal.
Note: To upgrade a power grid, aim while holding a Power Line (wire), not a Power Pole. This ensures the K key still opens the Smart! Panel for Power Poles so you can scale them into grids.
Scan an area around your character for upgradeable infrastructure.
Steps:
- Equip a belt, lift, pipe, or power line in your build gun
- Press K to open the Smart Upgrade Panel
- Select Radius Mode
- Adjust the scan radius (4m–1,000m slider, or enter custom value)
- Click Scan Radius
- Review the results grouped by family and tier
- Select target tier from dropdown
- Review net cost (new minus refund)
- Click Execute Upgrade
Features:
- Results grouped by upgrade family (Belts, Lifts, Pipes, Power Poles, Wall Outlets)
- Each group shows tier breakdown (e.g., "Mk.3: 45 items")
- Click any row to highlight it and see distance/direction to nearest instance
- Re-scan after upgrading to refresh counts
Follow a connected network from an anchor buildable and upgrade the entire system.
Steps:
- Equip a belt, lift, pipe, or power line in your build gun
- Aim at a belt, lift, pipe, or power pole (the "anchor")
- Press K to open the Smart Upgrade Panel
- Select Network Traversal Mode
- Click Scan Network
- Review the connected network results
- Configure crossing rules (optional):
- Cross Splitters/Mergers (default: on) — Traversal continues through distributors
- Cross Storage (default: off) — Traversal continues through storage containers
- Cross Train Platforms (default: off) — Traversal continues through train stations
- Select target tier
- Review net cost
- Click Execute Upgrade
How it works:
- Anchor detection uses the hologram's upgrade target if valid; falls back to line trace and nearest-buildable search within 3m
- Traversal follows connections through the full network:
- Belts follow factory connections (inputs/outputs)
- Pipes follow pipe connections
- Power follows wire connections
- Crossing rules control whether traversal continues through certain building types
Smart Upgrade works with these building types:
| Family | Tiers Supported |
|---|---|
| Conveyor Belts | Mk.1, Mk.2, Mk.3, Mk.4, Mk.5, Mk.6 |
| Conveyor Lifts | Mk.1, Mk.2, Mk.3, Mk.4, Mk.5, Mk.6 |
| Pipelines | Mk.1, Mk.2 |
| Power Poles | Mk.1, Mk.2, Mk.3 |
| Wall Outlets (Single) | Mk.1, Mk.2, Mk.3 |
| Wall Outlets (Double) | Mk.1, Mk.2, Mk.3 |
Before executing an upgrade, Smart Upgrade shows:
- Total new cost — Materials needed for new tier buildables
- Total refund — Materials returned from dismantling old tier
- Net cost — What you actually pay (new minus refund)
Material deduction:
- Smart Upgrade checks your inventory before executing
- If you don't have enough materials, the operation aborts gracefully with an error message
- No partial upgrades — either all items upgrade or none do
Refunds:
- Dismantled buildables return materials to your inventory
- Refund amounts match vanilla dismantling rules
Scenario: You have a 10-machine manifold with Mk.4 belts feeding from a Mk.4 splitter chain. You want to upgrade everything to Mk.6.
Steps:
- Equip a Mk.6 belt in your build gun
- Aim at any belt in the manifold
- Press K → Select Network Traversal Mode
- Click Scan Network
- Review results (should show all connected Mk.4 belts)
- Ensure Cross Splitters/Mergers is enabled
- Select Mk.6 from target tier dropdown
- Review net cost
- Click Execute Upgrade
Result: All Mk.4 belts in the manifold upgrade to Mk.6 in one operation.
Scenario: You built a factory wing with Mk.1 power poles and want to upgrade them all to Mk.3.
Steps:
- Equip a power line in your build gun (NOT a power pole)
- Stand in the middle of the factory wing
- Press K → Select Radius Mode
- Set radius to 500m (or adjust to cover the wing)
- Click Scan Radius
- Review Power Poles group (should show Mk.1 count)
- Select Mk.3 from target tier dropdown
- Review net cost
- Click Execute Upgrade
Result: All Mk.1 power poles within 500m upgrade to Mk.3.
Scenario: You have a 2km pipeline running Mk.1 pipes from an oil field to your factory. You want to upgrade to Mk.2.
Steps:
- Equip a Mk.2 pipeline in your build gun
- Aim at any pipe segment in the line
- Press K → Select Network Traversal Mode
- Click Scan Network
- Review results (should show all connected Mk.1 pipes)
- Select Mk.2 from target tier dropdown
- Review net cost
- Click Execute Upgrade
Result: The entire 2km pipeline upgrades to Mk.2, following the pipe connections from end to end.
- Use Network Traversal for connected systems — More precise than radius scanning
- Use Radius Mode for scattered infrastructure — Great for upgrading all power poles in an area
- Check crossing rules before scanning — Disable "Cross Storage" if you don't want traversal to jump through storage containers
- Re-scan after upgrading — Radius mode doesn't auto-refresh; click Scan Radius again to see updated counts
- Upgrade in stages — If you don't have enough materials for a full upgrade, do it in batches (e.g., upgrade half the network, gather more materials, upgrade the rest)
- Use Power Lines for power grid upgrades — Equip a power line (wire), not a power pole, to open the upgrade panel for power infrastructure
Solution: Make sure you're aiming directly at a belt, lift, pipe, or power pole. The anchor detection searches within 3m of your aim point. If the buildable is too far away, move closer or adjust your aim.
Solution: Enable the Cross Storage checkbox in the crossing rules section. By default, traversal does not continue through storage containers to prevent accidentally upgrading unrelated networks.
Solution: Smart Upgrade aborts if you don't have enough materials. Check the net cost preview and gather the required materials before executing. You can also upgrade in smaller batches using Radius Mode with a smaller radius.
Solution: To upgrade power poles, you must equip a Power Line (wire) in your build gun, not a Power Pole. This is intentional — it allows the K key to still open the Smart! Panel for Power Poles so you can scale them into grids.
- Auto-Connect — Automatic belt, pipe, and power connections when scaling
- Extend — Duplicate entire factory layouts
- Scaling — Create multi-item grids
- Smart! Panel — Visual settings interface (K key for non-upgrade contexts)
