Factories produce units. You get to choose one for free at the start of any skirmish match (and any campaign where there isn't a pre-established base). Factories have different types which are gradually more expensive, but this guide focuses on the earliest tier. Building a factory essentially unlocks a new "unit tech group" in this game.

Well, one factory is good, and we can use it to make a few units and get going. But how are we supposed to convert more of our resources at a time? Surely we'd like to transforming the resources from mere UI numbers in our bank accounts into several capable units and groups, and take more map control? What if we simple need more units? Of course, you can build more factories, but because a Factory in Zero-K unlocks "unit tech groups" they are expensive. 700 resource cost is a lot (especially in metal) when most units are around 100 each. Using all-factories for production would end up with an army half the size of your opponent.

So aside from factories, there are three main ways to speed up unit building in Zero-K. Builder units, mini Caretaker buildings, and small Factory Plates. Each has its upsides and downsides.

How to build these three? Builders are in the top left of any factory. Caretakers are a small building in the economy tab. Plates are in the factory tab but are specially adapted when placed within a set radius of any factory (the area that the factory starts with is the what you get; plates don't count, and cannot be chained to expand the area.)

Standard construction takes place at one of two levels of resource drain: 5 or 10 resources per second. (Note that all production in ZeroK costs both metal and energy at 1:1, but metal tends to be the main constraining resource cost. This guide here won't be going deep into econ, but try and keep energy production a little ahead of metal income.)

Standard builders have 5/sec of drain. Builders are also more expensive due to their mobility, costing 240 res for the equivalent of the other construction objects. Thus builders are best suited to expanding and reclaim, that's likely what they should be doing.

Factories, caretakers, and plates have 10/sec of drain. Caretakers only cost 180 res and plates even less than that at 150 res. These costs underline the expensiveness of factories at 700 each.

• Plates are the cheapest option for the same amount of build capability. If all you need to do is produce spam units, they are the most suited to it.
  
• Builders should realistically only assist a factory while waiting to something else, like for escort/support units. Use the "auto assist" factory setting to have them automatically do this. In the unit queue, adding a Builder about every minute or so will help keep pace with expansion and reclaim.
  
• Use caretakers to accelerate production, such as a a single factory queue or building power. They will also automatically area assist, area repair, and area reclaim. Generally it is best to set caretakers to low spending priority to enable them to spend resources/do excess production without impacting expansion engineers (and avoid having to micro set builders to priority build). Default priority can be set up in the options.
  
• Other uses for plates are for setting different rally points, or producing special units that don't belong at the main rally point. Note that with the unit speeds in the game is not usually worth it to build secondary or forward factories; place the secondaries next to the existing factories to use discounted "factory plates" system instead.

For some more info on plates: https://zero-k.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Factory_Plates

Also for some more context about unit queueing: https://zero-k.info/mediawiki/Factory_Production

Cloakbots are basically "infantry". They are cheap and I found their long-ranged units to be the most useful, like archers. Not many of their bots actually cloak, so their name is mostly a bit of a moot point (the exceptions are their builder; a rogue/thief-class melee unit; and a lategame sniper). Some of their other ranged units are relatively fast; Some of their heavy units are terribly slow; it's a mixed bag. I think this factory works best if you know how to split your attention up and multitask.

Shieldbots are basically walking mecha. They are often put in slow death blobs that go around in a big pack stomping over stuff. Their shields link up to heal each other, making them good in a group, while they have can add damage options to the mix later on. Their costs and speeds tend to be fairly average. It's a very simple and straightforward strategy that can keep pushing forward, but it is quite a fixed gameplan that doesn't adapt as much. Learning this factory rewards formulating the right group composition.

Rovers tend to be a bit more costly per unit, but each one is more durable and powerful. Rovers are basically fast vehicles and mini-treaded armored "tanks" (although the name of "tank" is technically reserved for a different factory). I found this to be my favourite and the most "balanced" in capabilities, with a fast start and options for a bit of everything as the match progresses. However, as later in the campaign more expensive units get introduced, their cost can block an investment in better and more efficient units.

There is no real lasting disadvantage to any of any of these - they're all pretty decent and you can swap later in the match or even combine them if you need to. You typically get starting access to all three factories after a certain point in the campaign.

Basically, builders are vulnerable targets (as are extractors) and you want to deploy DPS against the enemy ones as much as you can.

So get fast units for that. Good raiders are Rover Scorchers and Cloakbot/infantry Glaives which have good speed and excellent DPS for the cost. These aren't usually good as spam units on repeat, but a few can be useful at the start of the battle or as a raid group.

However, some raiders are just DPS support instead. This is for the Shield Bandits - they're meant to formation move (ctrl+Rclick) with Shield Thugs, not really go around solo.
The cloakbot Scythe is somewhat of another example, they're essentially melee rogues/thieves with decent speed and durability to give the cloaks some mobile offensive capability that doesn't just involve long-range fire. At 250 resources they're not super efficient but Scythes can catch the enemy by surprise and hide from fights or run away from some units if they need to.

Another use for this type is that they can serve as intel gatherers, because they can see as well as most other units and have a sacrifcable low cost (especially useful when the enemy can reclaim the dead wreck).

These are the two "special weapons" classes. Additionally, in ZeroK, there is a sort of triangle between mobile units, powerful units, and (long-)ranged units. Mobile units (like the previously discussed raiders) tend to lose to powerful units (like the riot or defenses) which have higher stats to put out more damage and their health avoids a quick death but are slow. Powerful units tend to get beaten by skirmishers who can kite at range and keep avoiding the slower units. Skirmishers tend to get beaten by mobile units who can choose when to engage.

Skirmishers tend to outrange light defenses (the Lotus has 460 range). However, while their launcher weapons deal great focused damage, they tend to be inaccurate and are best against large slow targets. You can kinda dance them around with micro.

Riots are a pretty broad category in the game, but tends to involve some AOE function. However, in terms of the basic ones, they are just about as slow as Skirms and a decent anchor for them as short-range protection. The typical Riot has a machinegun to put out massive damage, functionally like mobile Stardusts. With their short range and low speed tend to be pretty static or even defensive, but they are powerful once the actual fight starts.

The most typical skirms are the Cloakbot Ronin (a missile infantryman with 455 range) and the Shieldbot Rogue (530 range), both are units with missile launchers that can move and fire. They will automatically jostle back and forth while they're reloading to minimise the time they spend in enemy range.

The Rover Fencer is somewhat atypical and more of an anchoring unit. It has great range (which is great against the AI) and has some stopping power, but due to its setup animation it's harder to micro. While they are fast enough units, they need time to set up when being used offensively and need some care. Think of it more like area denial or light artillery.

(The Amphibian Buoy has 450 range and so for some reason is in this category. The range is fair and it overall isn't too bad, thanks to its ability to inflict slow on the enemy. It also decent HP for a skirmisher, but the tradeoff is that it is expensive. As an amphibian bot it won't be available from the early factories. Maybe I'll add more details about them later?)

Cloakbot: The stereotypical Riots are Reavers with the classic machinegun. They are fairly tanky compared to Glaives and other walking cloakbots. (Later in the game, Tank Ogres are also pretty good in this same style.) Unfortunately, their slow speed makes them hopeless at fighting on the offensive and stops them from bringing their damage to properly engage towers.

Rover: Rippers are like AOE support, but slower and significantly less tanky than the Ravagers. Their attack is like a sort of grenade-toss which is a bit wider than the Ravager assault rover. However, I didn't find them particularly fun and couldn't find much use for them. Apparently this unit has gone through some historical reworks over time and is somewhat of a placeholder these days.

Shieldbot: Outlaws are not typical riots and more of an AOE debuffing/slowing support unit. With a medium range of 300, they specifically stop raiders like Glaives (180) and Bandit (230). They pair well with their Shield Thug assaultbot.

These units are positional anchor units (or in the case of assaults, "unanchors").

Assaults are HP sponges but like the other are hopeless at targeting precise targets. Turrets are good for protecting point areas like extractors, but hopeless at forming a wall or doing wide-area denial-- you'll need mobile raiders for deterrance and counterattacks.

• Thugs (a key anchor unit for shieldbots in general) are extremely durable due to shields. Pair them with Felons to use the shield and zap back.
  
• Rover Ravagers are relatively fast, allowing for fast retreats to supporting units, repairs, or just hit and run targets before reinforcements arrive.
  
• the Knight infantrybot has about twice the HP per cost as the Reaver riotbot at the same speed, but basically trades that for all of its DPS. EMP is also not a particularly attractive status effect because it does nothing until the unit hits 100% status and if the enemy takes a lot of EMP it can still just run away, although EMP might be useful as extra damage against shieldblobs. In the campaign, it's essentially a unit that to distract the targeting AI.

Basic defenses are pretty flimsy and should not be completely relied upon, but compared to most other RTS games they're actually pretty affordable, and not that much more expensive per unit. Of course, they still don't move, so placement still becomes a tradeoff decision.

• LLT Lotus: It's pretty standard and reliable: efficient DPS with fair range. If you are actually expecting someone to come for a full fight, you want a few of these, as though you stuffed the area with Bandits. With their 400+ range, longer than most standard units, and a cheap price, they can do a lot of damage with continuous fire as the enemy approaches them. And they are durable for their price too (at nearly 800 health, for example the Ronin has nearly half this). However, they can't dodge, they can be outranged by skirms, and raiders might be able to run right by the edge of them, so they're not a perfect solution if the enemy isn't staying for straightforward combat. The AI loves to use these to cover their factories and that's what they're best for, defending other durable objectives. Overall a decent point-defense.
  
• RIT Stardust: It's basically an autoloader turret, with a stubby gunshield. The housing might not look like much, but the multi-barrel firepower will shred any raiders with high burst damage, pulverizing them like its namesake. On the other hand if it empties its clip and has to sustain fire, its DPS will slow down against assault units, as though it was achingly reloaded a single shot at a time. While Stardusts are expensive at the cost of 3 LLTs, at a stout 1500 hp they are tougher and harder to kill or pick off than individual Lotuses; and also at 410 range, they will have superior area coverage over mobile Reavers. The autocannon is surprisingly useful for covering flanks on the edge of a map where the sneaky AI probes for weaknesses, and will pay back their initial cost by keeping raiders out of delicate economic areas -- preventing the need to rebuild the buildings and keeping them operational is worth the higher cost. In fact, when guarding such an area using mobile units would almost be a downside. All in all, the Stardust turret is a solid tool for the purpose of zone denial, and in the campaign you'll probably build at least one by the edge of the map to block the enemy raiders off.
  
• HLT Stinger: an upgraded tall laser turret, for when you really need to keep everything out of an area. Kills all types but long range arty, so skirmishers that beat up their LLT cousins can go bye-bye. It's also tougher and easier to repair. The Stinger dies easily to blobs of assaults though and can still get hit by arty, so it's not invulnerable. Out of the basic turrets, it's still the most solid defensive turret though, and suited to the front line.
  
  And some lesser used ones:
  
• SKT Picket: A tracking rocket launcher (like a Fencer) that fires 3-round bursts. They're not an efficient use of resources for defensive use, but they do have niche uses like providing vision control and denial. They don't deal much damage (especially over time with an awful reload), and their inflexibility and less than half the durability of the Lotus are big negatives that don't usually make up for the extra range. They can be useful for the Commander or other builders to set up a quick offensive threat just out of enemy range. But in the long run, if you really need the range or tracking missiles, it's worth paying extra for the Rovers' Fencer or an equivalent skirmisher, so you can drive closer to the target. While Pickets are technically one of the four basic defences, I would not expect them to see much use in the campaign and very situational.
  
• Urchin: basically an anti-naval Lotus in purpose with some quirks. It fires a small tracking AOE explosive on a 3s timer, which makes it easier to avoid any damage at all by killing them quickly. They can be built on land, but can only fire at targets in water (technically, they will still hit hovercraft over water) and so land units can take them out from behind for free. A few of these defenses will pop up midway through the campaign on sea maps. In terms of usage, while they have a long range, the player is more likely to get use out of mobile Ducks instead.
  
• Gauss: A long range turret with single target DPS like the Lotus, but it will pierce for AOE. Pretty annoying when the AI uses them and somewhat durable, but as mentioned they don't actually do much damage for their cost. With time these can pretty be taken out with artillery. Gauss can also hit subs, so it can be built by a coast.

These units are for slowing down or snaring the enemy and come from a wide variety of classes. They vary by defensive slows and offensive slows/explosives.

Offensive slows (bombs) are fast and can chase down faster units, letting other friendly units in the main composition hit the targets or just blowing them up outright.

Defensive slows protect structures and other areas from being raided by slowing down the enemy and reducing their rate of fire.

Note that slow and EMP "damage" affects units status HP, not their main HP. This also means that time to fully Slow or time start the EMP stun scales with the main HP of the unit.

EMP disables a unit completely. It cannot move or fire. However, EMP does nothing until the unit is fully stunned, which can be situational.

This list is not exhaustive, but here are some examples:

• Cloakbot/Infantry Assault: Knight, EMP type. Very slow (as an assault) but stuns enemies in an AOE with its gun. Very effective against Jumpbots and Rover-Scorchers, for instance.
  
• Cloakbot: Imp bomb, EMP type. Very fast and all terrain (can go up cliffs like spiderbots).
  
• Shieldbot Riot: Outlaw, AOE Slowing type. Gun can't aim, just run the riot at the enemy.
  
• Shieldbot Artillery: Racketeer. Disarming EMP, but because of its burst damage the bar will usually instafill.
  
• Shieldbot: Snitch bomb. Fast and deals 1200 raw damage.
  
• Jumpbot: Puppy. Boing, boing! Can replicate itself on wrecks rather than having to manually produce all of them.
  
• Turret EMP: Faraday. Very effective against Scorchers.

For more information on slows, EMP, and lightning: https://zero-k.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Weapon_classes#EMP

These are strategic units with the longest ranges.

• Cloakbots/infantry: Sling. A mini mecha that yeets lobbed mortar shells. Good for taking out Stinger lasers/HLTs.
  
• Shieldbots: Racketeer. With a head-mounted high-angle missile launcher box, it can effectively remove a unit's weapon (some might say steal and sell!). The Racketeer doesn't deal direct damage, but locks-on with tracking and excellent for disabling turrets or individual units (sneaky AI raider pokes, AA, big striders) at fairly long range. Its ability uses the EMP/slow mechanics - you'll need 4-5 of these to lock down a Dante.
  
• Rovers: Badger. Area denial by flinging cluster mines. Mines will store themselves in mines if there are no targets to hit when they land.

Special defences have long ranges and cost a lot. But with their long ranges and durability it makes them very cost effective. It would probably be wise to defend them with AA from precision bombers if the game drags on.

• Cerberus: Artillery installation that blows up a large area.
  
• Desolator: Heat ray defence against infantry.
  
  
  Other:
  
• Aspis/Aegis: It projects a shield. Everyone can build this as a static defence but it's expensive and probably most effective in a group with Shieldbot Felons. Transforms to move about and can project the shield while moving.

For more info on shields, see https://zero-k.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Shield

Ronin and Sling, with Reavers for support (their energy machine guns do AOE which makes them extra effective at staving off and pushing away guerilla fighters/raiders) and Imp bombs as traps against fast targets. A ranged style of composition. Remember to spread the Ronins in particular out in a line to maximise their damage, as they cannot fire over top of each other. Slings will shred defences and break openings for Glaives, while the Ronins defend them from approaching enemy assaults and riots. Imps are very effective against Scorchers and other fast targets, and by getting a good angle the detonation will still catch them out.

Cloakbots cont: Unfortunately, Conjurer is still pretty much the slowest basic constructor, and using the cloak is hard - it's easy for a beginner to misposition it and have it decloak by accident. Cloaking in general is vulnerable to fast and close combat units, like the Scorcher. Special-build Glaives/Scythes as needed for raiding opportunistic targets. Glaives have a very quick build time so they can defend the factory as required, but for defending extractors, defenses will be necessary further away from the factory itself. Try not to build solo LLTs, you can afford grouping them up with how cheap Glaives are! The factory is still usable into the lategame with Phantoms being useful against Striders, but they are not as efficient as Hovercraft Lancers. It would make sense to transition

Note: I have called Cloakbots infantry in some sections of the guide because actually not everything cloaks, and all the other units (apart from the impspider which does cloak) look like walking infantry. In other TA-like games they're closest to the basic walking bot factories. Also, you should have a look at the conjurer builderbot and its stripes some time, because it looks awesome with the cloak off. You can turn off the cloak with default K, or even go the other way and it does come with an area cloak which could be useful for resource nodes and turrets.

Scorcher opening into "armored" Ravagers for blowing up towers. Masons are the fastest constructors while Scorchers are likewise very fast, allowing reaction to attacks on the map and minimising defense investment. Scorchers in general are just very annoying for the enemy. A 5:2 opening ratio should allow a good rate of investment; but because Scorchers are much more durable than other raiders and less affected by AOE they can still be fairly effective until later into the game. For fancier players in skirmish, Darts are useful in the mix for their vision and even more ludicrous speed.

Rovers cont/midgame: Ravagers are insanely damaging and durable, even if they are expensive. Possibly with Fencer support to threaten the enemy at a safe distance in a "raid style" -- they outrange turrets but are not really cost efficient for DPS and have to run away from a pitched engagement anyway. On the other hand of the rover selection, there is no real reason to build Rippers on the offensive due to their slowness, they're only useful against repeated swarms. Once a strong economy has been established, reclaiming Ravager wrecks (especially with fast Masons) and going for the durable tankbot Minotaurs will have a very similar playstyle. The Impaler missile artillery is incredibly useful too.

Thug plus literally any DPS unit, a giant high HP deathball. You could potentially just start building thugs from the start and add the Bandits just after the first one. Thug balls are insanely survivable due to shared shield regeneration. Shieldbots are basically stompy walkers like in CNC Tiberian Sun and just a blast to throw around.
Bandits, Rogues, and Felons are the mainstay DPS depending on the phase of the game and the enemy targets.

• Bandits are good all round and also make cheap scout or anti-skirms
  
• Rogues are good against defences and more tanky assault units.
  
• Felons are good at converting a survivability advantage to DPS, spending up to 600 shield HP per second (75hp/shot) of friendly shields, but this can be a bit "win-more" to close out a match faster and attempt a siege. They're expensive, costing around 5 Rogues' worth, and also noticeably slower than the other units in the blob. Even with their fair range, these have been quite situational for me.

Disarming Racketeers, Slowing/Anti-melee Outlaws, and AA Vandals are other specialist support. Additional note: use Convict constructors' shield to keep defences and Picket towers alive.

You may face the AI with amphbots from time to time. They like to produce Buoys and Ducks the most, and some other stuff which I'll describe here:

• Ducks have an AOE missile with slight homing. They're basically like upgraded bandits. When fighting them, just stay spread out and your units should be fine, as their solo damage is pathetic. When using them for yourself, make big groups and swarm the enemy at short range, and go blow up some subs!
  
• Buoys are skirmishers with a range like that of the ronin, rogue, or fencer. The AI likes to kite with these and they have slowing single target projectiles. Even though they are slow themselves, the best way to deal with them is actually to use a swarm of something durable enough to take a hit but chase them down anyway. The Bandit is perfect for this and can take 3 hits, but Rovers also can use Fencers which can outrange it. Cloakbots might need to somehow pull off a scythe ambush or pull off careful use of Glaives (while not getting blown up by the ducks). Living up to its skirmisher role, don't use assaults like the Thug or Ravager against it.
  
• If the AI builds Ravagers of their own... there's a problem. It seems the best way to destroy them is to bomb them with EMPs to stun, then outnumber them with cheap long range units to get a concave, as the Ravagers are extremely fast and deal high AOE damage against raiders and can simply run from or out DPS assaults. I'll keep testing the tech lab map to see how this goes.

You can also use the "technology" tab of the campaign to check out what you've unlocked and see a quick overview

For commanders, the engineer is an excellent starting option, followed by the recon. These let you make the best use of the commander's power at the start. The engineer allows rapid economy building (especially power generators) where speed/durability isn't much of an issue anyway.

The Guardian is basically useless to me, because even with upgrades it's very slow and with only about 1k more HP than the weakest one, they're not that much more durable than the other commanders.

If there are hills where the wind is greater than 0-2 on average, build wind farms. This is because in solar equivalents the expected return required is 1.0 energy per 35 metal. (essentially, consider the solar generator as two winds in economy). Winds are also the default for making a grid because two winds are about a tile wider than a single solar. But solars are good for blocking around metal extractors and can tank over 1000 damage when balled up (up to 1.9k in the best case scenario against fast firing units like glaives).

This guide was originally published on Steam Community Guides by Techhead7890 in 2021 and is not intended to be republished elsewhere.
Drafted in September 2021.
Updated in February 2024 to rewrite clarify things and give more context about production types and added a short bit about each factory type at the start (so that it was a bit more frontloaded rather than waiting for the detailed compositions at the end).
Updated in March to add more specifics and details about certain units with more personal experience. Updated info about defenses and mention the mobility/power/range trio.
Updated March 2025 for Racketeer details, misc tweaks to factory descriptions.