SpaceChem Guide v0.1

Welcome to my SpaceChem Guide.

I've never created a guide before, so I'm hoping that I can make something useful and readable. I'm intending to make a general guide to the basics and the campaign, with the possibility of adding guides for the DLC and the new mechanics of the Journal later. For now though I'm publishing this early version with only some designing techniques to test the waters.

Here's hoping you couple of hundred Giantbomb SpaceChem players can find something useful in it :P

Early in SpaceChem you may notice that since a Waldos rail can pass through any square in two directions, you can activate any command in a square twice per loop. But what if you need to perform the same command three or more times? Using the Flip-Flop command you can create repeating loops where a Waldo will pass over the same square (or part of its whole loop) many times in a row before moving on.

The arrangement of Flip-Flops required can take up a significant amount of squares. In some cases it may be possible to use a 'Straight' loop to conserve space.

Here are some simple loop layouts. The Fuse command is activated the specified number of times before the Waldo exits the loop on the right.

The simplest loops, for powers of two.

2 Loop

4 Loop

8 Loop

16 Loop

By adding a 'Bouncer' at the loop exit, the Binary loops become multiples of three.

3 Loop

6 Loop

12 Loop

24 Loop

Loops for the other numbers up to sixteen are less simple...

5 Loop	7 Loop	9 Loop	10 Loop
11 Loop	13 Loop	14 Loop	15 Loop

Generally, repeating loops require two or three squares width of space. However, the same looping behaviour can be replicated in a single square width using 'Straight' loops. These are lines of Flip-Flops on top of arrows facing the opposite direction. Each additional Flip-Flop added makes the Waldo 'loop' once more.

Straight loops are rather inefficient in both cycles and symbols used.

The examples below show Straight loops of six and nine length. Notice that by changing the directions of the arrows and Flip-Flops Straight loops can actually also go around corners, making them even more useful for cramming into whatever space you have.

Straight 6 Loop

Not-so-Straight 9 Loop

If you are running out of space to work with, sometimes it may be possible to run a Waldo backwards along part of its rail to get somewhere more useful. This depends heavily on what commands are on the rail since they will all be executed again, and on the space required to place the Flip-Flops to allow the reverse movement.

This example shows a bidirectional route, where instead of a simple rectangle bringing it back to the start the Waldo travels backward along a section of its rail via the Flip-Flops.

Bidirectional Rail

In a similar way to the bidirectional rail, a Waldo can travel along a rail into a dead end, bouncing back along the same length before continuing onto another part of its loop. This technique is useful for saving as much space as possible, or when a molecule has to be moved into a gap that is only one square wide.

The first example below shows a straight dead end. Notice that the Drop command will only be executed once as the Waldo bounces back at that square, whereas the Fuse command will execute twice as the Waldo passes over it in both directions. The second example shows a similar situation, except the Waldo travels around a corner too.

Dead End

Dead End with corner

One of the simpler yet useful techniques, building at the input location means you do not need to move that input atom or molecule at all (or at least very much). Using loops or sensors, a single bonder pair at the input square can allow you to build quite complex arrangements. Further, since in production assignments the position you place the output in one reactor effects the position the input appears in the next reactor connected to it, this allows you to position the secondary inputs for easier building.

The following video shows a simple example of building at input using only one Waldo. The Hydrogen atoms don't need to be moved at all and the loop allows all 4 to be bonded with ease.

... and a similar example with a more complex molecule. The Waldo holds onto each Carbon atom in turn, allowing the loop to bond three Hydrogen atoms onto both.

Similarly to building at input, you can also Fuse at input. With the left part of the fusion plate under the input and the Waldo carrying the target atom over the right part and a Fuse command, a loop can be used to fuse multiple times and build up the target atom to the needed size. A sensor loop can be used instead of a Flip-Flop loop if available, breaking the Waldo out of the loop once it detects the correct atom.

A somewhat less noticeable subtlety of the dual Waldos is the fact that in each cycle the Red Waldos commands are executed before the Blue Waldos. Using carefully Synced rails, this fact can be used to perform some useful techniques such as in the video below where the Red Waldo inputs a Carbon atom and in the same cycle the Blue Waldo bonds it to the previous atom, building up the chain of Carbon atoms quickly and in much less space than a loop or a single Waldo could manage.