The factory is an area of accelerated and multiplied production of various resources.
Factory smelting works by consuming lava to smelt ores and raw metal that's been thrown into the smelter input -- the middle of the large iron machine in the back right.
Supported items include:
The smelter will then rapidly smelt the respective bars distributing them roughly evenly between the two output streams -- to the left and right of the smelter input.
Note: Every player's smelted items are locked to that player.
As smelting occurs, lava will be depleted. If the smelter runs out of lava, the smelter will stop production all together. The smelter has a lava supply line made of iron that automatically refills it. However, this lava supply line can break down becoming less and less efficient the more it leaks.
To overcome this, the supply line must be fixed by players. To fix the supply line, place iron blocks at the breaks in the lava supply line.
Note: When a supply line iron block decays it drops several iron ingots. Thus, if you're quick you may be able to recover some iron ingots reducing the maintence cost.
Factory brewing works by throwing potion bottles and the respective ingredients into a brewing vat -- the big iron things with water in them. It's important to note that all ingredients for the same potion should be added to the same vat.
Once all ingredients are present, the factory will rapidly produce the brewed potions in bottles. These bottles will be spewed out in the middle of the factory in a pool of bubbling water.
Note: All vat's process items based on the player that threw them. Thus, if you'd like to team up with a friend to provide some ingredients all ingredients should be handled to one player or split.