Guide
Machine Upgrade Guide
A machine planning guide for choosing early upgrades, avoiding idle machines, and preparing for recipe expansion.
Research order updated from official Major Update #1 on September 30, 2026. Machine prices and processing costs are not supplied by that announcement.
Research order from September 30
Major Update #1 changed these prerequisites. Follow the relevant branch before buying its equipment or hiring staff; the announcement does not supply research costs.
| Branch | Required order |
|---|---|
| Staff and cooking | First Farmer research → Waiter Payment Collection → Stove II → first additional staff capacity upgrade → Rancher |
| Market and construction | Market → Dairy → second staff capacity upgrade → second construction upgrade |
| Tools | Tomato Presser → first Tool Shop upgrade |
Upgrade rules
- Buy machines that support more than one recipe before narrow specialty upgrades.
- Watch for idle time: a machine that waits for ingredients is not the real bottleneck.
- Upgrade only when the next few days of crop and recipe demand can use the extra capacity.
Data to collect
- Machine cost, unlock condition, processing time, and supported recipes.
- Whether the machine speeds up an existing route or opens a new recipe group.
- Which ingredients become the next bottleneck after the upgrade.
Source notes
- Official Major Update #1, released September 30, 2026 at 09:43 PDT: https://steamcommunity.com/games/3582250/announcements/detail/679637128142913620