Beyond These Stars · Production bottlenecks
No output space, no tools—and no room for Soot or Slag?
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Inspect the building’s by-product output, not only its main product. If Soot or Slag has filled that branch, make room in an existing nearby storage building and configure it for the blocked resource. When you have no Tools left, try that before ordering another Storage Shed.
Published October 20, 2026 · Windows PC · 1.0 release mechanics
Read both output branches
A production task can need room for more than the resource you wanted. Empty space for Iron does not solve a full Soot output. Check the Work panel, note the blocked resource by name and inspect the storage that should receive it.
- Select the stopped producer and inspect all output inventories.
- Find an existing storage building near that production area.
- Check its resource allocation and look for an unused or unnecessary allocation you can change.
- Allocate space for the blocked by-product and check that storage workers can collect it.
- Watch the producer’s own output count. Confirm that it falls and a new production task starts.
Break the tool-and-storage loop
One launch-week player described a generator full of Soot, no power for tools and no Tools to build more storage. Another described a similar Slag deadlock. Reconfiguring existing storage was the useful first intervention in those discussions.
Storage Sheds have four resource stacks before perks, with 20 units per stack; several stacks can hold the same resource. Their worker gathers the configured goods. A shed with room allocated to the wrong material does not help the producer that is stuck now.
Check the route and staffing after changing an allocation. A number on a settlement-wide stock list does not show that a worker has removed the material from this particular output slot.
A shortage needs the opposite response
The original thread contains both problems: some players ran short of Soot, while others had so much that generation stopped. For a shortage, check production and the demands of Cleaners or other consumers. Continuous burner operation can supply more Soot, at the cost of fuel and pollution. For an overflow, it adds to the blockage.
Once the first blocked task finishes, keep enough reserve Tools to expand storage deliberately. Avoid demolishing a full shed just to erase stock: the wiki warns that its resource cache remains until collected. You can exchange one storage problem for another.
If every output has room but the task still will not start, check inputs, power and filled work slots. That is a different branch of the diagnosis.
Sources
Official beginner guide: Primary Resources & By-Products; Storage Shed; Burner Generator. Original reports: by-product bottlenecks and Iron and tool deadlocks. Official instructions and original player reports checked October 20, 2026. Screenshots identify the relevant controls and states; the troubleshooting sequences are independently written, not a report of a personal game test.