Neatworks guide
How to play Neatworks
Neatworks is an idle game about a tidy little factory. You make cogs by hand, build machines that make cogs for you, and slowly turn a workshop into a humming production line. It plays like other idle games, with one twist: some upgrades link machines together, so the best factory is a balanced one.
The basics
- Make a cog. Tap the big button to make a cog by hand. Every factory starts with one.
- Build machines. Workbenches, cog presses, conveyor belts, assemblers and robot arms all make cogs on their own, every second.
- Buy upgrades. At 10, 25, 50 and 100 of a machine, an upgrade appears that doubles what that machine makes. A few upgrades speed up the whole factory, and two make your taps count for more.
- Link machines. Some upgrades make one machine faster for every one of another machine you own. These are the heart of Neatworks.
- Retool the factory. Once the line is busy, you can clear the floor and set up again with blueprints. Each blueprint makes the whole factory 5% faster, for good.
Your first few minutes
- Tap until you have 12 cogs and set up a workbench. Cogs now arrive by themselves.
- After 20 cogs made by hand, Good gloves appears. It doubles every tap, so buy it early.
- Save for a cog press at 90 cogs. With five machines, Labelled shelves doubles the whole factory.
- Your first conveyor belt arrives a few minutes in. Once you own three, Belt-fed presses appears, and from then on every belt makes every press faster.
How linked upgrades work
Linked upgrades add a bonus to one machine for each of another machine you own. Belt-fed presses, for example, makes presses 5% faster for every conveyor belt. With 10 belts, your presses work 50% faster; with 20, twice as fast.
That changes how you build. In most idle games, you buy whichever machine gives the most for its price. In Neatworks, buying a conveyor belt also speeds up every press you own, so a belt is often worth more than it first looks. The game shows each machine’s current output, including all its bonuses, so you can see the effect as you build.
There are four links, each one unlocking once you own enough of the machine that gives the bonus:
- Bench helpers: workbenches speed up with every cog press.
- Belt-fed presses: presses speed up with every conveyor belt.
- Assembly feed: conveyor belts speed up with every assembler.
- Robot assistants: assemblers speed up with every robot arm.
The exact numbers are in the tables below.
Tips
Keep the line balanced. A factory with a bit of everything usually beats a mountain of one machine, because of the links.
Do not ignore the cheap machines. Workbenches and presses look small next to robot arms, but their tier upgrades and links keep them useful for a long time.
Use Buy 10 and Max. Buying in bulk is handy after a break. Your choice is remembered.
Check in twice a day. Your factory runs for up to 12 hours while you are away, then waits. See idle games that work offline.
When to retool
Retooling unlocks once you have made 40 million cogs in the current shift. Blueprints are worked out as the square root of your cogs this shift divided by two million, rounded down, so your first retool brings at least four. 160 million cogs brings 8, and a billion brings 22.
Blueprints are smaller than the bonuses in some idle games (5% each), but you collect more of them, so every retool feels like a step forward. A good rule is to retool when it would add at least half again to the blueprints you hold and progress has slowed. For more on the thinking, see what is prestige?
Keep your factory safe
Neatworks saves automatically in your browser every 30 seconds and when you leave. Use the Save page to copy a backup now and then, or to move your factory to another device.
The numbers
These tables come straight from the game's own data, so they always match what you see in the game.
Machines
| Machine | First one costs | Cogs each second |
|---|---|---|
| Workbench | 12 cogs | 0.4 |
| Cog press | 90 cogs | 2.5 |
| Conveyor belt | 750 cogs | 15 |
| Assembler | 6,500 cogs | 85 |
| Robot arm | 60,000 cogs | 500 |
Each machine you buy costs 14% more than the one before.
Machine upgrades
Each doubles what one kind of machine makes.
| Upgrade | Appears at | Costs |
|---|---|---|
| Labelled drawers | 10 workbenchs | 178 cogs |
| Pegboard walls | 25 workbenchs | 1,270 cogs |
| Bench vices | 50 workbenchs | 33,611 cogs |
| Master benches | 100 workbenchs | 23,535,659 cogs |
| Oiled hinges | 10 cog presss | 1,335 cogs |
| Twin dies | 25 cog presss | 9,526 cogs |
| Quick-release levers | 50 cog presss | 252,084 cogs |
| Hydraulic presses | 100 cog presss | 176,517,446 cogs |
| Rubber rollers | 10 conveyor belts | 11,122 cogs |
| Smooth bearings | 25 conveyor belts | 79,386 cogs |
| Wider belts | 50 conveyor belts | 2,100,699 cogs |
| Silent motors | 100 conveyor belts | 1,470,978,714 cogs |
| Neat jigs | 10 assemblers | 96,388 cogs |
| Colour-coded parts | 25 assemblers | 688,010 cogs |
| Twin heads | 50 assemblers | 18,206,058 cogs |
| Self-tuning gears | 100 assemblers | 12,748,482,190 cogs |
| Soft grippers | 10 robot arms | 889,733 cogs |
| Steady wrists | 25 robot arms | 6,350,860 cogs |
| Extra joints | 50 robot arms | 168,055,917 cogs |
| Clever sensors | 100 robot arms | 117,678,297,150 cogs |
Upgrades that link machines
| Upgrade | What it does | Appears at | Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belt-fed presses | Cog presss work 5% faster for every conveyor belt you own. | 3 conveyor belts | 3,000 cogs |
| Bench helpers | Workbenchs work 4% faster for every cog press you own. | 10 cog presss | 1,200 cogs |
| Robot assistants | Assemblers work 6% faster for every robot arm you own. | 3 robot arms | 250,000 cogs |
| Assembly feed | Conveyor belts work 4% faster for every assembler you own. | 5 assemblers | 60,000 cogs |
Other upgrades
| Upgrade | What it does | Appears at | Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good gloves | Each cog you make by hand counts twice. | 20 cogs brewed by hand | 80 cogs |
| Spirit level | Each cog you make by hand counts three times. | 200 cogs brewed by hand | 2,000 cogs |
| Labelled shelves | Everything in the factory works twice as fast. | 5 machines | 400 cogs |
| Night shift | Everything in the factory works twice as fast. | 150,000 cogs this season | 200,000 cogs |
| Spotless floors | Everything in the factory works twice as fast. | 20,000,000 cogs this season | 30,000,000 cogs |
Achievements
- First cog: Make your first cog by hand.
- Workshop open: Set up your first workbench.
- On the move: Build your first conveyor belt.
- Full line: Own at least one of every machine.
- Everything connects: Buy your first upgrade that links two machines.
- A thousand cogs: Make 1,000 cogs in total.
- A million cogs: Make 1,000,000 cogs in total.
- A billion cogs: Make 1,000,000,000 cogs in total.
- A busy floor: Own 100 machines at once.
- Back to the drawing board: Retool the factory for the first time.
- Perfectionist: Retool the factory ten times.