Blueprints

The Blueprint system is a feature unlocked at Level 13, which allows you to cut, copy, rotate, and paste groups of buildings at the cost of a special shape (known as the Blueprint shape). It is commonly used in the mid to late-game in order to make large factories without spending time duplicating components by hand.

The Blueprint Shape

The Blueprint shape is the "currency" of shapez.io. To make it, you need one blue circle with a square corner and one white circle on top of it.

Cost Formula

The formula for determining the cost of a Paste operation is: $4n^{1.1}$where n is the amount of buildings selected (with a rounding of either 1, 1/4, 1/5 or 1/10; see here for full details).

Note that if you are not producing these shapes at the same rate as the max speed of your belts, you should optimize your factory instead of trying to save on cost. This should be a priority task.

Instructions on Construction

The simplest method to make blueprints is to

1. Locate an appropriate area to begin
2. Make the white dye (see: Color Mixer)
3. Paint both shapes
4. Stack the shapes

   

   An ideal place to create blueprints

In more detail

1. The area you should look for contains the following Ores:
   • Red Dye
   • Blue Dye
   • Green Dye
   • Full Circles
   • Blueprint Shape
     • It does not matter what orientation the shape is in, as it is trivial to rotate once the shape has been completed
2. The most time consuming part of making blueprints is making white dye. To make white dye you will use all three dyes
   • Start by combining two dyes together using the color mixer (e.g. Red and Blue)
   • Use the output from the new color (e.g. Teal) and mix it with the last color. You should have White Dye now
3. Now you need to paint each shape its respective color
   • Paint the Circles using your white Dye
   • Pipe some additional blue Dye and paint the Blueprint Shapes blue
4. At this point you should have a stream of White Circles and Blue Blueprint Shapes . Now you need to stack them on top of each other
   • A Stacker has two input lanes, left (under the output) and right
   • Make certain that the White Circles go into the right lane and the Blueprint Shapes enter the left lane.
5. You are done! Now it's time to optimize optimize optimize.

(It is a good idea to make a mini factory for this "currency" and to have it running all the time)