Basic processing
Feed an ingredient such as Apple onto the Mixer, wait for its Chop or Knead action, then remove the result. A Mixer is not an automatic Combiner, and the player cannot manually chop or knead an item on it at the same time.
| Appliance | Chop/Knead rate | Main difference |
|---|---|---|
| Mixer | 0.5× | Processes automatically; needs an exit |
| Rapid Mixer | 0.75× | 50% faster than the basic Mixer |
| Conveyor Mixer | 0.5× | Pushes output in the blue-arrow direction |
| Heated Mixer | 0.5×; Cook 0.4× | Also cooks slowly and does not burn food |
A Counter’s manual Chop/Knead baseline is 0.75×. Automation frees the player for other tasks; a basic Mixer is not necessarily faster than chopping by hand.
Conveyor Mixer output
It processes, then pushes onto the receiving surface in front. It may also push an item that cannot be chopped or kneaded, and it does not combine ingredients automatically.
Do not treat it as a Combiner or as a complete-state filter. Use a Smart Grabber where a particular result must leave, and clear space downstream when the output backs up.
Heated Mixer priorities
It prioritizes Chop/Knead before Cook. A Steak placed on it is chopped rather than cooked like a Steak on a Hob. It can save space for suitable recipes, at the cost of slow cooking; separate processing and cooking appliances can be more appropriate when production speed is the bottleneck.
A Heated Mixer is not counted as the cooking appliance required to retain a cooking menu. Keep a real Hob, Oven or Microwave where that requirement applies, even if the Heated Mixer does the recipe’s processing.
Upgrade cycle
The first research can produce a random upgraded variant. Further research cycles Rapid → Heated → Conveyor → Rapid. Check the blueprint name before buying; purchased equipment cannot be directly researched.