Episode 12 opens on the freeplay factory with "Press T to start a new research" in the research box and a power problem: "the demand is actually a little higher than I'm putting out." The edited-in card reads "Episode 12." Basket researches Solar energy, adds a row of steam engines by the lake, tries out the splitter, and builds a short assembly line that makes solar panels. By the end a grid of panels sits under the belts, power is closer to what the base needs, and chests are filling up with spare copper and steel.
A tidier main belt
The video starts with work done off camera. Filter inserters on both sides of the main belt now pull out just the cable, plates and gears each science assembler needs. Copper cable is backing up, so fast inserters go in around the cable assembler. Coal runs to the furnaces on its own line, a filter inserter moves it to the inside of the belt, and the plates come out on the outside. The labs have moved, and science packs drop into a chest that Basket empties into the labs by hand.
Solar energy, and more steam
The research screen shows Solar energy, "Source of free electric energy, but useless at night," for 250 red and green packs. The commentary reads the time as "thirty minutes" and starts it anyway.
While it runs, Basket crafts an offshore pump and lays a second row of boilers and steam engines beside the lake. The first spot does not fit, so turrets and a power line move, and a belt brings coal around. The verdict: "we're better, not great though."
Splitter and lamps
The splitter finally gets a test. One belt goes in, a couple of chests go down past it, and the items start landing on both sides. "Whatever either input, it's gonna put it evenly in between the two. Wow, okay, interesting toy." When night falls, the lamps Basket crafted go up around the labs and furnaces. "It's not pretty by any means but it's lit up a little bit better."
Solar panels by hand, then by machine
Solar energy finishes at about 23 minutes. "It took a long time." Gun turret damage 1 goes in next: "I think I'll make the turrets better." A new furnace row goes in using a splitter, and a filter inserter keeps coal from backing up into the main area. Copper is a different problem: "too much copper."
Crafting panels by hand runs short on steel, and "the solar panels take a while to make, as it turns out." So Basket builds a small line next to the science: one assembler makes copper cable and passes it straight to a circuit assembler, and a third, set to Solar panel, pulls steel from the top line and copper from below and drops panels into a chest.
The first panels
The first panels go down in a grid with poles between them. "They're producing a little bit more, and we're a little bit closer, but we still have quite a bit of a demand." Steel is the slow part, so a row of furnaces gets filter inserters set to coal and iron plate, just for steel. Gun turret damage 2 finishes ("oh, we got our better, better turrets"), and Lab research speed 1 starts. More panels go into the grid, and more lamps go up. "It'd be funny if it was taking up more than it actually gave out." It is not: "we're mostly hitting our goal."
Where it ends
The last stop is a backup near the chests: the steel chest is full and belts and junk are in the way. "So I just have a surplus of stuff, basically," and "too much copper." The episode ends over the solar panel assemblers with Lab research speed 1 still researching.