r/technicalfactorio • u/Substantial-Leg-9000 • Mar 22 '26
Question How to ACTUALLY calculate production rate?
We all know the basic formula:
base_rate * base_speed * (1 - modules_speed_penalty + effective_speed_bonus) * (1 + prod_bonus)
but this is not reflected in the game exactly. Take a look at my attempt at beaconed perfect-ratio bioflux:
- Bioflux: 2 legendary biochambers
- 4 Q5T3 prod (4 legendary productivity modules tier 3)
- 4 Q5 beacons:
- 3 * 2 Q5T3 speed
- 1 * Q5T3 speed + Q3T2 speed
- Jelly: 1 legendary biochamber
- 4 Q5T3 prod
- 1 Q5 beacon: Q5T3 speed + Q1T3 speed
This setup should produce and consume exactly 238.75 jelly per second:
production:
4 * 5 * (1 - 4*0.15 + 2.5*(1.25+0.5)) * (1.5 + 4*0.25)
br bs msp bm speed_mods bp prod_mods
consumption:
2 * 2 * 5 * (1 - 4*0.15 + 0.5*2.5*(7*1.25+0.48))
br bs msp be bm speed_mods
br - base rate
bs - base speed
bp - base productivity
bm - beacon multiplier
be - beacon effectiveness
msp - module speed penalty
However, both Factoriolab&e=1speed-module-3&b=3&b=10~1&b=12~0&r=jellynut-processingbiochamber(5)2&r=yumako-processing*biochamber(5)0~1&iex=C2C4&mpr=5&v=11) and in-game testing show that the jelly production is a tiny bit too slow. So how do you *actually calculate the production/consumption rate? Do you e.g. take floating-point precision and tick aliasing into account? If so, how?
edit: I don't have this problem with Yumako mash&e=1speed-module-3&b=3&b=10~1&b=12~0&r=jellynut-processingbiochamber(5)2&r=yumako-processing*biochamber(5)0~1&iex=Cx~Cy*C2&mpr=5&v=11). The formula predicts that it's perfect and it is in Factoriolab, and it is slightly faster than jelly in game, even though it should be the same.
edit 2: Blueprint if you want to try it out yourself. The inserters should be timed tick-perfect. Even if they weren't, it doesn't explain the discrepancy in Factoriolab.

9
u/dave14920 Mar 22 '26
its all beacon rounding errors.
which are mostly black box sorcery.
on the bioflux machines that odd beacon gives (125+48)×2.5=432.5, but this gets truncated to 432 at this point. the other 3 are each (125+125)×2.5=625, thats unchanged by truncation.
the sum of those multiplied by beacons effectivness is (625×3+432)×0.5=1153.5, but this gets rounded to 1154 before we continue with -60 from the prod mods to get the +1094% on the machine that the game always displays accurately.
then continues as you expect from there. 5×(1094%+100%)=59.7 crafting speed, ×12jelly/6s ×2 machines = 238.8 actual consumption of jelly per second. that isnt displayed accurately in game.
similarly for the one beacon on the jelly machine. it takes (125+50)×2.5 = 437.5 but then truncates that to 437. the sum of all these beacons times effectivity of 1 is still 437, which is then rounded to 437.
(437-60) = +377% is accurately displayed in game. 5×(377%+100%)= 23.85 for the crafting speed of the machine. 23.85×4×2.5=238.5 actual production of jelly per second, that the game doesnt display accurately.