Chapter 17 ‐ Modules

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Modules basics

Modules are devices that can be placed inside various electric-powered machines to modify how they behave. Using modules in machines is completely optional but producing some of them is required for progression because they are ingredients for some advanced recipes. A module is universally compatible with any machine that has module slots and it will offer the same effects to any such machine, but in terms of percentages. When multiple modules are used on a machine, their effects add up linearly.

Basic modules require circuits and advanced circuits to make, which requires basic oil processing. They are relatively cheap and useful for small boosts, but their effects can add up greatly when used throughout a factory. Meanwhile, higher tier modules have stronger effects and they require processing units and multiple lower tier modules as ingredients. Higher tier modules are needed when you want stronger effects on a machine but you have already filled all available module slots with basic modules.

Efficiency modules

Efficiency modules, alternatively known as effectivity modules, decrease the power consumption of machines. They offer an alternative approach to building more power production buildings. Especially for very power-hungry machines such as tier 3 assembling machines or oil refineries, adding a couple efficiency modules is a cheaper option than building additional solar panels or coal power infrastructure.

Efficiency modules also decrease the pollution output of a machine because this property is directly proportional to the machine's power consumption. Pollution is not a major issue in peaceful mode, such as in Compass Valley, but in default settings the pollution causes enemies to attack your base. The modules make the most difference when used in the most polluting machines, which are electric mining drills, pumpjacks, oil refineries, and chemical plants.

Tier 1 efficiency modules decrease power consumption and pollution by 30% each. When multiple efficiency modules are used in the same machine, the maximum allowed power reduction effect is 80%. In addition, when multiple module types are used, efficiency modules are useful for counteracting the energy consumption increases caused by other modules.

Speed modules

Speed modules make machines run faster by increasing their crafting speeds, but they also increase the power consumption (and thus pollution output). Tier 1 speed modules increase crafting speed by 20% and power consumption by 50%. As the numbers imply, the power consumption increases much more sharply than the machine speed.

The gain in speed means that you can do more with each machine, and thus you need fewer machines to reach a particular production rate overall. An alternative to using speed modules is to simply build more copies of a machine side by side, although this instead costs extra space and perhaps infrastructure.

Productivity modules

Productivity modules have the most complex effects, but their primary benefit is to generate free items. They can only be used in recipes that produce items in the category of intermediate products. Their benefit is that they make machines use their input resources more productively such that occasionally the machines produces an extra output item for free. However, the drawbacks of productivity modules are that they slow down machine crafting speeds and they also increase the power consumption and they separately also increase the pollution modifier of the machine. A Tier 1 productivity module gives 4% productivity bonus, which means every 26th item produced is free. It decreases crafting speed by 5% and it increases power consumption by 40% and the pollution modifier by 5%.

Productivity modules are most useful when dealing with expensive recipes. Ideal buildings for adding them would be research labs and rocket silos.

Beacons

Beacons are module-related machines unlocked late in game. A beacon has two module slots, but it can only accept speed or efficiency modules. The beacon transmits the effects of its modules to every applicable machine within 3 tiles of it, but only at 50% strength.

Beacons are useful for adding extra speed or efficiency module boosts to machines. An example use case is a machine full of productivity modules being boosted by a speed beacon to compensate for the speed loss. A beacon would be needed only after a machine's own module slots are filled up, and multiple beacons can affect a machine so that the effects stack up. Beacons consume 480 kilowatts of electricity each.

Next page: "Chapter 18 - Oil processing part 2 - Advanced oil processing and products"