Factorio Forums

Hello fellow engineers,

I am wondering about the biolab consumption rate of science packs with the goal of being able to calculate that i need to produce X science per minute to statisfy Y biolabs in whatever configuration they are in.

For example: i have a biolab array which consists of normal quality biolabs inserted with 4x normal quality productivity modules level 3. The tooltip provides a research speed of 2.8 (+40%), productivity of +40%, and science pack drain of 50%. It most certainly does not consume 2.8 science packs per second though, so what does that 2.8 stand for?

There is a bit of an explanation present on https://wiki.factorio.com/Lab - but what the description considers "straightforward" or "simplified" goes way over my head as i lose focus and cannot concentrate on it. Can somebody put it in simpler terms please?a

For simplicity: i only care about calculations for infinite research - of which all but one have a 60 second research cycle.

The 2.8 is compared to a standard lab. It includes the innate bonus of the lab, your lab speed bonus research as well as modules etc.

That means it will do a 60s research cycle in 60/2.8 = 21.4 seconds, so about 3 spm plus productivity bonus. But with its 50% drain it will go through only half a science pack in that time.

the 50% is a multiplier of SPM basically it's multiply by 2 the productivity, let's take a lab with 20% productivity bonus, this mean the final productivity of the lab is 120% * 2 => 240%

jaylawl wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2024 10:21 am For example: i have a biolab array which consists of normal quality biolabs inserted with 4x normal quality productivity modules level 3. The tooltip provides a research speed of 2.8 (+40%), productivity of +40%, and science pack drain of 50%.

A normal lab at speed 1 will consume one science pack per minute when researching a 60 second tech (all of the infinite techs are 60s, last I checked). A biolab at the same speed will consume half of that because of the 50% drain modifier. Basically, just divide the speed in half to figure out what it will consume per minute: 2.8 / 2 = 1.4 per minute per lab. If you want the per second number, divide that by 60, so 0.0233... per second per lab (of each pack). Maybe consider investing in a few beacons and speed modules

computeraddict wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2024 5:29 pm

jaylawl wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2024 10:21 am For example: i have a biolab array which consists of normal quality biolabs inserted with 4x normal quality productivity modules level 3. The tooltip provides a research speed of 2.8 (+40%), productivity of +40%, and science pack drain of 50%.

A normal lab at speed 1 will consume one science pack per minute when researching a 60 second tech (all of the infinite techs are 60s, last I checked). A biolab at the same speed will consume half of that because of the 50% drain modifier. Basically, just divide the speed in half to figure out what it will consume per minute: 2.8 / 2 = 1.4 per minute per lab. If you want the per second number, divide that by 60, so 0.0233... per second per lab (of each pack). Maybe consider investing in a few beacons and speed modules

You just had me double check to make i wasn't crazy Follower robot count is 30 seconds however. And while checking i realized research productivity being another odd one out with 120 seconds.

Thanks to all for the answers. They were exactly what i needed!