Factorio Forums

I've never used modules before, except when the game forced me to make them to make other stuff, e.g. Power Armor.

But I've started to realize that at least Productivity Modules can be really good, if put into machines working with scarce resources. For instance, Oil PumpJacks, and Refineries, and Assembler Machines set to produce Alien Science Packs. Probably also Chemical Plants set to crack Heavy Oil into Light or Light into Petrol Gas.

Anything to stretch that oil (which always seems to me to be semi-scarce as opposed to ores, Stone and Coal which seems abundant), and stretch those Alien Artifacts (especially if you use mods, such as Modular Armor ReVamped, which also requires Alien Artifacts or stuff made from Alien Artifacts, for other things).

Of course there's also the machines to produce more modules. Productivity there would be good.



For the efficiency modules, using them in Electric Furnaces to reduce power consumption seems worthwhile. If you're going to use Electric Furnaces, that is. But with full solar you might as well.

And I often find myself not making enough Advanced Circuits, or Processing Units, or sometimes Batteries, even though I have 16 or 20 machines making each of those (maybe only 12 making Processing Units, granted). So there, Speed Modules, or a combination of Speed Modules and Productivity Modules might make sense.

In general, it seems like it's going to be a whole thing, running around my factory, and upgrading modules, first stuffing tier 1 modules in, then later when I have tier 2 modules replacing the tier 1 modules with those, then later again upgrading my machines to tier 3 modules, and having to figure out the best priority for doing that.



What's the standard advice? In fact, is there a text that succinctly explains what to use, and where, and why?

Well, I'm using modules extensively in my youtube series. Basically, the advice I have is all the modules, all the beacons, all the things. Can't go wrong. Productivity everywhere you can. Speed everywhere else. The downside is you need a decent power plant.

Honestly I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference. Some people prefer productivity over speed or vice versa, or a combination of both. In my experience I prefer to use Speed Modules for pumpjacks that are at .1/s because I would rather get the oil that is there quicker rather than slower but with a little extra. However if your running low on oil, productivity in the Refineries can be quite good. Again though kinda just preference.

As -root mentioned, if you have the power to support it and don't really care about more pollution then you can't really go wrong with speed and/or productivity almost everywhere. Here
As for Efficiency ones... I only ever use them if I need to reduce power usage at the time. Otherwise I never have found a use for them because I don't cae about losing pollution at all.

Child pls. Beacon and module all the things

Efficiency modules in general are almost cheaty in that they reduce pollution. The biter evolution curve depends on pollution to work, so reducing your pollution output will short circuit that mechanic and let you race to the end of the tech tree.

Efficiency boosted electric furnaces save the most energy. Efficiency boosted miners/pumps give the biggest pollution reduction. Efficient assemblers are a bit of both. Overall you can reduce your base energy consumption by 2/3 or more when everything is loaded with efficiency modules. Powering such a base with solar power is easy.

Speed modules give the biggest bang when used on pumpjacks, letting you squeeze more oil out of depleted wells. Also use them in beacons to counter the speed loss caused by productivity modules. This will help temper the insane energy drain and pollution when done right.

Productivity modules increase your overall resources. Beware that the Tier 3 modules take a LONG time to pay off, on the order of many hours past building your first rocket. They're useful for long standing series like what you see on Twitch. The most important place to put productivity modules is on the rocket launch pad. The large amount of resources going in will multiply and pay off extremely quickly. Continue to place them to multiply your least abundant resources, and wherever large numbers of resources pass through a few structures.

You will need MONSTER amounts of energy to handle a productivity boosted base. It will also quickly dump you to the endgame of biter evolution. Save it for after your research and defenses are done.