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Oh, asteroid processing, powerful recycler.

I will base the balance on the following formula.

Considering of the self-copy recipe such as recycle by recycler and asteroid processing(please ignore that there are three types of asteroids)

Define:
n=recycling ratio, for recycler, n=0.25, for asteroid processing, n=0.8.
q=quality chance.
K=nq/(nq+1-n), this definition is meant to keep the formula concise.
n, q must less than 1.

During to my calculate, 1 normal will produce K/1000 *(1+9K)^3 legendary.

Let me calculate something to make sure this formula could be correct.
As we know, we will turn 2700 normal into 1 legendary by recycler with the most powerful quality module.
For this, n=0.25, q=0.248, put it in the formula. The answer is 2726.9095, good.

Let K1=K2, n1=0.8, n2=0.25, we get 12q1=q2. This means that asteroid reprocessing can utilize quality modules 12 times more efficiently than a recycler.

So, we just need to make quality modules only one-sixth as effective in asteroid reprocessing to bring it down to the same level as a recycler. (Why it is not one-twelfth? Well, the answer is: the recycler has 4 module slots, but the crusher only has 2.)

How can we balance it? We can add https://mods.factorio.com/mod/asteroid_ ... oductivity, let we calculate.

n3=0.8*1.2=0.96, let K1=K3, we can get 6q3=q1, balance(consider one-sixth quality change)

Check out viewtopic.php?t=125262

For the formula per se, Asteroid Reprocessing has a 2/3 max chance to generate an unwanted legendary chunk that has to be reprocessed again (depending on what you want), which makes it less effective than it seems.

Also picking n=0.25 is unfair as that's worse than grenade for coal (even if you can't use productivity in the maker, you can still put in quality). I think a more fair n is between 1.5*0.25 (EM plant / foundry without quality in maker) and 2.5*0.25 (nutrient / spoilage).

h.q.droid wrote: Mon Feb 16, 2026 3:38 am I think a more fair n is between 1.5*0.25 (EM plant / foundry without quality in maker)...

I think there would be modules of some kind in the maker though?

h.q.droid wrote: Mon Feb 16, 2026 3:38 am Also picking n=0.25 is unfair as that's worse than grenade for coal (even if you can't use productivity in the maker, you can still put in quality). I think a more fair n is between 1.5*0.25 (EM plant / foundry without quality in maker) and 2.5*0.25 (nutrient / spoilage).

Maybe uranium recycle(with no recycler) could make higher n. You can check viewtopic.php?t=132758 and I will calculate.

Thank you for your advice. Next, I'll calculate some typical manufacturing-recycling n. In my opinion, n=0.5 is enough（for Asteroid Processing).