Rocket silo

2026-10-19T11:49:42Z

Spacedog: /* major cleanup; removed old 1.x animation assumptions that are outdated in 2.1, cleaned up formatting and grammar, fixed incorrect values, added additional values for base game (without space age) */

{{languages}}
{{:Infobox:Rocket silo}}
The '''rocket silo''' is an important production building that serves as the sole win condition and a source of [[space science pack]]s in the base game. In [[Space Age]]{{SA}}, it is instead the only way to launch items and the player off [[Nauvis]] to orbiting space platforms to visit the neighboring planets of [[Vulcanus]]{{SA}}, [[Fulgora]]{{SA}}, [[Gleba]]{{SA}}, and [[Aquilo]]{{SA}}.

Building a silo requires, among other things, [[electric engine unit]]s, [[processing unit]]s, and [[concrete]], which all must be produced in [[assembling machine]]s or [[foundry|foundries]] and cannot be crafted by hand from raw materials. The rocket itself can only be produced in the silo.

Once the silo has been built and placed it can be filled with [[processing unit]]s, [[low density structure]], and [[rocket fuel]], which will create [[rocket part]]s within the silo. 100 rocket parts are needed to construct a rocket (50 parts in Space Age{{SA}}). The silo accepts [[productivity module]]s, and due to the high resource cost of rockets, silos are a prime candidate for their use. Once constructed, the rocket will rise into position and can be launched. It is required to place a [[cargo landing pad]] somewhere on the planet in order to launch a rocket.

Once a rocket has been constructed, the silo will continue to craft a second rocket within the silo. If both are constructed, once the first rocket has been launched, the second will rise into place without the silo going through its normal animation of closing and reopening its doors. This is particularly useful in Space Age when crafting speeds are faster and rockets are in increased demand.

== Base game ==

The rocket silo is unlocked with its [[rocket silo (research)|respective technology]] using all [[science pack]]s except for military. It requires 10 low density structure, rocket fuel, and processing units to make 1 [[rocket part]], for a total of 1,000 of each for a single rocket.

Before a rocket can be launched, the player must place a [[cargo landing pad]] somewhere on the planet. The landing pad can be anywhere on the planet, with no restrictions on distance from the silo, but only one can be placed.

Launching a rocket requires a payload and launching one for the first time will trigger the victory screen, which thanks the player for playing and invites them to keep growing their factory, with the options of exiting the game, viewing the credits, or continuing the game. The rocket can be launched manually by clicking the "Launch" button. Checking the "Send to orbit automatically" checkbox will make the rocket launch automatically once it has a payload.

Only two items can be used as a payload. The first is a [[satellite]]; launching a rocket with one of these will return a shipment of 1,000 [[space science pack]]s to the cargo landing pad roughly 29 seconds after the launch is triggered. The second is a...

{{Spoiler|button-text=Spoiler! Click to view.|message=
<li>[[Raw fish]]: Grants the "So long and thanks for all the fish!" achievement. Other than this, it also wastes the launch.</li>
}}

== Space Age ==
{{About/Space age}}
=== Basics ===
In Space Age, the silo is unlocked far earlier in the game, requiring 1,000 of only [[automation science pack|automation]], [[logistic science pack|logistics]] and [[chemical science pack|chemical]] science packs. The silo is a critical building for transporting items and the player offplanet to orbiting [[space platform]]s. Rockets are built identically to the base game, except that a single rocket part takes only 1 of each material instead of 10 and only 50 rocket parts are required per rocket. This means that a single rocket requires only 50 of each resource. The silo greatly benefits from higher [[quality]] productivity modules as well as the [[technologies#Infinite Research Exclusive to Space Age|rocket part productivity]] infinite technology, both of which can reduce the cost of rockets even further.

The rocket can be manually launched in one of three ways:
* Deliver cargo: launch with a payload of any size or composition at any orbiting platform
* New platform: if the silo contains exactly one [[space platform starter pack]], clicking this will open the map and invite the player to enter a name for the new platform.
* Travel to platform: the rocket will launch to any orbiting platform with the player as its sole payload. The player can only bring any equipped [[armor]], their installed modules, and any weapons, but no ammo for those weapons.

[[File:rocket_silo_gui.png|The rocket silo's GUI in Space Age|310px|right]]

=== Rocket capacity ===
Unlike in the base game, a space age rocket can accept nearly every item in the game as a payload. This is expressed by the silo as a weight limit. Every item in the game has a rocket capacity which is the maximum number of items that can fit in a single rocket. An item's rocket capacity can be read by the circuit network by feeding an item into the [[selector combinator]] and choosing the respective mode of operation. As a general rule of thumb, the more complex the item, the fewer can fit within a rocket.

Some items, like the rocket silo itself and the [[atomic bomb]], are too heavy for rockets, and so the raw materials must be shipped to orbit individually and assembled on the destination planet.

[[Fluids]] cannot be put in rockets, but full [[barrel]]s can. Some fluids cannot be barreled, so they cannot be transported by rocket. This is notably the case for all the fluids that can only be obtained on [[Fulgora]], [[Vulcanus]], and [[Aquilo]], except for [[fluoroketone]].

=== Orbital requests ===
The rocket silo can detect requests from any space platform in orbit around the current planet. These can be satisfied in two ways.

* If "Automatic requests from space platforms" is ''not'' selected, the silo acts as a large container. Items can be inserted and removed with [[inserters]]. If the silo receives a full rocket of a single item that is requested, the rocket will automatically launch to the platform requesting that item, even if the payload is more than what is being requested. If multiple platforms are requesting the same item, the rocket will prioritize the earliest platform that the player created.

* If automatic requests ''is'' selected, the silo acts similar to a [[requester chest]]. [[Logistic robot]]s will fill the silo automatically from the [[logistic network]] (including from [[buffer chest]]s), and the rocket will launch automatically when full, unless the requesting platform has set a minimum payload to a lower amount than a full load. If there are items in the rocket inventory when this box is selected, those items will be moved to the silo's trash slots and be removed by logistics robots.

Regardless of option selected, the rocket will only launch automatically when it contains at least one item.

The silo can be connected to the [[circuit network]], with two output functions.
* Output requests: Outputs the sum of requests from all orbiting platforms, if any. A request is considered satisfied and will be removed from the output the instant the rocket launch is triggered, not when the delivery to the platform actually happens.
* Output contents: Outputs the contents of the rocket silo. If automatic requests is selected, this option will do nothing.

== Maximum throughput ==

As mentioned above, the rocket silo can buffer enough extra rocket parts to construct a second rocket. This allows back-to-back rocket launches, without having to wait for more rocket parts to be crafted in between – the silo's "hatch closing" and "hatch opening" animations are skipped, and the next rocket simply moves into place as soon as the previous rocket has left the silo. The minimum interval between rocket launches is therefore bounded by the sum of the rocket's "launching" and "preparing to launch" animations.

Additionally, starting with version 2.1, the rocket silo animation speed scales with the quality of the silo. Although it's not mentioned anywhere in the game UI, this means higher quality rocket silos have higher potential throughput. Note that quality is the only thing which affects the animation speed; modules and beacons only affect the crafting rate of the rocket parts.

The table below shows the smallest possible launch interval for each quality of rocket silo. These intervals differ slightly between the base game and Space Age due to differences in how automatic launches are triggered, which affects the delay between the "preparing to launch" and "launching" animations.

<div style="display: inline-block">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" id="mw-customcollapsible-basegame" style="width: 100%">
{| style="border-spacing: 5px; margin-bottom: -5px"
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #e69100; color: #000; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #ffaa00; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Base game
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #2a2a2a; color: #888; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; border: 1px solid #444; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Space age mod
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 0; background: #f9f9f9; border-top: none"
|-
| colspan="6" style="background: #343128; color: #ddd; text-align: left; padding: 6px 12px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.1em; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-bottom: none" | Base game values
|-
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Quality
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Ticks per launch
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Seconds per launch
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Launches per minute
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Increase vs. normal quality
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Increase vs. previous quality
|-
| [[File:Quality_normal.png|24px|alt=Normal]] || 1632 || 27.20 || 2.205 || ø || ø
|-
| [[File:Quality_uncommon.png|24px|alt=Uncommon]] || 1440 || 24.00 || 2.500 || 13.37% || 13.37%
|-
| [[File:Quality_rare.png|24px|alt=Rare]] || 1312 || 21.87 || 2.743 || 24.39% || 9.72%
|-
| [[File:Quality_epic.png|24px|alt=Epic]] || 1248 || 20.80 || 2.884 || 30.79% || 5.14%
|-
| [[File:Quality_legendary.png|24px|alt=Legendary]] || 1120 || 18.67 || 3.214 || 45.75% || 11.44%
|}
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-spaceage" style="width: 100%">
{| style="border-spacing: 5px; margin-bottom: -5px"
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #2a2a2a; color: #888; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; border: 1px solid #444; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Base game
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #e69100; color: #000; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #ffaa00; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Space age mod
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 0; background: #f9f9f9; border-top: none"
|-
| colspan="6" style="background: #343128; color: #ddd; text-align: left; padding: 6px 12px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.1em; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-bottom: none;" | {{SA}} Space age values
|-
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Quality
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Ticks per launch
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Seconds per launch
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Launches per minute
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Increase vs. normal quality
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Increase vs. previous quality
|-
| [[File:Quality_normal.png|24px|alt=Normal]] || 1617 || 26.95 || 2.226 || ø || ø
|-
| [[File:Quality_uncommon.png|24px|alt=Uncommon]] || 1427 || 23.79 || 2.522 || 13.29% || 13.29%
|-
| [[File:Quality_rare.png|24px|alt=Rare]] || 1305 || 21.75 || 2.758 || 23.89% || 9.35%
|-
| [[File:Quality_epic.png|24px|alt=Epic]] || 1217 || 20.29 || 2.958 || 32.88% || 7.25%
|-
| [[File:Quality_legendary.png|24px|alt=Legendary]] || 1097 || 18.29 || 3.281 || 47.39% || 10.91%
|}
</div>
</div>

=== Rocket parts ===

In order to sustain back-to-back rocket launches at the maximum possible rate, the rocket silo must be able to craft enough parts for the next rocket within the launch interval listed above. This is easily achieved with speed beacons, or even with modules alone if the rocket silo is high enough quality.

The table below shows the minimum number of rocket parts per second that must be crafted in order to launch rockets at the maximum rate, depending on the quality of the rocket silo.

<div style="display: inline-block">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" id="mw-customcollapsible-basegame" style="width: 100%">
{| style="border-spacing: 5px; margin-bottom: -5px"
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #e69100; color: #000; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #ffaa00; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Base game
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #2a2a2a; color: #888; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; border: 1px solid #444; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Space age mod
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 0; background: #f9f9f9; border-top: none"
|-
| colspan="6" style="background: #343128; color: #ddd; text-align: left; padding: 6px 12px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.1em; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-bottom: none" | Base game values
|-
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Quality
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Rocket parts per second
|-
| [[File:Quality_normal.png|24px|alt=Normal]] || 1.84
|-
| [[File:Quality_uncommon.png|24px|alt=Uncommon]] || 2.09
|-
| [[File:Quality_rare.png|24px|alt=Rare]] || 2.29
|-
| [[File:Quality_epic.png|24px|alt=Epic]] || 2.41
|-
| [[File:Quality_legendary.png|24px|alt=Legendary]] || 2.68
|}
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-spaceage" style="width: 100%">
{| style="border-spacing: 5px; margin-bottom: -5px"
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #2a2a2a; color: #888; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; border: 1px solid #444; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Base game
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #e69100; color: #000; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #ffaa00; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Space age mod
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 0; background: #f9f9f9; border-top: none"
|-
| colspan="6" style="background: #343128; color: #ddd; text-align: left; padding: 6px 12px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.1em; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-bottom: none;" | {{SA}} Space age values
|-
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Quality
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Rocket parts per second
|-
| [[File:Quality_normal.png|24px|alt=Normal]] || 1.86
|-
| [[File:Quality_uncommon.png|24px|alt=Uncommon]] || 2.11
|-
| [[File:Quality_rare.png|24px|alt=Rare]] || 2.30
|-
| [[File:Quality_epic.png|24px|alt=Epic]] || 2.47
|-
| [[File:Quality_legendary.png|24px|alt=Legendary]] || 2.74
|}
</div>
</div>

=== Loading speed ===

In Space Age, there is one other very important issue which '''must''' be taken into account when designing around maximum throughput: The rocket silo will not accept any new cargo during the rocket's "launching" animation, because the next rocket hasn't been constructed yet. This means the inserters and/or logistics network must be capable of fully loading the rocket during its "preparing to launch" animation to avoid lowering throughput.

The table below shows the maximum time that can be taken to load cargo onto a new rocket, from start to finish, without delaying its launch. Note that this is mostly academic for the base game, where rockets only ever transport a single item (unless mods allowing larger payloads are in use).

<div style="display: inline-block">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" id="mw-customcollapsible-basegame" style="width: 100%">
{| style="border-spacing: 5px; margin-bottom: -5px"
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #e69100; color: #000; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #ffaa00; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Base game
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #2a2a2a; color: #888; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; border: 1px solid #444; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Space age mod
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 0; background: #f9f9f9; border-top: none"
|-
| colspan="6" style="background: #343128; color: #ddd; text-align: left; padding: 6px 12px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.1em; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-bottom: none" | Base game values
|-
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Quality
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Maximum loading time (ticks)
|-
| [[File:Quality_normal.png|24px|alt=Normal]] || 698
|-
| [[File:Quality_uncommon.png|24px|alt=Uncommon]] || 608
|-
| [[File:Quality_rare.png|24px|alt=Rare]] || 534
|-
| [[File:Quality_epic.png|24px|alt=Epic]] || 503
|-
| [[File:Quality_legendary.png|24px|alt=Legendary]] || 414
|}
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-spaceage" style="width: 100%">
{| style="border-spacing: 5px; margin-bottom: -5px"
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #2a2a2a; color: #888; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; border: 1px solid #444; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Base game
| class="mw-customtoggle-basegame mw-customtoggle-spaceage" style="background: #e69100; color: #000; padding: 6px 14px; border-radius: 4px 4px 0 0; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; border: 1px solid #ffaa00; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap" | Space age mod
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 0; background: #f9f9f9; border-top: none"
|-
| colspan="6" style="background: #343128; color: #ddd; text-align: left; padding: 6px 12px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.1em; border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; border-bottom: none;" | {{SA}} Space age values
|-
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Quality
! style="white-space: nowrap; padding: 4px 11px" | Maximum loading time (ticks)
|-
| [[File:Quality_normal.png|24px|alt=Normal]] || 675
|-
| [[File:Quality_uncommon.png|24px|alt=Uncommon]] || 589
|-
| [[File:Quality_rare.png|24px|alt=Rare]] || 523
|-
| [[File:Quality_epic.png|24px|alt=Epic]] || 468
|-
| [[File:Quality_legendary.png|24px|alt=Legendary]] || 388
|}
</div>
</div>

== Achievements ==
The rocket silo, which is used to win the base game, is directly connected to the following game-win-based achievements:
{{Achievement|smoke-me-a-kipper-i-will-be-back-for-breakfast}}
{{Achievement|no-time-for-chitchat}}
{{Achievement|there-is-no-spoon}}
{{Achievement|raining-bullets}}
{{Achievement|steam-all-the-way}}
{{Achievement|lazy-bastard}}
{{Achievement|logistic-network-embargo}}
{{Achievement|so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish}}

== Trivia ==
Prior to version [[version history/2.0.0#2.0.7|2.0]], the rocket could accept any item as cargo; however, most did nothing in particular and simply wasted the launch. Notable exceptions included:

{{Spoiler|button-text=Spoiler! Click to view.|message=
<ul><li> [[Vehicle]]s : When a vehicle was inserted into the payload slot, the player could enter the rocket like they would any other vehicle, then launch and ride it.
<ul><li> This allowed a fast-moving view of one's base (as the game world is internally 2-dimensional, the rocket actually simply moved north along the map), and then returned the player next to the launching silo once the launch animation had finished.
<ul><li> If all space near the rocket silo is occupied, the player is placed at spawn instead.</li></ul>
<li> Wasted the launch, as the rocket's sole payload slot is occupied by the vehicle, rather than a satellite. (Having any number of satellites in the car's trunk or the "astronaut"s inventory does not count.)</li></ul>
<li>[[Space science pack]]: Returned one [[raw fish]] for every science pack that was launched, but no more than 100 raw fishes per launch.</li></ul>}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=240px heights=240px>
File:Victoryv2.jpg|The victory screen
File:rocket_silo_rising_rocket.gif|The rocket rising and being primed for launch.
File:rocket_silo_launch.gif|The rocket launching.
File:Rocket_silo_gui_base_game.png|The rocket silo's GUI
File:Rocket_silo_gui_space_age.png|The rocket silo's GUI in Space Age
</gallery>

== History ==

{{history|2.0.7|
* Updated sprite for the rocket. A payload is now required to win the game.
* Rocket silos continue producing parts for the next rocket while the current rocket is being launched. Completing another rocket soon enough skips closing and reopening the doors.
* {{SA}} Rocket silo circuit connection can read orbital requests.}}

{{history|0.17.0|
* Updated sprite and changed dimensions from 9×10 to 9×9. A satellite is no longer required to win the game.}}

{{history|0.13.9|
* Rocket parts from building rockets in the silo now show in production statistics.}}

{{history|0.12.7|
* Updated icon.}}

{{history|0.12.4|
* Rocket silo now behaves correctly when out of electricity.}}

{{history|0.12.0|
* Introduced}}

== See also ==
* [[Satellite]]

{{SpaceNav}}
{{C|Space related}}

Official Factorio Wiki - User contributions [en]

Rocket silo