Quality

Space Age expansion exclusive feature.

Quality is a feature of the Space Age expansion. It introduces four higher quality levels for all items, structures and equipment with improved attributes. The goal of quality is to allow vertical factory upgrading as alternative to expansion in size. Items of higher quality are created by chance when using quality modules in the producing structure. The two highest quality tiers require technology not available on Nauvis. Different buildings and items can have different attributes that can be upgraded. When hovering over something, the attributes that will be upgraded with quality will be marked with a blue diamond in the tooltip.

Quality icon

While players are required to own Space Age to access this feature, quality is a separate mod, and can be activated independent of most Space Age content.

Achievements

Quality is directly related to the following achievements:

Make it better Insert a quality module into a module slot.

Look at my shiny rare armor Equip rare or better quality of power armor MK2 or mech armor.

Today's fish is trout a la creme Eat a legendary fish.

Crafting with quality Craft a quality module 3.

My modules are legendary Craft a legendary quality module 3.

No room for more Fill every tile of legendary mech armor with legendary equipment.

Quality tiers

There are 5 quality tiers in vanilla gameplay, with tier strength in brackets:

• Normal (0)
• Uncommon (1)
• Rare (2)
• Epic (3)
• Legendary (5)

Note that legendary quality represents a 2-tier improvement over epic.

Technologies

Certain tiers of quality cannot be created until they have been researched.

Research	Base Game	Space Age	Unlocks
Quality module (research)	60 x 300	30 x 500
Epic quality (research)	60 x 5000	60 x 5000
Legendary quality (research)	60 x 5000	60 x 5000

Quality effects

The currently known effects of each level of quality are as follows:

• +30% health
• +30% crafting speed
• +30% robot limit (rounded down)
• +30% robot recharge rate (both number and speed, rounded down)
• +30% positive module effects (rounded down for at least quality modules)
• +10% turret range
• +10% weapon range
• +1 tile reach and +2 wire reach on power poles
• +1 equipment grid size (both dimensions)
• +30% chest inventory size (rounded down)
• +30% increased ammo damage
• +30% inserter rotation speed
  • The power consumption of inserters is defined as energy per angle of turn. A 30% faster inserter can turn 30% more angles in a given space of time, so it consumes 30% more energy.
• -16.67% (1/6) resource drain on miners
  • This is multiplicative with productivity
• +30% solar panel output
• +100% (+5 MJ) capacity on accumulators
• +30% output rate on boilers, steam engines, steam turbines, accumulators (also affects input rate), and nuclear reactors
  • Note that consumption and pollution are also increased at the same rate
• +30% power output for solar panels
• +30% reach and efficiency for lightning rods and collectors
• −16% power consumption on beacons
• +1 to both continuous coverage distance and exploration coverage distance in radars
• +100% durability on consumable items (repair packs, science packs)
• +5% fork chance on the tesla turret and tesla ammo for the tesla gun
• +30% power consumption on asteroid collectors

These effects are per quality strength and additive: a Legendary (5 tier-levels) Productivity module 3 (base +10% productivity) would grant 25% productivity.

Some buildings only get increased health, with no special effect. Examples are:

• Buildings related to Circuit networks and Rail signals
• Transport belts
• Pipes
• Walls
• Trains
• Cargo wagons

Quality Effects

Item	Effect	Normal	Uncommon	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Assembling machine 1	Health	300	390	480	570	750
	Crafting speed	0.5	0.65	0.8	0.95	1.25
Assembling machine 2	Health	350	455	560	665	875
	Crafting speed	0.75	0.975	1.2	1.425	1.875
Assembling machine 3	Health	400	520	640	760	1000
	Crafting speed	1.25	1.625	2	2.375	3.125
Construction robot	Health	100	130	160	190	250
	Max flying reach	571m	1152m	1728m	2305m	3457m
	Energy capacity	3MJ	6MJ	9MJ	12MJ	18MJ
Inserter	Health	150	195	240	285	375
	Energy consumption	15.1kW	19.51kW	23.92kW	28.33kW	37.15kW
	Rotation speed	302°/s	393°/s	484°/s	575°/s	756°/s
Fast inserter	Health	150	195	240	285	375
	Energy consumption	59.3kW	76.94kW	94.58kW	112kW	148kW
	Rotation speed	864°/s	1123°/s	1382°/s	1642°/s	2160°/s
Iron chest	Health	200	260	320	380	500
	Storage size	32	41	51	60	80
Laser turret	Health	1000	1300	1600	1900	2500
	Range	24 tiles	26.4 tiles	28.8 tiles	31.2 tiles	36 tiles
Pipe	Health	100	130	160	190	250
Roboport	Health	500	650	800	950	1250
	Energy consumption	2.1MW	2.7MW	3.3MW	3.9MW	5.1MW
	Robot recharge rate	4 x 500kW	4 x 650kW	4 x 800kW	4 x 950kW	4 x 1.25MW
Small electric pole	Health	100	130	160	190	250
	Supply area	5x5	7x7	9x9	11x11	15x15
	Wire reach	7.5 tiles	9.5 tiles	11.5 tiles	13.5 tiles	17.5 tiles
Steel chest	Health	350	455	560	665	875
	Storage size	48	62	76	91	120
Wooden chest	Health	100	130	160	190	250
	Storage size	16	20	25	30	40

Creating high-quality items

There are two ways to create an item with above normal quality: The player must either use ingredient items of the same quality, or use quality modules for a random chance of a higher-quality item.

Quality ingredients

Recipes that consume items have variations for each quality that the items might take. When setting such a recipe in a production unit, an ingredient quality must be selected. For these variations, the set of ingredients required is the same, except that all item ingredients must have the specified quality. Recipes that consume only fluids do not have quality variations. If they produce items, those items will be normal quality unless affected by quality modules. Recipes that fill or empty barrels and recipes that produce the same item they consume (kovarex enrichment process and fish breeding) do not accept quality modules.

Item ingredient quality requirements are exact, not minimum. For example, one can not combine uncommon iron plates with rare batteries to make an accumulator of any quality. One must therefore ensure that high-quality items do not clog up belts and starve production units of lower-quality items.

As fluids do not possess any quality, they are exempt from ingredient quality requirements; the same lubricant can be used to create electric engine units of any quality.

Quality modules

Main article: Quality module

Quality modules allow crafting machines to produce items of a higher quality than their ingredients. Each module adds a quality chance to a machine, depending on its tier and quality. See the following table for all quality chances:

Quality Module
	+1%	+1.3%	+1.6%	+1.9%	+2.5%
	+2%	+2.6%	+3.2%	+3.8%	+5%
	+2.5%	+3.2%	+4%	+4.7%	+6.2%

When working out the odds of improving quality, a machine starts with the sum of the quality chance of all its modules. When the machine produces an item, it performs a random roll with that chance to succeed. If it succeeds, the product is upgraded 1 level from its ingredients. If the product was upgraded, the machine repeats this process, now with a constant 10% chance of passing, rolling and upgrading until a roll fails.

When using quality ingredients as an input, the base quality is the quality of the recipe. You can only use items with the same quality as input.

Quality modules are only required to improve quality, crafting will always give the base quality of the used items. Additionally, the odds of improving from a given base quality is the same as improving the same number of tiers from Normal quality.

Where Q is quality chance, the following tables present expected outputs for each level of research.

Quality module (research)

Output Input
	1 - Q	Q * 9/10	Q * 1/10
	-	1 - Q	Q
	-	-	1

Epic quality (research)

Output Input
	1 - Q	Q * 9/10	Q * 9/100	Q * 1/100
	-	1 - Q	Q * 9/10	Q * 1/10
	-	-	1 - Q	Q
	-	-	-	1

Legendary quality (research)

Output Input
	1 - Q	Q * 9/10	Q * 9/100	Q * 9/1000	Q * 1/1000
	-	1 - Q	Q * 9/10	Q * 9/100	Q * 1/100
	-	-	1 - Q	Q * 9/10	Q * 1/10
	-	-	-	1 - Q	Q
	-	-	-	-	1

Examples

2×

→ Q = 4%

Output Input
	96%	3.6%	0.4%
	-	96%	4%
	-	-	100%

4×

→ Q = 10%

Output Input
	90%	9%	0.9%	0.09%	0.01%
	-	90%	9%	0.9%	0.1%
	-	-	90%	9%	1%
	-	-	-	90%	10%
	-	-	-	-	100%

4×

→ Q = 24.8%

Output Input
	75.2%	22.32%	2.232%	0.2232%	0.0248%
	-	75.2%	22.32%	2.232%	0.248%
	-	-	75.2%	22.32%	2.48%
	-	-	-	75.2%	24.8%
	-	-	-	-	100%

Optimal module usage

It is optimal to improve quality on the lead-up to the target output item due to the recycler only giving back 25% of the input items, except for cases where the chosen item has a productivity research available, in which case looping through a recycler is optimal and has no added material cost (ignoring fluids).

The following tables summarize the number of normal crafts (rounded up) needed to produce 1 legendary output using ideal ratios of quality module 3s to productivity module 3s, with 4 matching quality module 3 in the recycler.

It is important to emphasize that these ratios maximize return per input material. If input capacity isn't a concern and the goal is speed rather than material efficiency, then switch out productivity modules for quality modules as needed. Beware, however, that in many cases material inefficiency nearly keeps pace with the legendary output rate.

Max Modules	Base Prod.	No. of	No. of	Crafts
2	0%	0	2	891
3	0%	0	3	533
4	0%	1	3	342
4	50%	0	4	97
5	50%	1	4	67
8	0%	4	4	70

Max Modules	Base Prod.	No. of	No. of	Crafts
2	0%	0	2	608
3	0%	1	2	356
4	0%	1	3	212
4	50%	1	3	62
5	50%	2	3	40
8	0%	5	3	34

Max Modules	Base Prod.	No. of	No. of	Crafts
2	0%	0	2	309
3	0%	1	2	153
4	0%	2	2	80
4	50%	3	1	25
5	50%	4	1	14
8	0%	8	0	7

For example, suppose legendary T3 modules are available and the goal is to produce legendary  processing units. If each electromagnetic plant producing epic quality or below has 4 legendary  productivity module 3 and 1 legendary  quality module 3, and the electromagnetic plant with the legendary recipe has 5 legendary  productivity module 3, then on average an input of 280 normal  electronic circuits and 28 normal  advanced circuits is expected to produce 1 legendary  processing unit.

Derivation

Derivation of the tables above was as follows: Starting with 1 set of common ingredients, with an assembly quality chance of Q and total productivity bonus of P, the statistical expected number of product is as follows:

(1 + P) * (1 - Q)	(1 + P) * (Q * (100 - 10-1))	(1 + P) * (Q * (10-1 - 10-2))	(1 + P) * (Q * (10-2 - 10-3))	(1 + P) * (Q * 10-3)
(1 + P) * (1 - Q)	(1 + P) * Q * 9/10	(1 + P) * Q * 9/100	(1 + P) * Q * 9/1000	(1 + P) * Q * 1/1000

In a similar vein, the same calculations can be done for recycling products, except that there is, in effect, -75% productivity bonus, where only a quarter of the items are returned.

(1 + -0.75) * (1-Q)	(1 + -0.75) * (Q * (100 - 10-1))	(1 + -0.75) * (Q * (10-1 - 10-2))	(1 + -0.75) * (Q * (10-2 - 10-3))	(1 + -0.75) * (Q * 10-3)
0.25 * (1-Q)	0.25 * Q * 9/10	0.25 * Q * 9/100	0.25 * Q * 9/1000	0.25 * Q * 1/1000

For example, recycling an uncommon ingredient with a Q of 25%:

Output Input
	-	0.1875	0.05625	0.005625	0.000625

Combining these results allows a 'Transition Matrix' to be developed (see the Wikipedia article Stochastic matrix) which after iteration can generate the expected number of legendary products from 1 set of common ingredients via matrix multiplication. An example matrix for P of 50% and Q of 25% for both recycling and assembly is copied below. Note that since legendary products are the goal, they are not recycled.

	I	I	I	I	I	P	P	P	P	P
I	0	0	0	0	0	1.125	0.3375	0.03375	0.003375	0.000375
I	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.125	0.3375	0.03375	0.00375
I	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.125	0.3375	0.0375
I	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.125	0.375
I	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.5
P	0.1875	0.05625	0.005625	0.0005625	0.0000625	0	0	0	0	0
P	0	0.1875	0.05625	0.005625	0.000625	0	0	0	0	0
P	0	0	0.1875	0.05625	0.00625	0	0	0	0	0
P	0	0	0	0.1875	0.0625	0	0	0	0	0
P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1

To iterate this matrix (M) apply the matrix to itself. For example, M⁶ would indicate 6 iterations, corresponding to 3 crafting steps and 3 recycling steps. To see how much 1 ingredient set produces after a given iteration, x, multiply an input vector by M^x. The vector format follows that of the matrix labels, so with the table arranged as above, left multiply a row vector of ingredient(s) by the matrix. In order to see the expected product of 1 set of normal ingredients, the vector will have '1' in the first column and '0's everywhere else. Likewise, a set of uncommon ingredients will correspond to '1' in the second column of the vector.

It is important to note that since the recycling step has a material loss of 75% most recycling loops will be well behaved and converge quickly.

Extreme productivity from research breaks this pattern and will prevent convergence, but this simply means that there is a positive material cycle, so 1 set of ingredients will produce infinite legendary crafts, on average. The closer the total productivity is to 400%, the slower the convergence of the matrix iteration and the higher you need to calculate x in M^x.

Usage tips

Using quality to increase production

There are four ways in which quality can increase the output of a single production machine:

• Increasing the quality of the machine itself will improve its base crafting speed.
• Increasing the quality of speed modules will increase the effect of their speed improvements.
• Increasing the quality of productivity modules will increase their productivity bonus without reducing crafting speed. Since extra items obtained from the productivity bonus do not take extra time to produce, this will also increase the number of items produced over time.
• Increasing the quality of beacons will increase their transmission efficiency. If they contain speed modules, then the effect of these modules is increased.

These four options share a powerful synergy, as they react multiplicatively with one another. This makes it possible to achieve very high production rates with very few machines when compared to only using normal quality items. For example, imagine a setup where electronic circuits are made using one electromagnetic plant with five productivity module 3s, which is surrounded by 12 beacons with two speed module 3s, each. With normal quality, this will achieve an output rate of almost 45 items per second (almost enough to saturate one non-layered express transport belt). However, if the electromagnetic plant and all beacons and modules have legendary quality, the output rate becomes slightly more than 600 items per second (enough to saturate two and a half turbo transport belts with four layers of items). This is more than 13 times as many items as without quality.

It should be noted that quality beacons are the only one of these factors that may increase energy consumption over time, as the transmission effect is also applied to the energy cost of speed modules. However, this is offset or even negated by the reduced energy consumption of the beacons themselves (which is also affected by quality), especially with high beacon counts wherein the transmission effect is subject to diminishing returns. For speed modules, productivity modules, and the machine itself, only the speed increase, productivity bonus, and base crafting speed are affected, respectively.

The increased transmission effect of high-quality beacons is also notable because unlike when increasing the number of beacons, there are no diminishing returns for increasing their quality (aside from the exponentially increasing cost of producing those higher-quality beacons in the first place). This means that, despite a legendary beacon only being 1.66 times as powerful as a normal-quality beacon, one would need 0.36 times as many legendary beacons as normal ones to achieve the same effect. Aside from making more powerful beacon setups, this can also be used to save space by achieving the same effect with fewer beacons, thereby leaving more room for machines and belts.

Higher-quality machines are also particularly useful for producing quality items as, unlike speed modules, machine quality does not reduce the chance of increasing a product's quality.

Using quality to save space

Another use for quality is decreasing the amount of buildings needed to perform the same production. This is particularly useful in a space platform, where small, compact designs are rewarded with increased speed, as well as needing fewer rockets to build the platform.

Relevant Factorio Friday Facts

• FFF 375 - Quality
• FFF 376 - Research and Technology

Notes

• In the below circumstances, quality modules have no useful effects.
  • Placed in a Rocket silo
  • Placed in a Lab
  • Placed in a Biolab
  • Fluid recipes (e.g holmium solution)
• Barrels cannot accept quality modules, most likely to stop quality upcycling with no loss.

Trivia

• Quality is not technically exclusive to player-made entities; Though this does not occur naturally, quality is also allowed on enemies, asteroids, and even the player character.
  • Some enemies with qualities above normal can even be created in regular sandbox gameplay: Big biters, behemoth biters, and big premature wriggler pentapods born from spoiled biter eggs, captive biter spawners, and pentapod eggs inherit the quality of the spoiled items, with the latter two being possible to craft with quality modules. Furthermore, a starved captured biter spawner will retain its quality upon converting into a hostile biter spawner, with said quality even being inherited by the biters that it will spawn. Should these biters chose to expand, they may also create quality spitters and worms.

History

• 2.0.7:
  • Introduced in Space Age expansion.