Player

Factorio is played from the top down perspective of your player character, who is always in the centre of your view. You have five primary ways of interacting with the world:

1. Crafting items and entities personally from resources using your craft menu (Default: e)
2. Placing entities by selecting them from your inventory or toolbar and placing them on a tile (Default: LMB)
   1. Opening contextual menus for entities like Assembly Machines or Chests
   2. Removing the entity from the world, returning it to your inventory (Default: Hold RMB)
3. Harvesting resources from a tile (Default: Hold RMB)
4. Firing weapons at enemies (Default: Press or hold Spacebar depending on weapon)
5. Picking up non-placed Items from the ground and placing them in your inventory (Default: Hold f)

For more key-bindings, please see Keyboard bindings

In the process of building and expanding your factory, different pieces of equipment will be necessary from the first moments of gameplay, starting with your first Iron axe:

Tools

Removing or harvesting placeable entities, Trees, Iron Ore, Copper Ore,Raw fish, Stone or Coal from the world requires effort and this is implemented by way of a progress bar that needs to fill uninterrupted in order to complete. Starting without a pickaxe (blank hand icon in the top left square in the display at the bottom right of the screen), it will take around two seconds to cut down a single tree. Since this is the sort of action required thousands of times over the course of a game, it is heavily recommended to craft an iron axe as your first action in the game.

Main article: Iron axe Iron axe

Main article: Steel axe Steel axe

Main article: Repair pack

Player

Edit

Recipe
0.5 + 2 + 2 → 1
Total raw
4 + 3 + 6
Repair packs heal building damage for 600 health.
Stack size	100
Durability	300 600 900 1200 1800
Prototype type	repair-tool
Internal name	repair-pack
Required technologies
Produced by

Repair packs are used to repair items. They can be used by the player character with the Left mouse button or by construction robots. Each repair pack repairs 600 health to a building, 2 per tool durability. Repair packs can only be used on buildings already placed, and can't repair something in the player's inventory.

History

• 0.15.0:
  • Durability increased from 200 to 300.
  • Speed increased from 1 to 2.

• 0.13.0:
  • Durability increased from 100 to 200.
  • Stack size increased from 50 to 100.

• 0.10.6:
  • Updated icon

• 0.8.0:
  • Introduced

Trivia

• Repairing walls and stone furnaces makes a rock-hammering sound, while repairing anything else makes a drill sound.

See also

• Logistic network

Main article: Raw fish

Player

Edit

• Base game
 
• Space Age mod

Health	20 26 32 38 50
Restores	80 104 128 152 200 health
Stack size	100
Rocket capacity	300 (3 stacks)
Mining time	0.4
Spoil time	2h 5m 50s 2h 43m 34s 3h 21m 20s 3h 59m 5s 5h 14m 35s
Spoil result
Prototype type	capsule
Internal name	raw-fish
Consumed by

Recipe
6 + 2 + 100 + 100 → 3
Total raw
6 + 2 + 100 + 100
Health	20 26 32 38 50
Restores	80 104 128 152 200 health
Stack size	100
Rocket capacity	300 (3 stacks)
Mining time	0.4
Spoil time	2h 5m 50s 2h 43m 34s 3h 21m 20s 3h 59m 5s 5h 14m 35s
Spoil result
Prototype type	capsule
Internal name	raw-fish
Produced by
Consumed by

Raw fish can be harvested from water. They can be used to refill a small amount of health instantly. In order to catch raw fish, mine one of the dark spots that can be found moving around in water bodies. Each dark spot yields 5 fish when mined. Fish can be also collected via construction robots, by marking a water area that contains fish with a deconstruction planner.

Raw fish is used to heal by clicking on the character or anywhere else in the world with the fish in the cursor. They heal 80 HP each and have a short cooldown for reuse, limiting the amount of incoming DPS that fish healing can absorb. Using a fish produces a munching sound.

Using landfill on water where a fish is swimming will "destroy" the fish. Fish can be shot and killed via pistol or submachine gun, and also by explosions, but are immune to any kind of shotgun fire. Shooting fish does not grant any fish items.

Fish are created in water when the world is generated and do not despawn or respawn. While inserters can remove fish from the water, they cannot put them back. The player can manually return fish to the water in stacks of 5, which resets both the quality and freshness of the fish.

Alternate recipes

In Space Age, fish can be automated by breeding them in a biochamber after unlocking the fish breeding recipe with agricultural science packs. Fish breeding can only be conducted on Nauvis. Fish also are given a spoilage time of just over 2 hours.

Recipe	Research	Building	Input	Output	Crafted on
			6 + 2 + 100 + 100	3

Note that the fish produced by this recipe always have 100% freshness. Quality modules cannot be used in this recipe.

Achievements

So long and thanks for all the fish

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

Gallery

• 
  Inserters can catch fish.

Trivia

• The fish item icon is meant to represent a European perch, a freshwater fish widespread in Europe and elsewhere. This was chosen because a perch is the favorite plushie of the artist's daughter, see the Reddit comment by V453000
• Prior to version 2.0 it was possible to automate fish by launching space science packs with a rocket silo, which would return fish at a 1:1 ratio, to a maximum of 100 fish per launch.
• In Space Age, a base quality fish has a spoilage time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, and 50 seconds. This equates to 7,550 seconds, or 453,000 game ticks, which is a reference to developer V453000, the artist behind the fish icon.

History

• 2.0.7:
  • Launching space science pack into space no longer returns fish as there is now an other method to automate obtaining fish.

• 1.0.0:
  • Launching a rocket with space science packs inside now returns fish (Undocumented)

• 0.17.77:
  • Inserters can now catch fish (Undocumented)

• 0.15.0:
  • Fish can be collected by robots
  • Amount of fish collected at once increased from 1 to 5
  • Amount of health restored by fish increased from 20 to 80

• 0.6.0:
  • New fish graphics

• 0.1.0:
  • Introduced

Weapons

Eventually, whether in a peaceful game or not, you will need the capability to destroy the various Enemies that live on this world. This capability mostly comes in the form of Turrets for your base's defence, but personally in two broad categories for the player, more traditional weapons and capsules discussed below. To fire the main equip-able weapons, the weapon must be in your equipment bar in the bottom right corner of the screen somewhere on the top row (the first column is for pickaxes and armors), for the weapon to be selected with a red highlight (Default q to move the selection) and for appropriate ammunition for the weapon to be placed in the slot below it.

If all the preparation is done, fire the weapon with your target enemy key (Default: Spacebar) or your target cursor key (Default: c). Target enemy is a somewhat safe auto-aim that will snap to any enemy in range and begin firing at it for as long as the key is held down. Target cursor will fire your weapon in the direction of your cursor, which is mainly used to clear obstacles such as Trees and rocks that block placing things.

Each player starts with a Pistol and ten magazines of Regular Magazine, which will fend off the first few biter attacks, but will quickly be insufficient against the growing alien forces.

Note regarding friendly fire: Pistols and Submachine guns are perfect for in-factory combat, as they have no area effects, however all other weapons use some form of spread or explosion which will likely lead to you causing far more collateral damage than the actual alien attack could hope to. Play with your rockets outside.

Main article: Pistol

Player

Edit

Stack size	5
Rocket capacity	10000
Range	15 16.5 18 19.5 22.5
Shooting speed	4/s
Ammunition
Prototype type	gun
Internal name	pistol

The Pistol is the most basic weapon in Factorio. In Freeplay mode, the player starts with a pistol and 10 firearm magazines.

The Pistol can only handle the smallest of enemy threats and the player will frequently take damage when trying to use it for self-defense. It is recommended to upgrade to the Submachine gun as soon as possible.

History

• 2.0.7:
  • Removed the crafting recipe.

Main article: Submachine gun

Player

Edit

Recipe
10 + 5 + 10 + 10 → 1
Total raw
15 + 5 + 30
Stack size	5
Range	18 19.8 21.6 23.4 27
Shooting speed	10/s
Ammunition
Prototype type	gun
Internal name	submachine-gun
Required technologies
Produced by

The submachine gun is an upgrade from the pistol. It fires the same ammunition types and deals the same damage as the pistol, but has a much higher rate of fire. This same type of weapon is installed in the car and tank; the car and tank's version of the submachine gun fires +5 rounds per second and has +2 range compared to the handheld one. This weapon can easily handle moderate waves of small biters, even with regular ammunition, but destroying nests efficiently requires damage upgrades or the more expensive piercing round.

See also

• Pistol
• Shotgun
• Car
• Tank

Main article: Shotgun

Player

Edit

Recipe
10 + 10 + 5 + 15 + 5 → 1
Total raw
12.5 + 10 + 25 + 5
Stack size	5
Rocket capacity	5
Range	15 16.5 18.0 19.5 22.5
Shooting speed	1/s
Ammunition
Prototype type	gun
Internal name	shotgun
Required technologies
Produced by

The shotgun is a basic but powerful weapon with good range, damage, and ammunition efficiency, but a low rate of fire. It fires in a spread pattern. The shotgun will fire without hostile targets nearby, can damage walls (it won't shoot over them) and other friendly structures, thus requiring significantly more caution when used, compared to most other weapons.

For early Biter nests assaults, shotgun ammo represents a massive boost on resource efficiency, with 2 copper plates and 2 iron plates giving a stack of shotgun shells, dealing a total of 600 damage. Contrast this against the pistol's firearm magazine, which costs 4 iron plates and deals a total of 50 damage.

The shotgun is less effective in clearing out the biters themselves, because pellet spread will cause a nontrivial fraction of pellets to miss against small targets. Players can switch between the shotgun and submachine gun to balance power and resource-efficiency, or support themselves with covering fire from Turrets and combat bots.

History

• 2.0.7:
  • Shotgun projectiles now spawn closer to the player

• 0.7.0:
  • Introduced

See also

• Combat shotgun
• Damage
• Enemies

Main article: Combat shotgun

Player

Edit

Recipe
10 + 10 + 5 + 15 + 10 → 1
Total raw
12.5 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 10
Stack size	5
Rocket capacity	5
Range	15 16.5 18.0 19.5 22.5
Shooting speed	2/s
Damage bonus	20%
Ammunition
Prototype type	gun
Internal name	combat-shotgun
Required technologies
3
Produced by

An advanced shotgun with good range, damage and higher rate of fire than that of the standard shotgun. The damage bonus of the combat shotgun stacks multiplicatively with physical projectile damage (research).

History

• 0.7.0:
  • Introduced

See also

• Damage
• Shotgun
• Enemies

Main article: Rocket launcher

Player

Edit

• Base game
 
• Space Age mod

Recipe
10 + 5 + 5 + 5 → 1
Total raw
18.75 + 7.5 + 20
Stack size	5
Rocket capacity	5
Range	36 39.6 43.2 46.8 54.0
Shooting speed	1/s
Ammunition
Prototype type	gun
Internal name	rocket-launcher
Required technologies
Produced by
Consumed by

Recipe
10 + 5 + 5 + 5 → 1
Total raw
18.75 + 7.5 + 20
Stack size	5
Rocket capacity	5
Range	36 39.6 43.2 46.8 54.0
Shooting speed	1/s
Ammunition
Prototype type	gun
Internal name	rocket-launcher
Required technologies
Produced by
Consumed by

The rocket launcher is a strong weapon against enemy bases. It has long range and high damage, but as the ammo is very expensive it is recommended to avoid using it against enemy creatures. The weapon is also used to create the versatile, lategame spidertron.

History

• 0.17.0:
  • Rocket launcher range increased from 22 to 36.

• 0.8.0:
  • Increased the range of the rocket from 20 to 22.

• 0.1.0:
  • Introduced

See also

• Enemies
• Damage

There is also a unique weapon, usable only in the Tank

Main article: Tank#Cannon This article is about the armored combat vehicle. For the liquid storage container, see Storage tank.

Player

Edit

Recipe
5 + 10 + 32 + 15 + 50 → 1
Total raw
107.5 + 50 + 32 + 50 + 20 + 50
Map icon
Storage size	80
Health	2000 2600 3200 3800 5000
Resistances	Acid: 0/70% Explosion: 15/70% Fire: 15/60% Impact: 50/80% Physical: 15/60%
Equipment grid size	6×8 7×9 8×10 9×11 11×13
Stack size	1
Rocket capacity	1 (1 stack)
Range	Tank cannon: 30 Vehicle machine gun: 20 Vehicle flamethrower: 9
Shooting speed	Tank cannon: 0.67/s Vehicle machine gun: 15/s Vehicle flamethrower: 67.5/s
Ammunition
Energy consumption	600 kW (burner)
Mining time	0.5
Weight	20000
Prototype type	car
Internal name	tank
Required technologies
Produced by
Valid fuel

Tanks, like cars, match the color of the player driving them.

The tank is a heavy armored fighting vehicle. It is a mid-game vehicle with three weapons; an integrated submachine gun, a short range flamethrower and a powerful cannon that uses cannon shells. It, along with the car and spidertron, are the three non-rail vehicles in Factorio. In multiplayer, it is possible for a player to enter a tank alongside another player. The passenger can take control of the weapons of the tank using a switch in the GUI of the tank, but cannot steer the tank.

Since engine units can only be built in assembling machines, tanks (like cars) cannot be built from scratch by hand from their raw materials. If the tank is destroyed, its inventory is destroyed with it, though the player gets ejected and not killed. Tanks will change color based on the color of the player who drove it last.

Tanks can be driven remotely. Coupled with the tank's equipment grid, the player can remotely manipulate distant outposts without being there as well as to remotely expand the base by attacking enemy nests. However, unlike the spidertron, the tank lacks any map-revealing capabilities, and so is effectively confined to areas where the player has sufficient radar coverage.

Achievements

Steamrolled Destroy 10 spawners by impact.

Run Forrest, run Destroy 100 trees by impact.

Combat

The tank is a strong fighting vehicle due to its large health pool and the very high damage of its main weapon, the cannon. Construction robots can also repair the tank with repair packs, and the tank can even bring its own robots to do so using the personal roboport equipment.

The tank's weaponry can be augmented by equipment modules like the personal laser defense. If the player is inside of the tank, the player can deploy thrown items such as grenades, poisons, and follower robots from within the tank. The tank particularly shines in battle against Worms, as their high damage projectiles are much less of a problem for an entity with a high health pool. Defensive equipment or capsules/drones can be used to deal with mobile enemies.

The tank lags behind in speed, however, compared to the player and the car. As a result, it may not perform as well in combat against melee enemies or enemies with shorter range than the player, as it has more difficulty dodging enemies. This may result in the tank being destroyed quickly, leaving the player in a tight spot.

Movement

The tank is very robust, and unlike the car can move through and destroy trees without taking damage. Even when not moving, simply driving into an entity is enough to damage it. This can also be employed as a weapon against enemies, although certain enemies and structures (nests in particular) will deal high damage to the tank in the process, requiring repair after skirmishes.

The tank is slower than the car and can be rotated in place while standing still, unlike the car.

The speed and, in particular, responsiveness of the tank can be improved somewhat by burning better fuel: The tank, like all other vehicles, gains top speed and acceleration bonuses when running on solid fuel, rocket fuel and nuclear fuel, as opposed to wood or coal. The bonuses are +5% / +15% / +15% top speed and +20% / +80% / +150% acceleration for solid fuel, rocket fuel and nuclear fuel, respectively; wood and coal both yield the base level of top speed and acceleration.

Exoskeletons may also be used on the tank's equipment grid to affect its top speed as though the tank was the player. However, this does not affect the tank's acceleration or deceleration. So it will take some time for the tank to accelerate to its top speed, as well as to stop from that speed. Given how destructive the tank can be to buildings, using many exoskeletons in a tank can make it dangerous to one's own base.

Speeds

Tank top speed (km/h)

Top speed with various fuels on different tiles

	Wood	Coal	Solid fuel	Rocket fuel	Nuclear fuel
Sand	50.1	50.1	54.8	67.1	79.1
Grass	50.9	50.9	55.8	68.3	80.5
Red desert	50.9	50.9	55.8	68.3	80.5
Dirt	51.4	51.4	56.8	69.6	82.0
Stone path	53.4	53.4	58.5	71.6	84.4
Shallow water	53.9	53.9	59.1	72.3	85.3
Concrete*	55.0	55.0	60.3	73.8	87.0
Refined concrete*	55.0	55.0	60.3	73.8	87.0

* The same stats apply to the hazard version of these surfaces.

Speed in reverse

The top speed of the tank in reverse is ~70.6% of the forward top speed.

Capsules and Bots integration

The player directly driving the tank cannot fire any weapons equipped on the player. However, the player still has access to their inventory. The player can use inventory items, such as capsules and combat robots. The player's equipment modules are also available, so the player's construction robots run by a personal roboport can still be deployed from within the tank, which will use repair packs from the player to repair the tank. If the tank and the player both have personal laser defenses, both can be active at the same time.

Upon researching logistic system, the tank can utilize the logistic network to make requests like a player.

Exclusive Weapons

Flamethrower

A powerful short-ranged weapon that consumes flamethrower ammo. Unlike the hand-held flamethrower or the flamethrower turret, the tank version does not set entities on fire.

Cannon

The tank's cannon is one of the few weapons that damages anything in a line between the tank and the target. All cannon shells have the ability to pierce targets, which means that if the shell deals enough damage to kill what it hits, the shell can continue onward and deal damage to another target.

Standard cannon shells deal significant damage to a single target and have large piercing potential, while explosive cannon shells damage all targets in an area which makes them useful for dealing with large enemy groups. There are uranium versions of both shell types which deal even more damage.

History

• 2.0.7:
  • Added an equipment grid.
  • Added logistics requests, made available by the Logistic system (research).
  • Added latency hiding for cars (and tanks).
  • Can be driven remotely.
  • Spidertrons can be damaged by cars and tanks, can be damaged by walking on fire, and can be slowed with slowdown capsules.

• 0.18.0:
  • Updated sound effects.

• 0.17.0:
  • Decreased tank machine gun damage to match the player held submachine gun.

• 0.16.0:
  • In multiplayer players can now ride as passengers in cars/tanks.
  • Tanks no longer take minuscule amounts of damage from hitting trees.

• 0.15.0:
  • Added tank flamethrower.
  • Buffed tank:
    • Increased health from 1,000 to 2,000.
    • Added a +100% damage bonus and a +5 tiles range increase to the tank machine gun.

• 0.14.0:
  • Added support for equipment grids in tanks.

• 0.13.18:
  • Increased tank machine gun range to 20 tiles.

• 0.13.0:
  • New icon for tank.

• 0.12.26:
  • Running biters over in a tank in peaceful mode will now anger them.

• 0.12.21:
  • When attacking a player in a tank, the tank will be attacked instead of the player directly.

• 0.12.2:
  • Tanks can now turn in place.
  • Tank inventory can now be filtered.

• 0.12.0:
  • Updated sounds
  • Added muzzle flash for tanks
  • Tank ammo inventory is refilled from the trunk and player inventory when exhausted.

• 0.11.6:
  • Added a small scorch mark when heavy weaponry like the tank cannon fires.

• 0.11.0:
  • Introduced

Development data

Weekly blogs concerning the Tank:

• https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-412
• https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-56
• https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-51
• https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-48
• https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-44

See also

• Car
• Enemies
• Resistances