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The best Factorio module is the one that removes your current bottleneck. Use productivity modules when a recipe allows them and input materials are expensive, speed modules when machine count or throughput is limiting, efficiency modules when power or pollution is the constraint, and quality modules in Space Age when higher-tier output is worth slower, costlier production.
No module is universally superior. Recipe eligibility, machine slots, beacon design, available power, pollution pressure, floor space and the value of quality output all change the correct choice.
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Start with the resource that is limiting expansion rather than filling every slot with the same module. A production line that lacks ore needs a different solution from one that has plenty of ore but cannot fit another furnace, and both differ from a mining district that is exhausting your power budget.
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| Factory constraint | First module to test | What it improves | Main cost or caution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input materials are scarce or the recipe is expensive | Productivity | Extra products at the productivity trigger without another set of recipe inputs | Only eligible recipes accept it; crafting slows and energy use and pollution rise |
| Too few machines, limited floor space or a hard throughput target | Speed | More crafts per unit time from the same machine footprint | Energy consumption and pollution increase; Space Age quality chance is reduced |
| Power generation, fuel supply or pollution is the bottleneck | Efficiency | Lower energy use per cycle and therefore lower pollution | Throughput does not increase, and reductions cannot pass the 20% lower bound |
| Higher-quality intermediates, machines or equipment are the objective | Quality in Space Age | A greater chance of producing higher-quality items | Machines run more slowly, and chasing quality can consume more materials per useful normal-quality output |
If two constraints are equally severe, make a small test line and measure the result before rebuilding the whole factory. Module effects multiply with the machine, recipe and surrounding layout, so a mathematically attractive choice can still be the wrong one when it creates a new bottleneck downstream.
How Factorio modules work
The base game has three module families, each with three tiers: speed, productivity and efficiency. Space Age adds quality modules as a separate production objective. Modules occupy the machine’s module slots; the machine’s recipe and slot count determine where they can be used.
The 20% lower-bound rule
The current Factorio Wiki documents a hard floor: machine speed, energy consumption and pollution cannot be reduced below 20% of the original value. Efficiency stacking therefore stops producing additional reductions once that floor is reached. The rule matters when planning heavily moduled miners, furnaces or chemical processes: adding another efficiency module may have no further effect on the capped attribute even though the slot is occupied.
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Module compatibility belongs to the recipe, not just the machine. A machine can accept a productivity module for one recipe and reject it for another. If a recipe is changed, incompatible modules can be ejected, so verify eligibility after every recipe or technology change before assuming the line still has its intended bonuses.
Productivity modules: save inputs on eligible recipes
Productivity modules add a second progress bar to the machine. When that bar reaches 100%, the machine creates an additional set of products without consuming another set of recipe resources. This is why productivity is usually the strongest answer when ore, fluids or expensive intermediates—not machine time—are the scarce resource.
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What you pay for the extra output
Productivity modules impose a speed penalty and increase both energy consumption and pollution. A tier-2 productivity module is listed with +6% productivity, −10% speed, +60% energy consumption and +7% pollution on the current Factorio Wiki table. The extra products do not make the machine free: a slower, hotter and dirtier process may require more generators, cooling capacity or defenses.
Recipe restrictions
Productivity is generally restricted to intermediate-product recipes. The wiki records exceptions and special cases, including stone brick, molten-iron concrete and certain Space Age soils. Do not design a production block around productivity until the exact recipe accepts it. A visually identical machine making a different item may have different module rules.
When productivity is the right first test
- Use it when imported, mined or refined inputs are the limiting cost.
- Use it on an expensive intermediate that feeds many downstream recipes.
- Use it when adding more miners or refineries would consume more scarce resources than adding power and pollution controls.
- Use it when the factory has spare machine capacity or when a slower process can be balanced with additional machines.
When productivity is a poor fit
- Do not force it into an ineligible recipe; the machine will reject it.
- Avoid it when the immediate requirement is maximum output per second and there is no room to add the machines needed to offset its speed penalty.
- Be cautious when power generation or pollution defense is already failing, because its energy and pollution increases can worsen the original problem.
- Remember that productivity modules cannot be placed in beacons, so a beacon-centered design cannot amplify them remotely.
A practical productivity setup
- Open the machine and confirm that the selected recipe accepts productivity modules.
- Check the machine’s available module slots and insert the productivity tier you can sustain.
- Watch the product rate, input consumption, power draw and pollution after the line reaches steady operation.
- If output is now too slow, add machines or test speed modules in the appropriate slots rather than assuming more productivity is always better.
- Recheck the recipe after technology or Space Age production changes; an altered recipe can eject incompatible modules.
Speed modules: buy throughput with power
Speed modules increase crafting speed, allowing one machine to complete more cycles per unit time. They are the direct answer to a hard throughput target, a compact build, a machine-count limit or a valuable area where adding another production block is impractical.
Speed-module tiers
| Tier | Speed bonus | Energy-consumption increase | Space Age quality effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed 1 | +20% | +50% | −1% quality chance |
| Speed 2 | +30% | +60% | −1.5% quality chance |
| Speed 3 | +50% | +70% | −2.5% quality chance |
These are the module-table values documented by the Factorio Wiki in 2026. The percentages describe the module’s effect on the machine; they do not guarantee a particular belt, inserter or power-network rate, because those parts can become the next limiting step.
Where speed pays off
- Use speed when a fixed footprint must meet a production target.
- Use it on a machine whose recipe is not eligible for productivity but still needs more output.
- Use it to recover throughput lost when productivity modules slow an input-saving line.
- Use it in a beaconed design where the factory plan is built around multiplying machine speed rather than saving each input.
Power and quality trade-offs
Every speed tier raises energy use substantially. Confirm that generators, fuel delivery and electrical connections can handle the new peak before upgrading an entire block. In Space Age, speed modules also reduce quality chance by the amounts in the table, so a fast line can produce more normal items while making high-quality results less likely. If quality is the objective, compare the value of additional normal throughput with the value of the quality output you are giving up.
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Efficiency modules: control electricity and pollution
Efficiency modules reduce a machine’s energy consumption and consequently reduce pollution generated by that energy use. They are primarily a defensive and infrastructure choice, not a throughput upgrade. A miner that is triggering attacks or a power grid that cannot support expansion can become viable after efficiency modules even though its craft rate is unchanged.
Documented examples
The Factorio Wiki’s worked example shows an electric furnace drawing 180 kW before modules; one basic efficiency module removes 54 kW, a 30% reduction in that example. A separate example shows three basic efficiency modules in an electric mining drill reducing pollution from 10 to 2 units per minute. These figures illustrate the wiki’s machines and module configuration, not a universal result for every machine.
When efficiency is the best answer
- Use it in early bases where power generation, fuel or defensive ammunition is limited.
- Use it on miners and other pollution-heavy machines near nests when reducing the pollution cloud matters more than output speed.
- Use it when a remote outpost has expensive or unreliable power delivery.
- Use it to postpone a generator expansion while preserving the same production rate.
Limits of an efficiency build
Efficiency does not create additional products and does not increase crafts per second. Once the machine reaches the documented 20% energy or pollution floor, further reduction is impossible for that attribute. If the real problem is a shortage of plates, circuits or science packs rather than electricity, efficiency modules will leave the bottleneck untouched.
Quality modules in Space Age
Space Age introduces quality modules and five quality levels: Normal, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary. The official Space Age product information describes quality modules as a way to craft higher-quality items and intermediates, with each higher level providing a stronger bonus such as faster machines or more powerful equipment.
Quality is a separate production objective
A quality line is not simply a faster or cheaper normal line. The goal is a distribution of output across quality levels, and the value of that distribution depends on what you are making. A higher-quality machine, weapon or intermediate can justify additional processing; a low-value item that is consumed immediately may not.
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Dedicated quality lines
Place quality modules in a deliberately separated line when mixing normal and quality output would make sorting, recycling or downstream balancing difficult. Keep the inputs, quality-handling machines and destination inventories visible so you can measure how much useful high-quality output is produced rather than judging the line by the module’s tooltip alone.
Quality versus productivity and speed
When material input capacity is not the concern and speed is the priority, quality documentation describes switching productivity modules for quality modules as an available option. It also records cases where one speed module can increase normal and quality output per unit time, at the cost of higher power and input consumption. Those are strategic comparisons, not a promise that the same mixture wins for every recipe. Test the actual product value, machine slots and input supply in your design.
A repeatable method for selecting modules
- State the constraint in measurable terms. Decide whether the line is short on input items, machine count or floor space, electrical capacity and pollution tolerance, or quality output.
- Check recipe eligibility. Confirm that the desired module family is accepted by the exact recipe, especially for productivity.
- Estimate the new secondary costs. For speed or productivity, inspect energy and pollution; for quality, inspect slower processing and material use; for efficiency, verify that unchanged throughput still meets demand.
- Protect the next bottleneck. Check belts, inserters, fluids, power poles, storage and downstream machines. A faster assembler that starves its input or backs up its output has not improved the factory.
- Build a small comparison. Run an unmoduled or current line beside the proposed line long enough for buffers to settle. Record input use, output rate, power draw and pollution.
- Scale only after the result is stable. Copy the winning configuration to the full block, then recheck the power network and downstream capacity.
Module progression through a typical factory
Early base-game phase
Efficiency modules are often the practical early investment when power generation and defense are constrained. Mining pollution can be a larger immediate threat than raw throughput, and lowering energy demand can let a small power plant support the rest of the base.
Expansion and intermediate production
As soon as an eligible recipe consumes expensive inputs, productivity becomes more attractive. The factory can accept slower machines if it has room to add capacity, and the extra products reduce the number of upstream miners, furnaces or refineries needed for the same downstream target.
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High-throughput and beaconed designs
Speed becomes more valuable when the layout is space-constrained or a fixed block must hit a production rate. Use it to recover throughput from productivity penalties or to avoid adding another large machine array. Because productivity cannot be installed in beacons, plan beaconed sections around the module types they can legally support and leave productivity decisions to the machines themselves.
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Space Age production
Keep quality as an explicit objective rather than an automatic upgrade. Use quality modules where the higher-tier result has meaningful value, and retain productivity or speed where material efficiency or normal output is still the actual constraint. The five quality levels make inventory handling, sorting and end-use value part of the module decision.
Common mistakes and how to correct them
Putting productivity into every available slot
Symptom: input use falls but the line misses its delivery target and the power grid becomes strained.
Correction: verify recipe eligibility, calculate the lost speed, then add machines or test speed modules where throughput—not input cost—is limiting.
Using speed to solve a power shortage
Symptom: production appears faster on paper, but brownouts, fuel shortages or pollution attacks increase.
Correction: restore power capacity or use efficiency modules if the same output rate is acceptable. Speed is a throughput tool, not an energy-saving measure.
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Symptom: the power graph improves while the material shortage remains.
Correction: move efficiency modules to the power or pollution-limited machines and use productivity or speed on the line that actually lacks products.
Ignoring the 20% floor
Symptom: another efficiency module occupies a slot but the capped attribute does not fall further.
Correction: compare the marginal benefit with a speed or productivity alternative, and remove modules that no longer address the limiting cost.
Applying speed in a quality-critical line
Symptom: normal output rises while high-quality output is disappointing.
Correction: account for the documented speed-module quality penalties and reserve quality-focused machines for the products whose quality level matters.
Worked decisions for common factory situations
| Situation | Reasoning | Likely first test |
|---|---|---|
| A circuit plant is limited by copper and iron deliveries, while power has headroom | Reducing input per useful output matters more than maximizing each assembler’s cycles | Productivity on eligible intermediate recipes, followed by a throughput check |
| A science pack block has no room for another production row | The footprint, not the raw material, sets the ceiling | Speed, with a power-network check and downstream belt test |
| Mining pollution is provoking attacks and the power plant is near its limit | The factory needs the same mining function at a lower environmental and electrical cost | Efficiency on the affected drills, while observing the 20% floor |
| A Space Age line is producing equipment where higher quality has a direct gameplay benefit | The value comes from the quality distribution, not simply more normal items | Quality modules in a separated line, measured against input use and useful high-quality output |
| A productivity-moduled intermediate line misses its delivery rate | Material savings created a speed bottleneck | Add capacity or test speed in the machine layout; do not assume more productivity fixes throughput |
Version context
Factorio: Space Age was released on October 21, 2024, alongside the free Factorio 2.0 update. The official release announcement describes 2.0 as containing broad game changes, optimizations and improvements. Module values and recipe eligibility can change with later updates, so check the current in-game tooltip and the current Factorio Wiki table when a patch changes a recipe or machine.
Final decision rule
Ask which resource you are trying to save or which limit you are trying to break. Productivity saves eligible recipe inputs, speed buys output per machine, efficiency saves electricity and pollution, and quality pursues higher-tier Space Age results. Pick the family that matches that constraint, verify compatibility, measure the side effects and only then scale the design.
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