Upgrading machines

The problem#

A machine has five tiers, a handful of module slots, and four modules that all say "better". They do not do the same thing, and the wrong order wastes FE or wastes slots. This guide compares them on one machine, the Triturator grinding an ore, then says what changes for engines and for the machines that do not take modules at all. Upgrades and modules has the full rules.

What each upgrade does#

• Tier kit. Speed and power draw rise together, the buffer grows faster than the draw, and two more module slots open at each tier. FE per item does not change.
• Celerity. Each one adds 50% speed and 50% to the FE each item costs.
• Economizer. Each one divides the FE per item by 1.5× and grows the buffer by the same step. It does not change speed.
• Manifold. Each one opens two more lanes. Every lane works on its own item, and draws its own power. FE per item does not change.

Tier	Speed	Power per lane	Buffer	Module slots
Base	×1	20 FE/t	20,000 FE	0
Tempered	×2	40 FE/t	40,000 FE	2
Fortified	×3	60 FE/t	80,000 FE	4
Luminous	×4	80 FE/t	160,000 FE	6
Harmonic	×6	120 FE/t	320,000 FE	8

Comparing them on one machine#

Take a Triturator grinding an iron ore. At the base tier it takes 10 s, costs 4,000 FE and draws 20 FE/t. Here are five ways to spend a Tempered kit's two slots, or none:

What the table says:

• The kit alone doubles speed for free. The same FE per ore, twice as fast, at twice the draw.
• Two Manifolds multiply throughput by five, not two. Five lanes each work at the kit's speed. That is the biggest jump for two slots, provided the line can feed five lanes. The price is five lanes' power draw, and it is paid only while they work.
• A Celerity and an Economizer together pay back the FE. You get the speed bonus at the original cost per ore. Two Celerity alone is faster still, but each ore costs 2× and the draw jumps.
• Economizers alone save FE, not time. Worth it when power is the limit and speed is not.

The order to buy them in#

1. The slowest machine in the line. Whatever has a full input and an empty output is the limit. Upgrade it, not the whole row.
2. A Tempered kit. It doubles speed, opens two slots and doubles the buffer. Later kits keep multiplying speed by their own factor; each also opens two more slots.
3. Manifolds if the machine can be kept fed, which a pipe or hopper does.
4. Celerity and Economizer in equal numbers in what slots remain. Tilt towards Economizer when your engines are struggling and towards Celerity when you have power to burn.
5. Power. Check the supply last, but check it every time: every step above raises the draw. A machine that cannot keep up reads Charging. Choosing an engine and fuel and Troubleshooting cover what to do.

Engines#

Engines have two module slots per tier, as other machines do, but only Celerity and Economizer, up to four of each, and they trade differently:

• A tier kit raises output and buffer.
• Celerity raises output by 50% each. Every unit of fuel gives less FE, so each extra FE/t costs more fuel.
• Economizer adds 34.375% FE per unit of fuel each, and grows the buffer by 25%. Output does not change.

Four Economizers get 2.375× the FE from every unit of fuel. If the fuel is the hard part, as it is for a hand-fed Caloric Engine, fit Economizers first. If the fuel is plentiful and you need more output than one block gives, use a tier kit, then Celerity. The Caloric Engine's page works the numbers through.

Machines that take less#

• The Ecotone uses the kit to run faster and bigger. Its modules are its own and are not interchangeable with these.
• The Aquifer and Voltaic Cell use the kit to raise water rate, capacity and transfer. Their module slots are typed, one per kind.
• The Spawning Basin takes a kit and no modules.
• The Distiller, Reaction Vat and Brine Accretor take neither. Run more of them side by side.

Pitfalls#

• A kit goes in once, in order. Each kit needs the one before. A second copy of a kit you already have is refused.
• Modules in locked slots do nothing. A module left in a slot that a kit no longer opens stops counting until you take it out.
• Manifold does nothing for a Vortex Separator in Fluid mode; it hands them back.
• Upgrades travel with the machine. Pick it up with the Calibration Tablet and its kit, modules and settings come with it.
• More draw can mean Charging. If a machine runs in bursts after an upgrade, the engines are the limit, not the machine.

Related#

• Upgrades and modules
• Automating a machine line
• Caloric Engine upgrades