Full Spidertron Belt

How many rockets per minute would you need to fill an Express Transport Belt with Spidertrons?

There are multiple vehicles in Factorio. There are cars, tanks, trains, and then there's the ultimate Spidertron.

Spidertrons are incredibly versatile and useful. Creating one is difficult. Automating them is even harder. Why? It's not because of normal material requirements. At this point in the game, everything required for a Spidertron should be fully automated...

...Except for fish.

Fish do not respawn.

The only way to automate fish is to launch a rocket.

Endgame bases are measured in rockets per hour. So how many rockets per hour would you need to fill an express transport belt with Spidertrons?


First, we need to know how many spidertrons we get out of one rocket. We can launch a rocket with 100 space science packs to get 100 fish, giving us 100 fish1 rocket\mathrm{\frac{100\ fish}{1\ rocket}}, which, given an excess of other materials, can directly translate to 100 spidertron1 rocket\mathrm{\frac{100\ spidertron}{1\ rocket}}.

The spidertron demand for a full belt is 45 spidertron1 second\mathrm{\frac{45\ spidertron}{1\ second}}, which is equivalent to 162000 spidertron1 hour\mathrm{\frac{162000\ spidertron}{1\ hour}}.

Now we can calculate the number of rockets per hour to satisfy this requirement. 162000 spidertron1 hour×1 rocket100 spidertron=1620 rocket1 hour\mathrm{\frac{162000\ spidertron}{1\ hour}\times\frac{1\ rocket}{100\ spidertron}=\frac{1620\ rocket}{1\ hour}} That's a lot of rockets!

But we're not finished yet. What throughput of raw materials would it take to fulfill this rocket demand?

First, let's quantify some recipes. 1 rocket part=10 LDS+10 RCU+10 rocket fuel\mathrm{1\ rocket\ part=10\ LDS+10\ RCU+10\ rocket\ fuel}. LDS is low density structure, and RCU is a rocket control unit.
Now, 1 LDS=20 copper+5 plastic+2 steel\mathrm{1\ LDS=20\ copper+5\ plastic+2\ steel}, 1 RCU=32.5 copper+15 iron+10 plastic+1 blue circuit\mathrm{1\ RCU=32.5\ copper+15\ iron+10\ plastic+1\ blue\ circuit}, and 1 rocket fuel=110 light oil\mathrm{1\ rocket\ fuel=110\ light\ oil}.

Let's put it all into one big equation. First, the complex materials for each rocket. 1620 rocket1 hour×100 rocket part1 rocket×(10 LDS1 rocket part+10 RCU1 rocket part+10 rocket fuel1 rocket part)\mathrm{ \frac{1620\ rocket}{1\ hour}\times \frac{100\ rocket\ part}{1\ rocket}\times \left( \frac{10\ LDS}{1\ rocket\ part}+ \frac{10\ RCU}{1\ rocket\ part}+ \frac{10\ rocket\ fuel}{1\ rocket\ part} \right) } Now, let's separate the materials out into their raw components. 1620 rocket1 hour×100 rocket part1 rocket×((10 LDS1 rocket part×(20 copper+5 plastic+2 steel)1 LDS)+(10 RCU1 rocket part×(32.5 copper+15 iron+10 plastic+1 blue circuit)1 RCU)+(10 rocket fuel1 rocket part×110 light oil1 rocket fuel))\mathrm{ \frac{1620\ rocket}{1\ hour}\times \frac{100\ rocket\ part}{1\ rocket}\times \left( \left(\frac{10\ LDS}{1\ rocket\ part}\times\frac{(20\ copper+5\ plastic+2\ steel)}{1\ LDS}\right)+ \left(\frac{10\ RCU}{1\ rocket\ part}\times\frac{(32.5\ copper+15\ iron+10\ plastic+1\ blue\ circuit)}{1\ RCU}\right)+ \left(\frac{10\ rocket\ fuel}{1\ rocket\ part}\times\frac{110\ light\ oil}{1\ rocket\ fuel}\right) \right) } What a massive equation! Let's simplify. 1620 rocket1 hour×100 rocket part1 rocket×(200 copper+50 plastic+20 steel1 rocket part+325 copper+150 iron+100 plastic+10 blue circuit1 rocket part+1100 light oil1 rocket part)\mathrm{ \frac{1620\ rocket}{1\ hour}\times \frac{100\ rocket\ part}{1\ rocket}\times \left( \frac{200\ copper+50\ plastic+20\ steel}{1\ rocket\ part}+ \frac{325\ copper+150\ iron+100\ plastic+10\ blue\ circuit}{1\ rocket\ part}+ \frac{1100\ light\ oil}{1\ rocket\ part} \right) } 1620 rocket1 hour×100 rocket part1 rocket×150 iron+525 copper+150 plastic+20 steel+10 blue circuit+1100 light oil1 rocket part\mathrm{ \frac{1620\ rocket}{1\ hour}\times \frac{100\ rocket\ part}{1\ rocket}\times \frac{ 150\ iron+ 525\ copper+ 150\ plastic+ 20\ steel+ 10\ blue\ circuit+ 1100\ light\ oil }{1\ rocket\ part} } 1620 rocket1 hour×15000 iron+52500 copper+15000 plastic+2000 steel+1000 blue circuit+110000 light oil1 rocket\mathrm{ \frac{1620\ rocket}{1\ hour}\times \frac{ 15000\ iron+ 52500\ copper+ 15000\ plastic+ 2000\ steel+ 1000\ blue\ circuit+ 110000\ light\ oil }{1\ rocket} } 24300000 iron+85050000 copper+24300000 plastic+3240000 steel+1620000 blue circuit+178200000 light oil1 hour\mathrm{ \frac{ 24300000\ iron+ 85050000\ copper+ 24300000\ plastic+ 3240000\ steel+ 1620000\ blue\ circuit+ 178200000\ light\ oil }{1\ hour} } That's how many raw materials you would need per hour for rockets to automate a full belt of Spidertrons! Let's convert to seconds and ticks to get a better sense of scale. 6750 iron+23625 copper+6750 plastic+900 steel+450 blue circuit+49500 light oil1 second\mathrm{ \frac{ 6750\ iron+ 23625\ copper+ 6750\ plastic+ 900\ steel+ 450\ blue\ circuit+ 49500\ light\ oil }{1\ second} } 112.5 iron+393.75 copper+112.5 plastic+15 steel+7.5 blue circuit+825 light oil1 tick\mathrm{ \frac{ 112.5\ iron+ 393.75\ copper+ 112.5\ plastic+ 15\ steel+ 7.5\ blue\ circuit+ 825\ light\ oil }{1\ tick} } Is this insurmountible? I mean... if a bunch of players can get together and make a 1 million science per minute base, who knows what's possible?