Defender capsule — Factorio Production Calculator
Defender capsule is crafted in the assembling machine in 8 seconds, producing 1 per craft from 3 × Piercing rounds magazine, 3 × Electronic circuit, 3 × Iron gear wheel. At 60 per minute you need 16 assembling machines, and the chain behind it draws on 2 raw resources: iron ore, copper ore.
Production chain for 60 Defender capsule / minute
| Item | Per minute | Machines | Machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron plate | 1,710 | 91.2 | Furnace |
| Copper cable | 540 | 4.5 | Assembling machine |
| Copper plate | 450 | 24 | Furnace |
| Piercing rounds magazine | 180 | 18 | Assembling machine |
| Firearm magazine | 180 | 6 | Assembling machine |
| Electronic circuit | 180 | 3 | Assembling machine |
| Iron gear wheel | 180 | 3 | Assembling machine |
| Steel plate | 90 | 24 | Furnace |
| Defender capsule | 60 | 16 | Assembling machine |
Raw materials
| Resource | Per minute |
|---|---|
| Iron ore | 1,710 |
| Copper ore | 450 |
Machine counts are not rounded up. Add a little headroom in game — belt throughput and inserter speed usually mean you want 5-10% more than the exact number.
Defender capsule recipe
| Machine | Crafting time | Output | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assembling machine | 8 s | 1 | Piercing rounds magazine × 3, Electronic circuit × 3, Iron gear wheel × 3 |
What the whole chain needs
60 defender capsules per minute pulls in 8 intermediate products, and the whole tree comes to 190 machines across 2 machine types, fed by 2 raw resources. The table above already sums demand across every branch — if copper cable is used by two recipes, you see the total, not one of them.
Belt check: the busiest input here moves 1,710 per minute, which is 1.9 of a yellow belt's 900 per minute. Above 1.0 and you need a second belt (or a faster tier) before the machines themselves become the limit.
What uses defender capsule
1 base-game recipe consumes defender capsule, sorted by how much each one takes:
- Distractor capsule — 4 per craft
What defender capsule is made from
- Piercing rounds magazine — 3 per craft
- Electronic circuit — 3 per craft
- Iron gear wheel — 3 per craft
FAQ
How many assembling machines do I need for 60 defender capsules per minute?
16 assembling machines. One at standard speed produces 3.8 per minute, so 60 ÷ that number is the count. The calculator above rounds nothing — add 5-10% headroom for belt and inserter losses in a real factory.
How much raw ore does defender capsule take?
At 60/min the chain consumes 1,710 iron ore per minute, 450 copper ore per minute. Those numbers are the theoretical minimum — mining productivity research and productivity modules both reduce them.
Is defender capsule needed for science packs?
Not directly. It feeds Distractor capsule, and those in turn feed the science packs. Open the science pack page to see the demand that lands on this recipe.
Machine counts assume bare machines at standard speed. Recipe data comes from the game's own prototypes (PlayerCalc, Factorio 2.0 base game). Not affiliated with Wube Software.