Discharge defense — Factorio Production Calculator
Discharge defense is crafted in the assembling machine in 10 seconds, producing 1 per craft from 5 × Processing unit, 20 × Steel plate, 10 × Laser turret. At 60 per minute you need 20 assembling machines, and the chain behind it draws on 5 raw resources: water, petroleum gas, iron ore, copper ore, coal.
Production chain for 60 Discharge defense / minute
| Item | Per minute | Machines | Machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sulfuric acid | 145,500 | 48.5 | Chemical plant |
| Iron plate | 95,310 | 5,083.2 | Furnace |
| Copper cable | 60,000 | 500 | Assembling machine |
| Copper plate | 37,200 | 1,984 | Furnace |
| Electronic circuit | 19,200 | 320 | Assembling machine |
| Sulfur | 14,550 | 121.25 | Chemical plant |
| Steel plate | 13,200 | 3,520 | Furnace |
| Battery | 7,200 | 480 | Chemical plant |
| Plastic bar | 1,200 | 10 | Chemical plant |
| Advanced circuit | 600 | 120 | Assembling machine |
| Laser turret | 600 | 400 | Assembling machine |
| Processing unit | 300 | 100 | Assembling machine |
| Discharge defense | 60 | 20 | Assembling machine |
Raw materials
| Resource | Per minute |
|---|---|
| Water | 509,250 |
| Petroleum gas | 230,250 |
| Iron ore | 95,310 |
| Copper ore | 37,200 |
| Coal | 600 |
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.
Discharge defense recipe
| Machine | Crafting time | Output | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assembling machine | 10 s | 1 | Processing unit × 5, Steel plate × 20, Laser turret × 10 |
What the whole chain needs
60 discharge defenses per minute pulls in 12 intermediate products, and the whole tree comes to 12,707 machines across 3 machine types, fed by 5 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 509,250 per minute, which is 565.83 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 discharge defense
No base-game recipe consumes discharge defense — it is an end product. Once you build it, the chain stops here, which makes it a good target if you only want to size the sub-factory that feeds your mall.
What discharge defense is made from
- Processing unit — 5 per craft
- Steel plate — 20 per craft
- Laser turret — 10 per craft
FAQ
How many assembling machines do I need for 60 discharge defenses per minute?
20 assembling machines. One at standard speed produces 3 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 discharge defense take?
At 60/min the chain consumes 509,250 water per minute, 230,250 petroleum gas per minute, 95,310 iron ore per minute and 2 more. Those numbers are the theoretical minimum — mining productivity research and productivity modules both reduce them.
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.