Getting Started
How do I open the skill window?
Press Alt+K, or click the ✦ Skill System button in the shortcut bar at the top of the screen.
Is there a cheat/debug menu?
Yes — Alt+Shift+K opens the developer panel. It lets you add levels, give XP, grant skill points or clear all progress so far for a reset.
Do I need to do anything special to install it?
No. Drop the mod zip into your Factorio mods folder and start the game. The skill system initialises automatically when you create or load a save. XP starts accumulating immediately.
Progression
Progression feels too fast — I'm getting too many skill points.
Open Settings → Mod Settings → Startup and turn off Balanced Progression. You can then set Skill Points per Level manually to whatever feels right. The default is 7 — try 3 or 4 for a more challenging experience where you have to make real choices between trees.
Progression feels too slow — I can't afford the skills I want.
A few options:
- Open Settings → Mod Settings → Runtime and increase the XP Gain Multiplier (e.g. 2× for double XP from everything).
- Open the developer panel with Alt+Shift+K and add levels or skill points directly. No judgment — this is a single-player mod.
- If you're early game, focus on one tree rather than spreading points thin. The Speed or Survival trees pay off quickly with minimal investment.
What is the level cap?
The level cap is 999, which is effectively infinite. You will never realistically hit it in a normal playthrough. The XP curve scales steeply — each level past 65 or so requires significantly more XP than the last.
Can I max everything?
With Balanced Progression on (the default), you earn 7 skill points per level. Fully investing all finite skill trees costs 423 points. At 7pt/level you'll have comfortably enough to max all finite skills and still have points left for the infinite Capstone skills. The Capstone skills have no cap and are designed as permanent point sinks.
What are Capstone Skills?
The ✦ Capstone Skills tab contains two infinite skills unlocked after mastering the main trees:
- Synergy — requires Overclock 5, Mass Production 5, and Last Stand 5. Gives +10% to all character stats per level, permanently, with no cap.
- Research Productivity — requires Synergy 1. Gives +5% laboratory productivity per level, with no cap. Each level is meaningful no matter how high you go.
Skills & Trees
What do the tabs mean?
| Tab | Trees | What it affects |
|---|---|---|
| ⚔ Player | Speed, Survival, Combat | You — movement, health, inventory, robots |
| ⚙ Factory | Production, Knowledge | Your factory — mining, smelting, research |
| 🔧 Engineering | Engineering | Alternate recipes and manufacturing productivity |
| ✦ Capstone Skills | Capstone Skills | Infinite scaling bonuses |
What skills should I prioritise early?
It depends on your playstyle, but good early investments are:
- Swift Feet (Speed) — the movement speed bonus is useful immediately and stays relevant forever.
- Fortitude (Survival) — more health means fewer deaths early game when biters are aggressive.
- Keen Eye (Production) — faster hand-mining speeds up the first hour significantly.
- Eureka (Knowledge) — research speed compounds over the whole run, so earlier is better.
What are the alternate recipes from the Engineering tree?
Unlocking Engineering skills adds cheaper alternate recipes to your crafting menu:
| Skill | Recipe | Savings |
|---|---|---|
| Material Efficiency | Efficient Iron Gear Wheel | 1 iron plate instead of 2 |
| Efficient Circuits | Efficient Electronic Circuit | 1 copper cable instead of 3 |
| Advanced Smelting | Efficient Steel Plate | 3 iron plates instead of 5 |
| Nano-Fabrication | Efficient Advanced Circuit | Half the usual ingredients |
These work in assembling machines too — just set the recipe as you would any other.
What does Production Mastery affect?
Production Mastery (Engineering T4) applies a productivity bonus to a wide range of manufacturing recipes across both assemblers and furnaces. It unlocks more recipe tiers as you invest deeper:
- Level 1+ — Iron gears, copper cable, pipe, transport belts, inserters, green circuits
- Level 3+ — Fast belts/inserters, assembling machines 1–2, plastic bars
- Level 5+ — Advanced circuits, express belts, bulk inserters, assembler 3, electric furnace, engine units
- Level 7+ — Processing units, robot frames, rocket components, Space Age materials
How does Research Productivity work? I can't see a progress bar in my labs.
The productivity bonus applies directly to your force via laboratory_productivity_bonus. It's real and working — Factorio 2.1 removed the lab productivity bar from the UI, so there's no visual indicator inside the lab itself. You can verify it's active by running this in the console:
/c game.player.print(game.player.force.laboratory_productivity_bonus)
This will print the current bonus as a decimal (e.g. 0.25 = +25%).
What does Adrenaline Rush actually do?
Adrenaline Rush (Speed T3) gives you a temporary burst of movement speed when you take damage. The boost lasts 3–7.5 seconds depending on skill level, with a 1-second cooldown between triggers. It pairs well with Combat tree skills — getting hit in a fight makes you faster and harder to catch.
How does Rapid Deployment work?
Rapid Deployment (Combat T1) automatically throws combat robots from your inventory when you take damage, targeting the nearest enemy. It has a 3-second cooldown per trigger. You need to have combat robot capsules (Defender, Distractor, or Destroyer) in your inventory for it to work. You can toggle it on/off from the skill window without losing the invested levels.
Multiplayer
Does this work in multiplayer?
Yes. Force-level bonuses (mining productivity, research speed, lab productivity, inserter stack size, recipe productivity) apply to the whole force — everyone benefits from whoever has invested the most in those skills. Character-level bonuses (movement speed, health, inventory) are per-player.
Is there a shared XP option?
Yes — enable Shared XP in Settings → Mod Settings → Runtime. With this on, XP earned by any player is granted to all connected players on the same surface. Good for co-op where players have different playstyles.
Troubleshooting
Can I change my keybinds?
Yes — go to Settings → Controls and search for "Skill System". You can rebind the skill window to any key you like. The shortcut bar button will also update to show the new keybind automatically.
Something is broken.
Report it. Include your Factorio version, mod version, and what you were doing when it broke.
Misc
Will this conflict with other mods?
The mod modifies productivity settings on certain base-game recipes (allow_productivity = true). If another mod also modifies the same recipes this could cause ordering conflicts — but in practice this is uncommon and usually harmless. Force-level modifiers like mining_drill_productivity_bonus and laboratory_speed_modifier will stack additively with any other mods that write the same properties.
Can I suggest new skills or features?
Yes — I am keen for more ideas on where to take the mod.