Radar Upgrades

Adds two research lines of 10 levels that upgrade every radar in the game: the vanilla radar and any modded radar a player can build.

• Radar range: radars continuously reveal a larger area and explore further.
• Radar scan speed: radars explore new sectors faster, without using more power.

Factorio has no research bonus for radars. This mod adds them, shows them in the Bonuses panel, and keeps blueprints, copy/paste and upgrade planners working exactly as before.

Research

Both range bonuses have their own startup setting. The exploration range never drops below the continuous view: a radar never wastes time scanning sectors it already sees.

Cost

The unit count doubles at every level: 50, 100, 200 … up to 25,600 at level 10 (30 s per unit).

Science packs are added progressively, from automation packs only at level 1 to every available pack at level 10:

Packs are detected at load time (they must exist, be craftable and be accepted by a lab), and each level requires the technologies that unlock its new packs. With Space Age, level 10 goes all the way to promethium.

Example values

Radius in chunks (continuous view / exploration). The covered square is 2 × radius + 1 chunks wide.

Quality stacks on top of the research. The research raises the radar's base range, and the game then adds its usual quality bonus (+5 chunks for legendary). Scan speed is not affected by quality.

Bonuses panel

The current bonuses (continuous view, exploration range, scan speed) are shown in the vanilla Bonuses panel through the Custom Bonus GUI library.

Early in the game, the vanilla Bonuses button stays disabled until you have a vanilla bonus. Use the /bonus command to open the panel anyway.

Settings (startup)

All settings only change numbers, never prototype names: they are safe to change on an existing save.

How it works

For every player-buildable radar, the mod generates hidden variants, one for each combination of range and speed levels. When a research is finished, the radars of that force are swapped to the matching variant, keeping their position, quality, health, owner and circuit wires.

• Pipette, blueprints, copy/paste, mining and upgrade planners use the original radar item.
• Newly built radars (by hand, robots, platforms or other mods) get the current levels right away.
• No script runs every tick: the mod only reacts to building and research events.

Performance

The mod itself costs nothing while the game runs. The game does more work for larger radars: the continuously revealed area grows with the square of the radius (a vanilla radar at level 10 reveals 27 × 27 chunks instead of 7 × 7), and faster, longer-range scanning generates new map chunks faster (larger save). If you raise the range settings on a big base with many radars, keep an eye on UPS.

Requirements

• Factorio 2.1
• Custom Bonus GUI (installed automatically as a dependency)
• Space Age is optional

Compatibility

• Works with or without Space Age.
• Any mod adding buildable radars is supported automatically. Script-only radars from other mods are left untouched.
• Safe to add to an existing save.

Removing the mod

Upgraded radars are hidden variants that only exist while the mod is installed. Before removing the mod:

1. Run /radar-upgrades-revert (admin only): every radar goes back to its original version and upgrades are paused.
2. Save the game.
3. Remove the mod.

Otherwise, upgraded radars are deleted from the map. /radar-upgrades-enable re-enables the upgrades if you change your mind.