Overclocking is a useful feature in Satisfactory that can help increase production in your factories, but figuring out how to unlock and use it properly can be daunting.
You may have noticed the option to unlock this feature while playing, or you could have heard about it online. No matter the cause, Overclocking is important if you want streamlined assembly lines such as Coal Power Plants or a Smart Plating factory.
We’ll explain how Overclocking works, why you should unlock it, and where it’s most useful in your Satisfactory 1.0 factories.
What is Overclocking?
The purpose of Overclocking is to increase the production speed of your machines. Just as there is Overclocking, there is also Underclocking, which can lower the speed of your operations.
You can change the clock speed of any device from 1-250%. A normal production is set to 100%. Anything above that is Overclocking, and below that is considered Underclocking. If you find that one production line is moving too slowly, Overclocking may be a good idea.
How to unlock Overclocking
To unlock the ability to Overclock or Underclock your machines, you need to research the Power Slug Research chain in the MAM.
Once you research Blue Power Slugs, one of the next available research options is Overclock Production. Here are the necessary materials required to research this feature:
- x1 Power Shard
- x50 Iron Plate
- x50 Wire
Iron Plates and Wires can be made by hand with Iron and Copper Ingots respectively, and you can craft Power Shards using Blue, Yellow, or Purple Power Slugs.
You’ll already have the crafting recipe for Power Shards from Blue Power Slugs, but the Yellow and Purple equivalents will be in the same research chain of the MAM.
You can find Blue Power Slugs around the open world, and once you obtain them, you can use a Craft Bench to create a Power Shard. These will be important for Overclocking too, so make sure to collect as many of these slugs as possible.
We recommend you unlock Slug Scanning in the research chain since it’ll allow you to scan for them in the wild.
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How to Overclock a machine
Many types of machines and buildings support the Overclocking ability, including Smelters, Constructors, and Assemblers. To get a machine to do this, interact with it. At the bottom of the screen, you should see a new section for changing the clock speed.
To Overclock, you’ll need Power Shards, which you can manually insert from your inventory into the machine. To set your clock speed, you can do this in multiple different ways:
- Drag the slider
- Enter a percentage or formula
- Enter a target production rate
Of course, with a higher clock speed, you’ll also need more power to run it. Make sure that you have enough power to Overclock your devices, or else you may cause a Fuse Break.
Once you have enough Power Shards, dragging the slider to the right increases the speed, and moving the slider left makes it run slower. This is the easiest way to alter the clock speed.
The best machines to Overclock or Underclock
The best buildings to Overclock are your Miners and Generators.
Overclocking your Miners or Extractors is great if you want to acquire more resources faster. This is especially true when you’re not mining from Pure Ore Nodes, and the same goes for Oil Nodes. The less pure the node is, the slower it’ll extract the resource, but Overclocking can change that.
Overclocking Generators is also a good idea since this can improve the amount of power you’re generating for your power grid. Changing a Generator’s clock speed will either burn the fuel faster or slower, it won’t change the amount of energy it produces.
In terms of Underclocking, the best time to slow down a machine is when they’re working too fast in an assembly line with other units that are working slower.
To prevent a backlog of resources, you may want to consider slowing things like Smelters or Constructors, which may be acting too fast compared to Assemblers or Manufacturers.
Now that you’re an expert on Overclocking and Underclocking your machinery in Satisfactory, check out our other guides on finding all Hard Drives and the best ways to clear your base.