Factorio is a game of incremental resource collecting and processing, with the aim of being as efficient as possible. It is a playground for those who like mechanical elements and organisation. Vanilla Factorio works very well, and there aren’t any glaring weaknesses that some of the other modding communities have had to work on in their respective games.
So what exactly do the best mods for Factorio in 2023 consist of? The community has been able to devote its time completely to making extra game content, overhauling graphics, or even making it easier to keep track of the structures you’ve already built.
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Best Factorio mods for 2023
Bob’s Modpack
Bob's mods are some of the most famous mods in the community and a great place to start. In fact, user Bobingabout has made such authentic additions to the game that many consider them to be almost vanilla. They range from adding new power structures and assembling machines, to the much-beloved Bob’s Greenhouse mod that produces wood without players having to deforest the planet.
Angel’s Modpack
Angel’s Modpacks are the second set of mods that most in the community find it difficult to play without. They work best in conjunction with Bobmods, as they include links to Bob’s technologies and recipes. The mods made by Arch666Angel tend to focus on processing mechanics. They allow players to refine ores in order to make smelting easier, or recycle waste products into useable biological fuel.
Squeak Through
You’ve expertly crafted your base to be as efficient as possible, and production rates for all resources are through the roof. There’s only one problem though, and that’s the fact that you’ve left no room to be able to run around and access anything.
Squeak Through reduces the hitboxes for structures, making it easier to squeeze past them and get to where you need to be. This will only become more important the longer you play the game, as your base gets overwhelmed with solar panels, steam engines, and factories.
Helmod: Assistant for planning your factory
Factorio is a game of resource collecting and processing, but it’s also a game of intricate planning. With more advanced materials difficult to come by, it can be important to understand exactly where you need to place a specific building.
Helmod is a mod that helps with all aspects of planning your factory. It can calculate required ingredients, products, power consumption, and more in an easy-to-read overlay. This can be invaluable, especially considering things like power production can become easily overwhelmed.
Jetpack
This mod does exactly what it says in the title. It allows players to build a Jetpack so they can travel at high speeds across the world. Not only does it let the player travel over water, but also buildings too. When the world begins to open up and there are multiple bases across different resource deposits, it means you can travel easily between them.
There are also multiple levels of the jetpack. You can upgrade it to grant increasing speed, as well as adding armour. However, you must keep an eye on the rocket fuel you have stored in your inventory. If it runs out at a bad time, you could very well get stuck somewhere!
Bottleneck
Once you’ve invested enough time and effort into your base, it can become easy to lose track of exactly how well each part is doing. You have seen the belt moving out of the corner of your eye so many times, that you fail to notice when it stops.
This mod will give all machines, plants, furnaces and drills an indicator light that will easily show you whereabouts the ‘bottleneck’ is. Green is easy, it signals that the structure is fine and that no further actions are required. Yellow will highlight that there is a problem with the output, often the belts will be backed up due to a problem further down the line. Lastly, red will show that there is no input to the machine, meaning that you can rebalance how belts feed into the machines, or if a resource has finally been depleted.
Krastorio 2
Krastorio 2 is widely regarded as the best introduction to the overhaul modded scene in Factorio. It has far too much to talk about in two small paragraphs, so it’s very much advised to check out the page if this kind of thing interests you. It adds hundreds of new concepts to the game, from new buildings to over 100 new technologies.
This mod is perfect if you want to experience Factorio, but in a new way that doesn’t make it too difficult. Many of the overhaul mods make the assumption that the player is a veteran player, but not Krastorio. It has a unique style and is worth starting a new game to at least check it out.
Space Exploration
Space Exploration is another overhaul mod, but brings the unique experience of playing Factorio in, you guessed it, space! Of course, the game does start you on a planet so that you can actually build your space station, but once you’re up there, you can keep expanding it to your heart's content.
There are new planets and moons for you to explore, as well as new resources and technology. The developer of the mod has even hidden secrets and puzzles into the experience for players to find. However, this mod does assume that you have a level of knowledge about the game, and as with Krastorio, it will not work with many other mods installed. That being said, it’s free and easy to install, so it’s perfect if you want to try out something new.
For more articles on modding, check out our favourite mods in this month's round-up, or how about the best mods for Terraria?