How to Use Dyson Sphere Program Calculator
The Dyson Sphere Program Calculator turns a single production target into a complete supply chain plan. It is designed for mid-to-late-game factory planning in DSP, where production chains can span five or more tiers of intermediate goods.
- Select a target item — Choose from categories including Ingots & Alloys, Components, Advanced Materials, and Energy items (up to Solar Sail, Dyson Sphere Component, and Small Carrier Rocket).
- Set the production rate — Enter how many units per minute you want the final output belt to carry. Use the quick-select buttons (30, 60, 120, 360, 720) for common conveyor belt speeds.
- Configure building tiers — For each building type (Smelter, Assembler, Chemical Plant, etc.) choose the upgrade tier you have unlocked. Higher tier buildings produce faster and change the number of buildings required.
- Read the results — The Dyson Sphere Program Calculator displays a hierarchical production chain table, summary cards for total power consumption and raw resource inputs, and exact (ceiled) building counts per tier.
Each row in the table is indented to show parent-child dependency. Items highlighted in amber are raw resources that must be mined or harvested directly.
Formula & Theory - Dyson Sphere Program Calculator
The Dyson Sphere Program Calculator uses the following core formulas:
Output per Building (units/min) =
(Recipe Output Qty ÷ Craft Time in Seconds) × 60 × Building Speed Multiplier
Buildings Required =
Target Output per Minute ÷ Output per Building (per building)
Buildings (ceiled) = CEIL(Buildings Required)
Input per Minute for each ingredient =
(Ingredient Qty ÷ Craft Time) × 60 × Building Speed Multiplier × Buildings Required
Total Power (kW) = Σ (Buildings Ceiled × Power per Building)| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Recipe Output Qty | Units produced per single craft cycle |
| Craft Time | Seconds for one craft cycle at 1× speed |
| Building Speed Multiplier | 0.75× (Mk.I), 1.0× (Mk.II / base), 1.5× (Mk.III / Plane Smelter), etc. |
| Target Output per Minute | User-specified goal in units per minute |
| Power per Building | Approximate kW consumption at 100% clock |
Assumptions and Limits
- All calculations use vanilla DSP recipes at 100% clock speed (no proliferators, no overclocking).
- Recipes are for the default (non-advanced) crafting path. Alternative recipes (e.g., graphene from fire ice) are not included.
- Building counts are rounded up (ceiling), which means actual output slightly exceeds the target.
- The recipe tree stops expanding at raw resources: Iron Ore, Copper Ore, Stone, Coal, Titanium Ore, Organic Crystal, Sulfuric Acid, Hydrogen, Deuterium, Antimatter, and Water.
- Power values are approximate averages for idle + active states.
Use Cases for Dyson Sphere Program Calculator
The Dyson Sphere Program Calculator is the right tool whenever you need to plan before you build:
- Production line sizing — Determine exactly how many Assembler Mk.IIIs you need to produce 360 Processors per minute before laying down any belts.
- Bottleneck analysis — Identify which raw material will run out first by checking the raw resource input panel against your mining rates.
- Power budget planning — Sum the total MW across your target items to ensure your power grid can handle a new factory expansion.
- Dyson Sphere rush — Calculate the full supply chain for Small Carrier Rockets or Solar Sails to estimate how many planets worth of resources you need to tap.
- Upgrading factories — Re-run the calculation with Mk.III Assemblers or Plane Smelters selected to see how many buildings you can remove while maintaining the same output.