dota_factory/docs/balancing/derived.md

Derived Values (current tuned state)

Everything here is derived from targets.md under the rules in rules.md, and mirrors the config files. Item threats, ship threats, ratios, and belt checks are verified by tools/threat_report.py — re-run it after any recipe or material change and update this file when values move. Combat stats were tuned empirically against the arena suite in bin/balancing/data/balancing.toml (round-by-round record in history.md).

Economy constants

• scrap_per_threat = 0.25 — 1 scrap per 4 threat destroyed (a cruiser kill drops ~59 scrap); threat(scrap) = 4.
• Scrap smelting: 1 scrap → 1 iron_ingot, 1 s — deliberately value-losing; reprocessing is the value-preserving path.
• Reprocessing: 4 scrap per cycle, 4 s; full-pool weights iron_ingot 30 / copper_ingot 30 / silicon 20 / voidsteel 20 → threat(voidsteel) = (4·4 + 4)/0.2 = 100.
• debris_despawn_seconds = 120 (a capital kill drops hundreds of scrap, collected one per salvage cycle).

Recipes and item threats

(dur in seconds; threat is per output unit)

item	recipe	dur	out	threat
iron_ore / copper_ore	miner	1	1	1
quartz	miner (deposit)	2	1	2
iron_ingot	1 iron_ore	1	1	2
copper_ingot	1 copper_ore	1	1	2
silicon	1 quartz	2	1	4
steel_plate	2 iron_ingot	3	1	7
copper_wire	1 copper_ingot	1	2	1.5
copper_coil	2 copper_wire	1.5	1	4.5
building_block	2 steel_plate	2	4	4
control_chip	1 silicon + 2 copper_wire	5	1	12
capacitor_bank	2 copper_coil + 1 silicon	5	1	18
hardened_steel	3 steel_plate	12	1	33
ceramic_plate	2 quartz	4	1	8
drive_unit	2 steel_plate + 2 copper_coil + 1 control_chip	8	1	43
voidsteel_plate	1 voidsteel + 1 hardened_steel	8	1	141
capital_core	2 voidsteel + 1 capacitor_bank + 1 control_chip	10	1	240

Shortcut recipes (drop-only; item threat stays defined by the base path via the max rule): direct_rolling 3 iron_ore → 1 plate (2 s, level 1), direct_etching 2 quartz → 1 chip (4 s, level 2), direct_hardening 4 iron_ingot → 1 hardened (8 s, level 2).

Ratio curve realized: t1 all 1:1 (miner:smelter); t2 clean 2:3 (ingot→plate, wire→coil); t3 strange — 2:5 (silicon→chip), 3:5 (coil→capacitor), 3:4 (plate→hardened, plate→drive); t4 inverted 3:2 (hardened→voidsteel_plate). Belt check: worst input demand 1.33 items/s, under the ~2/s single-belt cap everywhere.

Module prefabs

(contribution = item threat + module production time)

module	recipe	dur	mod. time	contribution
railgun_s	1 copper_coil	1	1	6.5
salvager	1 steel_plate + 2 copper_wire	2	1	13
repair_tool	1 steel_plate + 2 copper_wire	2	1	13
armor_plates	4 steel_plate	3	1	32
maneuvering_thrusters	1 steel_plate + 1 copper_coil	2	1	14.5
sensor_booster	2 copper_wire + 1 copper_coil	2	1	10.5
afterburner	2 copper_coil + 1 steel_plate	3	1	20
weapon_stabilizer	1 steel_plate + 1 copper_coil	2	1	14.5
weapon_primer	1 capacitor_bank + 1 copper_coil	4	2	28.5
weapon_upgrade	1 control_chip + 1 copper_coil	4	2	22.5
railgun_m	1 capacitor_bank + 2 steel_plate + 1 copper_coil	4	3	43.5
drone_bay	1 control_chip + 2 steel_plate + 1 copper_coil	4	3	37.5
railgun_l	1 capacitor_bank + 2 hardened_steel + 1 ceramic_plate	6	4	102
drone_hangar	1 voidsteel_plate + 2 control_chip + 1 drive_unit	10	6	224

Ships

(fitted = hull item + ship base time + default loadout; the default loadouts are the default_modules used by enemy waves and are geometry-validated against the hull grids)

ship	hull recipe	dur	base	default loadout	fitted
drone	1 iron_ingot	1	1	railgun_s	10.5
frigate	2 steel_plate + 1 copper_wire	2	2	2× railgun_s, maneuvering_thrusters	47
destroyer	3 steel_plate + 2 copper_coil	4	3	3× railgun_s, armor_plates, sensor_booster	99
cruiser	2 hardened_steel + 2 control_chip	6	4	2× railgun_m, armor_plates, maneuvering_thrusters	233.5
battlecruiser	3 hardened_steel + 2 control_chip + 1 drive_unit	8	5	3× railgun_m, armor_plates, 2× railgun_s	354.5
battleship	3 voidsteel_plate + 1 drive_unit + 2 control_chip	10	6	railgun_l, 2× railgun_m, weapon_stabilizer, 2× railgun_s	722.5
dreadnought	5 voidsteel_plate + 1 capital_core + 2 drive_unit	12	8	3× railgun_l, 4× armor_plates, railgun_s	1491.5
carrier	5 voidsteel_plate + 1 capital_core + 2 drive_unit	12	8	drone_hangar, 2× railgun_m, 2× armor_plates, sensor_booster	1436.5

Combat stats

(arena-converged, 2026-07; see history.md rounds 1–5)

Weapons: railgun_s 2 dmg × 2.0 Hz (4.0 DPS), range 50 m; railgun_m 14 × 1.5 (21), range 70; railgun_l 52 × 0.8 (41.6), range 100.

Hull HP (15/threat prior + empirical trims): drone 60, frigate 300, destroyer 550, cruiser 1500, battlecruiser 2400, battleship 6300, dreadnought/carrier 24000.

Mobility ladder (speed m/s | main accel | maneuvering | angular | max rot): drone 45|60|30|12|6, frigate 35|45|22|8|4, destroyer 30|35|18|6|3, cruiser 24|25|12|4|2, battlecruiser 20|20|10|3|1.5, battleship 15|14|7|2|1, dreadnought/carrier 10|8|4|1|0.5. Sensors: 150/200/220/250/260/280/300/350 m.

Other modules: armor_plates +1200 HP; repair_tool 9 HP × 1 Hz, range 80; salvager range 60, cargo 20, 0.5 collections/s; afterburner ×1.6 speed +60 accel; maneuvering_thrusters ×1.2 speed +10 maneuvering; sensor_booster +50 m; weapon_upgrade ×1.2 damage; weapon_primer ×1.2 rate; weapon_stabilizer ×1.3 range ×0.8 rate.

Stations: HQ 5000 HP. Player station 3000 HP, 25 dmg × 1 Hz, range 120, scrap 40. Enemy station: 3000+1500x HP, 25+12x dmg, 1.0+0.1x Hz, range 120, scrap 40+30x (x = push level).

Pacing

Unlock ladder (level → unlocks; ← marks unlock_requires; starting set at −1: drone, frigate, railgun_s, salvager, block_pressing recipe):

level	ships	modules	recipes
0	destroyer	repair_tool, armor_plates
1		maneuvering_thrusters, sensor_booster	direct_rolling
2	cruiser	railgun_m, afterburner	direct_etching, direct_hardening
3		weapon_stabilizer
4	battlecruiser ← cruiser	weapon_primer, weapon_upgrade
5		drone_bay
6	battleship ← battlecruiser	railgun_l ← railgun_m
8	dreadnought ← battleship
9	carrier ← battleship	drone_hangar

Level 0's pool has exactly three entries (a full first dialog). Level 2 is the quartz gate: cruiser and railgun_m are the first schematics whose chains reach quartz; the shortcut outputs only become implicitly unlocked alongside them, so shortcuts cannot drop early.

Threat rate 2*x + 0.15*x*x (x = boss cycle counter), against the factory-size curve with ~half the player's output assumed military:

cycle x	rate (threat/s)	player military (≈ curve/2)
2	4.6	~12
6	17.4	~30
15	63.8	~60
20	100	~75
24	134	—

Economy: starting_building_blocks = 200; expansion cost formula 300 + 50*x + 10*x*x (x = expansions already purchased: ~1 affordable per cycle mid-game at ~1/3 of block income, stretching to 2–3 cycles late — quadratic so costs outrun the roughly linear block income gradually, never with a hard wall); artifact_win_count = 5 with artifact_chance_formula = 0.05*x. Building costs: belt 2, splitter 3, tunnels 5, miner 15, smelter 20, assembler 35, reprocessing plant 40, salvage bay 25, shipyard 60 — averaging ≈18 blocks per placed building (belts included), which meets the 4-minute doubling target at block threat 4.