Production Chain Calculator
Link buildings, crops, critters and geysers into one system — outputs feeding inputs — and see whether the whole chain balances: per-machine uptime, bottlenecks with the exact shortfall, resource surpluses and deficits, and net power. Start from a proven preset, then tweak it or build your own chain from scratch.
Whole-system planning, not single-building math
Every other ONI tool computes one building or one crop at a time and leaves you to chain the numbers by hand. This calculator solves the entire sequence or loop: pick your producers and consumers, wire outputs into inputs, and it works out the steady state of the whole system — including genuine cycles like a petroleum loop that recycles its own polluted water. Every machine shows its real uptime, bottlenecked machines are called out with the exact shortfall ("short 0.5 kg/s Water"), and a rendered diagram shows the whole chain with solved flow rates on every connection.
Start from a preset — a SPOM, a hatch ranch feeding a coal generator, the classic 4-distillers-per-petroleum-generator ethanol chain — and tweak counts and utilization, or build from scratch. Unconnected inputs are treated as externally supplied, so a partial chain still solves; add explicit supplies and vents when you want them modeled. All data is extracted from the live game, so rates stay current with every DLC. Per-building deep dives live in the Farm, Ranch, Geyser and Geothermal calculators.
Chain calculator FAQ
- What does the production chain calculator do?
- It links multiple Oxygen Not Included producers and consumers — buildings, crops, critters, geysers and duplicants — into one system, with each machine's outputs feeding other machines' inputs. It then solves the whole chain at once: how fast every machine actually runs, which one is the bottleneck and exactly how much it is short, the net surplus or deficit of every resource, and the total power generated and consumed.
- Can it handle loops, like recycling a generator's polluted water back into an oil well?
- Yes. The solver handles closed loops and cycles, not just straight production lines — it finds the steady state the loop settles into. A chain that cannot settle (a runaway self-feeding loop) is flagged clearly instead of showing a wrong number.
- How many Ethanol Distillers does one Petroleum Generator need?
- Four. Each Ethanol Distiller converts 1 kg/s of wood into 0.5 kg/s of ethanol, and a Petroleum Generator burns 2 kg/s of combustible liquid — the calculator ships this exact chain as a preset, including the 36 arbor tree branches needed to feed the distillers.
- Can I share a chain I built?
- Yes — the whole chain (every node and connection) is encoded into the page URL. Copy the share link and anyone who opens it sees the same chain, fully solved.