Satisfactory · How many freight cars do you need?
In Satisfactory, every freight platform locks out all belt I/O for 27.08 seconds during each loading and unloading cycle. This means raw belt speed alone doesn't tell you your actual throughput — the real answer depends on your round-trip duration, the items' stack size, and how many platforms you're running.
Most guides give you a formula and leave you to solve it by hand. This calculator works the problem backwards: tell it how much you need to move, and it tells you how many freight cars to build — accounting for the lockout, partial car fills, and buffer recovery between trips.
Based on the train throughput tutorial on the official Satisfactory wiki. Use the built-in stopwatch to time your round trip in-game, then hit Use This Time to plug it straight into the calculator.
Fill in the parameters above.