Military 10

Lore & Background

In the world of Factorio, the alien creatures that infest the overworld grow bolder as the player's pollution spreads. What began as scattered biters probing the edges of a small mining operation escalates into relentless, coordinated assaults. The military tree is the player's answer to that escalation, and each tier represents a new rung on the ladder of survival. Military 10 is where that ladder ends. By this point the player has likely automated every resource, built multi-layered turret walls, and deployed artillery wagons across the map. The improved artillery shell it unlocks transforms the artillery wagon from a powerful siege tool into something genuinely apocalyptic—a single shot can erase entire biter nests and reshape the terrain. It is the technology that lets a player look at a massive biter horde and think, 'I can handle that.'

Fans often describe the moment of researching Military 10 as a quiet, almost anticlimactic victory. There is no fanfare, no cutscene. A progress bar finishes, a new item appears in the crafting menu, and suddenly the artillery shells in your inventory are a different, more potent variant. But the next time you fire that wagon at a biter nest the size of a city block, the difference is unmistakable.

In Their Own Story

The research lab hummed its low, endless hum. Three hundred and something seconds had passed since the progress bar started crawling, and the player had long since stopped watching it, drifting back to the conveyor belts and the soft clatter of assemblers. The biter nests on the eastern ridge had been growing for days—green mounds swelling, spitting out more creatures each wave. The laser turrets held, barely. The rocket launchers chewed through the front lines, but the nests regrew. A soft chime. The player blinked, looked up. Military 10. Done. They walked to the artillery wagon parked behind the third wall, loaded the new shells with a calm, almost ceremonial slowness. Aiming reticle locked on the largest nest. The cannon recoiled. The ground simply… stopped being there for a moment. A crater where a hill had been. Silence where the clicking had been. The player smiled, took a sip of cold coffee, and went back to building.

Reader's Guide

Military 10 is the final node in Factorio's ten-tier military technology chain. It unlocks the Improved Artillery Shell, a more powerful variant of the shell used in the Artillery Wagon, dealing greater damage over a wider blast radius than the previous-generation shell from Military 8. Prerequisite chain: Military 1 → Military 2 → Military 3 → Military 4 → Military 5 → Military 6 → Military 7 → Military 8 → Military 9 → Military 10. Each tier must be researched in strict order, so Military 10 cannot be touched until all nine predecessors are complete. In practice, players typically reach it in the late game, after establishing full automation, a solid turret perimeter, and at least one or two artillery wagons already in service. The research cost is substantial relative to earlier military tiers, reflecting its position as the capstone. You will need a well-optimized research setup—multiple labs fed by automated science-pack production—to push through the final seconds without the progress bar feeling painfully slow. Strategically, Military 10 is most impactful when paired with the Artillery Wagon and its targeting system. The improved shell makes each shot a genuine area-denial tool, ideal for clearing large biter nests, destroying enemy structures in multiplayer, or simply satisfying the deep human urge to make the ground shake. It does not replace your turret walls or rocket launchers; rather, it adds a devastating strategic layer on top of your existing defenses.

Did You Know?

• The military tree in Factorio has exactly ten tiers, and Military 10 is the last one—there is no Military 11 in the base game.
• Artillery shells, including the improved variant unlocked by Military 10, are consumed items: each shot from the Artillery Wagon uses one shell from your inventory.
• The Artillery Wagon itself is unlocked much earlier in the military tree (Military 4), meaning the improved shell from Military 10 is a late-game upgrade to a unit you may have been using for hours.
• Because military techs must be researched in strict sequential order, a player who skips early military tiers cannot fast-forward to Military 10; every single prerequisite must be completed first.