Known Lag Problems
These problems are reported by real players. If your region or ISP is listed, a network optimizer is likely to help.
Australia / New Zealand
20-60ms to AU servers, 250-350ms to EU/US- Limited community servers in the AU region — most AU-tagged servers are player-hosted on residential or small VPS connections
- EU and US servers are 250–350ms from Australia — lockstep command delay at 300ms means ~18-tick interaction lag
- AU players running their own server for friends face high latency for overseas friends joining
Southeast Asia
50-120ms to SG servers, 180-300ms to EU/US- Few dedicated Factorio servers in SEA — most players connect to EU or US servers at 150-300ms
- Latency spikes are common on undersea cable routes from PH/ID to SG or JP
- Packet loss on ISP handoffs in this region causes retransmission spikes that interrupt co-op sessions
South America
100-220ms to US East- No dedicated Factorio server infrastructure in SA — players connect to US East at 100-200ms
- Brazilian ISPs often route São Paulo → Miami → Virginia with extra hops adding latency
- Limited community SA servers available
How to Fix It
Try these first — they're free and solve the problem for most people.
01 Connect to the closest server to you
1. Open Factorio and go to Multiplayer → Browse Public Games 2. The server browser shows ping to each server in milliseconds on the right side 3. Sort by ping — servers under 80ms are likely in your region 4. Look for servers tagged with your region name (EU, NA, AU, etc.) in the server description 5. For private sessions with friends: the host should run the server from the same region as the majority of players
The most effective free fix. Factorio's command delay scales with ping — switching from a 250ms cross-region server to a 40ms local one cuts your interaction delay by ~13 ticks (~210ms). Every chest open, building placement, and item interaction immediately feels more responsive.
02 Switch to a wired Ethernet connection
1. Connect a Cat5e or Cat6 Ethernet cable from your PC directly to your router 2. In Windows: Settings → Network & Internet → Wi-Fi → turn off Wi-Fi (so only Ethernet is active) 3. Rejoin your Factorio server and watch the debug overlay for latency stability 4. Jitter (the variation in ping) should drop significantly on a wired connection
WiFi adds 5–30ms of unpredictable jitter. In Factorio's lockstep model, jitter is more damaging than high raw ping because it causes input buffers to run empty, pausing the session for all players. A wired connection eliminates the most common source of co-op session interruptions.
03 Have your friends check their UPS (Updates Per Second)
1. In any Factorio game (multiplayer or solo), press F4 2. Check 'show-fps' in the debug options 3. The overlay shows FPS and UPS — UPS should always be 60 4. If any player's UPS drops below 60 (e.g., on a very large factory), the entire multiplayer session slows down to match 5. If UPS is the problem: reduce the size of active factory, use fewer entities per chunk, or upgrade to a faster CPU
Lockstep means the slowest computer limits the session. A friend with a slow PC or a server running a megafactory at 30 UPS will halve the game speed for everyone. Network optimisation cannot fix a UPS problem — this diagnostic separates the two issues.
General network tips (not Factorio-specific)
04 Check your actual ping with the debug overlay
1. Join a multiplayer server 2. Press F4 to open the debug options menu 3. Check the box next to 'show-multiplayer-statistics' 4. A small overlay will appear showing your latency in ticks 5. At 60 UPS, each tick is ~17ms — so 6 ticks = ~100ms, 12 ticks = ~200ms 6. Alternatively press F5 to open the debug screen which also shows ping 7. Watch for the value jumping up during gameplay — spikes cause the session to stutter or pause
Confirms whether pauses and sluggish interactions are network (high tick latency) or CPU (low UPS on your PC or the server). Essential first step before any fix.
Regions with good connectivity
Players in these regions likely won't benefit much from a network optimizer.
- Western Europe — Largest Factorio community. Abundant community servers on Hetzner, OVH in DE/FR/NL. Most EU players achieve 10-50ms on well-connected servers.
- US East Coast — Strong community server presence in Virginia/New York area. East Coast players achieve 20-60ms to well-hosted servers.
- Central Europe — Players in Poland, Czech Republic, Austria benefit from both DE and FR server availability with 15-40ms typical latency.
Still lagging? The problem is likely your ISP's routing to the game servers.
PingAim detects Factorio automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Factorio by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.