Beacon

Beacon

Edit

Recipe
15 + 20 + 10 + 20 + 10 → 1
Total raw
232.5 + 135 + 60 + 40 + 10
Map color
Health	200 260 320 380 500
Stack size	20
Efficiency	1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.5
Dimensions	3×3
Energy consumption	480 kW 400 kW 320 kW 240 kW 80 kW (electric)
Mining time	0.2
Supply area	9x9 tiles
Module slots	2 slots
Prototype type	beacon
Internal name	beacon
Required technologies
Produced by
Overall effect stacks with multiple beacons covering the same machine.

File:Factorio-beacon.png

Beacon and 12 Electric furnaces affected by it.

A beacon is a device that transmits module effects to nearby machines, in a 9 × 9 square. The effects are transmitted at only half efficiency. However, a beacon allows transmitting the effect of a module to multiple machines and the effect of all beacons in range of a single machine stacks. Additionally, beacons can provide boosts beyond the normal limits of internal module slots, such as boosting a Pumpjack's output on a depleted well to 0.25 oil per cycle where, alone, it could only reach 0.2 yield.

Usage

Beacons are best in these scenarios:

• There are many compatible machines in a dense area

This allows the beacon's effect to reach multiple machines, allowing the player to save materials from crafting modules.

• There is one machine that must have an extreme speed of operation

Mining drills are the best example of this. When an ore patch is small but rich, more speed per drill is necessary to meet demand, since adding more drills isn't possible. So, multiple speed module beacons around a mining drill (with modules in the drill itself) can be used to increase the speed of the individual drill several times, to make up for the low quantity of drills.

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Beacons should not be used in these scenarios:

• The machine(s) being boosted operate infrequently

This leads to power waste as beacons will always consume power, even when the machines they're boosting are halted. This however can be circumvented with some planning, and using a Power switch.

• Attempting to boost non-module-compatible machines

Only machines that have module slots will be affected by a beacon.

Limitations

• Only buildings with module slots can benefit from beacon effects (i.e. laser turret doesn't benefit). The only exceptions to this rule are Assembling machine 1s, Burner mining drills (both of which don't accept modules but are affected by beacons), and beacons themselves which don't benefit from the modules inserted in themselves (or other beacons), so their energy cost can't be reduced.

• Currently, only speed and efficiency modules can be used in beacons, and productivity modules cannot.

• A beacon's effect transmitted is only half of the effect of the modules within. So, two of the same module = one module's worth transmitted. This limitation can be overcome with more beacons with overlapping areas.

• The beacon itself is 3 × 3 tiles, making it difficult to fit between buildings sometimes. It may be necessary to place the beacon first and design the system around it.

Maximum number per building

The maximum number of beacons that can be built in range of a building depend on that building's footprint:

• Buildings from 2 × 2 to 4 × 4 size: 12 beacons.

Note that this configuration may not be practically possible without using robots to supply the building, as there may not be enough room for belts and inserters.

• 5 × 5 buildings: 16 beacons.

The only building of this size that can benefit from beacons is the Oil refinery. These cannot be supplied by robot, but all their inputs and outputs are piped fluids, meaning inserters are not needed and also offering the more versatile 9-tile (without transitions) maximum length of the underground pipe.

The maximum number of beacons that can be built in range of a row of buildings:

• Row of 3 × 3 buidings: 8 beacons.

Every building in the row can be in range of 8 beacons (end-of-row buildings possibly more) if a double row of beacons (no spaces between) is built in parallel (may be up to 2 tiles distant). However, the center row of buildings to be boosted must be offset relative to the beacon row; i.e., the center tile of no building on the center row may lie on a line connecting the center tiles of any pair of facing beacons on the two beacon rows.

• Row of 5 × 5 buidings: 10 beacons.

The same rules apply as before, with the exception that now the center row must not be offset; i.e., centers of boosted buildings must align with the centers of some beacon pair. This requires leaving a gap of 1 tile between buildings on the center row (assuming the beacon rows are gapless). As the only beacon-eligible 5 × 5 buildings are Oil refineries, the free tile is actually useful to make the row player-traversable (a gapless row of refineries is not).

History

• 0.13.0:
  • Renamed from Basic beacon to Beacon.

• 0.12.17:
  • Update icon

• 0.12.0:
  • Inserters can now extract from Beacons.

• 0.10.1:
  • New beacon graphics.

• 0.9.0:
  • Area of effect can now be seen on hover.

• 0.7.5:
  • Deactivated beacons will not give bonuses.

• 0.7.3:
  • Restricted use of productivity modules in beacons.

• 0.6.0:
  • Introduced

See also

• Crafting
• Electric network
• Modules