Beacon
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Beacon |
- Base game
- Space Age mod
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Recipe |
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Total raw |
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Map color |
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Health |
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Stack size |
20 |
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20 (1 stack) |
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Efficiency |
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Dimensions |
3×3 |
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Energy consumption |
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Mining time |
0.2 |
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Supply area |
9x9 tiles |
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Module slots |
2 slots |
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Prototype type |
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Internal name |
beacon |
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Required technologies |
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Produced by |
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Overall effect stacks with multiple beacons covering the same machine. |
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A beacon is a device that transmits module effects to nearby non-burner machines, in a 9×9 square, while also boosting the effects of said modules. A beacon allows transmitting the effect of a module to multiple machines, and multiple beacons can affect the same machine, albeit with diminishing returns. Additionally, beacons can provide boosts beyond the normal limits of internal module slots.
The beacon emanates an electrical charge at a steady interval, the color changes depending on which modules are placed into the beacon, or if it contains none at all.
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 present an example of this usefulness. 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.
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 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 and quality
modules cannot. - Multiple beacons overlapping the same machine will have diminishing returns, so it's more efficient to surround buildings around beacons than surround beacons around buildings.
Transmission strength
A module placed in a beacon does not generally apply its full effects to a machine. Rather, the module's effects are multiplied by a factor called transmission strength. Broadly, the more beacons that affect a single machine, the less effective each additional beacon becomes. Transmission strength affects all of the module's effects, both good and bad.
If a machine is affected by n beacons, then each beacon's transmission strength is calculated as distribution efficiency ÷ sqrt(n). The distribution efficiency stat is 1.5 for normal beacons and increases with quality, up to 2.5 for legendary beacons.
For example, if a machine is affected by n normal-quality beacons each containing one normal speed module, then the total effect received by the machine will be 1.5 × sqrt(n) times the effect of a single speed module.
Transmission strength is calculated individually for each machine/beacon pair, so a beacon that affects multiple machines will have a different transmission strength for each machine.
This table shows the total effect of a given number of beacons (of the same quality) on a production building, and the marginal increase of each added beacon:
 Normal
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 Uncommon
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 Rare
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 Epic
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 Legendary
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| # | Total Effect | Change | Total Effect | Change | Total Effect | Change | Total Effect | Change | Total Effect | Change |
| 1 | 150.00% | 150.00% | 170.00% | 170.00% | 190.00% | 190.00% | 210.00% | 210.00% | 250.00% | 250.00% |
| 2 | 212.13% | 62.13% | 240.42% | 70.42% | 268.70% | 78.70% | 296.98% | 86.98% | 353.55% | 103.55% |
| 3 | 259.81% | 47.68% | 294.45% | 54.03% | 329.09% | 60.39% | 363.73% | 66.75% | 433.01% | 79.46% |
| 4 | 300.00% | 40.19% | 340.00% | 45.55% | 380.00% | 50.91% | 420.00% | 56.27% | 500.00% | 66.99% |
| 5 | 335.41% | 35.41% | 380.13% | 40.13% | 424.85% | 44.85% | 469.57% | 49.57% | 559.02% | 59.02% |
| 6 | 367.42% | 32.01% | 416.41% | 36.28% | 465.40% | 40.55% | 514.39% | 44.82% | 612.37% | 53.36% |
| 7 | 396.86% | 29.44% | 449.78% | 33.36% | 502.69% | 37.29% | 555.61% | 41.21% | 661.44% | 49.07% |
| 8 | 424.26% | 27.40% | 480.83% | 31.05% | 537.40% | 34.71% | 593.97% | 38.36% | 707.11% | 45.67% |
| 9 | 450.00% | 25.74% | 510.00% | 29.17% | 570.00% | 32.60% | 630.00% | 36.03% | 750.00% | 42.89% |
| 10 | 474.34% | 24.34% | 537.59% | 27.59% | 600.83% | 30.83% | 664.08% | 34.08% | 790.57% | 40.57% |
| 11 | 497.49% | 23.15% | 563.83% | 26.24% | 630.16% | 29.33% | 696.49% | 32.41% | 829.16% | 38.59% |
| 12 | 519.62% | 22.12% | 588.90% | 25.07% | 658.18% | 28.02% | 727.46% | 30.97% | 866.03% | 36.87% |
| 13 | 540.83% | 21.22% | 612.94% | 24.05% | 685.05% | 26.88% | 757.17% | 29.70% | 901.39% | 35.36% |
| 14 | 561.25% | 20.42% | 636.08% | 23.14% | 710.91% | 25.86% | 785.75% | 28.58% | 935.41% | 34.03% |
| 15 | 580.95% | 19.70% | 658.41% | 22.33% | 735.87% | 24.95% | 813.33% | 27.58% | 968.25% | 32.83% |
| 16 | 600.00% | 19.05% | 680.00% | 21.59% | 760.00% | 24.13% | 840.00% | 26.67% | 1000.00% | 31.75% |
| 17 | 618.47% | 18.47% | 700.93% | 20.93% | 783.39% | 23.39% | 865.85% | 25.85% | 1030.78% | 30.78% |
| 18 | 636.40% | 17.93% | 721.25% | 20.32% | 806.10% | 22.71% | 890.95% | 25.10% | 1060.66% | 29.88% |
| 19 | 653.83% | 17.44% | 741.01% | 19.76% | 828.19% | 22.09% | 915.37% | 24.41% | 1089.72% | 29.06% |
| 20 | 670.82% | 16.99% | 760.26% | 19.25% | 849.71% | 21.52% | 939.15% | 23.78% | 1118.03% | 28.31% |
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, with an effect of 3.46 times that of a single beacon.
- Buildings from 5×5 to 7x7 size: 16 beacons, with an effect of 4 times that of a single beacon.
- Buildings from 8x8 to 10x10 size: 20 beacons, with an effect of 4.47 times that of a single beacon.
It should be noted that, because the space between a beacon and a machine can not be greater than two tiles without putting the machine outside of the beacon's range, belt routing can become a challenge. In some situations, use of the logistic network may be required in order to supply the machines.
The maximum number of beacons that can be built in range of a row of buildings:
- Row of 3×3 buidings: 8 beacons, with an effect of 2.83 times that of a single beacon.
- Row of 5×5 buidings: 10 beacons, with an effect of 3.16 times that of a single beacon.
Note that when buildings and beacons are arranged in parallel rows like this, the offset between buildings and beacons along the direction of the rows is important. For example, imagine placing a row of assembling machine 3s between two rows of beacons. If the sides of the beacons and the assembling machines line up, every assembling machine is affected by six beacons in total. Howevever, if either the beacons or the assembling machines are shifted by one tile relative to the other, then each assembling machine is affected by eight beacons in total.
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When the assembling machines are aligned with the beacons, each machine is affected by 6 beacons in total. (Click to enlarge) -
When the assembling machines are shifted by 1 tile relative to the beacons, each machine is affected by 8 beacons in total. (Click to enlarge)
In general, depending on the width of the machines modulo 3:
- If the width of the machines is divisible by three, then the arrangement is optimal when the sides of a machine do not align with the sides of a beacon on the axis perpendicular to the direction of the rows.
- If the width of the machines modulo 3 is 1 (such as a width of 4), then any offset leads to an optimal layout.
- If the width of the machines modulo 3 is 2 (such as a width of 5), then the arrangement is optimal when the center of a machine aligns with the center of a beacon on the axis perpendicular to the direction of the rows. Note that this requires a one-tile gap between the machines.
History
- 2.0.7:
- Increased beacon stack size from 10 to 20.
- Diminishing return of beacons effect. (FFF-409 - Diminishing beacons)
- 0.18.32:
- New beacon graphics.
- Changed beacon graphics definitions. Graphics are now defined in graphics_set prototype property. If graphics_set is not defined, old animation and base_picture properties will be loaded instead for limited backwards compatibility.
- 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
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Production items |
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Tools |
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Furnaces |
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Agriculture |
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Environmental protection |
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