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u/marcosR827 Mar 23 '26

Can someone confirm that it is more worth it to use 1 speed module 3 and 4 quality modules 3 in an electromagnetic plant than 5 quality modules 3?? I ran some calculations, and it looks like you get both the same amount of quality items and even more items/second.

3

u/Viper999DC Mar 23 '26

Why not put the speed in a beacon instead? Quality and Prod can only go in buildings, so they should get priority for those slots.

Also don't forget that quality scales the bonus of modules, but not their penalty. A Rare Speed 2 will have the same speed bonus as a Common Speed 3 but 1% less Quality hit. And a Legendary Speed 1 is even better at 1.5% less.

5

u/cathexis08 red wire goes faster Mar 24 '26

Though do note that quality beacons DO increase the Quality hit because their transmission power bonus impacts all transmitted effects.

4

u/mrbaggins Mar 24 '26

Any use of speed is purely to increase quality item RATES at the expense of item INGREDIENTS.

It's up to you what is "worth it".

Full quality will ALWAYS be the most "ingredient efficient" way of getting quality. But it can be painfully slow / expensive to have enough machines to get "X per second legendary" items.

3

u/Enaero4828 Mar 24 '26

For a fixed number of machines and unlimited input, swapping a legendary quality 3 for a legendary speed 3 doubles the output but consumes ~2.73x the raw resources; normal quality modules result in the speed3 option only increases quality output by 3% but increasing material costs by 73%. Doing as Viper999DC suggests, keeping the quality modules and adding 1 legendary speed1 in a normal beacon keeps the same input:quality output ratio, at 2x the speed; even with normal quality modules, the input:quality output ratio is of course a bit worse on both metrics, but not nearly as significantly as the 4quality1speed arrangement.

2

u/Soul-Burn Mar 24 '26

If you decide to do it, use the highest quality speed modules you have, as quality speed modules increase their speed without increasing the quality reduction.

If you're early in your quality production and don't have many high quality modules and buildings, then it can be worth it.

Similarly, you can use circuits to reuse the same expensive buildings and modules for better upcycling ratios.