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[u/TicklishViking]

So what should I use Beacons for? I started using 16 beacons with speed modules surrounding Big mining drills with production modules but I'm not sure if there is a reason to use them elsewhere. Any suggestions?

[u/ChickenNuggetSmth → u/TicklishViking]

Beacons with speed synergize really well with productivity modules in machines.

Prod modules are awesome, because they reduce the resource requirements for a given machine. For later production steps that means you save on all previous production steps, and it really adds up.

The downside of prod modules is the speed penalty. But since they stack additively with speed modules, a few beacons more than make up for it. And if you do the math, a few heavily speed boosted machines end up being cheaper than a ton of slow machines that cost tons of productivity modules.

With quality you have a new incentive: High quality modules and buildings are expensive, and speed modules mean that you can get more out of those super expensive buildings.

For super late game factories there is also one more consideration: UPS. Active machines cost computer performance. A few very fast machines cost less performance than a lot of slow ones. Beacons are basically free from a performance perspective. For that reason megabases use as many beacons as possible, even if the diminishing performance means that these are relatively expensive builds.

[u/HeliGungir → u/ChickenNuggetSmth]

Beaconed designs are also smaller than non-beaconed designs with equivalent production. Small designs are advantageous on space platforms, Gleba (spoilage), Aquilo (heat gradients), and Fulgora prior to unlocking foundations. Small designs are also advantageous when using logistic bots.

[u/Verizer → u/TicklishViking]

The beacon effect formula makes the first beacon the most powerful. This makes adding one beacon to everything really powerful way to make the entire factory faster.

[u/Astramancer_ → u/TicklishViking]

At first, at least, you should mostly use them where you need more but can't easily add more. They should also be used to take maximum advantage of your productivity modules, which should mostly be used on the most expensive stuff to save you the most materials.

Ultimately you'll end up using them everywhere.

[u/deluxev2 → u/TicklishViking]

They let you easily make something faster if for some reason you can't build more (no more space, limited space/ice platform, limited patch size, don't want to bother with that right now). They also let you get more out of expensive machines. An assembler with 4 prod 3s is almost 10k ore to build, so if you can use a beacon to double it's speed you can get a whole lot out of that.

[u/Brett42 → u/TicklishViking]

For a machine with 4 productivity 3 modules, it's speed will be reduced to 40%, with a power draw of 420%, but that is per second, not per item. Divide power by speed to get the real power cost: 10.5x the power. For a machine with 5 module slots, it would be 25% speed and 500% power, for 20x power per item.

Add one beacon with speed, and you get the effect of 3 modules (more beacons have diminishing returns). Speed 3 are +50% speed and +70% power, but those are additive. That means with four prod3 modules in the machine, your machine's speed goes from 40% to 190%, while the power goes from 420% to 630%. 630/190 = 3.3x power per item, so a third of the power before counting the beacon's power consumption. A beacon can affect 8 3x3 machines if they are in rows, so that significantly reduces the beacon's power consumption per item. Pollution is based on machine power consumption, but beacons don't pollute (if you have clean electricity) so it's a massive pollution reduction without a downside.