Friday Facts #409 - Diminishing beacons

[FactorioBot]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-409

[Splitframe]

Release when?

[Justderpingalong]

The excitement in this post is genuinely infectious. You can tell this was a thorn in their side and they're happy to have fixed it.

[y.petremann]

The fact that it's finally dicted by a lua table is the most exciting thing of the feature.

[mumu1000]

This table is finite, how does it behave if, say, we were to put 1000 modded beacons around a building ? Does it just take the last value of the table ? Or is there a way to set a function instead of a table ?

[BlacKcuD]

I will use the remainder of my vacation to play this :O

[Ghoulish]

Interesting changes!

[aka13]

Very nice, I was expecting exactly that.
The diminishing returns approach is the sweet spot between SE and 1.0.
Really hyped to have more variation.

[Upserter]

"the expansion seemed to be getting feature complete"

Exciting!

[Terrahertz]

Great Job!

I was pretty disappointed when the only benefit beacons got from quality was lower power consumption, nice to see this has been addressed now.

[Lukery]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-409

Really like the diminishing returns approach, but I wonder if there could be some further interest added by having a proximity bonus to beacons so that a beacon directly next to a building has a greater effect than one further away. This could make beacon designs really interesting as that high proximity space is already highly contested for inserters etc. but having this as an added factor also further complicates any calculations.
Would be interested to consider though.
Overall, really loving these updates though and appreciate the effort you guys are putting in!

[Uxi]

Any buffs to Advanced Oil to offset the 25% nerf to 16 beacons builds?

[Melerion]

Machines affected by 8 beacons will in fact perform 6% faster, while machines with 12 beacons get 13% slower.

When talking about those beacons, you are talking specifically about beacons with speed modules, are you not?

In a 12 beacon build I could substitute some with speed modules for some with efficiency modules to bring down the power consumption without detrimental effects for overall crafting speed. Looks like I can reduce the power consumption of a given block by about 28% with 1.1 mechanics.

Or I could keep the layout, but get rid of a couple beacons to make prettier belt arrangements now that I have more space to I don't have to weave belts all sneakily.

[Svip]

Perhaps I missed it, but one of the concerns about meddling with the beacons was whether the user would be able to calculate the benefits quickly in their head. I am not saying head calculus should be a showstopper, but the need for more clear presentation of throughput numbers becomes even more paramount, and I did not feel that concern was addressed.

[Tertius]

I never read more excitement about a new feature than from this fff.

The new dynamic solution seems to allow much more flexibility if you don't absolutely need a maximized production line.
You are not a complete slave to the layout any more beacons force upon you to get the what you need. With all those different mechanics working together (beacons, modules, quality, different and new assembling machines like the foundry) there is more of an interesting "rock, paper, scissors" puzzle than just "go this way, it's the only optimal way".

I guess there is no final and ultimate endgame blueprint any more, because you just cannot get there to have enough maximized/legendary items. I also guess this will bring me back from playing the map editor with its shortcuts and infinite items to playing the real map, because painstakingly designing blueprints has much less use - creating production lines with what you have at hand with the current research and current resources seems much more important.

It's great to see how you finally implemented progression for the later game. Not grind, not item tier over item tier, but some kind of organic intrinsic progression created by a number of independent but fitting mechanics.

[Gergely]

Why is alt mode showing the modules "inside" the beacons now?

First image from FFF

[Epb7304]

This table is finite, how does it behave if, say, we were to put 1000 modded beacons around a building ? Does it just take the last value of the table ? Or is there a way to set a function instead of a table ?

I imagine since its a lua table, any mod that increases the number of beacons that can surround a machine should also be adding on to the lua table.

[vark111]

Perhaps I missed it, but one of the concerns about meddling with the beacons was whether the user would be able to calculate the benefits quickly in their head. I am not saying head calculus should be a showstopper, but the need for more clear presentation of throughput numbers becomes even more paramount, and I did not feel that concern was addressed.

Agree 100% with this. You boys realize that you have now effectively required the use of online calculators for mere mortals to get accurate throughput numbers? Since calculators are now a requirement, are you including one in-game?

[thermomug]

I was almost in tears to see how beautiful the values turn out:

Words, only a true engineer could speak

I agree that beacon layouts used to be super boring and there should be an entire universe of possibly "optimal" solutions to explore instead.

I like a lot that beacons lower their energy consumption with higher quality, since I have always disliked the constant power drain even when the factory is idle.
That's why I often only use beacons together with a power switch, buffers and some wire logic to make sure the factory only runs at optimal conditions.

I remember that being able to toggle beacons directly with wires was once discussed as a new feature, but apparently this idea has not been taken up again?

[mmmPI]

I like the detailed explanation that leads to the design choice, the story, the context, the problem to solve, the dreams, the protagonist that form a team, the big boss to convince, and the result, appreciating the use of a classic narrative structure !

The change sounds exciting to me and really welcome, for having played with some of the mods mentionned, i am already convinced it will lead to more interesting design decision when using beacons, with wider range of options and goal to try and achieve.

I can already foresee some blueprints requiring particular quality level being beelined in certain game and discarded in favor of others in some other game due to pacing, order of planet explored, and player choice of focus when developping vertical or horizontal, deepening the strategic dimension of "choosing a blueprint".