I made the mistake of researching the factory beacon and now the game is literally unplayable. A 3 module slot beacon should not be consuming 20 mw with no way of disabling. I had to restart due to this lol, I physically could not progress

Beacon have a constant consumption, with or without modules (i don't like that either). But this beacon provides a factory wide bonus (until a certain point, as factorio sets a hard limit for this) I wanted to put a downside to use it (otherwise it's free, it's too easy :))

I've put a warning notice in the tech, can't do really much more if people don't read techs...

You should significantly reduce the cost, 500 mw at the highest level makes it practically useless and 20 mw for the first level is just ridiculous. even 1-2 MW is a high cost for that early on in the run

You should..

No I don't. It's not because you feel like it's too expensive / ridiculous or whatever that I should change something.
There are ways to ask for changes, but saying it this way is probably not the right one, especially without arguments.

It's not because you can research it that it's the right time to do so, it's early in the tree because it match factory platform size, and I didn't want to lock it late in the tree for some obscure reason if people want to deal with it and its energy cost.

it's a free beacon, that allows all type of modules with a range that match the factory platform size, up to 64 tiles per side at the last level (factorio limitation), covering almost the full factorio at max level with 10 modules.

If energy is the issue, then make more energy, you have the space for it, or wait until you can before researching the tech.
Also, when you unlock the last tier, Electria (the last floor) can be big enough to allow production of far more energy than you'll probably use in the entire base, so no, it's clearly not an issue.

What I will probably consider, is making this beacon 1.5 or 2 time as strong to match normal beacons with some quality, maybe reviewing its cost, but don't expect less than 10MW anyway.

for information, i've doubled the bonus of the beacon (which mean it's as if you had a rare quality beacon), and reduced the first levels to 10MW, 20MW and 40MW instead of 20 40 60MW.

Considering the mining productivity/speed and platform space at the level, I think that power consumption is impractical until nuclear power.
Maybe reduce both "beacon transmission efficient" and "power consumption" at first few research, so it is affordable by steam engine while not being overpowered

Considering the mining productivity/speed and platform space at the level, I think that power consumption is impractical until nuclear power.

I disagree. You can get 40MW with boilers and first size upgrade of Electria. First level of this beacon can affect up to 52 AM/Labs. Even if you put in its area only labs and science AMs you will get 53% boost to research with three productivity modules in beacon. It worth it.
With Electria's second size upgrade you can get 60MW and allow self second level of beacon. Third upgrade of Electria requires so many blue science that it is easier to get nuclear first.

I disagree. You can get 40MW with boilers and first size upgrade of Electria. First level of this beacon can affect up to 52 AM/Labs.

I don't think you've taken account the facts beacon power can't be turned off in this version and rng planet warp, you basically have 2/4/10 coal consumption per second even nothing is running.
-> minimum 2k coals will be consumed in 16 mins at lowest level research. At this point, you can barely have any coal stockpiled from one warp, unless you are capable of mining coal every warp which is impossible due to rng happen
-> if you choose to cut off electric supply so beacon is not powered, that means you have to stop all floors from working, this include "harvester"
-> double transmission efficiency also means power consumption from modules are heavily increased, power usage at peak can be tripple, and you are unlikely to use eff module as beacon consumes most power.

Given unlucky warps in early game, once players run out of coal, the game could easily be unplayable.
Obviously researching beacon definitely wont be a play until you have nuclear power, having harvester and assemble floor constantly working is so much better than having research bonus for red and green science which is just dirt cheap in early game.

Per tier you need (with boilers):
- 10MW: 6 boilers / 9720 coal per hour / 3240 solid fuel per hour (= less than 1 chemical plant (3600 per hour / 36k light oil per hour)
- 20MW: 12 boilers / 19.4k coal per hour / 6480 solid fuel per hour
- 40MW: 23 boilers / 37.2k coal per hour / 12.4k solid fuel

And that's only for the beacon, so you easily need half more for the factory itself.

With coal, it's doable now, but still requires logistics and constant monitoring.
This is also the reason you can research it early, as some people will always find it useful and find ways to use it, even if I didn't expect people to use it before at least unlocking solid fuel.

I personally did it with solid fuel when I tested it (with the old values, not the new power costs that are lower) and it's far easier to keep the energy running this way (before nuclear or the heat tower from Gleba).
Coal would have been possible (especially as we were 2 players, so it's easier to split tasks), but we didn't want to deal with that before blue/space science (as early science is cheap).

The thing is the fuel consumption is huge, you might not be able to find coal or crude oil for solid fuel in some warps, it is also not worth the effort to maintain the cost for little benefits. You could have mine iron ore or copper ore instead of finding 162 coal/min gameplay.

If you manage to keep up with that cost, good for you, but it is definitely not good choice without nuclear power(it is more likely to slow down the progress or might just kill the run)

I played this mod single player, with the crude oil, I would rather rush space age planet than powering the beacon.
even though I've not tried, I suspect even space age planet can support the beacon as the warping is more rng when different planets get involved

it is also not worth the effort to maintain the cost for little benefits. You could have mine iron ore or copper ore instead of finding 162 coal/min gameplay.

I have not even thought to use it with wood or coal. Of course it was powered with solid fuel. If you place oil refineries and chemical plant in range of beacon instead of some AMs, it will pay for itself with extra SF production. As for RNG, I have placed enough tanks with oil on the main platform to survive several full length warps. And I have not mined coal for even longer time as it is was used only for grenades and plastic - you do not need many of either at that stage.

it will pay for itself with extra SF production.

I highly doubt it, at first level, beacon has 3 slots, you most likely have only T1 module at this stage, lets assume you have no issue with power supply or speed production, so you may place 3 productivity module, with double transmission, the bonus from beacon will be 4% x 2 x 3 = 24% productivity, at cost of 10MW/s

now assuming we target 60 spm for red/green/black/blue science
all that science require 81 ore mining/s(include iron, copper, coal, stone; exclude plastic/oil)
with 24% bonus beacaon to the lab, we may receive barely "20 extra ore/s" only

now look at what 10MW power can simply be done just from miners
one miner without prod bonus produces 0.5 ore/s, and each running at 90kw/s
We will have "55 ore mining/s" from 10MW powered miners, this result is simply double more than what beacon can achieve at this point

T2 module is hardly good enough to work any better, and I bet rushing space age planet for foundry or magnetic plant is obviously better than getting T2 module at that stage. Researching more beacons slot make it worse as it provide only 1 extra module slot and power cost increasing in double speed

And I believe I don't need to repeatly listing the potential negative impacts from beacon power consumption as I've mentioned before

Not just based from resource efficiency, playable mechanic, beacon at this stage is easily not the good choice from almost every aspects
I understand beacon is powerful and enjoy having it bursting my production at 300% bonus, I have totally no issue running power at 2G/s, but it doesn't fit early game without nuclear power right now although it can be unlocked so early

now assuming we target 60 spm for red/green/black/blue science
all that science require 81 ore mining/s(include iron, copper, coal, stone; exclude plastic/oil)

Actually 54/s without any modules. Almost two red belts. And this is for science only.

with 24% bonus beacaon to the lab, we may receive barely "20 extra ore/s" only

With beacon final consumption is 29/s or 46% less, almost two times. And almost 3 times for oil.

now look at what 10MW power can simply be done just from miners

I do not care. Really. I care about throughoutput and space. At this stage you do not have space to smelt even two red belts. So it doesn't matters how many miners you can use. Most time some of my miners are waiting for space on belt.

Each warp you loose significant time to setup mining and deconstruct it. You do not choose what resources will be on next warp. With beacon you need twice less storage to sustain production. And twice less time spend on distribution of resources.

Still not good enough for you? Ok, just do not use it, but do not say it is useless for others at this stage.

T2 module is hardly good enough to work any better

Only good T2 modules is quality, others are worse than T1 if you calculate their cost. Usually I skip T2, but with beacon I will consider using them.

Researching more beacons slot make it worse as it provide only 1 extra module slot and power cost increasing in double speed

It also increase range. Level 2 beacon consume only 20MW, affected machines can consume 30-50MW. With level 3 it will be 4o to 80-100.

is it possible to add an on/off switch to the beacon?
it would allow it to cost the same, but also prevent the soft lock thing
or a method to un-research the higher tiers.

i think the power cost is a bit high but very much worth it. but I'd like a way to turn it off for when I'm really low on fuel or when a blackout happens, but it would also work for people who think it isn't worth the power.

is it possible to add an on/off switch to the beacon?

Normal beacons cannot be shut down, they have a constant drain on the energy.
So I don't really think it's possible "easily".

Maybe using lua it would be possible, but I need to look into it (and find a solution i'm satisfied with :))

Each warp you loose significant time to setup mining and deconstruct it. You do not choose what resources will be on next warp. With beacon you need twice less storage to sustain production. And twice less time spend on distribution of resources.
I do not care. Really. I care about throughoutput and space. At this stage you do not have space to smelt even two red belts. So it doesn't matters how many miners you can use. Most time some of my miners are waiting for space on belt.

• "Buffering these ores" is how you solve the issue of "not smelting fast enough" in Warptorio, so your automation keep running non-stop without miners running all the time. (meanwhile your beacon can be idle without this trick!)
• Having limited time on a planet for specific ores? Thats why it is helpful to have "more miners" to grab as much as you can from a single warp.
• Using "steel furnaces and handfeed coal" automation, two full red belts of plates with just lowest tech harvester is not a dream anymore. In some circumstances, you can even make it circuit-controlled-mix-ores smelter with certificate of black magician!

imo, either one of solutions have to come up with
- turn on/off beacon
- consume less energy and be less potent(only apply to first few levels of research, latter research remain the same)
- another creative solution to workaround and make this scene more likely possible.

but do not say it is useless for others at this stage.

Even if I do, it doesn't change the fact that it hardly benefits early game and highly potiential to kill the run.
I'll be stop arguing. Further discussion would be pointless as I've laid out these points and if you still disagree with me, so be it.

I do not see any sense in "consume less energy and be less potent". It will make it useless. If someone doesn't like current form then he/she may just skip beacon until nuclear power. Warning in technology description is enough.
Turning on/off is not necessary too from my point of view, but if this will be added, then I would suggest to bind it to ship(warping platforms) accumulator charge. It looks logical to have ship abilities(beacon, radar and manual warp) to work only when ship itself has energy. By the way, it would be nice to have ability to read level of this charge

Technically, there's no "ship charge", or to be exact, if you want it, you just need to open the energy panel and you'll have it.

To be a bit more precise, in warptorio2 (the original), energy is stored in accumulator at each levels then "shared" (split) between all accumulator of each levels.
Here, you have a real energy network between all platforms, as if you had a copper cable (well, technically that's actually the case, you just don't see it), so the "ship energy" is your base accumulators charge.

So at the end, it's bound to the accumulator charge anyway :)

On/Off is not useful imho, unless specific cases (fuel management, if it's complicated for someone) or researched by mistake and only notice it too late (and don't want / cannot reload).
I don't mind adding it anyway, most people won't probably use it, and the few that would will find it useful for their issue :)
edit: and so far, i'm not able to make it stop... deactivating it doesn't seem to stop its consumption...

The choice is yours, I totally fine with it. I'm satisfied with this mod while waiting for official warptorio 2.0, I do appreciate the great effort you've done with this mod. Keep it up!

Thank you level one for putting my point far more eloquently. I was pretty frustrated after I softlocked myself.

Out of all the solutions discussed, I think the turn on/off beacon switch is the most appropriate option (if its technically possible). Because its the equivalent of simply picking up a beacon in vanilla Factorio when you don't want it. Therefore this option doesn't feel like a cheat.

I was pretty frustrated after I softlocked myself.

Could you please elaborate? You do not need power for defense or warp. On almost any planet you can go out and quickly chop a few thousand woods. This will kickstart boilers. After that just produce solid fuel from your oil(it is prerequisite for beacon tech) and you will have enough power for the first two levels of beacon tech. I do not see any softlock here.
If you had been aiming at very low power consumption, then why have you researched beacon tech at all? Beaconized production is always power hungry, you should know this from vanilla.

If you had been aiming at very low power consumption, then why have you researched beacon tech at all? Beaconized production is always power hungry, you should know this from vanilla.

Except in vanilla, after we research beacon, its still our choice weather to use it or not. And once in use, we can always pick it up to remove it.
Here its a blessing for someone experienced but a curse for a newbie.

Maybe there could be a Low power mode instead of Turn on / off. Just like smart phones. While in Low power mode, beacon will be limited to only one module worth of usefulness.

I like the power drain, made me think about power and progress more.