Orbital trade beacon

Orbital trade beacon

Required for orbital trading. You can only sell goods to orbital traders if they're near an orbital trade beacon. Can be placed indoors.

Base Stats

Type

Building – Misc

Market Value

111  ^[Note]

Mass

5 kg

HP

75

Flammability

50%

Path Cost

14 (48%)

Building

Size

1 × 1

Minifiable

True

Placeable

True

Cover Effectiveness

15%

Terrain Affordance

Light

Power

-40 W

Creation

Required Research

Microelectronics

Work To Make

800 ticks (13.33 secs)

Resources to make

40 + 1

Deconstruct yield

20 + 0 - 1

Destroy yield

nothing

Technical

thingCategories

BuildingsMisc

An orbital trade beacon is a miscellaneous structure that allows items stored within its range to be used for trading with orbital traders.

Acquisition

Orbital trade beacons can be constructed once the Microelectronics research project has been completed. They require  40 Steel,  1 Component and 800 ticks (13.33 secs) of work.

Summary

Orbital trade beacon range. 15 tiles in diameter.

To initiate the trade a ship must be in range, which a colonist can communicate with using the comms console. All silver and tradeable items within range of a beacon will then be available for trade. Payment towards factions for whatever reason also requires silver near beacons.

Trade beacons will work outdoors or under a roof. Solid walls and separate rooms will break the area of influence of a trade beacon, however support columns for larger rooms don't block its effect. Items purchased from a trader will be dropped within range of a beacon if unroofed, otherwise they will be dropped as close to the beacon as possible, avoiding the roofs.

Unroofed beacons can be used to designate the area where goods will be dropped, as the trader will prioritize dropping goods within the area of effect of the beacon. Drop pod raiders will also preferentially drop near an unroofed beacon.

Trade beacons do not need to be placed in range of your comms console. You can place them wherever you want throughout your colony.

40% of centerdrop pirate raids will target a powered, unroofed orbital trade beacon if one is present, but will default to regular behavior if one is not present.^{[Outlanders?]}

Analysis

Orbital trade is a significant resource that should be exploited. For ease of use, it may be best to place your stockpiles with beacons in mind - shaping them such that places are left for the beacons and the beacons cover at the very least anything that will likely be sold, if not everything in storage.

Orbital trade beacons can be used to exploit the spawning behavior of drop pod raiders. By building a beacon outside of your base, a percentage of drop pod raiders will be spawned there outside your defenses instead of in the middle of your base. This can be further exploited by placing defenses such as IED traps around the landing site. Note that received trade goods will still be sent to this "bait" beacon, so it must still be safely accessible to colonists. Alternatively, the bait beacon can be powered off just before receiving trade goods and then switched back for daily operation, ensuring that the goods will land in a safe place inside your base. However, the player should decide if this is worth it as this causes additional micromanagement during already time-sensitive orbital trades.

Version history

• 0.3.410 - Landing pad replaced by Orbital Trade Beacon.

• 

  Original landing pad sprite

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Architect

Misc

Caravan hitching spot • Egg box • Grave • Marriage spot • Party spot • Pen marker • Sarcophagus • Tool cabinet • Meditation spot • Nature shrine (Large, Small)

(research)

Comms console • Cryptosleep casket • Firefoam popper • Ground-penetrating scanner • Long-range mineral scanner • Moisture pump • Multi-analyzer • Orbital trade beacon • Pod launcher • Stele (Large, Grand) • Transport pod • Vitals monitor • Ship landing beacon