Orbital trade beacon
Orbital trade beacon
Required for orbital trading and requesting caravans. 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. Although its "orbital" name suggests otherwise, you need enough silver near a beacon to request a trade caravan.
Trade beacons will work under a roof. Solid walls and separate rooms will break the area of influence of a trade beacon. Putting a trade beacon inside a large room (with adequate roof support columns) works fine. 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.
An orbital trade beacon has a range of 7 tiles:
. . . . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . . . . . . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . . . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ B ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . . . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . . . . . . ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ . . . .
Where 'B' is Beacon, '▒' is in range, and '.' is out of range.