[BUG] Shopping list does not include beacons or modules in beacons

[wesdotcool]

YAFC 0.5.8.0

The beacons and their modules are completely ignored in this list

[ShadowTheAge]

yes and that is impossible to implement because there is no way to figure out your beacon layout

[wesdotcool]

Could there be a checkbox on this screen to include beacons. Instead of figuring out the beacon layout, it would simply add up all of the beacons and their modules giving you the maximum amount of beacons.

The number of beacons in certain builds can add up really fast, so it would be nice to have a total somewhere of how many beacons could possibly be used. It would also help estimate final energy usage too

[ShadowTheAge]

I don't think that number will be any closer to real number than the current (zero) I am against adding things that aren't at least somewhat meaningful because that will start streams of reports and suggestions to tweak that to have some other meaning, but I can't because other people using and relying on the current behaviour.

[ShadowTheAge]

What I think I can do is add "beacon sharing coefficient" to preferences and when and only when it is set beacons will appear to the shopping list

[bdunks]

Would it be possible to select from standard beacon layouts during module configuration:

• Row or Grid (there is probably a more precise way to describe this):
  • Row: Buildings surrounded by beacons on two sides
  • Grid: Buildings surrounded by beacons on four sides
• Desired rows of buildings

Using the building size, you could then calculate the required beacon count for the number of machines in the desired layout:

m = count of machines / buildings (rounded up?)
r = rows in layout
b = resulting required beacons (round up)

Row Calculations: 3x3 buildings (8 beacons per building): b = m/r + 3r + m +3 5x5 buildings (10 beacons per building): b = m/r + 4r + m + 4

Grid calculations: 3x3 buildings (12 beacons per building): b = 3m/r + 3r + 5m + 1 5x5 buildings (16 beacons per building): b = 4m/r + 4r + 7m + 1 9x9 buildings (20 beacons per building): b = 5m/r + 5r + 9m + 1

Edit: Immediately after posting this, I realized that it has a pretty significant flaw: it won't account for beacon re-use across machines producing different products.

I'll leave the comment here so you can review and take it for what it's worth. However, I recognize this approach will still over-estimate beacon requirements if the player shares beacons (across or within rows) for different products.

[ShadowTheAge]

That is too complicated and does not cover all the cases. It would be simpler for you to just make a google spreadsheet that takes the amount of buildings and rows and outputs the amount of beacons for your particular setup.

I am okay with adding a "sharing coefficient" that means the amount of buildings shared per beacon on average, that you may calculate for your setup (I can even put the most common values in the tooltip), but nothing too complicated, but I don't want to dive too deep into this side functionality. Spreadsheet tailored for exactly your needs will be more flexible in this case.

This will never be accurate because to be accurate even things like how you share beacons between setups becomes important. (And you can even share beacons with things that are not even in yafc)