How many ion beam prisms is optimal?

Tritonian

How many times should I combine my ion beams before it stops being viable in cost and output?

(Each combination effectively reduces the performance of each by 12.5%)

Jared

Tritonian
1:2 one prism for every 2 ion beams
says as much here https://forum.cosmoteer.net/d/7783-cosmoteer-ultimate-ship-design-and-part-guide
also I’d move it to general or something as It’s not a guide

Tritonian

Jared I meant 'How far should I go on the binary tree?'

CaptainRedstone

Tritonian It depends on a lot of things, including available space, budget, and how you want to pilot the ship. It's basically a tradeoff of DPS vs protection

Also like Jared said, this isn't a shipbuilding guide, you should probably change the tag to something else, like general

CoconutTrebuchet

What they're all saying is that you can put as many as you want, as long as you always combine exactly two beams of the same strength into one prism. The only limit is the budget you set for your ion ship.