Construction in detail

[BlueTemplar]

Here are some of my observations :
- When building, components are created one after another, according to the order they were added to the design (except that same components are grouped together).
- It would seem that they can start working as soon as the pre-requisites are there, which means :
-- You need at least the Command Center, Habitation Module and Life Support for components to work.
-- Not certain about Reactor, as Gas Extraction started while the station had 0 power and fuel.
-- Construction Yards might start as soon as you have at least one of the manufacturing plants, will have to confirm that.
- Meanwhile, while retrofitting, while the components are gradually added during the whole duration of the retrofit, it would seem that the new components don't start working until the retrofit is completed. I could notice that with Construction Yards and Energy Labs.

This has implications on whether you want build a small design first, and then retrofit it, or build a big design right away.

[Bingeling]

It is possible to start tiny with a carefully set up design, as you say. For instance activate shields on a new spaceport as fast as possible. I have seen the recipe for this in the past, but I don't usually mess with designs at all.

[ldog]

It seems like the build order has changed a bit. In the old days it went strictly from top to bottom, so it paid to design accordingly. I think Jeeves wrote the definitive strategy on it. These days it seems like it doesn't matter so much since comps go in semi-random positions in the designer and it seems to me like comps are built in a set order by comp type instead of location, but I haven't bothered to analyze it much. The game is pretty forgiving for various playstyles so it just doesn't feel worth the effort to do rigorous testing for a lot of things.

That being said, I always build a SSP and then retrofit to larger. Even if I just grabbed a high pop colony that merits an LSP, it still builds an SSP then MSP then LSP. It ensures everything is up and running and makes delays less likely. It also makes it less likely to get destroyed by pirates during construction since even my SSP when fully built can generally hold out until a defense fleet can arrive.

[BlueTemplar]

I definitely saw it going from top to bottom.

[BlueTemplar]

- Yeah, you don't need a Reactor for Construction Yards to function.

- Construction ships cannot build ships, and Space Yards cannot build bases.

- It would seem that until a construction ship has at least one thrust engines completed, it's considered to be a base and can be ordered to build ships. I ordered it to build one. It has somehow managed to build one fuel cell and many thrust engines (and those weren't at the top of the components list), but ran out of resources afterwards. Then the unfinished ship was being "carried" by the construction ship, even if I told the construction ship to stop building it... until I right-clicked on the unfinished ship, after which the construction ship went to the planet still carrying the unfinished ship, and proceeded to finish building it.

[Spacecadet]

My preferred build order is :

1 - Collector
1 - Shield
1 - Reactor
1 - Fuel Cell
1 - Life Support
1 - Habitation
1 - Command Module

Then I'll fill in the remaining needed Life & Hab, Collectors, Shields, and Reactors before adding in the remaining components for the design.

Reasoning :

The Collector gives you an Energy source.
The Reactor is an Energy storage device as well as an Energy Generator.
Life Support so your crew can live.
Habitation so they have quarters.
Command for organization and orders.

Once these seven modules are built your ship/station will have power and the Shields will start to charge.
If you have a lot of Shielding it can take some time to fully charge them so I like to get them charging as soon as possible.

Modules still pretty much build in the order entered into the design template provided you don't do any Header sorting - that seems to screw things up for some reason.

[ehsumrell1]

Nice build order Spacecadet!

Right after the Command Center Module I always place the longest ranged
weapon I'm using in the design next. Helps in case a pirate ship or Kaltor
happens to be in the area. Weapon will fire if energy bar is above zero.

[pycco]

ORIGINAL: BlueTemplar

I definitely saw it going from top to bottom.

yes it does you can build ships in a manner to have fully charged shields on completion.
as Spacecadet said its easy to do this by putting one of what you want on the design in order then putting more of them on it will keep the order that you placed them in, changing how the components are displayed in the list will screw this up very badly though.(making them listed alphabetically)

@ Spacecadet i have found that putting shields last on the list of 7 has no effect as to when they start to recharge as far as i can tell.

[BlueTemplar]

You can reset the order of the display by double-clicking on the first column header (the column with the pictures). You will have to start a completely new design though...

I still haven't found a way to re-order components without removing all those that will follow. Is there any other way to do that?

[Spacecadet]

ORIGINAL: pycco

ORIGINAL: BlueTemplar

I definitely saw it going from top to bottom.

yes it does you can build ships in a manner to have fully charged shields on completion.
as Spacecadet said its easy to do this by putting one of what you want on the design in order then putting more of them on it will keep the order that you placed them in, changing how the components are displayed in the list will screw this up very badly though.(making them listed alphabetically)

@ Spacecadet i have found that putting shields last on the list of 7 has no effect as to when they start to recharge as far as i can tell.

Probably true.

I initially set this up long ago hoping that Collectors, Shields, Reactor would start the charge, but you need at least six - the Fuel Cell probably optional as well but it's there in case the Collector is stalled but you have fuel.

[pycco]

ORIGINAL: BlueTemplar

You can reset the order of the display by double-clicking on the first column header (the column with the pictures). You will have to start a completely new design though...

I still haven't found a way to re-order components without removing all those that will follow. Is there any other way to do that?

not that i'm aware of sadly

you have to have fuel at the location when building starts for this to work, from what i have seen you have to have a fuel cell at least for the ships to start charging, without the collector the shields will charge part way then stop when fuel is gone.
1 - Command Module
1 - Reactor
1 - Fuel Cell
1 - Life Support
1 - Habitation
1 - Collector
1 - Shield

that is the order i use.

great advice BTW took me quite a while to figure this out.

[BlueTemplar]

- Energy Labs require (one/some/all) of these to work : Command Center, Habitation Module and Life Support.
- Energy Labs and Construction Yards work just fine even if your design has negative Excess Energy Output.
- Theory : "semi-active" components (Energy Labs, Gas Extractors, Construction Yards) require only Command Center, Habitation Module and Life Support to function. Energy is not required, but will be used if the ship/base generates any.