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Right but the colony isnt building it either...I que it up and it doesnt get to even 1% ..I'm guessing it has something to do with lack of resources but I dont know how to tell if the plant is mising stuff

ORIGINAL: Evrett

Right but the colony isnt building it either...I que it up and it doesnt get to even 1% ..I'm guessing it has something to do with lack of resources but I dont know how to tell if the plant is mising stuff

In the colonies screen select the cargo button after your project starts. There are two columns under cargo giving what is in stock and what you are short, with shortage being under reserved...

Lonnie Courtney Clay

ORIGINAL: Evrett

So I designed a star base (research based) but it wont show up in the build options at all of my planets (or construction ship) Any idea what I'm missing ?

Here's what I found based on my own experimentation:

Spaceports can only be built at one of your colonies. Someone above said they could only be built at planets, but I found I could only build them at *colonized* planets that belong to me. Since the colony builds the Spaceport, you don't have to use a Construction ship, although you can use one if you want at small colonies since it can be faster. Spaceports can be refitted, and they don't have a maximum size. You can throw a Mining and/or Luxury Extractor on and it will increase the colony's mining rate, if it isn't already maxed.

Star Bases are different in that they can be built anywhere, even in deep space. You can even build one at colony that already has a Spaceport. Unfortunate, they can't be refitted, even when built at a colony, so it's best not to use them at colonies. This also means it's best to keep your Star Base designs within your Maximum Base Size limit.

In systems with a Spaceport or Star Base, the AI for the freighters will automatically use smaller freighters to move resources from the nearby mining stations to the Spaceport/Star Base. Larger freighters will then move needed resources to other systems. If a system doesn't have a Spaceport/Star Base, then the various mining stations must be served individually, which is much less efficient. So, you want to have a Spaceport in every system that has one or more colonies in it.

Ok, so what about when you start mining one or more systems that's far away from the nearest Spaceport and there are no colonizable planets in sight? That's where a Star Base can be handy. Have a Constructor build one around the planet with the most valuable resources, give it mining, gas, and/or luxury extraction modules, and it'll mine that planet for you too. A Construction Yard and Weapon, Energy, and HighTech Plants are optional.

A Star Base is also a good option when you want a full-service station out in the middle of nowhere at a Caslon or Hydrogen nebula. It can be a better option than simply building a well-armed Gas Mining Station. If it's really far out, throwing on a Construction Yard and a Weapon, Energy, and HighTech Plant will allow ships to repair without having to travel all the way back to the nearest Spaceport. A lot of pirate bases located in a nebula use this model.

The freighter AI may see a Star Base between two Spaceports that are too far apart as a place where it can drop goods off and let another freighter pick them up, but I haven't been able to test that. It's more likely that it'll simply refuel and keep going.

Thanks guys you've bee a lot of help..I'm really starting to feel comfortable with my AWESOME IMPERIAL POWER! hehe
 
So got more questions - Sometimes I get large blue circle grids around my systems..is that because I have a fleet set to patrol there? Does patrolling use up lots of fuel or is it better to just park defensive fleets in orbit somewhere ? What do the red grid circles mean ? Bad guys patrolling?  I read in the component guide that your ratio of construction yards to tech factories is suppose to be 2:1 but often times the AI designs leave it much smaller. Is there a preferred ratio of docking bays to storage bays ?

ORIGINAL: Evrett

Thanks guys you've bee a lot of help..I'm really starting to feel comfortable with my AWESOME IMPERIAL POWER! hehe

So got more questions - Sometimes I get large blue circle grids around my systems..is that because I have a fleet set to patrol there? Does patrolling use up lots of fuel or is it better to just park defensive fleets in orbit somewhere ? What do the red grid circles mean ? Bad guys patrolling?  I read in the component guide that your ratio of construction yards to tech factories is suppose to be 2:1 but often times the AI designs leave it much smaller. Is there a preferred ratio of docking bays to storage bays ?

Excellent observation and questions. Unless someone has the real answer, I just use the 2 to 1 because size does not matter on Spaceports.., well, size sort of does not matter. I would like to know if an increase in Tech Factories speeds things up, or is just more a waste. Because I put extra tech factories on Constructors.., I do not know why, but I do. And the dock bays to storage bays questions, that is a great one too.., I do the same thing with those, I just load them on until someone comes up with the correct answer.., I also load them on the Constructors.., no reason, I just figure they are so important, I try to give them the best I can.

If you have two identical ships with almost identical components. Each ship has energy requirements of 200 (weapons, shields, sprint). Ship A has Excess Energy of 200. Ship B has Excess Energy of 800. Will Ship B perform better in compat (sustain fire longer, etc) or is the 600 Excess (800-200) just a waste?

I wrote a post on Fleet Posture a bit down in the War Room. By all means, take a look--it explains the blue circles, AND why you should care!

"I read in the component guide that your ratio of construction yards to tech factories is suppose to be 2:1 but often times the AI designs leave it much smaller."

The tech factories work much faster than the Construction Yard, so having a 1:1 ratio is a waste. The 2:1 ratio (1 Tech Factory per Construction Yard) takes this into account. Adding more than one Construction Yard will allow construction of more than one ship at a time, but it will not use multiple Construction Yards to work on a single project. Therefore, using more than one Construction Yard to a Constructor will not speed up station construction. The only real way to speed up construction is to research the construction speed technologies.

"If you have two identical ships with almost identical components. Each ship has energy requirements of 200 (weapons, shields, sprint). Ship A has Excess Energy of 200. Ship B has Excess Energy of 800. Will Ship B perform better in compat (sustain fire longer, etc) or is the 600 Excess (800-200) just a waste?"

Having a little excess is usually good for a couple of reasons, but having a lot of excess (such as Ship B in your example) is a waste. You're spending more resources and paying more maintenance for no benefit. The reasons a little excess is good are:

• Having at least two reactors is good so that if you lose one, the ship isn't out for the count. On bigger ships this becomes irrelevant since they use more than one reactor anyway. Having two extra reactors on your main Spaceports isn't bad. They get swarmed all the time and can last a while after their shields go down. The point to remember here is to think of them as backup reactors, not excess energy.
• Shield recharge uses power, but isn't counted in the listed Excess Energy in the designer. If your shields recharge at 0.4 per second, then they use 0.4 Energy per second while recharging (not while full).
• The sub-light engines use power, but they aren't counted in the listed Excess Energy either. In combat, your ships definitely use their engines, and often at Sprint speeds.
• Stations can use their Energy Collectors during combat (since they don't move), but ships cannot (since they do move). It's possible to add enough Energy Collectors to a LSP (Large Spaceport) that it can fire all of its weapons without using any fuel at all. It's a waste though, since Energy Collectors use some valuable resources (Chromium).

So, if you really want to be thorough, you have to add up the following:
[ol][*]Shield Recharge Rate x Number of Shield components, plus[*]Engine Sprint Power Use x Number of Engine components, plus[*]Thruster Power Use x Number of Thruster components, plus[*]the listed Weapon Energy Use per second, plus[*]the listed Static Energy Use[/ol]
That will tell you how much power you really need to generate for in-combat operations, which is when all that stuff is running at once. On stations, you can add Energy Collector power to Reactor Power. On ships, you must have enough using only Reactor power. On ships you only want enough Energy Collectors to meet the ship's Static Energy use so it won't use fuel when sitting still.

Thanks!1