Trade Frustration

[Sithuk]

The strategy of building starbases instead of starports at the majority of colonies is a valid one. However there is no automatic option for the construction AI to implement it. There is only an option for the small, medium, and large starport.

I'll post a request on the wishlist to add a starbase option, or better yet, a selected design once a defined population threshold is reached.

[edit]
Just added the following to the master wishlist:
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Building a starport at each colony is inefficient as resources are spread too thinly. A starbase design can achieve the same goals of colony defence, and planet bonuses.

The policy files only contain options to build a small, medium, and large starport. Please add a drop down menu from which the player can select a design to be built at each of the three population trigger thresholds.

See the following thread for a discussion of the trade distribution/starport issue.
tm.asp?m=3428164&mpage=1&key=

[Canute0]

Just a question what is the difference between a starbase and a starport ?
I only see that starports are starbases who are directly connected to a colony.

[dejagore]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

ORIGINAL: dejagore
Then after few another years ingame Ive checked their Cargo Storage and was amazed that ALL of the Defensive Bases / Resorts etc had stuff like 'Dantha Fur', 'Megallos Nut', 'Vodkol', 'Lead' etc and most of them had 'RESERVED' status (?!?).

I hazard a guess that those defensive bases (and resorts?) were built at colonies. Any base built at a colony does share its storage with the colony. So the cargo of the defensive base is the cargo of the colony, and the colony has reserved luxuries for consumption (that is the luxury part of the economy).

Indeed. You're right. I was talking about bases built above planets.

Just one more question. As I'm now having ~12 colonies and have 2 large spaceports (capital + 99% quality planet) and have one starbase on every other planet, shall I include in the Starbase design Cargo Storage or not ?

[feygan]

ORIGINAL: Canute

Just a question what is the difference between a starbase and a starport ?
I only see that starports are starbases who are directly connected to a colony.

That is essentially the difference, although starports do have extra component requirements. To sum up a starbase can be built anywhere by either colonies or construction ships, and starbases are more flexible in their role as they have very few component requirements.

[Canute0]

Ok, so you build Starbases instead Spaceports to prevent the private sector to build ships at that spot, because your starbase designs don't got any construction ability.

[Spidey]

Ok, so you build Starbases instead Spaceports to prevent the private sector to build ships at that spot, because your starbase designs don't got any construction ability.

That's part of it. The other part is that fewer space ports means fewer places that keep trying to stockpile all your strategic resources, which in turn means that the places that are stockpiling them will have more in stock. More colonies per port also means more freighters per port, which in turn means that stuff can get transported to the port a bit faster.

And you really do want to have lots and lots of stuff in stock, since the AI may well decide to mass upgrade at some point, throwing 50-100 (or more) construction orders after a single port. If you're out of chromium after the first five then it might be a long wait. If you've got 10k of everything then it won't take all that long to process even a 100 ships through a large port.

Do remember, by the way, that there's nothing stopping you from making really big ports with 20+ construction yards. Consider carefully whether you want four smaller facilities that compete for resources and each are capable of producing 5-6 ships before running out or if you want one massive facility that stockpiles everything but which can easily build 20 ships at a time.

[Bingeling]

ORIGINAL: dejagore
Just one more question. As I'm now having ~12 colonies and have 2 large spaceports (capital + 99% quality planet) and have one starbase on every other planet, shall I include in the Starbase design Cargo Storage or not ?

As long as starbases are only built at colonies, you don't need cargo storage. I would add one, though.

Keep in mind that a starbase can be anything. I could for instance imagine cases where I use them as powerful gas mines (with defenses). In that scenario a good cargo capacity is needed.

You don't need (lots) of cargo space for anything that will only be built at colonies.

[elanaagain]

I haven't read this whole thread..so if this has already been suggested, please ignore. One fix is to make mining ships on the STATE side, and manually control their mining and delivery orders. Its tedious, and I keep to a very small number of them, grouped in fleets, named to distinguish them from combat fleets.

[CyclopsSlayer]

ORIGINAL: elanaagain

I haven't read this whole thread..so if this has already been suggested, please ignore. One fix is to make mining ships on the STATE side, and manually control their mining and delivery orders. Its tedious, and I keep to a very small number of them, grouped in fleets, named to distinguish them from combat fleets.

Personally, it wasn't the mining ships I was finding problematic, but rather the freighters themselves.
Resources on hand, a steady supply incoming, and the freighters were just refusing to move it to where it was needed.

[Jeeves]

Before the latest beta upgrade 13 I had hundreds of mines with full cargo and no pickups scheduled. Now I have almost all mines with pickups scheduled, and resources are arriving at destinations which have waited years for supplies after just six months since upgrade. The civilian freighter algorithm has definitely improved. I just wish that my homeworld colony dock did not have 500 freighters queued to deliver steel (was short 70k) now that the homeworld has over 500k steel in stock. Hohum. If it weren't for that little detail, I would be very happy with the civilian economy now...

Lonnie Courtney Clay

[Lonck]

I get freighter spam draining my resource supply. The private sector then builds even more freighters because I have resource shortages. Instead of building mining ships which I only have 4 (2 gas, 2 solid) retard AI spams freighters. Now I have negative gold and 121k in unfulfilled steel.

[Bingeling]

The privates build ships according to the number of colonies. The build spam happens as you get more colonies, so stop funding/grabbing them if you can't live with the ship orders.