Missionless mining ships

[Osito]

My private sector, in its wisdom, has built 18 mining ships, but it seems that 13 of them are spares, as they are not actually used for anything. They just sit there with no mission. They have fuel, they have range, they have planets to mine, but they won't do anything. Any idea why? The only thing I can think of is that they will only mine planets which don't have have a mining station.

Still I shouldn't complain. It's not like the private sector built 200 of them in one go, instantly wiping out my carefully preserved caslon supply. Oh wait, that was freighters. There's gonna be some changes to the private sector come Universe, the first of which will be to nationalise the bloody lot of them and imprison their CEOs!

Osito

[CyclopsSlayer]

re: Fuel Usage - If you use manual design try this. Split the fuel tracks, give Private sector units Reactors using Caslon, but keep the Military using Hydrogen. Or vice-versa

[Spidey]

Did you colonize a whole bunch of planets at once? Or invade a large number of colonies? It also pays being a bit careful with the timing of private ship upgrades. If you've got 900 civ shivs floating about and they all pick largely the same time to retrofit to the new models with twice the tank capacity...

Anyway, I think the number of civ ships built depends mostly on the number colonies you have while their tasks depend on empire priorities. So some ships might just idle and gather space dust for a while but the alternative is them not getting built until you actually do need them and don't have the resources to build them.

[Osito]

Oddly enough, a bit later on, all 18 gas mining ships sat around with no mission whatsoever, and that's the way they have stayed. The private sector resolutely refuses to mine any gas with ships. Maybe it thinks there are enough mining stations or something, I'm not sure.

I don't know what others think, but I wonder whether the private sector builds too many ships. Quite often, when you inspect them, they're not full, or they're sitting around not doing anything. It will be interesting to change the number produced in Universe (assuming it's possible to do so).

Edit: Another question (which I may have asked previously, but I'm getting old and tend to forget things): for those that custom build, do you bother with small, medium and large freighters? I tend to just build one type, which starts off small and gets bigger as the game goes on.

PS That is useful advice CyclopsSlayer. I have tried that in the past and it does help.

[TrooperCooper]

ORIGINAL: Osito

Edit: Another question (which I may have asked previously, but I'm getting old and tend to forget things): for those that custom build, do you bother with small, medium and large freighters? I tend to just build one type, which starts off small and gets bigger as the game goes on.

I do the very same thing since I figured the game doesnt make a difference between freighter types when assigning orders it seems. Very often you can see large freighters flying arround with a cargo load that is far less than its max capacity while small freighters carry equal loadings. I just create one freighter design and use it for all three types, naming them Freighter A, B and C for small, medium and large. And it works well for me. Just make sure you dont make them to big as the maintenance costs can easily drain your private sector when you create titan-freighters. And usually they wouldnt be used to their potential anyway.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Osito

Oddly enough, a bit later on, all 18 gas mining ships sat around with no mission whatsoever, and that's the way they have stayed. The private sector resolutely refuses to mine any gas with ships. Maybe it thinks there are enough mining stations or something, I'm not sure.

I don't know what others think, but I wonder whether the private sector builds too many ships. Quite often, when you inspect them, they're not full, or they're sitting around not doing anything. It will be interesting to change the number produced in Universe (assuming it's possible to do so).

Edit: Another question (which I may have asked previously, but I'm getting old and tend to forget things): for those that custom build, do you bother with small, medium and large freighters? I tend to just build one type, which starts off small and gets bigger as the game goes on.

PS That is useful advice CyclopsSlayer. I have tried that in the past and it does help.

The number of private sector ships seems to be based on a pre-set formula (e.g. number of planets), I'm sure somebody has the exact formula. I suspect Elliott has tried to pick a formula which is in the middle ground for players. For those that manage their resources well what you have seen is not unusual but for others it maybe inadequate.

Personally what I find most annoying is Mining Ships that do nothing when Super Luxuries are readily available to mine, they should given priority given the prices the Private Sector receives.

Here is a previous thread on Mining Ship and Freighter Design which I still follow. Any further observations from the community?

[Osito]

Thanks for the link, Icemania, there was some useful information there.

Osito

[Castinar]

Just a guess? Go to expansion planner and sort resources by empire priority? Are you short anything? If not, maybe the civvies think your economy is covered?

[battleground]

I to have a dozen or more mining ships orbiting my home world. No fuel problems (they are all fully fueled) they just sit there.

[Spidey]

Well, there's probably nothing they feel you need to have mined. If you were a space miner and your empire had massive stockpiles of everything you're capable of mining, would you bother going out to an asteroid field to mine stuff or would you hang out in the nearest bar, waiting for the price of resources to increase so you'll actually get a payday out of a mining trip?

[LiquidSky]

ORIGINAL: Spidey

Well, there's probably nothing they feel you need to have mined. If you were a space miner and your empire had massive stockpiles of everything you're capable of mining, would you bother going out to an asteroid field to mine stuff or would you hang out in the nearest bar, waiting for the price of resources to increase so you'll actually get a payday out of a mining trip?

I would go just to get away from the wife, and get some peace and quiet.

[ReadeB]

Would be nice if they would mine luxuries to sell to allies. More credits for the private economy.