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A few questions about Station-Building
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A few questions about Station-Building
SkyMoondrift
Rookiguey (4)
Rookiguey (4)
Posted 10 years ago.
Hi,
I'm new to X games, X3AP being my entry into the series and I would like to ask for a few tips on Station building and some other issues.
I recently decided to start producing Energy in the Antigone memorial sector, as I have read there were high yield asteroids there. I started by dragging the two 60 yield asteroids away from the other asteroids and small clusters of rocks to make a little room. 3 hours and multiple deaths later I managed to get them nicely orientated in the same direction, about 15km apart.
I then placed a large Silicon mine on each and connected them with the complex kit. This is where things got a little tricky. I fear I screwed up when I put the Crystal fab directly in the middle of the two but slightly elevated because I didn't realize I need two of them. So now I have the two Silicon L's and Crystal L all hooked up to a Hub, but I don;t know where to attach the 2nd Crystal fab.
Will it work properly if I hook it to the other Crystal fab or should do I need to connect it to the main Hub ?
I have further plans to add one XL Solar plant to the existing Hub and possibly a Cahoona bakery to make it self sufficient, but I don;t know where to position them or how to hook them up so its not a big mess.
Any help would be great.
Edit:
I seem to be having a huge problem with my Hub. It seems to be buying Silicon wafers from AI transporters, resulting in my Silicon mines stopping production even though their production exceeds the Hubs demands.
In the adjust parameters menu I set the buying price to Minimum so my Hub wouldn't buy Wafers, but ships keep selling them to my Hub. Also I can't find the option to sell the Excess wafers, it just shows up as a resource now and I can't sell them.
How do you tell the Hub not to buy resources that it produces itself ?
Roguey
Trueguey (22)
Trueguey (22)
Posted 10 years ago.
hi there,
Complex HUB's allow you to connect a very large number of stations together (ie. your complex could have over 200 stations). The only rule is the stations must be within 25km of each other, however there is a way past this too.
If you have a station/stations outside the 25km range, you can connect the two stations together and position the hub near your first hub. You can then join the two hubs together, making it possible join much further than normal.
If you join too many of the same type of stations to a Hub, you can always toggle their production too (when selecting the individual station).
I kind-of gave up trying to make complex's look nice. Sooner or later a pipe will go somewhere you didnt want. There is complex-cleaner script on the ES forum which may help with that.
as for the self-sufficient thing, hub's have 3 type of wares; resources, intermediate and products. Resources are always brought and are never sold. Intermediate are wares required to construct wares that fuel in-between stations, and finally the product is the thing that your complex works to sell.
If you add a solar-plant, it will mean there is no real product, as its finished-good will be used to power the other stations in the complex. I suggest, if youre building in Antigone memorial add some 1MJ shield factories to the complex - for your final product. These will sell very well. Microchips are also another great seller - avoid missiles and lasers usually.
If you want to stop races from buying your intermediate wares, set Allow other races to buy/sell to off. However this will not stop your own UT/LT's.
I fear I screwed up when I put the Crystal fab directly in the middle of the two but slightly elevated because I didn't realize I need two of them.
Complex HUB's allow you to connect a very large number of stations together (ie. your complex could have over 200 stations). The only rule is the stations must be within 25km of each other, however there is a way past this too.
If you have a station/stations outside the 25km range, you can connect the two stations together and position the hub near your first hub. You can then join the two hubs together, making it possible join much further than normal.
If you join too many of the same type of stations to a Hub, you can always toggle their production too (when selecting the individual station).
I have further plans to add one XL Solar plant to the existing Hub and possibly a Cahoona bakery to make it self sufficient, but I don;t know where to position them or how to hook them up so its not a big mess.
I kind-of gave up trying to make complex's look nice. Sooner or later a pipe will go somewhere you didnt want. There is complex-cleaner script on the ES forum which may help with that.
as for the self-sufficient thing, hub's have 3 type of wares; resources, intermediate and products. Resources are always brought and are never sold. Intermediate are wares required to construct wares that fuel in-between stations, and finally the product is the thing that your complex works to sell.
If you add a solar-plant, it will mean there is no real product, as its finished-good will be used to power the other stations in the complex. I suggest, if youre building in Antigone memorial add some 1MJ shield factories to the complex - for your final product. These will sell very well. Microchips are also another great seller - avoid missiles and lasers usually.
If you want to stop races from buying your intermediate wares, set Allow other races to buy/sell to off. However this will not stop your own UT/LT's.
SkyMoondrift
Rookiguey (4)
Rookiguey (4)
Posted 10 years ago.
Hi Roguey,
I guess the aim of this station wasn't meant for huge profits, It was more to fulfill my dream of having my own supply of Energy. I also have a thing for Solar plants.
Correct me if I am wrong but won't the XL Solar plant churn out a huge excess of Cells in this configuration ?. It says on your site that an XL puts out 92,595 cells per hour, so 600 cells per Solar plant cycle (3.35s =5,530) for the two Silicon mines + 560 cells per cycle for two Crystal fab L's - totaling 1160 cells per Solar plant cycle - won't that mean there will be lots of left over Cells ?
I wasn't intending to make profit from the Energy complex, but since the demand is really high in Argon, I could always sell what I don't use, and/or the excess could fuel other stations should I add them later.
"If you want to stop races from buying your intermediate wares, set Allow other races to buy/sell to off. However this will not stop your own UT/LT's."
I just want them to stop (Selling) me wares that I produce there. Is there a way to do that, other than the Races switch ?
Thank you kindly for the help, also thanks for the awesome site, it's saved me so many times.
I guess the aim of this station wasn't meant for huge profits, It was more to fulfill my dream of having my own supply of Energy. I also have a thing for Solar plants.
Correct me if I am wrong but won't the XL Solar plant churn out a huge excess of Cells in this configuration ?. It says on your site that an XL puts out 92,595 cells per hour, so 600 cells per Solar plant cycle (3.35s =5,530) for the two Silicon mines + 560 cells per cycle for two Crystal fab L's - totaling 1160 cells per Solar plant cycle - won't that mean there will be lots of left over Cells ?
I wasn't intending to make profit from the Energy complex, but since the demand is really high in Argon, I could always sell what I don't use, and/or the excess could fuel other stations should I add them later.
"If you want to stop races from buying your intermediate wares, set Allow other races to buy/sell to off. However this will not stop your own UT/LT's."
I just want them to stop (Selling) me wares that I produce there. Is there a way to do that, other than the Races switch ?
Thank you kindly for the help, also thanks for the awesome site, it's saved me so many times.
Roguey
Trueguey (22)
Trueguey (22)
Posted 10 years ago.
Correct me if I am wrong but won't the XL Solar plant churn out a huge excess of Cells in this configuration ?.
Any XL power plant (with enough resources) will make a crazy amount of energy cells. Unless you need that many, you will be probably better off with a M or L sized power-plant. You could always link two L's to make a XL later.
I just want them to stop (Selling) me wares that I produce there. Is there a way to do that, other than the Races switch ?
Well you have the following options:
- You could set ware price really high, then instead of selling, you would buy.
- Toggle the race switch, would would keep back all wares. Then use ships to sell the goods (ie. Trade commands->Sell for best price) - then you can pick which wares you like to keep, and those you want to sell.
RandomTank
Assoguey (17)
Assoguey (17)
Posted 10 years ago.
You've got these all connected up as a Complex yeah?
If you go in the Complex Hub's Command Console => Pick any empty slot => Administration (Commercial Agent) => Complex Settings, it should give you all the info about the complex, including: the complex's Resources, Intermediate Products and Products; how many of each ware per hour it produces vs. how many of each ware per hour it consumes; and a list of stations, including operational info and how far away from the Hub they are.
It should be that all of the wares you are making/using are under either the Intermediate Products or Products, and if you press enter on any ware you can switch it between these 2.
If you want to sell Silicon, put it in Products and the NPC's will be allowed to buy any surplus silicon you produce, but they cannot sell you any (as you can't sell a station its own product!).
If not, put the Silicon in Intermediate Products; then go to 'Adjust Station Parameters', and down the bottom of the menu you should see the option 'Intermediate Product Trading'; here you can change whether you want to Buy, Buy & Sell, Sell or Do Nothing(None) with the Intermediate Products of your complex, if you just want to stockpile Silicon without buying any, just set this to None, and all the excess Silicon will just sit there (as the NPC's cannot buy any or sell you any!)
If you are producing a noticeable surplus, I'd recommend selling it, as extra money is extra money!
If you go in the Complex Hub's Command Console => Pick any empty slot => Administration (Commercial Agent) => Complex Settings, it should give you all the info about the complex, including: the complex's Resources, Intermediate Products and Products; how many of each ware per hour it produces vs. how many of each ware per hour it consumes; and a list of stations, including operational info and how far away from the Hub they are.
It should be that all of the wares you are making/using are under either the Intermediate Products or Products, and if you press enter on any ware you can switch it between these 2.
If you want to sell Silicon, put it in Products and the NPC's will be allowed to buy any surplus silicon you produce, but they cannot sell you any (as you can't sell a station its own product!).
If not, put the Silicon in Intermediate Products; then go to 'Adjust Station Parameters', and down the bottom of the menu you should see the option 'Intermediate Product Trading'; here you can change whether you want to Buy, Buy & Sell, Sell or Do Nothing(None) with the Intermediate Products of your complex, if you just want to stockpile Silicon without buying any, just set this to None, and all the excess Silicon will just sit there (as the NPC's cannot buy any or sell you any!)
If you are producing a noticeable surplus, I'd recommend selling it, as extra money is extra money!
I will be the one to take you down!
SkyMoondrift
Rookiguey (4)
Rookiguey (4)
Posted 10 years ago.
You've got these all connected up as a Complex yeah?
If you go in the Complex Hub's Command Console => Pick any empty slot => Administration (Commercial Agent) => Complex Settings, it should give you all the info about the complex, including: the complex's Resources, Intermediate Products and Products; how many of each ware per hour it produces vs. how many of each ware per hour it consumes; and a list of stations, including operational info and how far away from the Hub they are.
It should be that all of the wares you are making/using are under either the Intermediate Products or Products, and if you press enter on any ware you can switch it between these 2.
If you want to sell Silicon, put it in Products and the NPC's will be allowed to buy any surplus silicon you produce, but they cannot sell you any (as you can't sell a station its own product!).
If not, put the Silicon in Intermediate Products; then go to 'Adjust Station Parameters', and down the bottom of the menu you should see the option 'Intermediate Product Trading'; here you can change whether you want to Buy, Buy & Sell, Sell or Do Nothing(None) with the Intermediate Products of your complex, if you just want to stockpile Silicon without buying any, just set this to None, and all the excess Silicon will just sit there (as the NPC's cannot buy any or sell you any!)
If you are producing a noticeable surplus, I'd recommend selling it, as extra money is extra money!
- RandomTank
If you go in the Complex Hub's Command Console => Pick any empty slot => Administration (Commercial Agent) => Complex Settings, it should give you all the info about the complex, including: the complex's Resources, Intermediate Products and Products; how many of each ware per hour it produces vs. how many of each ware per hour it consumes; and a list of stations, including operational info and how far away from the Hub they are.
It should be that all of the wares you are making/using are under either the Intermediate Products or Products, and if you press enter on any ware you can switch it between these 2.
If you want to sell Silicon, put it in Products and the NPC's will be allowed to buy any surplus silicon you produce, but they cannot sell you any (as you can't sell a station its own product!).
If not, put the Silicon in Intermediate Products; then go to 'Adjust Station Parameters', and down the bottom of the menu you should see the option 'Intermediate Product Trading'; here you can change whether you want to Buy, Buy & Sell, Sell or Do Nothing(None) with the Intermediate Products of your complex, if you just want to stockpile Silicon without buying any, just set this to None, and all the excess Silicon will just sit there (as the NPC's cannot buy any or sell you any!)
If you are producing a noticeable surplus, I'd recommend selling it, as extra money is extra money!
- RandomTank
Now that's the answer I was looking for. Thank you so much for putting that in such detail.
I have it all hooked up nicely now, though I did rage-quit a few times due to the map window always being in the way when I place stations grhhh.
The complex is now making approximately 84,000 surplus cells an hour, but buying Cahoona's is a little expensive and I can't decide whether to add my own Cahoona operation to the complex or just continue buying it and sell the Cells to offset it.
On the bright side, all my ships have free Energy now, which leads me to another question: Is it possible to make your
TS's refuel automatically using your Complex's products, in this case Energy cells ?. I always set them to resupply after a few jumps, but I'm pretty sure they never do.
Thanks again for the help guys.
Edit:
Well it seems my ships have reached a new level of stupidity, I told them to sell ware for best price and all they do is fly around with a cargo of Cells repeatedly docking at my Hub and then circling around it for 10 minutes and then flying to my Cahoona bakery (which is not connected to anything) and then back to the Hub. What on earth is going on here!?!?
I even set product selling price to minimum, disabled the Cahoona bakery and they still fly to it and then back to the Hub, not doing anything.
I also have tried switching everything around in the Complex settings > products - resources. Tried setting intermediate products to sell > none. I feel I have changed every setting there is, but they won't sell the Cells and just fly around like wombats.
Just shut down the game in case it was a glitch of some sort.
Admetes
Fightguey (6)
Fightguey (6)
Posted 10 years ago.
This link is quite useful for creating complexes to calculate better the amount of money and resources needed:
http://www.altanetworks.com/x3/x3apocc.html
About the "glitch" you were talking about is something normal for normal game options. (is not quite a glitch sigh, is it?)
I recommend using the X3AP Bonus Pack and use CAGs and CLS Ships as they do a much better job than the default settings.
On default the ships go to where wares could be sold at best price and they take money directly from your stations for the resources you sell, complicating things a bit.
That counts for STs, UTs, and commands as buy best price, sell best price.
With CAGS and CLS is much easier once they are set. They are a bit buggy though and sometimes the settings reset but once they are working they are done. (the glitch is mainly about that some values become null for some reason, using mouse instead of numbers on the command panel makes the glitch less likely to happen).
http://www.altanetworks.com/x3/x3apocc.html
About the "glitch" you were talking about is something normal for normal game options. (is not quite a glitch sigh, is it?)
I recommend using the X3AP Bonus Pack and use CAGs and CLS Ships as they do a much better job than the default settings.
On default the ships go to where wares could be sold at best price and they take money directly from your stations for the resources you sell, complicating things a bit.
That counts for STs, UTs, and commands as buy best price, sell best price.
With CAGS and CLS is much easier once they are set. They are a bit buggy though and sometimes the settings reset but once they are working they are done. (the glitch is mainly about that some values become null for some reason, using mouse instead of numbers on the command panel makes the glitch less likely to happen).
RandomTank
Assoguey (17)
Assoguey (17)
Posted 10 years ago.
I have it all hooked up nicely now, though I did rage-quit a few times due to the map window always being in the way when I place stations grhhh.
- SkyMoondrift
- SkyMoondrift
If you place am advanced satellite in the same sector as your building in, and then press k when in the sector map (whether placing a station or not) it will show a radar view of the sector, showing you physically where and what shape all the stations/asteroids are; you can also press Insert to switch between the birds-eye view and horizontal view in the sector map.
In answer to your refuelling question, do you know how to use CLS? (Commodity Logistic Software) Because this is by far the easiest way to do it. If you don't know, read this guide for the basics, and this guide for more advanced techniques (thank you twice Kirlack!). Once you've had a read through those to find out how input commands and what those commands do, ask me again and I'll tell you a technique I use to refuel my ships!
Also, your problem with selling energy can be solved by using CAG traders (look them up on google) as they are much cleverer than normal traders and are quite simple to set up.
I will be the one to take you down!
phantomrock
Fightguey (6)
Fightguey (6)
Posted 10 years ago.
hmmm very interesting because if you are on the PC platform you can download the bonus package and you will have access to the Dockware Manager from there you can remove silicon wafers from the hub or limit the amount of them on the Hub. By clicking on Advanced then the rest is pretty self-explanatory...
I find out that the closer you get the station you want to connect to the complex the better chances it will connect. The Commonwealth stations seem to connect better than the Terran only thing that bothers me is that if you are in the sector doing something then the NPCs run into the tubes or complex consequently having you lose rank percentage. I am sure you have figured it out that to use a small ship that can equip a tractor beam & drag as close as possible even within 10km is good but all the while it's like waiting to exhale. You can even use the Move To Position command after you have beamed the station you want to connect which I see is more of a fail-safe but still the chances of hitting something are still there
I find out that the closer you get the station you want to connect to the complex the better chances it will connect. The Commonwealth stations seem to connect better than the Terran only thing that bothers me is that if you are in the sector doing something then the NPCs run into the tubes or complex consequently having you lose rank percentage. I am sure you have figured it out that to use a small ship that can equip a tractor beam & drag as close as possible even within 10km is good but all the while it's like waiting to exhale. You can even use the Move To Position command after you have beamed the station you want to connect which I see is more of a fail-safe but still the chances of hitting something are still there
RandomTank
Assoguey (17)
Assoguey (17)
Posted 10 years ago.
By Hub he means the Silicon/Energy Complex Hub, not the Xenon Hub...
I will be the one to take you down!
SkyMoondrift
Rookiguey (4)
Rookiguey (4)
Posted 10 years ago.
Hi again,
I apologize for not replying sooner. The current state of my game was so infuriating that I had to stop playing it for a while.
At the moment I don't really have the inclination to go back to it. But I am look forward to X-Rebirth and hope it is more intuitive and less vague.
Thank you all for the help I appreciate it very much.
redheart
Eagleguey (11)
Eagleguey (11)
Posted 10 years ago.
This game has a HUGE learning curve. You HAVE to keep trying to learn it if you want to enjoy it. Once you do learn the ins and outs though it is very addictive, but it does take a lot of learning.
I was in your shoes when I first started playing this and RandomTank and Roguey can both tell you that I would ask non stop questions just so I could learn stuff. That is what we are here for. Do not feel bad if you have to ask questions, even for the crap you feel you should know.
I was in your shoes when I first started playing this and RandomTank and Roguey can both tell you that I would ask non stop questions just so I could learn stuff. That is what we are here for. Do not feel bad if you have to ask questions, even for the crap you feel you should know.
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