Science & Industry

So I had an alt with enough unspent skill points (removed learning skills I guess?) to easily train up most of the PI skills to 4, and had a play around with it a little bit, but I'm a bit puzzled by what I ran into. I apologize that I didn't make better notes of exact numbers, but, perhaps when I explain what I ran into, someone can help me understand.

In the interest of just trying to get a feel for how it all works, I decided to just make the most basic setup: 1 Extractor and enough factories to produce a P1 product and a launchpad. I think I did "reactive metals", on a gas planet.

My first 'build' I think I set up about 6-8 extractor heads, and just left the cycle time on the default. I don't recall the exact number of resources it was going to extract, but lets say it was 10,000/hr. So I built 3 basic factories, and routed 3000 from my extractor to each of them, and the remainder to the launchpad. Each factory's output is also routed to my launchpad.

One cycle completed, and I was able to collect my processed stuff. I then realized that the cycle time was adjustable, I went back and bumped it up to 2 days, which of course meant I had to position my extractor heads again. I also noticed that now the extractor was saying it was going to produce something like 16000 units/hour, so I built more factories and routed 3000 to each of them and the remainder to the launchpad, until I didn't have any 'unrouted' P0.

After one day, it seems like most of my factories aren't being fed enough 'stuff' to stay busy, and there is no P0 product making it to my launchpad, which tells me that at least all of it is being processed by my factories. I think this must have to do with the cycle times (16000 / hr is 8000 every half hour, which is the production time on my factories, so it seems like this is only enough to keep 2 factories running full time, and a third running at reduced capacity). I just don't understand why the UI makes it seem like I have to route all of the projected hourly production. Perhaps I'm just misunderstanding the whole thing.

If my question makes sense to someone and you can help clarify, I'd be very appreciative. If not, let me know and I'll try to pull some exact numbers when I restart my extractor tomorrow morning.

Thanks!

Ah, okay, I will give this a try.

A follow up question: Is this also something that the storage silos can/are intended to be used for? (I've read a lot of posts where people say that using a launchpad as storage is just fine, so I'm trying to imagine when you'd need a silo!).

Thanks for the response!
Edit: can I change all of this routing while my extractor program is still running? (I can't log into the game at the moment to try it)

I think that was my problem. I was routing directly from my ECU to my factories, and it seems to be telling me that there is more 'stuff' to route than ends up being produced, so my factories aren't running all that often (and I probably have way more factories than I actually need... whoops!).

No worries! Thank you for taking time to answer. I'm still a bit puzzled as to why the numbers look all wonky when you route from ECU to factory, but if in the end this is the wrong approach, then I am not sure it's necessary for me to understand it (apart from the fact that I am immensely curious by nature).

Thank you again!

Update: I re-routed my two planets as suggested here, using the launchpad as intermediate storage between the ECU and factories, and now things seem to be running a lot more smoothly.

I do have one more question: Is there a way I can set up a route for something without there being any in the source location? Example: My ECU is feeding my launchpad, and I want to set up 3 routes for 3000 each to each factory. I will have to wait until there is at least 9000 units, right?


Thanks everyone for the help!

Ah, that's very helpful, thanks!

First tip- ALWAYS route ECU harvests to your storage facilities, whether it's a launchpad or otherwise. This means all materials are successfully gathered. If you send it to production plants first, you arent accounting for potentially higher cycle yields (can/has happened) and the fact that if there's already materials queued up in the production plant when the ECU cycles again, the newly gained materials are wasted because they arent able to go anywhere, and limbo does not exist. Second- an ideal harvest time would actually be close to 24 hours. This allows for 15 minute cycles, and also has an extra benefit of actually having higher yields. And you only have to click a couple buttons to start it again.

And yes, you MUST route all production, otherwise whatever is not routed is lost immediately upon cycle completion, whether it's P0 or P4 stuff.



Additionally, a resource rich planet is when you're seeing "hotspots" (white pockets/zones) when the slider is at full range in either direction.