Science & Industry

Hey guys,

as i never did it before i'd like to try out PI. What i've been up to till now: i've set up a command center, an extractor and a basic industry. I've set up the extractor head units and was able to extract abt 80.000 carbon compounts. As i didn't know what i was doing i just then installed biofuels in the schematics tab of the basic industry.
What i don't understand, it looks like i have to create a route for every 3000 carbon compounts, every time i click on this material and create route, it just creates a route for this amount (3000).
After 1 day, i have 20 biofuels. Nothing more. It says that these are routed to the command center, but the biofuels stay in the basic industry.

What am i doing wrong? I have links from extractor to basic industry and from there to the command center.
What do the percentages mean which show when you move with you mouse over the structures.
Do i indeed have to route every portion of raw material?
Why do i only have 20 biofuels after 1 day and why didnt they go to the command center.

I have all skills and the structures are as close to each other as i could manage...

Thnaks in advance!

RotsjK

I've tried that, but for some reason there are no resources transported. The mistake i made is that i first mined for 25 hours and then installed the biofuel production. But, except for the first run, there is no carbon compount transported to the basic industry nor is my ready product transported to the command center.

Well...my basic set up is Extractor -> storage -> basic Factory -> launchpad. making sure all the correct things are routed is sometimes the hardest part of the whole process.

i will try this, it is said in the vids that storage isnt neaded, but as my setup wont work i will try yours.

Storage isn't needed because the launchpad has a large storage amount.

Extractor -> launchpad. Launchpad -> basic factory. Basic factory -> launchpad works fine unless you're likely to overflow the launchpad's storage

You are making it much more complicated then it is. Setting up PI is very confusing at first, but once you figure out the basics it becomes much easier.

That being said. You should have each planet setup with a launch pad, and if you deal with high volumes or do not want to haul often a silo. You will then have your factories and extractor control unit.

Now, the thing to remember is everything needs to be routed to somewhere. This means routing materials to your factories, as well as from your factories.

So what you should do is: Setup your extractor to extract "something". Next route this material to your launch pad, or if you are doing a launch pad/silo have the silo to hold your P0 is the best option. next you need to setup some basic factories and install the schematics. You will then need to route the P0 (extracted or raw materials) from your silo/launch pad to the factories. Once this is done you finally need to route the finished materials from the factory to your launch pad.

So the setup should look like this: Extractor -> silo <- factories -> launch pad.
If you wanted to do P2 materials it would be Extractor -> silo -> basic factories -> launch pad <- Advanced factories -> launch pad.

You're current problem could be caused by a number of issues.
1. You removed a link(s). Re-add the links, and re-setup the routes to and from the factories.
2. Your extractor control unit is not routing the materials to a launch pad / silo.
3. You did not set an extraction duration (set it to 24 hours) when setting up what materials would be extracted / extractor heads.
4. You did not properly route materials to or from the factories.
5. You ran out of space, you maxed out on P0 materials and there was no space for P1. If there is no space for the finished good it is destroyed. This applies to any item that is routed, including routing items to a full factory, this is why you always route to a storage device and not directly to factories from other factories.

Extractors don't store raw material. If there's no available route when it cycles, the material is lost



Sounds right, so when the extractor cycles, the material will move from the extractor to the launchpad and from there to the factory



Factories don't store their output product. If there's no available route when the factory cycle finishes, the material is lost.



So when the factory finishes its cycle, 20 biofuels will move to the launchpad.



No run button.

Is the extractor extracting? Or sitting idle? If idle (no running program), then you need to install a program and start that extraction. Once it finishes a cycle, if there's a route for the material, the material will follow that route, will go to the launchpad then to the factory and the factory will start running. When the factory finishes the output product will move to the launchpad and more carbon will move to the factory.

you are most likely looking at the expected extracted materials per hour. Extractor control units only extract materials and route them some place, they cannot store them, and the only thing I can think of that you are looking at is the per hour: units under the program output. Also keep in mind that links do nothing other then create paths that you are allowed to send materials over (think of them as roads). You still need to manually route items to and from everything setting what route items are sent down, and what building they go to. You also need to hit the submit button (above the build/ scan display when a change occurs) after many things you do before any affect happens.

I'll go though the steps explaining everything you need to do so you can walk though it (don't skip a step).

1. Command center (CC) is placed (and then upgraded). Hit submit
2. Launch pad (LP) is placed.
3. Basic factory (BF) is placed
4. Place your extractor control unit (ECU) is placed. Right click the ECU and click create link. move to the LP and double click it to create a link from the ECU to the LP. Hit submit (VERY important step to hit submit here).
5. Now double click the ECU (or single click and then click the survey image), this will open the surveying program.
6. Click on the circles on the left (extractor heads) and choose however many you can use (say 5).
7. At the bottom under extraction area size drag the bar until the program start is listed at 1 day. This tells the ECU how long to run (24 houors).
8. Next on the right click on the icon for the material you want to extract (base metals, heavy metals, whichever).
9. Finally hit start program.
10. Single click the ECU once again and click the second icon (products) Your P0 material you are extracting will be listed and displayed in red; because it hasn't been routed yet. Double click this item to select it and then double click on your launch pad (or click the create route button, then click on the launch pad).
11. HIT SUBMIT (very important).

Your materials are now being extracted, and will be routed to the launch pad once A CYCLE has completed. You can click on the ECU and it will display how long each cycle will take (every 15 minutes if you set it to 24 hours). This means after 15 minutes some materials will be routed to the launch pad. After 24 hours the program completes and you will need to restart the program.

After waiting 15 minutes you will now see the extracted material (P0 or raw materials, call it P0) will show up in your launch pad. Now to setup the factory.

1. Double click the factory to open the schematics window.
2. Choose the material (P1) you wish to create. This obviously needs to be a item that uses the P0 you are extracting. Double click the schematic you wish to create.
3. You will now see that the item is not yet routed. Double click this (or click the create route button) and double click on the launch pad.
4. Finally click on the launch pad and click the 4th icon (routes).
5. Find the P0 (extracted material) in the list, with type INCOMING. Click on this item to highlight it, and then click create route.
6. Double click the factory to route the P0 to the factory. The P0 is now routed to the factory.
7. HIT SUBMIT

Once P0 materials are available the factory will pull the materials from the launch pad (you can mouse over the icon under input to see how much is needed still). Then once its cycle is complete (you can see how long each cycle is by clicking on the factroy and seeing the time required under production on the right) the newly manufactured P1 item will be routed back to the launch pad.



So quick summary

Set ECU, create link to launch pad. HIT SUBMIT. double click ECU, set extractor heads, material type, and 24 hour cycle. click start program. Click the ECU products icon, double click the material to crate a route and double click on launch pad. HIT SUBMIT. Double click the factory and install the schematic, route this schematic to the launch pad. Then click the launch pad route icon, choose an incoming material from your ECU and create a route to the factroy. HIT SUBMIT.

And again, you will need to wait 15 minutes for P0 materials to show up in your launch pad. Then if there is enough material for a factory to start it will take ANOTHER 15 minutes for the factory to manufacture the finished product.

no matter how much you are extracting the basic factory will only take 3000 units per cycle. anything above that extracted is lost. it order to avoid this loss you need to route all materials to a storage or launchpad. then create another route from there to the factory. This way any extra extracted material will stay in storage.

What this also allows you to do is run multiple basic factory's off the output from a single extractor control unit. Each basic factory consumes 3000 units per 30 minute cycle, or 6000 units per hour. So having 4 basic factories you will need to extract an average of 24,000 units of P0 material per hour.

What you want to do is try to balance the amount extracted with the amount consumed by your factories. pulling 80,000 carbon compounds does you no good if you only use 6000 of it. reduce the number of heads on the extractor until you can fit enough factories to use very close to the full amount extracted.

You will also want to adjust the length of your extraction programs. running a 1 hour program that pulls 80,000 units per hour will only pull 80,000 units over 1 hour then shut down until reset. a program that pulls 40,000 units per hour for 4 hours will run for 4 hours pulling a total of 160,000 units before shutting down.

I normally run programs 1 day 45 minutes long. this is the longest you can run on 15 minute cycles. 1 Day 1 hour bumps cycle times up to 30 minutes. Not that it makes a big difference, just my preference.

basically the longer your program runs for the less it will pull per hour, but will run for longer pulling a higher total amount before shutting down. you should set the extraction cycle time according to how often you can go back and reset it.If you can only get on once a day to restart your extractors then set at least a 24 hour cycle. if you only get on every couple days make it 2-3 days.