player HQ

[Baggins46]

I am trying to build a docking area on my player HQ. I have assigned a builder and he is 'on site' but waiting for energy cells and has been for a long time. Could it be because as yet I have not found any SSP as I am only at the start of the game and if I dont know where they are, nobody else will?

[Omni-Orb]

The best thing you can do is buy a trader and find a station that sells what you need and trade it yourself.
Sometimes the NPC's wont deliver resources even if the universe has more than enough traders and resources, I don't know why it is like that or how to fix it.

[LughC]

Are there stations selling energy cells within range of your manager? If not they won't send traders out to buy them. Do you have trading ships assigned to the station? Without them there aren't any ships to go buy them? Otherwise you need to wait for npcs to trade with you.


You can also just manually send a ship to go collect them.

[dtpsprt]

Eventually some NPC will appear with Energy Cells and sell them to your PHQ, providing it has enough cash in it's budget to pay for it. I'd advise to check this first (the budget) as Energy Cells are quite common to come by...

[dtpsprt]

The best thing you can do is buy a trader and find a station that sells what you need and trade it yourself.
Sometimes the NPC's wont deliver resources even if the universe has more than enough traders and resources, I don't know why it is like that or how to fix it.

My guess is to make the game last longer(!!!) many times I see my building storages missing 1 Claytronic for example that never comes up and the station never finishes...

[dtpsprt]

Are there stations selling energy cells within range of your manager? If not they won't send traders out to buy them. Do you have trading ships assigned to the station? Without them there aren't any ships to go buy them? Otherwise you need to wait for npcs to trade with you.


You can also just manually send a ship to go collect them.

The OP is currently trying to build a docking port in the HQ. It's not a matter of having a manager or the manager's range. You can not install a manager if there is no docking port...

[Duncaroos]

Did you check the trade orders on the map to see if the station is looking for energy cells? I have a tech support ticket about a similar issue where my defence platform was not having Trade Orders for Energy Cells / Field Coils / Shield Components. Build storage also had nothing shown for (Wanted Quantity) even though the plan build showed materials were needed. I had my PHQ having ECells, Field Coils and Shield Components but nothing was being sent.

My tech post was here: viewtopic.php?f=180&t=449516. Have a look at the screenshots at the bottom of my initial post - is it a similar case where your plan build shows needed materials but your trade orders / wanted wares don't show anything?

Also, be sure you have your construction budget met, otherwise they can't ask for all the materials that are needed.

[Rei Ayanami]

The best thing you can do is buy a trader and find a station that sells what you need and trade it yourself.
Sometimes the NPC's wont deliver resources even if the universe has more than enough traders and resources, I don't know why it is like that or how to fix it.

My guess is to make the game last longer(!!!) many times I see my building storages missing 1 Claytronic for example that never comes up and the station never finishes...

It's more likely that no Npc trader finds it worth it doing an entire trip just to sell 1 Claytronics and instead chooses to do other trades that are more worth it.

[dtpsprt]

The best thing you can do is buy a trader and find a station that sells what you need and trade it yourself.
Sometimes the NPC's wont deliver resources even if the universe has more than enough traders and resources, I don't know why it is like that or how to fix it.

My guess is to make the game last longer(!!!) many times I see my building storages missing 1 Claytronic for example that never comes up and the station never finishes...

It's more likely that no Npc trader finds it worth it doing an entire trip just to sell 1 Claytronics and instead chooses to do other trades that are more worth it.

There can easily be another explanation. The "Default" prices that appear in the Build menu are the average ones. That means that if a resource is on demand there are more lucrative places for the NPC traders to deliver.

[GCU Grey Area]

There can easily be another explanation. The "Default" prices that appear in the Build menu are the average ones. That means that if a resource is on demand there are more lucrative places for the NPC traders to deliver.

Unfortunately this is incorrect. Default prices on the station build screen are set to max. They can be adjusted by using the 'global price modifier' (which is initially set to 100%), or by using the individual price sliders for each of the construction materials. Personally would prefer it if they did default to average, rather than having to adjust the prices for every single station that I build.

[Smart_Bomb]

I think you forgot to put money into the station build menu so no traders are being called because the wont get paid.

Right click on your HQ, build menu, on the right UI open up all the sub menus. On one of them it will say 'Estimated cost' and you can click on accept estimate to put money into it and this will call traders with the station wares you need. I would recommend putting more in that it is estimating because prices change and it will cover any deficit.

I do wish Egosoft would change that for building add the estimated cost in with the final "ok do it" button.

[jlehtone]

I do wish Egosoft would change that for building add the estimated cost in with the final "ok do it" button.

Giving money to constructors is an abomination. I never give them any.
Our company has a CEO, who personally secures deals and dispatches haulers.
Simply better, because I can see the big picture.

[Smart_Bomb]

or go off stations funds, yes.

[GCU Grey Area]

or go off stations funds, yes.

That would be even worse. Do much the same as jlehtone & never give my building sites any money. One of my main businesses is the manufacture & delivery of station construction materials. Would make absolutely no sense whatsoever to give my building sites money when my own ships are so much more efficient at supplying them than relying on NPC deliveries. Letting building sites steal from station funds would be worse because, not only would I have to take the extra step of extracting money from the building site every single time I confirmed a build, I'd then have to go into the station account & give the same amount of money back. That would be an awful lot of unnecessary clicking I really prefer not to have to do.

[LughC]

Or you could just disallow trading for building with anyone but your own station.

[jlehtone]

Desire for convenience is understandable. In game as it is now, I do get what I want by doing nothing, while some others have to explicitly transfer credits in order to get what they want. Comfy for me.

A "lets make it automatic" is the worst thing one can ask for. We lose control if that happens. What we should want is possibility to do all the variations that we can now (and perhaps some new), but perhaps with better defaults. (One could even argue that separate accounts on stations and build storages are totally pointless -- one "company", one [player] account. I recall revisiting my stations in Xbtf to collect surplus credits. Surely with "modern comms" all the stations could use my player-account directly.)

Let say a global setting to state how much credits to allocate to a build site (e.g 0--300%). I would keep it at 0%, while someone else would change it to 100%. When we accept change of modules on a build site, the credit allocation is then updated according to that default but we still have chance to override for that station (just like now).


For the record, I have never given any station any credits; automatic use of station funds would thus not affect my "no build funds" policy. Nevertheless, I want to retain full and detailed control on who has (or doesn't have) credits.

[GCU Grey Area]

One could even argue that separate accounts on stations and build storages are totally pointless -- one "company", one [player] account. I recall revisiting my stations in Xbtf to collect surplus credits. Surely with "modern comms" all the stations could use my player-account directly.

That could also cause problems. In most games I run a manually operated trade fleet of L or XL freighters to bring in the bulk of my early-mid game money. Such ships use my main account directly. Have had several situations where I've been in the process of buying myself a new ship & by the time I've finished configuring it my trade fleet has just spent a big chunk of my cash buying cargo & I can no longer afford it. Then I have to wait until some of that cargo has reached it's destination & been sold. My own fault, of course, I gave them those trade orders & specifically commanded them to trade the most valuable & profitable wares in the game (almost every load is worth well in excess of a million credits). However, now magnify that problem if every station I own was also drawing on the same account...

[jlehtone]

Exactly, removal of station accounts would remove one tool to better control the "empire".