Terraforming Drone Build Rate

[Zloth2]

I'm doing the Boron terraforming quest and dumping ice into my HQ. It's only building 8-10 drones at a time, though, despite having LOTS of ice in solid storage. I thought about adding another S/M build module, but the Boron module I have now should be capable of building 24 at a time already. Could there be something else limiting how many drones are built at a time?

[GCU Grey Area]

Don't know precisely how many terraforming drones each bay can build concurrently, however more S/M fabrication bays is certainly better. Tend to work on the principle that my HQ needs sufficient bays to be capable of delivering absolutely everything needed for any terraforming project in a single batch, within the timeframe imposed by the seismic activity on some of the planets (I prefer not waste resources doing anything about the siesmic activity unless that's essential to complete the mission). Would recommend building at least 8 S/M bays, which can produce a convoy of drones that looks like this. My current HQ has 12, simply for the sake of symmetry on a station with 6 sides.

[Falcrack]

Terraforming drones do not just require the terraforming materials, they also require stuff for the drones themselves like engine parts, hull parts etc. So it could be you are short on the components needed to build the drones, which are not listed as terraforming requirements.

[Zloth2]

Engine parts, hull parts, and drone parts are all maxxed out. I don't think terraforming drones use them. If they do, it's very few of them.

I'm building another fab, but the stage moved on to medium sized drones. They got through my ice inventory plenty fast! I'll see what happens when it comes around again.

[BitByte]

Common world S/M fabrication bay will build 8 S or M drones per cycle (even it should be able to build 16 S).
So if you want increase your drone production just build more fabrication bays. At that point make sure you keep up with building drone amount too.

For example I have at the moment 4 S/M fabrication bays installed to my HQ so it will make around 64 drones per minute. This is critical especially when you are dealing with planets with earthquakes (as that will destroy % of already delivered materials in case it occurs during the delivery is ongoing).

[BitByte]

Terraforming drones do not just require the terraforming materials, they also require stuff for the drones themselves like engine parts, hull parts etc. So it could be you are short on the components needed to build the drones, which are not listed as terraforming requirements.

Have this changed in 6.x? Because in version <6.x they don't require ANY construction materials but just terraforming materials.
Version <6.x encyclopedia does not either show terraforming drones would require any materials.

[jlehtone]

I thought about adding another S/M build module, but the Boron module I have now should be capable of building 24 at a time already.

Have you tested how many S ships does the Bay assemble simultaneously?

Common world S/M fabrication bay will build 8 S or M drones per cycle (even it should be able to build 16 S).

Yes, simultaneous S production < number of landing pads.
(Ideally, every M and S pad would have assembly going on at the same time, but X Universe is not the ideal world.)

[Falcrack]

Terraforming drones do not just require the terraforming materials, they also require stuff for the drones themselves like engine parts, hull parts etc. So it could be you are short on the components needed to build the drones, which are not listed as terraforming requirements.

Have this changed in 6.x? Because in version <6.x they don't require ANY construction materials but just terraforming materials.
Version <6.x encyclopedia does not either show terraforming drones would require any materials.

Well, I just did a little test, and I stand corrected. I did not see any consumption of ship wares to build terraforming drones. I carefuly watched the supply levels of a wharf set to only build for the player, before it started building a drone, and after it finished building a medium terraforming drone, and did not notice any consumption of any wares besides the ice it was supposed to be delivering.

[Zloth2]

Dumping water and graphene aren't affected by earthquakes. It looks like dumping enough of it will make the quakes stop, too. Seems like the Boron terraforming could get a lot done by an HQ with a few S/M fabs, a few solid storage containers, and a very good manager. Eventually other stuff needs to be built, but that will be many hours down the road.

The limit on terraforming drones makes sense, I suppose. If the game used ALL the pads, it could cause traffic issues. Can you imagine standing in a Boron bay and watching 24 of the things take off and try to fly out at the same time?

[jlehtone]

The limit on terraforming drones makes sense, I suppose. If the game used ALL the pads, it could cause traffic issues. Can you imagine standing in a Boron bay and watching 24 of the things take off and try to fly out at the same time?

The build limit is not on terraforming drones. It is on all ship production.

You can fill all pads of Fabrication/Maintenance Bay with existing ships and see how the lift off.