X3:TC - Hub Complex Factory setup

[betc]

I am looking at doing the Hub plot and have been doing some number crunching. firstly its going to be hard to find that many silicon mines with such a high yield but lets assume i can...

tic = 1 product cycle.

1> material required
2> a rough factory setup
3> the cost minus complex hubs
4> a rough tic conversion (i have to go home to find out the actual product cycle time, this could put things out by a fair whack)
5> how many mines and what yield (good luck there)
6> how many base factories for the good required

where the hell do you store the goods? or can they be dropped off as you go?


400 x Computer Components
CAG script

500 x Microchips
CAG script

150,000 x Teladianium
http://tinyurl.com/axr92o 56m (6000 a tic = 25)
CAG script

450,000 x Ore
http://tinyurl.com/a36mr4 57m (11000 a tic = 40)
CAG script, takes a bit of time

500 x Nividium
Mobile Mining - Prospector script

750,000 x Crystals
http://tinyurl.com/6w7be2 220 m (3500 a tic = 214)
8 x 50 yield silicon
40 x crystal fab (2900 silicon wafers needed)
3000 silicon in Barren Shores

400,000 x Silicon Wafers
http://tinyurl.com/9ry6fe 64m (4000 a tic = 100)
sil 15 x 40 yield 4500 silicon wafers needed)
4422 silicon in Ore Belt

250,000 x Microchips
http://tinyurl.com/8l3ygn 280 m (400 a tic = 625)
sil 4 x 50 yield
40 x chip plant (2000 silicon wafers needed)
2500 silicon in Loomanckstrat


any ideas on how successful that will be? i can only imagine how long this will take to build... by biggest complex to date is around 60 stations, quite a bit short of this

Edited with ephemeron ideas. i can agree with letting the traders do the first half, those complex factories take a lot of concentration and time to build, any shortcuts there are welcome...
and if that leaves 3 complex loops to setup, its almost do-able..

[ephemeron]

Right now, I'm one-third of the way into the Crystals stage and have never been as tempted to cheat as I am now. But, from what I've seen so far while attempting this project honestly:

I bought, rather than making, all of the Computer Components and first batch of Microchips without too much trouble.

Teladianium and Ore are available cheaply enough that you don't really need to make your own if you have enough cash and something else to do for a little while as your ships bring them in. In particular, the X-Universe seems to have a huge surplus of ore -- my freighters bought all 450,000 units at minimum price. I used the Commercial Agent script, but "Buy for best price" and autojump with a large range may well do as good a job.

For Nividium, you're going to have to do some mobile mining. I used the Prospector script to automate the process. The asteroids in Perpetual Sin have many times more Nividium than the Hub requires.

You're going to need to make almost all of the Crystals and Microchips yourself. I'm not sure about the Silicon Wafers yet, but suspect the overall NPC-made supply is pretty good but not as good as the ore supply.

Collecting wares in advance doesn't work terribly well -- the Hub can only hold from a couple hundred to a few thousand units of each ware that it's not currently collecting. Microchips are the extreme case: the Hub can only store 250, so I'm using a captured Yaki Ryu to store them for now.

[apricotslice]

There is also the alternate plots available, if its all too much for your game style to handle.

[betc]

your scripts are very tempting as well apricot... very tempting..

i will have a crack at it though...

[apricotslice]

They are not scripts as such. Missions, which is different.

The main reason I did them was for people who dont get much time to play and who would never finish the plot before they became senile.

Those who can devote a lot of time to playing, shouldnt need the alternates.

[sndle9]

Personally I used a huge complex to supply most of the resources I could (you have to mine the nividium).

I built an open complex for the teladinium (only the 20 foundries, no internal resource supply), then a closed complex with mines dotted around the local area to feed it's 140 crystal fabs. Once the crystals stage completed I added more SPP XLs (now 25 of these) and 100 chip fabs.

Post hub mission, this complex is a serious money earner from selling microchips and well worth the money, not the white elephant I expected it might be. I used the hub gates to give the universe easy access to this complex and the universe can't seem to get enough of them.

Total complex cost was around 2 billion for the 500(ish) factories it contains which isn't much less than the resources would have cost at minimum prices but it's probably made me 5 billion post hub and is still going strong.

The Teladinium foundry is probably too big as a going concern as it has started to saturate the local market.

Dave.

[NeverSnake]

The goods you currently have to collect (just one resource at a time) can be dropped off as you go but the rest can't.

The microchips requirement is 85,000 chips not 250,000.

With complexes that size you will still need to be playing for quite some time to get it finished. The Crystals alone for example will take 9 days, 2 hours to produce. I haven't worked it out but you're probably looking at 25-26 game days for the lot.

[UKDUTYPAID]

is that list the order in which you have to get the items. I'm on the ore at the moment, nearly finished, it's kind of a pain that it needs crystals and chips before it needs silicon, i doubt i'll have many asteroids left to near where i want my hubs if i've got to get that many crystals or chips.

[Carlo the Curious]

Yes, unfortunately.

Personally I think it would make more sense if it proceeded up the tech tree for the applicable wares - that way you could be extending existing complexes for at least some of it.

[maphys]

Personally I'd be wary of an uber-complex to supply everything. It is nice and aesthetically pleasing but it has a habit of nuking its own market after the mission is over. I'd spread the mines and Teladianium stuff over a wider area so that they are less vulnerable to a random Pirate attack and make more money later on. I'm busy dotting Paranid space with Teladianium fabs as we speak and will have stuck my HUB near by. Chips and stuff enarly always sell but unless you continue to freight in the ore and other stuff to feed your PHQ later on you'll end up with a monstrously expensive and sub-optimal fab. And one Kha'ak invasion....

M

[UKDUTYPAID]

I don't know, i'm about to start making a monster now i know, and i don't care about long term goals, money is easy enough to get hold of, and i'll probably just blow it all up myself after a while if it gets in my way to much.

[maphys]

It is not only about money though - it is about boosting the economy. The more stuff you feed into it over a wider area the better other factories work. It is up to you how you play but I try to have a very active universe full of traders. If for no reason other than it gives me more targets when I get bored and go play pirate for a bit!


M