[X3AP] CLS2 freighter not refuelling and trade competition

[LSFKing]

Hey all, thanks for reading my thread

I'm having some issues with my CLS2 energy cell trader. I currently have three ships in a supply chain: 1 energy cell buyer who does nothing but sit at a power plant and buy energy cells, 1 transporter who picks up what the buyer buys, and 1 seller who is parked at a factory and accepts the energy cell delivery from the transporter.

My issue is with the transporter. These are the waypoints I have given him:

Pirsex Energy Buyer Empire's Edge -> Refuel jump energy, load energy cells, maximum cargospace

Pirsex Energy Dealer Weaver's Tempest -> unload energy cells, refuel jump energy


For some reason, he will refuel in his first loop, but won't do so afterwards. I have set his jump drive settings to:

Use Jumpdrive: Yes
Jump energy: 150 cells
Minimum jump range: 0

It's driving me up the wall The CAGs with jumpdrives on my player-owned factories work just fine, but i can't use them to supply NPC factories. Any help would be appreciated!

[Timsup2nothin]

I always give my ships a refuel stop at a fuel tank that is independent from everything else. The fuel tank is a ship that just sits somewhere and either keeps itself full of e-cells or gets filled with e-cells automatically. Example waypoints:

Code: Select all

fuel tank - load jump fuel
supply source - load (or buy) e-cells - max cargo
delivery point -unload (or sell) e-cells - max cargo

[LSFKing]

Whoa, a reply from my hero I'll give that a shot! Maybe I'll pay Duke's Haven a visit for some TS "donations"

[Timsup2nothin]

Whoa, a reply from my hero I'll give that a shot! Maybe I'll pay Duke's Haven a visit for some TS "donations"

LOL...ah...Duke's Haven. I shop there myself. Most of my fuel tanks are Hermes, since they are too small to be effective buying or selling traps.

[LSFKing]

Good thinking! I think I'm going to sell off the Hermes though, I'm pretty sure that selling the Hermes to buy a Mercury on a 1-to-1 ratio results in enough profitssss to give the Demeters some cargo bay upgrades

Thanks again for the pointers! Your CLS guides are what attracted me to playing X3 again, i salute you!

[Timsup2nothin]

Glad to be of service.

You are right about the 1 to 1 Hermes to Mercury ratio, under one condition...but it's a condition that generally doesn't apply for me. My fuel tanks are Hermes that I never bother to repair. They frequently have very low resale values. If they were fully repaired hulls it would be different, but for me fuel tank is about the only application I have for them.

[LSFKing]

I didn't think of the variable condition, there I go overlooking the fine details again

Since I have you here, I was wondering you could answer another CLS related question for me (I hope I'm not violating the forum rules by doing this.)

Let's say I'm selling Spaceweed as a secondary resource to some pirate bases. The Spaceweed factories are located in Teladi space and are NPC owned. If I were to set up a few 'Buy at Minimum' traps while supplying the Bliss Places with the necessary Swamp Plants and Energy Cells, would the price ever actually reach minimum? This is considering the fact that contraband seems to be in very high demand.

[Alan Phipps]

"(I hope I'm not violating the forum rules by doing this.)" Not at all, it's your thread.

[LSFKing]

"(I hope I'm not violating the forum rules by doing this.)" Not at all, it's your thread.

Thank you! I've lurked on the forum for a few years now and I can say that, without a doubt, this forum has the most helpful moderators and posters

EDIT: still haven't mastered the 'quote' button yet though

[Timsup2nothin]

I didn't think of the variable condition, there I go overlooking the fine details again

Since I have you here, I was wondering you could answer another CLS related question for me (I hope I'm not violating the forum rules by doing this.)

Let's say I'm selling Spaceweed as a secondary resource to some pirate bases. The Spaceweed factories are located in Teladi space and are NPC owned. If I were to set up a few 'Buy at Minimum' traps while supplying the Bliss Places with the necessary Swamp Plants and Energy Cells, would the price ever actually reach minimum? This is considering the fact that contraband seems to be in very high demand.

Spaceweed is not likely to ever reach minimum price. NPC buyers that buy spaceweed tend to get destroyed, which means that new NPC buyers spawn, and spawn empty. So they will always be looking to buy at anything below average.

If you really push production by reliably shoving swamp plant and energy and set your traps at some distance below average that gives you a reliable supply at decent profit you'll do well with it, especially if you set up deliveries to pirate stations at whatever the secondary max price is and pirate stations in race space where the weed is illegal so you can sell at max.

You can also get HUGE benefits from having a solid supply in storage. Missions offered at trading stations are frequently pirates looking for a very fast delivery of a fairly large amount of an illegal product. Those missions are often paying several times the normal maximum price and are also gigantic boosts to pirate rep. If I am in the smuggling business I usually set aside a fast TP with jump drive and fuel at my source and just let it fill up so that it is ready when such a mission presents itself.

[LSFKing]

I kinda figured something along those lines. I was trying to set up a company that monopolizes production and/or distribution of illegal goods (specifically spacefuel, spaceweed, and SQUASH mines) but this information makes me think it would be a better idea to stick to Space Fuel as its an actual primary food item that gets consumed reliably.
Besides, the fewer TS's I have floating around Pirate space, the better.

[Nanook]

...
EDIT: still haven't mastered the 'quote' button yet though

That's because 'allow BBcode' is turned off in your forum profile. If you turn it on, quotes and all the other fun things will work.

[LSFKing]

...
EDIT: still haven't mastered the 'quote' button yet though

That's because 'allow BBcode' is turned off in your forum profile. If you turn it on, quotes and all the other fun things will work.

Aha! The 'overlooked profile setting' rears its ugly head all across the internet. Huge thanks again to the patient moderators!

[RAVEN.myst]

@LSFKing, to the original question: there's a simple alternative approach you can use if/when you can't afford to set up a tanker (either earlier in the game, or if you find yourself temporarily financially committed or overextended) - simply add a "Fly to [SPP]" waypoint to your route, with the jumpdrive's autorefuel settings defined. I suggest placing the waypoint early in your route so it's checked early (usually - some routes CAN demand different placement.) This approach isn't foolproof, as for one thing it's potentially possible for the SPP you designate to get emptied and thus be unable to refuel your CLS ship on a given visit (Tim's tanker approach practically guarantees this will never happen), and if you sail close to the wind in terms of fuel amounts in order to save cargo space, that can make the wheels fall off. But it's a simple stopgap for, as mentioned above, when you're unable to set up a tanker - which, incidentally, can be shared among multiple CLS traders (just be careful to keep half an eye on it - if it seems you're starting to overload it, it may be time to get a helper to fetch ECs for it from somewhere else too.)

[LSFKing]

@LSFKing, to the original question: there's a simple alternative approach you can use if/when you can't afford to set up a tanker (either earlier in the game, or if you find yourself temporarily financially committed or overextended) - simply add a "Fly to [SPP]" waypoint to your route, with the jumpdrive's autorefuel settings defined. I suggest placing the waypoint early in your route so it's checked early (usually - some routes CAN demand different placement.) This approach isn't foolproof, as for one thing it's potentially possible for the SPP you designate to get emptied and thus be unable to refuel your CLS ship on a given visit (Tim's tanker approach practically guarantees this will never happen), and if you sail close to the wind in terms of fuel amounts in order to save cargo space, that can make the wheels fall off. But it's a simple stopgap for, as mentioned above, when you're unable to set up a tanker - which, incidentally, can be shared among multiple CLS traders (just be careful to keep half an eye on it - if it seems you're starting to overload it, it may be time to get a helper to fetch ECs for it from somewhere else too.)

Hmm, interesting. I highly doubt an L or XL SPP would run out of energy cells, but regardless it's still a solid temporary fix for my problem until I can get a more permanent setup going. Thanks for your input!