Contructionships - intended or nerf ?.

[Dreez]

Currently building my 200+ module HQ using one of my two personal builder ships and i noticed something
that hasn't really been on my mind up until now. When i constructed these 2 ships, i made sure they would have enough drones
to increase the speed of building modules, 70 construction drones each, 10 cargo and 20 defense.

But when i checked how many drones are actually active during the construction of the HQ, the ship only used 30/70 drones,
despite all resources required for complete build has been supplied.

So... are the constructionships just nerfed to not use all available drones or is this a bug .... or something else ?.

I mean.. if a constructionships has room for 100 drones, it should be up to the player if we want to increase the
speed of stationconstruction by filling our ship with construction drones or not.

[KextV8]

30 is the max for construction. That way the ship still has room for repair and defense and cargo drones without feeling like you've ruined your construction efficiency.

It also gives space for extra construction in case some are lost to attrition, otherwise we'd likely be in a spot where it was almost impossible to find npc constructors to hire that actually built in a reasonable time.

[Dreez]

Thanks for the reply.

I don't really agree with the reasoning behind the 30drone limit. Constructionships have no need for cargodrones and since you don't
send them into hostile space without a proper escort, they have no real need for defense drones.
So imo we should be able to utilize the entire dronespace for constructiondrones - if we wanted - of which the ship would use all the drones available
for a faster build of each module.

I really don't see a reason why not.

[al_dude]

The 30 drone limit has been in place since day 1.

[jlehtone]

I don't really agree with the reasoning behind the 30drone limit. Constructionships have no need ...

Those ships could have Drone capacity at 30. A limit is a limit.

Do you know how the amount of drones affects the speed of construction? I don't.
There must be some formula. Perhaps it needs limits?

Have you looked at construction, up close? The drones whizz around. How would it look with more of them?

[Dreez]

The 30 drone limit has been in place since day 1.

Haven't started using personal ships until now .

[Midnitewolf]

I don't really agree with the reasoning behind the 30drone limit. Constructionships have no need ...

Those ships could have Drone capacity at 30. A limit is a limit.

Do you know how the amount of drones affects the speed of construction? I don't.
There must be some formula. Perhaps it needs limits?

Have you looked at construction, up close? The drones whizz around. How would it look with more of them?

I agree with you. Seems silly to have the ability to have hundred of construction drones if your only able to use 30. Also where in game does it tell us that 30 is the limit? I mean I think each of my construction ships has 100 construction drones minimum because it tells you no where that you can't actually use 100 drones to build. I just thought more drones made construction faster, if even only incrementally faster. Same with build drones on a Wharf. I have 100 on each Wharf but now I am questioning if I actually even need that many. Also repair drones on a station. I tend to give each station 100 repair drones so they can repair damage faster but how many are actually able to be used?

[KextV8]

.
So imo we should be able to utilize the entire dronespace for constructiondrones - if we wanted - of which the ship would use all the drones available
for a faster build of each module.

I really don't see a reason why not.

Theres no need. This way actually gives you more freedom. I'd assume the devs probably had a minimum construction time in mind, and then set the formula for 30 drones to match that time. If we were allowed more, they'd just adjust it so we REQUIRED more drones to get the same full speed, meaning less spare construction drones in case of mishaps.

Like I said, this helps keep NPC builders from being useless since they commonly have lost a few construction drones from random attacks by xenon or at war factions.

[al_dude]

My take is that -

NPC builder ships tend to lose their building drones over time due to A.I. not caring where it goes.

By limiting the builder drone to 30, it ensures that the build ships have a longer service life since they never restock. They lose their build drones when a station plot gets destroyed. Don't know in OOS situation, but they do lose some when a station plot gets attacks in-sight attacks.

In long games, you do begin to see this issue. From what I've seen, HOP and MIN builders have been the first ones with no build drone left. They still build but takes a looooong time to get anything done.

[grapedog]

If nothing else, this thread should serve as a heads up to EGO.... There should be code somewhere in the game that builder ships go and restock drones at an equipment dock every so often.

[Zloth2]

Or let us gift them some drones.

[Raptor34]

If nothing else, this thread should serve as a heads up to EGO.... There should be code somewhere in the game that builder ships go and restock drones at an equipment dock every so often.

And also should be mentioned in game.
Though perhaps its mentioned in the tutorial. Never played that since it wasn't out at the time.

[Imperial Good]

It is the same logic that constructing or maintaining S ships uses 5 construction drones, M ships 10 construction drones, L ships 20 construction drones and XL ships 40 construction drones.

Using this logic each S/M warf module needs 80 construction drones (8M x 10 construction drones), L shipyard module 20 construction drones and XL shipyard module 40 construction drones. The station might have room for thousands of consturction drones, but at most that many will be used.

[Baconnaise]

If I remember correctly X Rebirth you could increase drone count and it would actually speed up or slow down construction of station add-ons or even ships. You would give say for example the PMC yard extra drones to build ships faster. The game might've had a cap but it didn't seem like it. X4 it definitely seems like each station module and ship has a set time to build regardless of drone count. I'm perhaps mistaken. I've edited the time to build to one minute and it seems to work every time. It still takes ages even with SETA to build some of these mega stations. The Russian one that was posted has around 4700 modules so do the math even at a minute apiece. One other thing I used to do in XR is exit the save and edit the resources or time to build in the save itself since the station modules were so large in comparison. You could exit and edit the huge swathes to build near-instantly only governed by how fast you could exit and load the save.

[Panos]

Currently building my 200+ module HQ using one of my two personal builder ships and i noticed something
that hasn't really been on my mind up until now. When i constructed these 2 ships, i made sure they would have enough drones
to increase the speed of building modules, 70 construction drones each, 10 cargo and 20 defense.

But when i checked how many drones are actually active during the construction of the HQ, the ship only used 30/70 drones,
despite all resources required for complete build has been supplied.

So... are the constructionships just nerfed to not use all available drones or is this a bug .... or something else ?.

I mean.. if a constructionships has room for 100 drones, it should be up to the player if we want to increase the
speed of stationconstruction by filling our ship with construction drones or not.

Don't build 200 module station.
Build multiple small ones using NPC builders. Is faster, cheaper and most efficient in the long run

[Nort The Fragrent]

Drones !
I have two S/M wharfs with no drones what soever.
It is pumping ships out faster than the wharf can be resupplied !
So Build drones seem not to be needed !

My Build ship, Who builds all my stations has
80 constructions drones,
20 Repair drones.
No Defence drones, ( they are nothing but trouble, wondering off.)

As building takes time ! It bothers me not that it may take a little longer ! If the drone count is not enough. There are plenty more things to do whilst waiting for a build. Be that a ship or a module.

Been cutting down some trees in the garden, and burning them on a nice fire.

Oh! Look my new ship is all ready and waiting !!