Xadrian: Factory Complex Calculator for X3TC and X3AP

[perkint]

Ah, got you. You're right - I had misunderstood.

Have that same problem with shed loads of software and I do find it frustrating.

Not actually reloaded anything in this one yet, otherwise I'd probably have realised what you meant without an extra explanation

Tim

[kayahr]

However, if I restart the application the folder defaults to my documents again.

This is pretty easy and will be fixed in the next version.

[Tha_reaper]

oh, this calculator works like a charm. great job. finally an easy way to save my complexes wthout getting a full bookmarks folder, and the auto-completion function is great.

The only thing that could improve it is indicate the mines in the loop when you auto-complete it (if you have filled in a sector it should know which roids are there to use).

[pelador]

The only thing that could improve it is indicate the mines in the loop when you auto-complete it (if you have filled in a sector it should know which roids are there to use).

What if you have mobile mined the roids beforehand or got bored and went missile crazy?

I beleive the application is using start data rather than saved game data. Which also raises interesting questions about wether destroyed Shipyards will then obviously still be included for nearest available. But considering that unless you use an invasion/sector takeover mod it will be unlikley to incurr significant adjustments from start defaults.

[kayahr]

I beleive the application is using start data rather than saved game data.

Correct. The dump was made right after starting a new standard game (Terran Defender).

Which also raises interesting questions about wether destroyed Shipyards will then obviously still be included for nearest available.

Yes, they are still there then because Xadrian has no connection to savegames. But shipyards are rebuild after some time at the same location, aren't they? Mined asteroids are definitely re-spawned after some time. I built a complex in a sector which had Nividium asteroids and mined these asteroids before building the complex. I also had to destroy one other asteroid because it was in the way. After the complex was finished all these asteroids re-spawned.

So automatically considering the asteroids in the sector for the base complex calculation may be a good idea for a future version.

[Gaharay]

Love this little program! Great work Kayahr!

Adding the asteroids for every sector would be wicked! Wouldn't have to look them up either in game or on X3tc.ru.

Also, would it be possible to add like a hover over function (or something) so u can see what every individual factory in the complex needs/produces?

Like the overview thingy u get when u click add a factory.


Keep up the good work, i love it!

[semiliterate]

couple of small points.

love the base complex calculator, but it's flawed - in that i've got an Argon missile complex with loads of spare meatsteaks input, but the crystal fab it selects is Boron because that's the cheapest - only then it wants me to buy biogas and bofu rather than using the (about three thousand) excess Argon stuff and thus not paying for two extra stations.

also is there a way to remove certain things from the profit and loss calculation? i use the Crystal-Free SPP script and want to ditch those from the calculations, as well as looking for a calculator that can work out, say, the profit from a Flail complex that produces all its intermediates in excess but never, ever sells a Flail because i need them.

[kayahr]

love the base complex calculator, but it's flawed - in that i've got an Argon missile complex with loads of spare meatsteaks input, but the crystal fab it selects is Boron because that's the cheapest - only then it wants me to buy biogas and bofu rather than using the (about three thousand) excess Argon stuff and thus not paying for two extra stations.

That's pretty hard to "auto-calculate". Currently when a resource is missing then the cheapest factory producing this ware is added. This is repeated until all needs are satisfied. Maybe I can come up with a more complex calculation some day.

But for now you can easily fix this manually with a few mouse clicks:

1. Activate the basecomplex calculation. You will end up with boron crystal fabs.
2. Add a argon crystal fab. Now one or more automatically generated boron crystal fabs will go away.
3. Increase the number of argon crystal fabs until no more boron crystal fabs are added automatically.

Voila, the complex is Bofu-free.

also is there a way to remove certain things from the profit and loss calculation?

I already have something like that on the TODO list: Let the user define the selling and buying prices of wares. Currently Xadrian always uses the average prices for these calculations. If I implement this feature I could also add a possibility to set the price of a ware to 0. Then this ware will no longer be included in the profit/loss calculation.

[szuur]

Hiya also love the calculator

Here are a few idea's for u:
* When u add a mine, let it pick the mine-yield out of the list with possible roids in ure build sector (i alrdy saw in the sector choise map that there all listed ) (keep the current yield input though, there ppl who like to add roids in there game)

* a setting to pick ure favorite race for the selfsustaining loop factory adding. including silicon mines if possible in that sector on availeble roids?

* option to make a product intermediare and not for sale, meaning if thats enable for example:
u have got a complex witch makes 5000 argon cahoona's.
u got fabs who will take 4000 max.

enabling would mean that IF there is a surplus, then it would only make 4000 cahoona's (meaning u'd need less energy/argon beef a sec.)
this works down trough ure entire selfsustaining loop up so it could make quite a difference.

ain't sure if its possible, since calculation loops influence eachother then, it would probebly have to calculate it multiple times untill the anses stops changing or something.

anyway nice job

[kayahr]

Took longer than planed but now version 1.2.0 is finished with the following new features:

* Updated database to X3TC 2.0

* Improved base complex calculation. Xadrian now considers using crystal fabs from different races if this makes the complex cheaper in the end.

* Buy/Sell prices can now be changed. It's also possible to disable trading with a ware completely.

* Xadrian now remembers the position and sizes of windows and also the last load/save path.

The new version can be downloaded here:

http://www.ailis.de/~k/projects/xadrian/download.html

I hope there are not too many bugs present. If you find one please let me know.

[Cdaragorn]

Great calculator! I'm loving how easy it is to use and finally being able to see accurate stats for all my closed loops!

One thing I'd like to ask, though. Would it be possible to allow the user to set the number of stations to 0? Sometimes while I'm still playing around with which stations I want to use, it's easier to set some to 0 rather than have to remove them and add the others.

Also, it would be nice if you could click on any station to bring up the stations list and change it to another station. Would be faster than removing/adding in a new one.

I'm sure I'll think of other things as time goes on, but thank you for all the great work you've put into this already!

[TTD]

I have dabbled with Xadrian's and it is quite useful.

I liked the other style in X3R that used a spreadsheet too.

With that ,I added one of each station from each race,compared prices and removed all but the cheaper races version.

I could easily see he cheapest way to build my complexes then.

Maybe this is possible in Xadrian's version,but I have not looked deeply into it yet.

[xeon_1]

Thx for updating it to 2.0.

Edit: would it be posilble to make a menu option if the stations is already build?
Say i build 4 bliss fabs but later i add another 4 but if i was able to say to the program that those first four are already build and don't need to be added to the shopping list

Same goes for the support fabs.
Because now i need to make 2 complexes in the program to get an accurate shopping list but the problem with this is that the i will get alot of resource overproduction since the second complex doesn't take into account the production of the first complex

[delray]

Hi man. It's the best calculator we have so far for TC. But it can be even better.

Here's a bunch of ideas from a regular Xadrian user:

It would be nice if factories weren't sorted alphabetically but by race and ware type. So for example if you have Paranid food loop and Argon food loop with two weapon factories attached to each, it would show up like this:

- Cattle Ranch
- Cahoona
- Argon Weapons x2

- Soyfarm
- Soyery
- Paranid Weapons x2

Some colour and a possibility to mark stations as already built would be nice too. Look how it was done in the old Reunion complex calc:

[ external image ]

[ianrobo75]

agree with delray regarding the colours and also the 'already built' additions (which should apply to the Complex Construction Kits as well)..

[delray]

Xadrian is great for math and shopping lists (I often print it so I have a paper copy and don't have to alt+tab) but when your complex grows, it quickly becomes messy due to lack of colours and sorting.

That's why I do my complexes in both Xadrian and the old Calc for Reunion.

Here's how a big complex looks like in Xadrian:

[ external image ]

It would be much clearer with colours and sorting by Race and Type...

[TTD]

In another thread someone gave the link for an updated version of the Reunion one. It includes X2,R and TC.You ust select the module you wish. Not checked to see how far it's updated for TC though.

[delray]

The guy who did old FCC for Reunion now is busy with Model Viewer.

Also, I like Xadrian and I'd much prefer it improved.

Hence the feedback.

[TTD]

Yeah,I see your point.

After a while it begins to look like a statistics chart rather than an at-a-glance guide.

The latest does have a little more user-controlled variables though,so when I have moved on a bit in TC,I'll move over to that.

The bit I like particularly is seeing clearly the hourly production cycles,without having to slide the page across the screen. (even if you do have to scroll up or down,which is my choice of preference).

[delray]

Is this tool still developed?