[FeatureReuest] A faster way to build stations.

[vvvvvvvv]

For mass ware transfers recommend setting up a network of trade stations using manually

That's a workaround, and not how it should be normally done. The user should select a fleet and say "buy/load here, sell/unload there" or load/unload. You also can't setup a repeat order for multiple ships and there is no mechanism to copy order between ships.

I proposed another convenience approach here: viewtopic.php?t=465582

[LameFox]

I've never had issue with large station causing lowered FPS, it's more often the amount of high attention ships around said station causing the issue. Correlation is not causation. This is easily testable by station designer where copy pasting a few 1000 piece station still allow the game running smooth as butter. One easy workaround is to use large ships exclusively as their larger capacity means less ship needed overall.

I am all for using L ships wherever possible, but the effect is definitely still noticeable. Station designer might as well be a lab environment, completely sterile of what will be going on in any real use case.

Please do not try to frame this as un unsolvable problem as it never was. There is first and foremost no good reason to stop a player power creeping as not all players are e-sport gamer to solo a few dozen Ks with a single katana. Throwing enough at a problem is a legit solution, and people love X4 because of this. It's a sandbox after all, just like you can't tell someone playing minecraft not make a spawn tower to farm drops and exp. You look like one of those people that if put in charge will do everything you can to take away fun from player and force player to play a certain way.

If the game really intend you to be stuck with small stations there wouldn't be large habitation bonus in first place.

I get that you're attached to playing a certain way but attacking me over it is pointless. For one thing I don't actually care if people ruin their performance, nor if they end up with a huge industry and nothing to do with it. It makes no difference to what I do whatsoever—all this is just my speculation as to why they've set it up that way and kept it that way for all these years, beyond it just being arbitrary time gating for its own sake. I think for the reasons mentioned, it's probably something they're leaving to the realm of mods, rather than officially supporting. How you think I "look" or would design a game is not relevant: none of us can make that decision or have access to their reasoning.

[GCU Grey Area]

For mass ware transfers recommend setting up a network of trade stations using manually

That's a workaround, and not how it should be normally done. The user should select a fleet and say "buy/load here, sell/unload there" or load/unload. You also can't setup a repeat order for multiple ships and there is no mechanism to copy order between ships.

I propose another convenience approach here: viewtopic.php?t=465582

Why shouldn't it be done this way? Works fine & after the trade stations have been configured it all functions entirely automatically. Then it's just a matter of chucking sufficient ships at the task until resources arrive at HQ at an acceptable rate. As soon as each ship is assigned to it's station it automatically gets it's orders, blacklists, etc from the station manger & then goes to work.

No messing around with manual trade orders, or any need whatsoever to configure repeat orders (which would frequently need to be changed every time HQ took on a new terraforming project which required different resources to the previous one). I have 100s of ships involved in this, sometimes shipping resources from one side of the map to the other (e.g. Boron resources used to terraform Scale Plate Green). Giving those ships orders myself would not be viable, which is why I delegate the task to my station mangers.

Incidentally I also supply all of my production stations with basic resources from the same network. None of them operate their own miners either. It's far quicker & easier to set resource prices to 1cr higher than the nearest trade station on the network than it would be to supply & configure miners for every new station I build.

[vvvvvvvv]

Why shouldn't it be done this way?

Because that's a hack people use due to missing functionality. You do not actually order a transfer, but use an unintended mechanic to make a transfer happen.

Here's how a group transfer should work in a videogame: You select all ships, and order then to buy/load cargo as a group, as if they were a single entity. You click on Station A, Buy/Load window appears, you click on station B, Sell/Unload appears.

Here's how a mass transfer should work: you select all ship, click on station, pick up "mass transfer from", Select destination, then a small window appears where you tell it whether it should buy at any price orwait for it to drop, and how many items total you want moved.

Group transfer --> single trade with multiple ships.
Mass transfer --> Multiple trades until target amount is sent.

[GCU Grey Area]

Because that's a hack people use due to missing functionality. You do not actually order a transfer, but use an unintended mechanic to make a transfer happen.

Seems unlikely. They added trade station functionality into the game in one of the early versions (forget precisely which one). Very much doubt they'd have gone to all that trouble if it was an 'unintended mechanic' that no one was supposed to use. Highly recommend trying it for yourself. Has many potential uses. In addition to the mining resources distribution network described above, have also used this approach to create shops to sell excess wares when a big production station has exceeded local demand within a 5 gate radius & as an automated distribution network for building materials. Saves a hell of a lot of hassle if all the hull parts (etc) are delivered to a new building site automatically.

Here's how a group transfer should work in a videogame: You select all ships, and order then to buy/load cargo as a group, as if they were a single entity. You click on Station A, Buy/Load window appears, you click on station B, Sell/Unload appears.

Here's how a mass transfer should work: you select all ship, click on station, pick up "mass transfer from", Select destination, then a small window appears where you tell it whether it should buy at any price orwait for it to drop, and how many items total you want moved.

No thanks, very much prefer an automated approach to logistics where I don't need to give any orders at all to achieve the same results.

[Sutopia]

Because that's a hack people use due to missing functionality. You do not actually order a transfer, but use an unintended mechanic to make a transfer happen.

Seems unlikely. They added trade station functionality into the game in one of the early versions (forget precisely which one). Very much doubt they'd have gone to all that trouble if it was an 'unintended mechanic' that no one was supposed to use. Highly recommend trying it for yourself. Has many potential uses. In addition to the mining resources distribution network described above, have also used this approach to create shops to sell excess wares when a big production station has exceeded local demand within a 5 gate radius & as an automated distribution network for building materials. Saves a hell of a lot of hassle if all the hull parts (etc) are delivered to a new building site automatically.

Here's how a group transfer should work in a videogame: You select all ships, and order then to buy/load cargo as a group, as if they were a single entity. You click on Station A, Buy/Load window appears, you click on station B, Sell/Unload appears.

Here's how a mass transfer should work: you select all ship, click on station, pick up "mass transfer from", Select destination, then a small window appears where you tell it whether it should buy at any price orwait for it to drop, and how many items total you want moved.

No thanks, very much prefer an automated approach to logistics where I don't need to give any orders at all to achieve the same results.

We’re off topics lads.

Terraforming is a rather specific case that it requires a lot of wares and many you may not have been normally transferring and it is non recurring that setting up a trade relay for it may be considered too much overhead. For example 20 million ice to the oceans of fantasy. You don’t normally transport ice and you don’t need ice after the project.

Case and point, the fact you can automate it via trade station does not invalidate a need of a mechanic that allows a one off mass transfer.

[jlehtone]

For mass ware transfers recommend setting up a network of trade stations using manually

That's a workaround, and not how it should be normally done.

Should? Says who?

Network of trade stations is infrastructure. Similarly, a "megastation" that converts mined materials into ships is infrastructure. Infrastructure supports some operation. When set up, it serves. We are free to choose what infrastructure we like. No "thou shalt not" rules.

One could as well state that "normally one should not build so big stations that they take too long to build". Alas, there are no such "should not" directives.


Give a ship order to load at one place and unload at other and the ship will do one haul. Add "Repeat Order" and it will repeat infinitely. Repeat the same operation for another ship and you have two ships hauling on same "route". If there were option to copy orders or to give load/unload orders to multiple ships, then starting would be more convenient.

Copying orders could even have "store" option. One could later "restore" named set of orders to another ship. (E.g. after destruction of the previous ship.)


I have one ship on Repeat Order. First ever. Its two orders were "Buy ECells" and "Sell ECells". In no time it did stop. It had flooded the market; the NPC stations do not need "mass transfers". Only the humongous player constructs cry for more.

[vvvvvvvv]

We are free

Which means there should be more tools to work without outposts. Setting up an outpost just to have wares moving is too much clicking for a basic functionality.

Also see Rule of Least Astonishment.

Repeat the same operation for another ship...

And repeat that for a hundred more ships, and it'll be obvious what the issue is.

There's no reason why setting up a persistent ware transfer between points for a large number of ships should ever take more than 10 clicks. If it can't be done this way, it means there's functionality is missing. And whoever likes outposts can continue using them. A game should not waste player's time on unenjoyable activity.

[jlehtone]

We are free

Which means there should be more tools to work without outposts.

I phrase that: more alternatives to choose from would be an improvement.

And repeat that for a hundred more ships, and it'll be obvious what the issue is.

True, but at least you can repeat that.

I cannot prevent station from sending surplus credits to player-account. (Well, like the "repeat for hundred ships" I could start a station with billion in account. It will still transfer eventually, just not as soon. But why have a station if you already have the billion?) Although, the auto-transfer is not the real issue. The inability to tell how much individual station has made profit over its entire lifespan is what I'm disappointed at, not to mention that the transfers do also mask how much I have directly gathered to my player-account.

I cannot set my station to give credits as compensation to my other station when it fetches products from it.


Yes, I do agree that more tools would be great. (I just might long for different subset of tools than you.)

[vvvvvvvv]

I cannot prevent station from sending surplus ...

That would be more fitting for another feature request thread. Because in X3 amount was at least configurable. However, it is not related to this specific request in any way.