Station Bulder- Large Station headaches

[CoopsWA]

Is there, in the future plans, any changes to make station building for large plots such as the Player HQ plot a little easier

If there was an ability to move on vertically and not just around a central point it would make building a layered mega station a little easier..
Currently you cant zoom close enough on the upper and lower layers to make placing objects easy.
If you use rotation when you get reasonably close the module information layover covers a large chunk of the central screen making that obscured unusable space.
Even more frustrating when a module shows you a hundred green connection point lines obscuring even more of the areas of placement

So it would be better to have movement in the X Y Z axis and ultimate for that and a rotation point.

[The3rdWings]

I think the game at its core was not designed to follow dense mega-structures.
When the devs made the construction mechanisms, it was supposed to be used for stations with up to 2 production lines,
but people here make stations with like, 20 production lines, which turns into a mess not only graphically but it brakes the game...
that is also why its so messy to actually do it

I try to keep it simple, i buy a plot and add 1 or 2 production lines to it
if i want more, i get a new plot

[pref]

When the devs made the construction mechanisms, it was supposed to be used for stations with up to 2 production lines,

I had 200+ prod modules in one of my stations, looked pretty nice and had 15ish fps around it. Game runs perfect with a couple 10 modules.

[CoopsWA]

The reason I ask is that in my major play thread i built a wholly self sustaining fully staffed player HQ Shipyard wharf equipment dock in GE# and a fully self sustained Claytronics... It was a challenge but it worked.

IF there was in game a ship default behavior (station Mule) not requiring mods then that would negate the self sustaining requirement others could feed each other. BUT this thread I want NO MODS.

Self sustaining is obv far more profitable.... billions more with the monster ship facility

If it was not meant for large dense factories then the plot sizes should or would be restricted so not to allow such stations.

I think its great you can i would just like it a little easier to work in...

[The3rdWings]

When the devs made the construction mechanisms, it was supposed to be used for stations with up to 2 production lines,

I had 200+ prod modules in one of my stations, looked pretty nice and had 15ish fps around it. Game runs perfect with a couple 10 modules.

it brakes the economy because you flood the area

[pref]

it brakes the economy because you flood the area

Not, not really it does not brake anything
The economy got saturated on its own, and even though there were no trade offers any more for the wares the station sold when it started operating, it made a nice profit somehow.

It also allowed my friends, the HOP to conquer xenon space around them.

[The3rdWings]

it brakes the economy because you flood the area

Not, not really it does not brake anything
The economy got saturated on its own, and even though there were no trade offers any more for the wares the station sold when it started operating, it made a nice profit somehow.

It also allowed my friends, the HOP to conquer xenon space around them.

its not fixed "somehow"
when you flood the market, the game runs a script where it depletes AI stations so that they will buy more of the flooded product
basically its the same is using cheats to gain millions, its just that you trigger it by spamming stations instead of actually using cheats

[Xenon_Slayer]

when you flood the market, the game runs a script where it depletes AI stations so that they will buy more of the flooded product
basically its the same is using cheats to gain millions, its just that you trigger it by spamming stations instead of actually using cheats

That's certainly not happening. Of course the player can flood the market but the buyers aren't dumping wares just to buy them from the player. Trade stations do drain naturally, but they're the exception. A factory will only drop cargo if it finds it needs the space for something else, and that's usually only after something odd has happened such as a production being lost.

[pref]

its not fixed "somehow"
when you flood the market, the game runs a script where it depletes AI stations so that they will buy more of the flooded product
basically its the same is using cheats to gain millions, its just that you trigger it by spamming stations instead of actually using cheats

The game does not do that, in reality HOP built a bunch of defence stations in XEN space from my claytronics so the majority of my profit came from there.
All docks got full by the time i started building that station, and there were no trade offers across the whole universe for most tech wares at all, except for the occasional HOP/PAR missile orders.

To be honest i had the best time in this game during the station build projects i had, and still think apart from eyecandy this feature is the greatest plus (perhaps single) the game has over X3. Probably the only real creative feature of the game atm.

FYI when you can afford such a structure money is irrelevant (probably that happens on the 20 hour mark anyway), the point of such investments is to make your empire independent from other factions.
Don't even get how you can possibly connect this with cheats

[Ezarkal]

Wow, this quickly strayed from topic... XD

I fully agree with you, Coops, and did post similar requests in the past. As great as station planning is right now, this addition would really bring it one notch above.
But as you noticed, the topic seems to stray into something else pretty quickly.

A workaround I found is to build your station in separate sections, each around a main connecting point for each "layers". Then, you can select this central connecting point and move the whole layer in place... and pray you don't have any further adjustments to make, because good luck trying to single out a module trapped in a middle layer.

In any case, as soon as you try to put more "verticality" to your stations, it is NOT a quick process.

Patience, and good luck.

[pref]

A workaround I found is to build your station in separate sections, each around a main connecting point for each "layers". Then, you can select this central connecting point and move the whole layer in place... and pray you don't have any further adjustments to make, because good luck trying to single out a module trapped in a middle layer.

That connection point must not be central. Once you know where the section connects to another one you can make a connector on that side the 'root' node and grab the whole section using that. Needs a little planning ahead but makes your life much easier.
then you can push all the sections you aren't working on outside of the plot so you only work in the central area. The zoom is a bit weird, i find it hard to focus on structures near the sides of the plot.
I usually added a long handle from connectors on each section so it's easier to grab and can be pushed further out of the plot to reduce the green spaghetti thingy.

Alternatively you don't have to connect anything, the station should work without any connectors if you can do a nice enough layout by hand. Though i found that pretty hard, but you could still remove all connectors from a section once you don't want to move it any more.
Would be curious what is the impact on framerates.

[CoopsWA]

When the devs made the construction mechanisms, it was supposed to be used for stations with up to 2 production lines,

I had 200+ prod modules in one of my stations, looked pretty nice and had 15ish fps around it. Game runs perfect with a couple 10 modules.

it brakes the economy because you flood the area

In my case i am not flooding anything..... its just wholly self sustained self supporting for Shipyard wharf and maintenance docks.... but trying to build it even in a large plot is a challenge.. even with previous suggestions that i have done by building a string and adding it to the central connection. if you want to get in and add a module here and there its frustrating to say the least. yes they are all OCD organised .. they have to look pretty too,, hehehehe
I think it would benefit even the small builders to have a vertical axis .

[CoopsWA]

A workaround I found is to build your station in separate sections, each around a main connecting point for each "layers". Then, you can select this central connecting point and move the whole layer in place... and pray you don't have any further adjustments to make, because good luck trying to single out a module trapped in a middle layer.

That connection point must not be central. Once you know where the section connects to another one you can make a connector on that side the 'root' node and grab the whole section using that. Needs a little planning ahead but makes your life much easier.
then you can push all the sections you aren't working on outside of the plot so you only work in the central area. The zoom is a bit weird, i find it hard to focus on structures near the sides of the plot.
I usually added a long handle from connectors on each section so it's easier to grab and can be pushed further out of the plot to reduce the green spaghetti thingy.

Alternatively you don't have to connect anything, the station should work without any connectors if you can do a nice enough layout by hand. Though i found that pretty hard, but you could still remove all connectors from a section once you don't want to move it any more.
Would be curious what is the impact on framerates.

Yes this works well initially but if your trying to go in to add a module here and there and satisfy your ocd and make it look good also... it is even more a challenge
Plus once its getting big even building a string to add to the central connection becomes a challenge when its trying to connect to 300 points.. all this green connection lines can impede your view...
Yeah having it all connected its again aesthetically much nicer right ... hehehe

[CoopsWA]

UPDATE - - things are a little better in the 3.0 beta... the information panel in the centre of the builder has been removed... so when your rotated its workable BUT
I would still like vertical axis in there...

[CaptainRAVE]

Tell me about it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/X4Foundations/ ... ame=iossmf

That said, it’s great to have this tool and not need mods anymore.

[pref]

Yes this works well initially but if your trying to go in to add a module here and there and satisfy your ocd and make it look good also... it is even more a challenge
Plus once its getting big even building a string to add to the central connection becomes a challenge when its trying to connect to 300 points.. all this green connection lines can impede your view...
Yeah having it all connected its again aesthetically much nicer right ... hehehe

Yup once it's built it's hard to add anything. I usually place the plex in the bottom so there is at least a difference in angle between the connection lines. Doesn't help much though
Would be nice to also be able to connect nodes by selecting them, without all the lines.

[Virtualaughing]

Think about what do you want to build in another layer. Assemble stuff outside of the desired place. Grab and attach it to the desired place. Confirm module changes.

[CoopsWA]

Tell me about it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/X4Foundations/ ... ame=iossmf

That said, it’s great to have this tool and not need mods anymore.

Yeah mine is nowhere near that big... only a single build modules and maint docks of each size and that was hard enough... kudos its a fantastic build... I decided to keep mine small bus sustainable.. so there is still room for stuff to come at the phq and plenty cash to build a new one in the coming expansions.. but it was built using mods and now im on the trail of building up a new thread with no mods.
As i mentioned the removal of the module info panel in the middle of the lower screen has made it considerably easier but verticality will make it a breeze

[Ezarkal]

A workaround I found is to build your station in separate sections, each around a main connecting point for each "layers". Then, you can select this central connecting point and move the whole layer in place... and pray you don't have any further adjustments to make, because good luck trying to single out a module trapped in a middle layer.

That connection point must not be central. Once you know where the section connects to another one you can make a connector on that side the 'root' node and grab the whole section using that. Needs a little planning ahead but makes your life much easier.
then you can push all the sections you aren't working on outside of the plot so you only work in the central area. The zoom is a bit weird, i find it hard to focus on structures near the sides of the plot.
I usually added a long handle from connectors on each section so it's easier to grab and can be pushed further out of the plot to reduce the green spaghetti thingy.

Alternatively you don't have to connect anything, the station should work without any connectors if you can do a nice enough layout by hand. Though i found that pretty hard, but you could still remove all connectors from a section once you don't want to move it any more.
Would be curious what is the impact on framerates.

This is what I mean, but thanks for being more eloquent than me. English fails me sometimes.

Not connecting modules is also a solution, but one I don't like using unless I really plan a visual design around a fragmented station.