Making TOAs

[Sovereign01]

With the increased variety of factory sizes and stuff, it's left me wondering a few things:

• What size of complex do I need to build to make the chips, components, tubes, and all the other stuff I need to make TOAs? Like number of factories for each ware and their sizes?
• What's the best way to plan and build the complex that I need? I'm guessing it's going to cost a huge amount of credits?
• Are XL and XXL factories made that way or do they have to be individually upgraded from M/L?

Thanks in advance!

[Stardolphin]

With the increased variety of factory sizes and stuff, it's left me wondering a few things:

• What size of complex do I need to build to make the chips, components, tubes, and all the other stuff I need to make TOAs? Like number of factories for each ware and their sizes?
• What's the best way to plan and build the complex that I need? I'm guessing it's going to cost a huge amount of credits?
• Are XL and XXL factories made that way or do they have to be individually upgraded from M/L?

Thanks in advance!

1.
I designed my HQ supply complex to have higher resource production rate, so I won't short of resource if I have some additional requirements.
My HQ supply complex:
Chip Plant XXL * 3
Computer Plant L * 1
Crystal Fab XXL * 3
Quantum Tube Fab XL * 1
Weapon Component Factory * 1
Cahoona Bakery XXL * 9
Rastar Refinery XL * 1
Rimes Fact L * 1
Cattle Ranch XXL * 9
Chelt Space Aquarium XL * 1
Teladianium Foundry XL * 1
Wheat Farm L * 1
Ore Mine XXL * 1
Silicon Mine XXL * 7
Solar Power Plant XXL * 4

Locate in the unclaimed sector behind Xenon Sector 534.

2.
You should use complex planner under empire management option. After you finish the complex design, you can save a plan and edit/deploy it later. Though there are reports about some new factories will cause miscalculation, but still usable with manual adjustment.
There are two ways to deploy complexes: Your own TL with Build Command Software MK3, or hire build service(with a fee).
I'm lazy so I always hire build service, and complexes cost lots of credits. I always get funds by selling ships "borrowed" from my generous Paranid/Split/Pirates friends.

3.
You have to run the factories before you upgrade them, and it can only be done manually.

[Hwitvlf]

• What size of complex do I need to build to make the chips, components, tubes, and all the other stuff I need to make TOAs? Like number of factories for each ware and their sizes?
• What's the best way to plan and build the complex that I need? I'm guessing it's going to cost a huge amount of credits?
• Are XL and XXL factories made that way or do they have to be individually upgraded from M/L?

To supply building materials, I found Microchips, Quantum Tubes, Energy and Mines need one XXL, and others: one L, but I never did calculations, just noticed there weren't any severe down times with that setup. Like Stardolphin shows, you'll need additional factories to supply these of course. There seems to be a high bail rate in FL so you can supplement with recycling.

The built in Complex planner is the best tool I know of. It calculates factory size and asteroid/solar yield and has an auto-complete button that auto-adds needed resource factories. Its calculation glitch is easy to spot if you do happen to run into it: it shows you needing an impossible number of resource factories. I've only seen the bug when adding new factories to an existing complex.

You must use upgrade kits to enlarge most factories. Only solar (as far as I know) are sold in XL, mines and food as L. Most others are sold as 'Small'. The Complex Planner will show you what size factories can be bought. It costs about 29 million to upgrade a factory from S to XXL, 11 million from S to XL etc.

[Jimmy C]

You only need the amount of materials that the HQ can consume in an hour per hour. Mine matches Stardolphin's for the same purpose. Here's mine. This contains everything I might want to build, I had to use stand-ins for the beam weapon factories, though it's likely I might not reach the end of the list. I never did add shield factories to my complex in AP in the end. Didn't need to.

It's in Spaceweed Grove Beta and I haven't gotten started yet. Keep getting distracted by all the ships I can capture!

[Stardolphin]

• What size of complex do I need to build to make the chips, components, tubes, and all the other stuff I need to make TOAs? Like number of factories for each ware and their sizes?
• What's the best way to plan and build the complex that I need? I'm guessing it's going to cost a huge amount of credits?
• Are XL and XXL factories made that way or do they have to be individually upgraded from M/L?

To supply building materials, I found Microchips, Quantum Tubes, Energy and Mines need one XXL, and others: one L, but I never did calculations, just noticed there weren't any severe down times with that setup. Like Stardolphin shows, you'll need additional factories to supply these of course. There seems to be a high bail rate in FL so you can supplement with recycling.

The built in Complex planner is the best tool I know of. It calculates factory size and asteroid/solar yield and has an auto-complete button that auto-adds needed resource factories. Its calculation glitch is easy to spot if you do happen to run into it: it shows you needing an impossible number of resource factories. I've only seen the bug when adding new factories to an existing complex.

Besides force all hostile armoured transporters to bail, boarding M1/M2 is really profitable if player has a Hammer Heavy Torpedo/Flail Barrage Missile complexes. I plan to replace them with the Terran missiles complexes after I steal every thing I need.

It's a pity that they have no plan for future bug fix patches, especially the complex planner problem.

You only need the amount of materials that the HQ can consume in an hour per hour. Mine matches Stardolphin's for the same purpose. Here's mine. This contains everything I might want to build, I had to use stand-ins for the beam weapon factories, though it's likely I might not reach the end of the list. I never did add shield factories to my complex in AP in the end. Didn't need to.

It's in Spaceweed Grove Beta and I haven't gotten started yet. Keep getting distracted by all the ships I can capture!

Which stand-ins you used for the beam factories?

Capture and steal is the best part of this game.

[Jimmy C]

Which stand-ins you used for the beam factories?

Capture and steal is the best part of this game.

Cluster Flak for the PBC, ISR for the PALC and PSG for the Tri-beam.

Capture is no longer as good because you can't game it anymore. And as much as I like steal too, you can't steal what they don't have.

[Sovereign01]

I am in the process of acquiring Build Command Software MK3 by making nice with NMMC, already got an Elephant as a TL. Am I likely to need more than one TL with that software equipped? At 51 million a pop it's not exactly cheap!

[Stardolphin]

Which stand-ins you used for the beam factories?

Capture and steal is the best part of this game.

Cluster Flak for the PBC, ISR for the PALC and PSG for the Tri-beam.

Capture is no longer as good because you can't game it anymore. And as much as I like steal too, you can't steal what they don't have.

DR makes friendly boarding risk way higher than AP, it's not good days for pirates. That's why I built all my complexes in my own sectors and never use ST/UT, so I can choose targets to steal freely. With agents and marines from the always friendly Teladi, we can steal everything from every race.

I am in the process of acquiring Build Command Software MK3 by making nice with NMMC, already got an Elephant as a TL. Am I likely to need more than one TL with that software equipped? At 51 million a pop it's not exactly cheap!

I never tried Build Command Software MK3, so I don't know if multiple TL is required. For funds problem, I suggest you to join our pirate clan and start to borrow M2s to sell, then everything will be really cheap.

[Sovereign01]

Which stand-ins you used for the beam factories?

Capture and steal is the best part of this game.

Cluster Flak for the PBC, ISR for the PALC and PSG for the Tri-beam.

Capture is no longer as good because you can't game it anymore. And as much as I like steal too, you can't steal what they don't have.

DR makes friendly boarding risk way higher than AP, it's not good days for pirates. That's why I built all my complexes in my own sectors and never use ST/UT, so I can choose targets to steal freely. With agents and marines from the always friendly Teladi, we can steal everything from every race.

I am in the process of acquiring Build Command Software MK3 by making nice with NMMC, already got an Elephant as a TL. Am I likely to need more than one TL with that software equipped? At 51 million a pop it's not exactly cheap!

I never tried Build Command Software MK3, so I don't know if multiple TL is required. For funds problem, I suggest you to join our pirate clan and start to borrow M2s to sell, then everything will be really cheap.

I am also working on getting my standing with OTAS to the level where I can purchase a Sirokos for that very reason, necessitating a seemingly endless run of missions to obtain agents and trying to remember if the agent I just sent was gathering influence or spending it to gain standing.

[Hwitvlf]

Am I likely to need more than one TL with that software equipped?

No. As far as I know, only one TL at a time can work on a complex so having two MK3s would only be useful if you want to build two complexes at the same time.

[Sovereign01]

Am I likely to need more than one TL with that software equipped?

No. As far as I know, only one TL at a time can work on a complex so having two MK3s would only be useful if you want to build two complexes at the same time.

Well, looks like I'm going to have to find 50M credits