Thursday, August 12, 2010

Screeshot Thursday

Here are some screenshots of my first real attempt at manufacturing coolant on a Storm planet.

I initially started with four extractors each for the aqueous liquids and ionic solutions. Once I proved to myself I was actually able to make coolant, I upgraded to seven each.
One time while surveying for new deposits I saw a little control centre marker near one of my links. Clicking on it brought up someone else's colony. Someone is steal my stuff!

As I looked at his layout I wondered if it was more efficient than mine. I've done zero research into best practices for layouts so I guess I should actually attend a 201 course on planetary management. :P
Here is an image of my Maelstrom I purchased for Kla'strit for doing PvE stuff like complexes and missions. I do like the look of this ship.

Into the unknown...

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:54 am

    you are wasting a lot of cpu with your links arrangement - you can route links through other extractors.

    The other guy is wasting more by having his processors so spread out - they only need to be 1 pixel or so apart; saves lots of cpu.

    Also I always route materials to the Space port FIRST then to processing - acts as a storage buffer

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  2. In re: the 2 PI setups:

    FWIW, I actually do prefer the setup the other guy has with the extractors linked directly to the storage/launchpad and then the processors clustered around the pad with short links. But yours isn't "inefficient" in any way since transport is instantaneous. If your links can handle the load, then you're all good.

    A few questions, though:

    1. Why is your CC linked to the spaceport? Links are only needed for transporting goods, not as part of the network. I know it's a short link and so probably doesn't make a difference, but extraneous links could be the difference between getting another extractor or processor down.

    2. Are you routing your stuff to storage in your launchpad 1st and then back out to the processors? I assume you are, but seeing 7 extractors feeding in to a single processor does make me kinda go "hmmmmmm" since I only have seen extraction rates that low in hisec. In my current setups, I'm generally feeding 5-7 extractors per 4 processors, and even this can produce excess raw material.

    Not a big deal, really, since I can sell the extra just fine, but it's definitely made me take a long look as "efficiency" and how to look at the end-goal of my planet and then work backward from there, not looking at extraction as the 1st point. Extraction rates influence the number of processors, yes, but if I know I want 4 processors, then it's easier to look at "how many extractors do I need to toss down to maximize the factories' output?" not "I have a ton of materials coming out of the ground so how many factories can I put down to use it up now?"

    I don't really take screenies of my PI, but I do have 1 lying about. It's one of my "not so good" setups, but I was lucky in getting 2 different resources right on top of each other. You may notice I have 7 P1 refineries going . . . 3 of them use everything they get (lower extraction rates for that material) while the other 4 are in constant production and even have extra raws left over. I'd love to have more extractors down for resource 1, and more refineries for resource 2, but if you look at my CC's red bar..... I'm using 99.82% of my PG on that one. I quite literally couldn't even make another link on that planet. . . .

    Linkie

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  3. I thought the CC has to have a link to provide CPU and power. heh, apparently not.

    Yeah, storage issues... I thought I was ok but in hindsight I think I'm losing stuff after doing a bit of research. I'll reconfigure this better today.

    Its how I work: try something THEN read the right way to do it.

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  4. I agree with Magson. Extractors should link together then down one link to LP then route mats out to processors. You want to place your extractors next to each other and cluster your processors as close to the LP as possible. The idea is to minimize link costs - especially important on large gas worlds. I'm with you, these are lessons learned after going through 3-4 iterations and I'm getting ready to optimize again as I will be dropping Elite PCCs soon.

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  5. I went back and screenie'd my current setups. A couple aren't ideal, and once my alt finishes training his PI stuff tomorrow afternoon, a lot of this is going to be reworked anyway, but.... here we go.

    Storm Planet

    On this planet I'm pulling and refining Aqueous Liquids to Water, Base Metals to Reactive Metals, and Ionic Solutions to Electrolytes. When I initially set it up, I had Suspended Plasma to Plasmoids instead of the Water part, but it wasn't working out. I also hadn't done my research on how many Reactive Metals I needed. I initially set up 3 launchpads and clustered the production around them, but it turned out that the long links were less expensive and I didn't need the extra storage, so when I retooled I took them out. I left 1 of the metals processors alone since it was already down, but the 2 water extractors feed in to the main launchpad and I'm doing the vast majority of my refining there.

    Close-up of the manufacturing center. As you can see in the close-up, everything's as close together as possible to minimize links, and my CC is pretty well maxed out.

    I have 2 other planets that both still retain their multiple launchpad setups. I could have reworked them like I did the storm planet, but since I've got the alt coming in to help in a short time and I was too lazy to rework the routes, I just left them for after the alt is working with me. Still, you can see the principle of the extractors feeding to storage, then back out to the processors in each site.

    Planet 1
    Planet 2

    And finally.... where it all comes together: The Factory Planet

    1 Launchpad, plus additional storage, not extractors, only factories.

    The central hub is a "high tech" factory and
    I'm making Nano-factories in it. To run it at full capacity it needs double output from a factory of the next lower tier, so you can see 4 factories feeding in to it, and each of them have 4 factories feeding them in order to keep everything running at all times. The LP isn't big enough to hold a full day's worth of materials, so I import it, do an expedited transfer to the other storage, and then let it all rip. Works well, and since the import/export of P1 items from my source planets is really cheap, I think this saves on my overall expenses to do it this way.

    I hope this helps!

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