10-13-2013, 03:26 AM
I just submitted my next set of orders, just under the wire (deadline was in 1 hour!)
This was a comprehensive building and survey turn.
First, I sent out my re-provisioned scouts to all local planetary orbits to conduct Surveys. (This assesses potential mining deposits.) I have one scout stationed in orbit-11 -- the "outer ring" around every system in which incoming ships always appear first. He might be needed here in case aliens get nosy. And I send 2 scouts out into the alien system nearby. I figured they might try to survey the uninhabited planets there and maybe avoid getting shot by aliens. Finally, I remembered to do one thing that I've forgotten for at least 3 turns -- doing a system-wide probe of my home system. Chirpsithtra has already discovered another player system, and for all I know it could me mine!
Next, I ordered a large expansion of the orbiting colony around my home planet. I am basically quintupling the population there, adding a huge increase of factories and automation, and otherwise buffing it up. I was way behind in getting this done, and I'm glad I took the time to analyze what I could do up there. I more than doubled production of light-structural units, and added a range of ship-building goods, including a batch of the new robot-probes. Should be fun to test out.
I shut down a couple of old factory groups on my homeworld -- they were producing outdated goods, they were low-tech factories, and I had finished emptying out their build-queues. While I spent a lot of time calculating my personnel needs in the orbiter, I didn't for the home world. Between the factory shut-downs and the automation-adds, I think I've still got enough to run everything even after sending more than a million professionals up to orbit.
Finally, I upgraded my Lab tech to level 6. I debated building PowerPlant tech up to level 4 and starting a batch of those, but I still have time. Power plants are like hydro and solar stations on open colonies. They create power to run almost everything, so you save fuel for what you really need it for -- moving ships and firing blasters. I was surprised to discover that my home colony has only 1m of these set up, but there is room for 2.5m. Saving 1m fuel or 2.5m fuel a turn didn't seem to matter much, though, when I'm burning more than 20m. But Power Plant tech goes up exponentially -- a Power Plant-4 unit saves you 16 fuel a turn! So a full planet-wide batch of 2.5m PowerPlant-4 would completely meet all my fuel needs. But I still have a billion fuel in storage, and thought I could coast another couple turns if need be. And I have a suspicion that I'm going to need to keep advancing Lab tech as aggressively as I dare at least through mid-game.
This was a comprehensive building and survey turn.
First, I sent out my re-provisioned scouts to all local planetary orbits to conduct Surveys. (This assesses potential mining deposits.) I have one scout stationed in orbit-11 -- the "outer ring" around every system in which incoming ships always appear first. He might be needed here in case aliens get nosy. And I send 2 scouts out into the alien system nearby. I figured they might try to survey the uninhabited planets there and maybe avoid getting shot by aliens. Finally, I remembered to do one thing that I've forgotten for at least 3 turns -- doing a system-wide probe of my home system. Chirpsithtra has already discovered another player system, and for all I know it could me mine!
Next, I ordered a large expansion of the orbiting colony around my home planet. I am basically quintupling the population there, adding a huge increase of factories and automation, and otherwise buffing it up. I was way behind in getting this done, and I'm glad I took the time to analyze what I could do up there. I more than doubled production of light-structural units, and added a range of ship-building goods, including a batch of the new robot-probes. Should be fun to test out.
I shut down a couple of old factory groups on my homeworld -- they were producing outdated goods, they were low-tech factories, and I had finished emptying out their build-queues. While I spent a lot of time calculating my personnel needs in the orbiter, I didn't for the home world. Between the factory shut-downs and the automation-adds, I think I've still got enough to run everything even after sending more than a million professionals up to orbit.
Finally, I upgraded my Lab tech to level 6. I debated building PowerPlant tech up to level 4 and starting a batch of those, but I still have time. Power plants are like hydro and solar stations on open colonies. They create power to run almost everything, so you save fuel for what you really need it for -- moving ships and firing blasters. I was surprised to discover that my home colony has only 1m of these set up, but there is room for 2.5m. Saving 1m fuel or 2.5m fuel a turn didn't seem to matter much, though, when I'm burning more than 20m. But Power Plant tech goes up exponentially -- a Power Plant-4 unit saves you 16 fuel a turn! So a full planet-wide batch of 2.5m PowerPlant-4 would completely meet all my fuel needs. But I still have a billion fuel in storage, and thought I could coast another couple turns if need be. And I have a suspicion that I'm going to need to keep advancing Lab tech as aggressively as I dare at least through mid-game.