Questions about factories in XBTF

[manniac]

I played every X game out there. In the end i decided to go back to beginning: 1 man , 1 ship, 1 big universe.
I started small with :

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1 energy fab next to every race's crystal fab to make some starter money

I plan to expand by building rudimentary complexes, probably quantum tubes in few locations. Now the question that arises is:

Is it better to stick with race's facs? or should i bring in other race's fac?

1. If i stick with same race fac, my freighters will compete for 1st food and 2ndary food , at my own factories.

2. If i bring other race, i have to build different food chain, so by limiting the jump radius, i will have pretty much monopoly on that food chain, since only my freighters "need" to buy that food.

I understand that 2nd choice will be more difficult to set up, but ultimately might be more profitable.

Last question, has to do with ability of facs to support multiple other facs. Is it 1 food fab enuff to supply meat for example, to a cahoona bakery? Or i'm gonna have overproduction? Is it 1 SPP enuff to supply a chain of 5 facs? tube, 1st food, 2nd food, crystal, and posibly a mine?

Your input please, thanks

[Captain Chris sTc]

The problem if i remember right with energy fabs, is you can't have ships automaticly buy crystals for you. you have to do it your self. so there isn't really any point in having more then one enrgy fab.
could be wrong was a very long time ago i played X:btf.

[Nanook]

Nope, you're right. SPP's in X-BTF had to be manually fed crystals by the player. I assume it was a design decision to force the player to build other, less profitable factories. Otherwise, there'd be no need as SPP's, similar to X2, were the most profitable factories you could own.

[pjknibbs]

Yes, Egosoft have been trying to find a solution to the fact that energy cells are required for every station and thus sell like hotcakes ever since the first game, it seems!

[manniac]

I set up the SPP's to have some starter money, i know i have to supply them myself. I figured, since i have to travel anyway to different sectors to collect my cash from facs (no remote transfer) 1 extra jump and 5 minutes to fill a fab with crystals is worth it.

I cant find any info on XBTF fabs info though.

[manniac]

I guess I answered my own question hehe. Here it goes:

I started with a wheat farm and a rimes fac in

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Ore Belt

to supply local demand. Next was a silicon mine, then a crystal fab.
By then, the local energy supply was extremly strained. I followed with a argnu fab and a cahoona bakery. Then i noticed my rimes were selling at nearly max price, so was the wheat. So i added another wheat and 2 ore mines.

After i laid the ore, i figured i should use it as well, so i dropped a gamma HEPT. That fab is insane, eats up cahoona like candy. I think they employ only starving citizens. Anyway, to make up for the demand, i dropped another argnu and cahoona. Then 1 more ore mine. And 1 more wheat, sells like crazy, factories never go over 200 units, which is like a sliver of what they can hold.

And how much energy i put down you will ask? No less than 4, yes 4 SPP's, selling at 10c.

So for grand total: 2 argnu, 2 cahoona, 1 silicon on 64yield, 1 crystal, 3 wheat, 1 rimes, 3 ore (51,25,23 yield), 1 GHEPT and 4 SPP.

Next will be : 2 more SPP (for a total of 7 in sector), 1-2 soja beans, 1-2 soja husk and grand finale a Hornet fab. That should take care of my needs . Apparently a SPP can maintain 2-3 fabs fully. Hope this helps future readers.