X-BTF help, Setting up factories

[danleach]

Ive got my game going along OK and have decided to build a few factories first in Teladi, then Boron then Argon space before I start tooling up my ship with shields and weapons.
Ive bought an SPP and placed it in Seizwell (maybe not the best combo but thats what I started with)
How do I buy a freighter for it?
I can see how to buy a fighter, but It needs something to buy crystals as its run out of the stock it initially stared with.

Any other tips on this part of the game would be appreciated, and I might stick some more BTF related questions in here as well

[Starlight_Corporation]

From what I remember, an SPP has to be supplied manually in BTF, wich makes it less then ideal for a player owned factory. If memory serves me right, an ore or silicon mine makes a better investment as it can be supplied without player doing that. (think the ore mine was good in seizewell)

[danleach]

Ahhhh OK.
Ive now filled the SPP with crystals and bought a Teladianium foundry, not enough cash yet for a mineral scanner.
Ive bought a freighter for it, but cant seem to find a command menu for it. Will it just buy e-cells on its own?

[pjknibbs]

The commands have to be issued via the factory owning the ship in BTF--the ship-specific Command Console wasn't added until X-Tension, IIRC.

[BlueSwede]

Do you need to buy 2 transport ships for the factory? (selling & buying ship), or is 1 enough?

[Kapakio]

Do you need to buy 2 transport ships for the factory? (selling & buying ship), or is 1 enough?

I've bought just one for my ore stations and it seems to be OK. Maybe for high end factories with multiple resources you would need more.

@pjknibbs Actually I haven't found any way to command my freighters, not even via the factory. They seem to work by their own.

[Dantrithor]

You need to buy one freighter per ware you want to buy. They won't sell, IIRC.

[Silver Surfer]

In Xbtf the factory operations are very basic, you can set the Resource Buying Price and the Product Selling Price, that's it. It doesn't pay to set the RBP too low even if the number of sectors that a freighter has to cross is shown as a 0 or 1 or 2 to get that price, as this will change over time (dynamic universe and all that) and become larger. This puts your freighters at high risk of being wiped out by the Xenon and unlike later X games you've got no chance of getting to them to defend them. I always leave the RBP at the default average. PSP I set to at least one below average and (in the case of Ecells) as low as 10 credits.

If you have a factory requiring one resource i.e. a Wheat Farm which only requires Ecells to function then you only need one freighter. You cannot sell your products by assigned freighter. The only way of selling your own stuff is to transport it yourself. You shouldn't need to with low end products. High end things like HEPT's then you may have to as they don't shift very fast at all. Personally I wouldn't bother with Lasers/shields. Stick with foodstuffs/energy/minerals.

If you have a factory that requires two resources then you need two freighters and so on. The freighters are automatically assigned to collect resources, you don't have control over them. Which means that once set up you can forget about them apart from returning to collect credits every once in a while (no credit transfer automation )

You may want to double up on the number of freighters if you can afford to as some are likely to fall foul of Xenon packs. Your factory will be restocked faster if there's already a spare freighter docked.

On the subject of SPP's. There is no option to buy a freighter for them, you have to buy Crystals and restock them yourself. Which can be a pain but if you place one in the right sector then there are three Crystal Fabs very close by and also don't forget that some Trading Stations also stock Crystals at a uniform 72 credits.

Buy Crystals at 75 credits or less and set the Ecell price at between 10~15 credits. Providing you have enough credits to start with it's easy to stock your SPP with 1000+ Crystals before going off and doing other things.

Another tip is to always buy Silicon Wafers whenever you find them for 295/297 credits. All Crystal Fabs require them as do many other factories. You should be able to trade Silicon for Crystals and still make a good profit.

Another thing to buy is Ore whenever you find it at 90 credits. All Laser facts/Shield facts require it.

Upgrade your Cargo Bay and buy Engine Tunings whenever you can afford to. Unless you're hell bent on shooting things don't upgrade your shields or install lasers until later. The first lasers I ever buy are the Beta HEPT along with 2x 5mw shields. The only reason for doing this is to gain Paranid/Split docking rights by shooting Xenon/Pirates. Get the Paranid dock rights first (you'll need a Hornet Missile later) and as soon as you can buy the Docking Computer. It really speeds the game up. Dock (Press [D] ) as soon as the station is targetted. It's a quick in/trade/save/out and on to the next thing.

Key sequence for fast docking/undocking-> [D] -> [Esc] and trade/save-> [Esc]->[Esc]->[A]->[Tab] (You have bought a Boost Extension, haven't you?!) and you're on your way!

Factories to start with:

Spoiler

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SPP in Kingdom End. (Crystal Fabs in KE, Three Worlds & Power Circle).
Wheat Farm in Argon Prime and Three Worlds.
Rimes Fact in Three Worlds.

At the beginning Xbtf is repetative. Small cargo hold, slow speed and manual docking can cause even the saner pilots to go off their heads. Once you're at a level of a 200+ cargo bay, 5/6 engine tunings, SETA boost extension and a docking computer, along with 4 or 5 factories, it gets a lot better!

[BlueSwede]

Ok, thanks.

On the subject of SPP's. There is no option to buy a freighter for them, you have to buy Crystals and restock them yourself.

Yeah, I read that, that's why my first, and so far, my only factory, is an ore mine. Just wondering, because after a while, when visiting my factory it was out of ecells (and credits) and had 122 units of ore, so I started wondering if I also needed to buy a selling ship for it...

[Silver Surfer]

... that's why my first, and so far, my only factory, is an ore mine. Just wondering, because after a while, when visiting my factory it was out of ecells (and credits) and had 122 units of ore, so I started wondering if I also needed to buy a selling ship for it...

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a 'selling' ship in Xbtf, maybe from X-Tension onwards?

First of all, if your factory is out of Resources, do you still have a buying freighter? They are easily taken out by the Xenon. If your freighter is still there then possibly your Resource Buying Price is too low i.e. there are no resources available anywhere for that amount, so it won't buy. Also remember that if there are no credits in the factory itself the buying freighter has nothing to buy with! Another thing to consider is your selling price. If it's too high products don't shift. Set it 5 or 10 below average and see if that helps.

If your RBP is set at average and your freighter is there and there are credits available in the factory (I usually put at least 20,000 credits in and more usually 50,000) then I don't know what the problem is although I have seen race factories where the freighters are just sat there even though the place is out of resources.

You could try taking the ore yourself and sell it to see if that kick-starts the Ecell freighter? Remember to transfer credits into the factory as well.

[Nanook]

...
@pjknibbs Actually I haven't found any way to command my freighters, not even via the factory. They seem to work by their own.

That's because, in X-BTF, you don't 'own' the freighters, you just hire them. In fact, the only ship in the game that you do own is the Shuttle. Even the factory fighters are hired, although you can, and probably will, use them as wingmen later in the game.

[Dantrithor]

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a 'selling' ship in Xbtf, maybe from X-Tension onwards?

No, in X-Tension you couldn't yet use ships to sell your own resources. You had to rely on NPC ships to buy them.

[TTD]

Interesting.

i have no factories,yet.

Do you need a factory before you acquire any other ships than the Shuttle ?
I ask this,as I have only seen factories for sale at shipyards.

[Silver Surfer]

Interesting.

i have no factories,yet.

Do you need a factory before you acquire any other ships than the Shuttle ?
I ask this,as I have only seen factories for sale at shipyards.

The only way of getting other ships is by buying a factory/mine, although you don't get to do anything with them yourself.

You won't see any for sale/hire until you buy and place your factory and then you get a choice of 1 freighter e.g. Argon Lifter for an Argon factory and a choice of 3 fighters for factory protection (not freighter protection, they're on their own). For an Argon factory it's a choice of a Discoverer, a Buster or an Elite with the price rising for each type. I've never actually seen them do anything though.

I don't think you even get any notification if the freighters get zapped by the Xenon. I've never got any and I was in-sector when one of mine was taken out before I could reach it. You have to manually keep an eye on them by checking your factories from time to time. It's a good reason to have twice as many freighters as you need in case one gets destroyed as no freighter = no profit!

[Nanook]

... and a choice of 3 fighters for factory protection (not freighter protection, they're on their own). For an Argon factory it's a choice of a Discoverer, a Buster or an Elite with the price rising for each type. I've never actually seen them do anything though.....

First of all, I can guarantee that they do protect factories. In X-BTF, the Xenon are very active in trying to take out player factories, and without fighter protection, you will lose those factories.

Also, you can detail some of those fighters to follow you around and attack enemies, to a limited extent. I remember the final battles way back when I was first playing X-BTF, and had well over a hundred fighters following me and attacking the Xenon.

[Silver Surfer]

First of all, I can guarantee that they do protect factories. In X-BTF, the Xenon are very active in trying to take out player factories, and without fighter protection, you will lose those factories.

Also, you can detail some of those fighters to follow you around and attack enemies, to a limited extent. I remember the final battles way back when I was first playing X-BTF, and had well over a hundred fighters following me and attacking the Xenon.

Well I never saw them protecting a factory the first time round and I didn't ever lose one and I've yet to see them do it this time. As I've not lost a single fighter and I've only got Discos, I'm presuming that there have been no attacks up until now. Or maybe a couple of Discos are capable of taking out the equivalent of Ms and Ls and I just don't realise that they're doing the job.

As to wingmen, I completed Xbtf the first time and I don't recall having any then. The Xenon are not what you would call 'intelligent' or that much trouble to kill. I've already been in a couple of Xenon sectors and taken out all the fighters as a rehearsal. Shooting fish in a barrel, comes to mind.

As for the destroyers, I'm sure GHepts and Hornets are the antidote to that particular malaise.

Anyway, I'm off to do the Gate mission, so will be back in Xenon space to kick their a*se again.

[pjknibbs]

Are you sure about that, Nanook? Thought OOS battles only started happening in X-Tension--I don't recall ever losing a factory or fighter OOS in X-BTF.

[Praefectus classis]

From what I remember, the xenon that are destined for a particular sector tend to congregate around the gate they came through until you enter the sector. When you enter, they attack the nearest ships or stations to the gate. It does have its advantages at times. In one of my earlier games, some freighter had been destroyed and left some microchips or computer parts. Whatever it was, I bought a SPP with the proceeds and had some change left!

[Kapakio]

From what I remember, the xenon that are destined for a particular sector tend to congregate around the gate they came through until you enter the sector. When you enter, they attack the nearest ships or stations to the gate. It does have its advantages at times. In one of my earlier games, some freighter had been destroyed and left some microchips or computer parts. Whatever it was, I bought a SPP with the proceeds and had some change left!

Actually I've seen two kinds of Xenon spawning. One is like you describe, that congregate or spawn around the gate you enter. But there's other kind that appear to be continuously migrating from the Xenon sector above Priest Pity and travel through paranid sectors towards Empires End. But they don't seem to attack anything until you enter the sector.

[Praefectus classis]

Actually I've seen two kinds of Xenon spawning. One is like you describe, that congregate or spawn around the gate you enter. But there's other kind that appear to be continuously migrating from the Xenon sector above Priest Pity and travel through paranid sectors towards Empires End. But they don't seem to attack anything until you enter the sector.

I'll put this bit in spoilers as parts of it could spoil somebody's game.

Spoiler

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I'm sure the xenon ships originate in the xenon shipyard sector south and then west of Thuruk's Beard. They go on pre-determined paths to enter all the sectors in the game (except for a couple of xenon sectors). They then congregate at the gate they entered. You will see other xenon ships passing through but they haven't yet arrived at their destination sector. The ones in their destination sector don't move from the gate until you enter it.

Edit: Missed a word out.