The Hub Resources

[Scorcher24]

What is the fastest way of aquiring all the necessary resources for "The Hub"? I know I might beat a dead horse here but still....

I already have delivered the 500 Microchips for the first set of gates. I just built a complex of 10 Microchip Factories which produced them in no time and they still sell at max price you can set .

Now I have to do the second batch, which is 150.000 Teldianium. I am halfway done with that, by building another complex with 10 Factories. Takes a while, but is managable. I use Logistic Software MK2 for transporting them with 2 Ships (OTAS TS) with Jumpdrives.

How about the Ore? 450.000 is required.
I really don't feel like building up a lot of Ore Factories, since they are not really needed unless you need them for a complex. I thought about buying it from the AI with a bunch of Commercial Traders which have their home at "The Hub". How many do you guys suggest?

Last but not least there will be 400.000 Silicon Wafers and 75.000 Microchips. I can get the Wafers from my own factories partially if I disable the Teladianium Factories and Chipfactories, but will still take a lot of time >_>. Same goes for the Microchips. Even if I build a complex with 50 of them, it will take a lot of days.

All in all, I say this mission is way overdone in terms of resources.... it is a singleplayer game and not a subscription based multiplayer game where I would kinda understand it. But I need to do it to get the HQ.
Your opinions and methods please.


edit:
The more I think about it, the more angry does it make me. I mean, the whole point of the mission is to sit in front of your computer, having SINZA running and staring at your screen to wait for your resources to build up... there is no challenge other than spending a ridicoulus amount of time in the game producing things. And you cannot idle, because then the game spawns more enemies and drops your ranks... gosh, egosoft.. really?? Why don't you let me just pay 1 billion per step, this way I could make the money how I want to make it and not beeing forced to ship pathetic amounts of shit through the whole galaxy... jesus.

[TBV]

I've done the hub twice, but neither time was I in much of a hurry so there are certainly quicker ways.

I always build a crystal complex first that buys energy from NPC and I usually use around 180 yield Silicon for that one.

I then build a microchip complex that uses crystals from the first complex
and I build that on around 200 yield Silicon.

I then start filling TLs with chips while I wait for my CAGs to buy Teladianium
and Ore from NPC. I also load the crystals that the chip-plex is not using onto TLs.

Once I've delivered all the crystals I pinch excess Silicon from the crystal-plex and get my CAGs to buy it off the NPC as well.

Both times it's worked out that just as the last chip is loaded onto the TL, my
CAGs have just delivered the last of the Silicon.

Then all I have to do is transfer the chips off the TL and it's job done.


Please note I start all this very early on and the other plots keep me occupied while I wait, so I can't tell you how long it took. But best guess about 10 game-days.

[Ripskar]

25 chip plants will produce the needed chips in 10 days, that's about the minimum size you should be looking at.
The complex(es) will need emptying every hour.
Some ore you can get from the NPC mines, the rest you can produce from your own complexes (eg. 1MJ shield complexes, missiles, etc.) that have the end product switched off whilst you complete the section.

[David Howland]

Microchips were the only thing I built complexes specially for and next time I will start that earlier in the game. Other items I produced in ordinary mixed complexes and my traders collected from my complexes and NPCs. Ore I did not find supply a problem, I could have managed without any personal production, main problem being transport as so little fills a ship, TLs might be useful here!

[Burnt Pies]

You could check out Mobile Mining for the Ore and Silicon requirements. There's a few pages on it in the guides sticky. Afterwards, you can put the miners to work gathering silicon to feed other plexes, eliminating the need for Silicon mines.

[Neil Depledge]

from an old post of mine:

My personal ‘best’ for the HUB plot was 3 days 19 hours 41mins.

This time I set up a small empire to fund this early on.

So I met Mahi Ma at 11 days 11 hours 10 mins. My ‘Empire‘ was 520 factories (66 chips) and I already had 38,072 chips stored.

Delivered him back to KE to finish Hub plot at 14 days 2 hrs 31 mins leaving me 8hrs 33min to wait for the message and to do the miniplot to get the HQ.

No unforeseen problems and capped it at 14-09-41 = 2days 22hrs 37mins. DONE IT !

Points to note:
- Haven’t (yet) come to grips with CLS/CAG so not used.
- Ditto with Remote Mobile Mining so not used.
- all complexes I build are fully sufficient except for energy – where required I build it.
- problems getting Yaki reputation back up.

Makes my first effort of 22+ days at old requirements look …. Sad?

[martimus]

You can use the encyclopedia to find out where all the ore mines and silicon mines are, and use CLS2 freighters to buy and ferry ot back to the hub. I found that method was pretty effective.

[goslin]

I actually completed this quest really really qickly and with no personal effort collecting anything... I already had my HQ at the time and it was in fact placed in the Hub sector. So, I added each of the mission wares to my HQ and set "max price", then setup about 4 CAG sturgeons with jumpdrives with jump range set to like 25. If you set the "limit" on each ware equal to the amount you need for the mission, they will collect exactly that amount. Periodicly check how progress is going on the info dialog for you HQ, then when its all collected, I set the buy price to minimum, transfered it all to the hub in a TL, then removed the ware from my HQ list.

Note: you need trained CAG agents that will use jumpdrives (which can be gotten for free without time training from the herron nebula trading station).

[goslin]

If you have already done the HQ missions then you will also have money to burn since you have locatd nividium roids, manufacturing what you need for this mission is just a waste of time, buy it from NPC stations.

[Neil Depledge]

@goslin: he is playing TC NOT AP!