What are good Asteroid Yields to build a plant on?

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nicky43
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What are good Asteroid Yields to build a plant on?

Post by nicky43 » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 00:20

How big a yield is a good yield for Asteroids to build an Ore, Silicon, and other mines on?

Does the larger size Mines require a higher yield?

How long will they produce the minerals before they go dry?

Thanks in advance.
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bizbag
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Post by bizbag » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 00:30

I'll answer your questions in reverse order:

3: Mines do not go dry

2: No, they do not, but they produce faster, so there's no reason not to get an L factory, because it'll never go dry.

1. This depends what you want to make in your complex. A 25-yield L Ore mine will supply 5 tech stations. a 60 yield L Silicon mine will support 2 L Crystal Fabs and 1 M Crystal Fab, which you need to power a 150% SPP XL.

This is why LooManckStrat's Legacy is popular for illegal-goods complexes; it is one of the few Pirate sectors with very high Silicon yields, despite the low Sun rating. Gunne's Crusade is also a popular choice.

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Post by nicky43 » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 00:39

Thank you very much for the reply. What is a 150% SPP XL.
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Post by bizbag » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 00:45

nicky43 wrote:Thank you very much for the reply. What is a 150% SPP XL.
It's an Extra Large Solar Power Plant - the most expensive kind. The 150% refers to the Sun rating, which you can see in the Universe Map when you highlight a sector. The higher the value, the faster a Solar Power Plant produces energy cells (but it does not get a better crystal/cell ratio, it just does it faster). The most common values for a sector are 100% and 150%.

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Post by Zaitsev » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 00:46

nicky43 wrote:Thank you very much for the reply. What is a 150% SPP XL.
An XL Solar Power Plant placed in a sector with a 150% sun. 150% is the strength of the local sun, and higher numbers means more energy produced by solar power plants, but also mean they'll burn through crystals faster.

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Post by nicky43 » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 00:50

Got it. Thanks. But I never knew about Sun Factors and I just build a Medium Power Plant in Ringo Moon. I'll have to go see what that Sun Factor is. It must be low because it doest use Crystals too fast.


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Post by bizbag » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 01:08

nicky43 wrote:Got it. Thanks. But I never knew about Sun Factors and I just build a Medium Power Plant in Ringo Moon. I'll have to go see what that Sun Factor is. It must be low because it doest use Crystals too fast.


Thank you.
That factory will use just over 130 crystals in an hour, since it's a Medium plant in a 150% sector.

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Post by ajax34i » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 13:46

Crystals are somewhat rare, and you're better off supplying your own, by attaching a crystal fab to the solar plant. That way you have to supply silicon and food, which may be a bit more common, with the NPCs being able to supply you.

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Post by Honved » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 14:29

I consider 25 to be the minimum yield to be worth bothering to build a mine, unless there are no better options in the area. In most cases, a 30+ is preferable. Unless you're only planning on a limited presence in a sector, building an "M" class mine is often a waste of a good 'roid, when an "L" class mine could have been placed instead.

Just remember that an "M" size factory produces double the output of a standard "S", an "L" produces 5x the output, and an "XL" produces 10x the output. They also require that much more input of resources, so an "M" size mine on a 25 yield 'roid may be sufficient to feed the factories that rely on it, or totally inadequate. There are complex calculators to figure out how much of everything a complex (or a cluster of separate stations) will produce and consume.

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Post by Lea Flamma » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 14:44

I suggest you download yourself Xadrian. It will pop you the production of resources from a mine on an asteroid of specified yield. I always use it to determine the best usage of those low yield asteroids.

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Post by jlehtone » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 15:19

Every Ore Mine on every yield and sector converts 6 ECells into one Ore.

Every Silicon Mine on every yield and sector converts 24 ECells into one Silicon Wafer.

Every SPP on every sector makes the same amount of ECells from one Crystal.

Where they do differ is how long the conversion takes, i.e. how many stations you do need for getting N units per hour.

When I was building, I counted the yields and asked myself what can I do with this amount? You can do the opposite and ask which set of rocks will get "the job" done. It is quite trivial math.

A self-sufficient complex with only 0-yield 'roids was fun, and thefore fulfilled its purpose. The Teladi in you is allowed to disagree. :goner:
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Post by bizbag » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 20:46

Honved wrote:I consider 25 to be the minimum yield to be worth bothering to build a mine, unless there are no better options in the area. In most cases, a 30+ is preferable. Unless you're only planning on a limited presence in a sector, building an "M" class mine is often a waste of a good 'roid, when an "L" class mine could have been placed instead.

Just remember that an "M" size factory produces double the output of a standard "S", an "L" produces 5x the output, and an "XL" produces 10x the output. They also require that much more input of resources, so an "M" size mine on a 25 yield 'roid may be sufficient to feed the factories that rely on it, or totally inadequate. There are complex calculators to figure out how much of everything a complex (or a cluster of separate stations) will produce and consume.
As a personal rule of thumb, I'd never use an M mine. Always use an L. Your station or complex's CAG can handle the extra ore and the extra energy cells.

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Post by TTD » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 22:47

Xadrian in my sig.

Yes I would not use less than 25 yield ,unless I wanted extra storage space in an existing complex.

Also I rarely build minimum spec factories.
If there is large, I build large.
Why build three SSPs when one XL variant would do the job ?

Ok, sometimes it makes a more expensive self suficient complex,but the extra production can be sold off for profits.

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