X3TC Economy

[R2dical]

Hi Everyone, new to this game but enjoying it very much. I am impressed, excited and intimidated by the learning curve though. Lots of guides and such so seem to be wading though my first few games.

Anyway, after a few hours into a game I notice it is very difficult to find tertiary goods like shields and weapons in stock. A number of searches seem to indicate that this is a known problem but most were old topics.

So is there a way round this? A mod or script to improve the economy? A strategy? Or something I need to do first, save building my own factories...

Thanks for any help.

[OniGanon]

Identify areas of heavy Shield/Weapon production.

Identify what resources they're usually short of (Ore, Food, Energy).

If there's a supply nearby (within 1-2 sectors), get some Local Traders operating in the area.

If not, build stations to supply the resources.

[Timsup2nothin]

The guide to CLS in my sig has a section about setting up a network to supply certain fabs with what they need so they produce the goods you are looking for...it also is immensely profitable so you can use the profits to buy the goods.

[pjknibbs]

It's often easier to get smaller shields and weapons by purchasing L spec ships from shipyards, when available--those come loaded with full shields and usually (for M3s) four decent weapons. Larger ones you're pretty much stuck searching the universe for them, though, so best have a TS with a jumpdrive handy to do the legwork for your first capital!

[R2dical]

Thanks for all the advice, very helpful.

So looks like I should set about improving the supply to a cluster of factories for long term supply of shields and such for my fighter fleet. The CLS approach looks interesting also, thank for that. In the meantime I can look for the L spec ships, great

[Patholos]

You can also clone shields and weapons.

Buy 10 ships at a shipyard and outfit em with 4x25 mj shields.

Bada bing, you got 40 mj shields in total even though the equipment dock had 8 or something.

[ancienthighway]

A number of searches seem to indicate that this is a known problem but most were old topics.

This is not a problem, but an opportunity!

As pjknibbs suggested, you could buy the L spec ships, but in doing so you are paying average price for the weapons and shields. Not to mention full price for the ship.

Just by supplying resources for the key factories making shields and weapons I want, I've been able to put more money into more money making ventures off the savings. Buying ships second hand saves even more money. I bought 3 Nova Raiders for a total price of < 1 million credits just by being patient. And I passed with a shake of my head at the Helios for 1.2 million.

Build a food complex near the consumers so you always have "free" food available to stock them. If you are constantly missing the good prices on energy, add a solar power plant big enough to power your food production and supply the consumers. If ore or silicon are needed, don't set up a mine, but put an ore collector, and maybe a drill on a TS to blow up an asteroid if you need to, and collect what's needed. I'm supplying 4 owned crystal fabs and an Advanced Drone Factory just using collected silicon. Ore is usually readily available within 1 or 2 sectors of the consumers.

When you equip fighters, more is not always better. 80% of my fighters are equipped solely with PACs which are more energy efficient than HEPTs and PRGs.

[TTD]

I often build complexes for local sector needs.
The complexes supplies only what is need in the sector they are built in. Often using local resources rather than becoming a self-sustaining complex.

[hisazul]

I often build complexes for local sector needs.
The complexes supplies only what is need in the sector they are built in. Often using local resources rather than becoming a self-sustaining complex.

That's what I ended up doing rather then giant walmarts. It gives the universe a sense of life its not just you making everything and not caring one bit about npc economy.

I actually went and destroyed a super-plex(900ish station large) because monopoly just gives G.O.D. more leeway to tear apart a living world, leaving barren lifeless sectors.

Lets say sector a is just missing food. Now you build a food plex. Result is that you solved the problem and made money. Where one sees broken economy not worth saving others see a way to make money and get it all working at same time. Sure you may not make as much as possible and sometimes need to wait but at least you see ships going about their business buying and selling and building things. And it puts a lot less strain on engine

Economy isn't "broken" it just has a place for the player to fill in and leave everyone happy. Without player... it's a living body that is missing a part and stuck in a state where it is unable to function properly. Admittedly once you set out to fix all word problems you end like the president of dysfunctional family fighting to maintain order(well... just GoD engine really but it is just as infuriating and unpredictable).