What is the difference between CLS 1 and 2?

[mouser9169]

I've done the search thing.
I've read the guides.

They all are great at explaining how to set up waypoints and get your traders moving around buying and selling, or loading and unloading, or just visiting stations on their route.

From what I understand (which probably isn't much), all that is CLS 2.
So what is CLS 1 and what is it used for?

CAG I understand the general concept, though I haven't used it - pointing me to a guide or an explanation of how they work (I know you train them up as CLS pilots first so you skip the 'buy only' stage) would be welcome as well.


Edit: I'm really trying to be more efficient this go round. When I visit sectors I'm thinking things like "Hmmm... this sector really needs a bakery" or a crystal fab or whatever to keep the goods flowing from one factory to the next. Assigning pilots to fill those circles would be the next logical step (but again, isn't that CLS 2?)

I've also learned it really doesn't take much to make a self-sufficient complex. I set up a nice space fuel and weed complex at Danna's in my last game hooked up to one Silicon 'roid with a grand total of nine factories, including the mine.

[Lorric]

Ok, let me try and describe the purposes of each software. I too had problems understanding the descriptions in the bonus pack threads back when I started using these.

CLS mark 2: This one follows a "recipe" that you write for it. Go there, load this, go there, sell if the price is better than X. You can use this for any factory, including npc factories. The one thing that annoys me about CLS2 is that it does not take stock levels into consideration (there are some pricing conditions though).

Simple usage example: You have 250000 energy cells in your headquarters and want to move them to another complex. Set up a few waypoints and off you go. It will keep going until you stop it.

CLS mark 1: Moves stuff between your own factories, based on need. It needs to know which ware to move and one or more suppliers / consumers you have. Most of what CLS1 does could also be done with CLS2 (which is why I explained it first), but CLS1 is smarter, in that it prioritizes consumers with low stock levels and suppliers with high stock level. It works Only for your own factories/complexes, cannot do anything involving non-player factories.

Simple usage example: Imagine that you have just built a giant Energy Cell production complex somewhere and you have some other factories or complexes that require Energy Cells. This is where CLS1 comes in - you set your EC complex as supplier (and homebase), energy cells as the ware to move and the other factories/complexes as consumers and it will move the ECs for you.

CAG: The Commercial Agent will try and handle the needs of a factory or complex, as in buying resources and selling products at the best prices. It basically means you can replace multiple freighters with Buy Ware/Sell Ware commands with a single ship. It also handles running away from attackers better than the other commands.

Simple usage example: Build a factory, homebase a freigher with the necessary equipment to it and start the CAG command. In the beginning it will only buy resources, but as it levels up, it will also sell goods, start using a jumpdrive and other nifty stuff.

There are lots of options for all three commands and it takes a while to learn to use them right, but once you know how, they can handle lots of situations for you. Just remember that they have a pilot rank (or level), and they need time to learn their trade. Fortunately the pilot ranks are interchangeable between all three commands (but not with ST/UT!)

[mouser9169]

Thank you

That is helpful. I haven't had much experience with my own factories supplying each other (used complexes for that), but I may have to give that a good think and see what I can come up with. Pity that CLS 1 can't go to NPC factories as well - now that would be ideal, but I guess that's what sector traders are for.

Last time I made my fortune just covering the X-verse with local traders and building a few huge mega-complexes - it wasn't enough for me to break through the Capitalist 'wall' (I'd hit it, then drop down). This time I'm going to try it with fewer trading ships, but smartly placed factories and small complexes. Let the NPC's do some of the work for me.

I'll still have at least one mega-complex somewhere - if nothing else I think they're fun to build, at least once I learned how factories were measured from the 'hub' and how to keep moving that forward. My Ore Belt doughnut was a thing of beauty. I may still have a save game with it - maybe do a video with an M5 flying in and out amongst all the tubes, factories, and asteroids.

Anyway - that's the best brief description I've read of the difference, so thanks again!
Much food for thought for me to digest, but that's a big part of why I like this game.