My first time using the complex calculator ...first time Complex !

[PerfectStranger]

My Shield Complex

That's not as short as I had hoped it was gonna be .

{You can shorten it way down by using the 'url' tags as I've done for you. Use the EDIT button to check it out. Nanook }

Anywho ..... Ive already gotten frustrated enough looking for shields and weapons to decide to just do it myself . I've never dealt with building a complex before and have read issues about bottle necking . Does the above plan look good as far as me successfully producing myself a relatively steady supply of shields ?

I could not find anything on altanet's calculator page that describes the production numeric so I am hoping they produce well enough .

[pref]

The calculator displays production / hour next to the ware name.

You have a lot of intermediate surplus, you could add some more fabs perhaps if there is more silicon.
Or change the 1GJ fab to boron - then you would not need split food chain. Even like that you are overproducing boron food. Dunno if you did that on purpose.

Xadrian complex calculator is also nice, worth a try.

[ancienthighway]

I'd rely on the NPC stations to build the 200mj + shields, just feed them the resources and wait for the price to be of your liking, or pick them up from the EQ Docks. You'll get them just as fast, without the big expense of a complex that you'll only need wares from once in a while.

If you have the Hub or own a trading station or equipment dock, set up a CAG or CLS2 trader to buy those shields.

The Paranid have the most expensive station building anything. Pick up the Split 25mj shield facility instead. I've never had problems go into the Family Pride area and finding plenty of shields for my needs at the EQ Docks, but I still keep a complex around to be my primary supply.

A large food factory will support 5 tech/weapon/missile/shield stations, so you could build a Chelt/Rastor base and add 3 Split 25mj facilities, then two other stations to consume the food. Even some 1GJ facilities if you are planning a big M7 fleet.

Before you start buying and building your complex, think about where you are going to place it and availability of NPC supplied resources. Teladi have the least expensive Ore Mine L, Split have the least expensive Silicon Mine L. Terran stations, while cheapest of all, tend to be oversized for CW space, especially the mines.

[PerfectStranger]

Thanks for the tips !!

I did widdle it down quite a bit and its smaller which is good .

I do not have the hub yet and this plex is going in a yet to be determined sector in AP . As such any suggestions is appreciated .

Im going to calculate a weapon plex AND a missile plex but this is where the shield plex is at in the planning phase .

Planned Shield Plex

{Shortened by Nanook}

[Jimmy C]

You have way too many SPP XLs. As a rule, one single SPP XL can support 15 factories along with the mines, bio and food plants needed to sustain them, in addition to the mines, bio, food and crystal plants needed to sustain the SPP itself.

I do not have the hub yet and this plex is going in a yet to be determined sector in AP .

Once you decide on a sector, plan your entire complex before you start building. You can start small by building one part of it at a time. If you add things ad hoc, you could end up with inefficiencies or wastage later.

One sector that's great for complex building is Tkr's Deception. There's lots of suitably sized asteroids for mines and Outposts and EqDs next door to sell your products to. If you're interested, I can post the complex I'm building there. It runs on 6 SPP XLs, of which 5 are currently installed.

[pref]

You can scale it down like this, no need for that much surplus.
Dont need to waste resources on extra food production (unless you have plans with it). Turning it on gradually, and letting intermediates fill up eliminates the need for surplus.
This way it costs 222 only.

One more ore mine and it can support more endproducts, still enough surplus. Could use 5x1GJ and 5x2GJ by extending it with just 1 more ore mine for ex.

http://tinyurl.com/o38jfue

With Xadrian's calculator you can also include the actual roids in the chosen sector - the current calculation assumes a yield of 25 for each mine. If you add mines with yields maching your requirement more closely, then you might need even less of them (and thus less ecell usage, which might mean less crystal fabs and food needed, that in turn will require even less ecells etc..).
Best to calculate with actual numbers, so pick the sector and recheck the plan once you know the actual silicon/ore yields.
Xadrian also has a wizard feature - so you only need to add the mines and end products, the rest of the loop will be autocalculated.

[PerfectStranger]

That's excellent !! Thank you very much .
For a first complex having less to place is going to be better , and as the fleet is built I don't have to bounce around the universe at all . I have a one stop shop for shields .

Not sure why I ended up putting up so much more in that ... I was just juggling the Need/Produced numbers trying to steer clear of red text and musta missed an item or wasn't paying close enough attention .

Looking to get missiles and weapons planned as well .... but haven't gotten enough exposure to combat to even figure out how many capital weapons versus fighter weapons I am going to use . Same with missiles ......if I only had a plan .

[pref]

but haven't gotten enough exposure to combat to even figure out how many capital weapons versus fighter weapons I am going to use . Same with missiles ......if I only had a plan .

That depends on playstyle. I had games where i was using smaller ships mainly. In this one i only deal with M7s and up in my battlefleet.

Of course one always needs TSes, but i only buy those when the L pack is available at the shipyard. Having one more shop-stop for 20 TS can take way too much time.

You can finish a game while hardly needing any 2GJ shields for ex, or only rely on those and some 1 GJ ones. There is no good/correct ratio or anything like that.

[Honved]

Don't plan so far ahead until you're more familiar with the game. Your plans are very likely to change as your understanding of the rules grows.

I'd start with a couple of basic factories, such as a single shield factory, and maybe add a food mini-plex with a bio source and a processing plant (Argnu + Cahoona, or Sunflower + Nostrop, for example). Once you understand the intricacies of factories and small complexes, and learn how to use the various traders to keep it supplied and actually make money from it, you'll have a better idea on how to design your mega-plexes....if you even need mega-plexes for anything outside the Hub plot.

[Ronin677]

Really stupid question, but using the Complex Calculator, how do I know when it gives me a complete complex? I can't seem to see when to stop adding factories nor see when my proposed complex is self sufficient. Real noobie question, sorry guys

[Honved]

Ideally, when there are no longer any resources in the red, it's "self sufficient". You can keep adding factories to it, but it's already a "complex" just by the nature of having two linked factories.

Personally, I find "mini-plexes" to be more profitable. Build a food bio source and a food refinery (Argnu and Cahoona, or Sun Flower and Nostrop), and link them. Put a small freighter in charge of supplying it with E-Cells (either CAG if you have the bonus pack, or CLS if not), give it 100K starting funds, and it should start earning money after a while.

Linking all of those factories for a full complex means that you don't benefit on trade deals with the local competition or markets, you only make a profit on the final output. Huge complexes are fine for a guaranteed supply of missiles, or building huge quantities of something that you can't otherwise get enough of, but not at all essential. They also mean that wandering into that sector will cause frame-rate issues and possible game crashes (along with occasional AI ship crashes into your stations, followed by Race Response Fleets attacking your stations). I don't do mega-plexes.

[ancienthighway]

Two stations connected with a CCK is a complete complex. I rarely mess around with connecting mines and never drag a mine into position to connect it to a complex.

I will build a somewhat self contained crystal complex (1 bio L, 1 food L, 1 crystal fab L) and expand it to meet my crystal needs. Once it's large enough I'll add an SPP M to it, but always import the silicon.

I'll then drop SPPs around the map depending on where I build other complexes, ship my crystals to them to make the energy, then ship that energy to the nearby complexes. Maybe even some NPC sales.

With minerals mined separately, and with a fair amount of mobile mining, and the crystal/e-cell production separate, my complexes tend to be very simple: 1 bio L, 1 food L, and 5 tech/weapon/missile/shield stations using that racial food.

[Ronin677]

Got it everything working perfectly now.

thanks people