What's so bad about Grand Exchange? (PHQ Questions)

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NewtSoup
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What's so bad about Grand Exchange? (PHQ Questions)

Post by NewtSoup » Thu, 11. Aug 22, 12:30

I have got around to doing some research. All the basics were absolutely fine but now I want to start on intermediate mods. I have figured out that I need to transfer resources to the station. I have also figured out that the station has no storage and so I need to build some. All good so far.

What I have seen though is people on the forums talking about how they prioritise moving the station to a better sector. So what is so bad about Grand Exchange? It's fairly central to just about everywhere. It seems to have ample mineable resources. It's well connected. Am I going to go wrong sticking with Grand Exchange I?

I have spotted one ship from one faction designated "Tug" so I am guessing that's the ship to use should I want to move the station. Thing is though it has an asteroid in the middle. Is it even movable to another sector?

Bearing in mind I just have the base game at the moment ( I will get the DLC's soon but for the time being I shall stick with learning the new game ).

In terms of station building is it worth buying my own Builder? I hired one to put the dock on the PHQ but I have no idea how much the hire cost. If so, which builder is recommended?
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NewtSoup
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Re: What's so bad about Grand Exchange? (PHQ Questions)

Post by NewtSoup » Thu, 11. Aug 22, 13:17

Yeah I am definitely not understanding something.

The Station says it has 4000 cubic meters of container storage **Edit - My bad it's the docked ship that has 4000

The mission states:

Not enough storage
Station Container Storage: 9260

Is the mission telling me what I need or what I have?

Either way when I try to transfer wares from a ship with 50 advanced electronics
Click on cargo vessel - right click on station, select transfer wares to.
The option is greyed out saying that the station has no pilot aboard
But you can't assign a pilot to the station.

It's really quite confusing.


In the interim I have bought an Argon Mammoth Vanguard - all builders seemed the same but the AMV had the highest speeds.

I will set it to building 2 small storage modules on either side of the PHQ dock.

Also what does "Station has no pier" mean?
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Gamer Girl since 1981 Mistress of Heavy Landings since 1984 (BBC-B Elite)

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GCU Grey Area
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Re: What's so bad about Grand Exchange? (PHQ Questions)

Post by GCU Grey Area » Thu, 11. Aug 22, 13:44

Main reason I prioritise moving my HQ is so I can get an early start on a couple of the terraforming options. Don't really care about making the planet habitable at that point, however the pilot & marine training offered by the Aerial Maze & Martial Arts School (respectively) are fantastically useful for obtaining well trained (4*) employees in batches of 100. As long as you don't pick one of the harder planets to terraform the only prerequisite for these training facilities is a bubble city (since this form of habitation does not require that the planet as a whole is habitable). I often pick Black Hole Sun, largely for it's central location & proximity to the main ring highway.

Manticore Tug is for moving derelict ships to recycling facilities at a station.

Suspect the mission is telling you how much storage is required.

Station may need a manger.

Mammoth Vanguard is a good choice. In practice there's little difference between them, however a bit of extra speed is handy if you want to use it to complete build missions for NPC factions & I always prefer a Vanguard builder simply because they can carry more crew than a Sentinel (so more can be trained simultaneously & reassigned to either pilot or marine training at HQ when their morale is high enough). One of the fringe benefits of owning your own builder is crew aboard them improve their skills faster than aboard any other ship type, as long as you keep the ship busy. I'll often use mine to complete build missions for NPC factions if I don't have an immediate need to build or expand one of my own stations.

'Station has no pier' means it has no docking facilities for L or XL ships.

Mevelios
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Re: What's so bad about Grand Exchange? (PHQ Questions)

Post by Mevelios » Thu, 11. Aug 22, 15:01

NewtSoup wrote:
Thu, 11. Aug 22, 12:30
What I have seen though is people on the forums talking about how they prioritise moving the station to a better sector. So what is so bad about Grand Exchange? It's fairly central to just about everywhere. It seems to have ample mineable resources. It's well connected. Am I going to go wrong sticking with Grand Exchange I?
Nothing wrong with it, I read similar comments but the one issue I agree on is primarily related to your machine's performances. It's a sector with a lot of activity and many asteroids, and you may run into screen stuttering the more the sector gets cluttered. For everything else though, it's a great starting sector IMO - lots of activity & ressources indeed, easy access to highway ring sectors, the only risk other than machine performance you may be taking is dependant on your faction relations - if you turn hostile to some of them you'll lose part of the advantage of standing in the center, denying yourself the use of one of the main axes.

When it comes to relocating though, if I'm denying on purpose terraforming objectives, I often relocate to Silent Witness XI as long as I remain on friendly terms with ARG (providing ample construction wares to develop Silent Witness I into some sort of new Grand Exchange, the ARG within still develop & it easily attracts the TEL). Otherwise I liked the idea of settling in Nopileos' Fortune IV (which is barely one jump gate away) creating opportunities after going down the BUC plot, avoiding NF II though as its many asteroids cause too much issues with my own machine at some point! In both cases, the objective is to have a quick access to the highway ring, and to paint the sector into my color so I can set my own policing, in order to mess every once in a while with the traffic visiting the area. That's for core sectors though - otherwise with the DLCs on, I just head straight for Avarice and its impressive wealth of resources.

NewtSoup wrote:
Thu, 11. Aug 22, 12:30
In terms of station building is it worth buying my own Builder? I hired one to put the dock on the PHQ but I have no idea how much the hire cost. If so, which builder is recommended?
In terms of monetary worth, I don't tend to find it profitable - the builder costs several millions whereas asking for a building service barely costs 50 000 credits, and you can keep the builder tied to your station if you start a construction you'll never provide materials for. I guess it can also attract undue attention from hostile factions if you recruit it far away (such as a HOP builder going to Hewa's Twin sectors, it has to cross PAR space - can't confirm it though, don't remember noticing a recruited builder being destroyed on its way). However, owning one is handy - you don't have to look for one anymore, and I tend to particularily find it helpful when going off to contested sectors for fleet management. As for the models, just like GCU replied above, I also choose them with crew capacity as the priority, given everything else is similar.

NewtSoup wrote:
Thu, 11. Aug 22, 13:17
The mission states:

Not enough storage
Station Container Storage: 9260

Is the mission telling me what I need or what I have?
IIRC it's telling you what it needs.

NewtSoup wrote:
Thu, 11. Aug 22, 13:17
Either way when I try to transfer wares from a ship with 50 advanced electronics
Click on cargo vessel - right click on station, select transfer wares to.
The option is greyed out saying that the station has no pilot aboard
But you can't assign a pilot to the station.
Probably related to a missing manager, or maybe you're using a L model to deliver while missing the pier/cargo drones on both the ship and the station?
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. -Seneca the Younger

NewtSoup
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Re: What's so bad about Grand Exchange? (PHQ Questions)

Post by NewtSoup » Thu, 11. Aug 22, 18:15

I am trying to transfer from a docked M class ship.

But I think it's because the station has no storage so I have bought a mammoth and set it to build 2 storage.

Then I will find out.

There is a manager on the station
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jlehtone
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Re: What's so bad about Grand Exchange? (PHQ Questions)

Post by jlehtone » Fri, 12. Aug 22, 18:14

NewtSoup wrote:
Thu, 11. Aug 22, 13:17
The mission states:

Not enough storage
Station Container Storage: 9260

Is the mission telling me what I need or what I have?
Yes. You have to build storage module(s) so that the container capacity exceeds 9260 units (m^3 ?).
Even the smallest (S) container storage modules can hold 25000 units, so the mission's task is quite simple.

However, there are likely to be more demanding later research projects, where 25k is not enough.
Then you will get "build storage" mission again. (Did happen to me and I did not realize it at once.)

NewtSoup wrote:
Thu, 11. Aug 22, 12:30
I have spotted one ship from one faction designated "Tug" so I am guessing that's the ship to use should I want to move the station. Thing is though it has an asteroid in the middle. Is it even movable to another sector?
There will be advanced research that makes it possible to move the PHQ. Those research missions will be revealed when you have completed certain basic research missions. PHQ is the only station that can be moved and it won't be by tow.

All other stations have to be dismantled back to materials, materials hauled to different plot, and the new station built. One could as well keep the old station and build a new.

NewtSoup wrote:
Thu, 11. Aug 22, 12:30
In terms of station building is it worth buying my own Builder?
Build speed of a Builder depends on the number of Build Drones. More is faster, up to 30 drones, IIRC. You can have more onboard, in case some are destroyed. The benefit of own Builder is that you can ensure it to have 30, while the hired Builders (even though "cheap") can be really low and hence very slow.

The second benefit is that the service crew on your Builder does gain both Engineering and Morale quite efficiently and to 5 stars. They can be reassigned to other ships and duties, where skill and/or morale does help.
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