Cool Installations

[woolfe99]

Coal Mines are pretty inefficient once you can afford to build a Fission plant, so some installations have built-in obsolescence.

 

There is a cost associated with the Industries (converting Raw to Improved Refined Crystals).  If the cost of building Orbital Crystal Refineries is counted, then the cost of the Industries has to be considered as well.  You could have converted those Industrial Complexes into Stripminers, but you didn't.  That represents an opportunity cost even if you just leave everything as it is.  Further, converting to the vastly superior Improved Industrial Complexes has a severe cost.  If you spent 4 turns building nothing but Improved Industrial Complexes to realize their superior efficiency, that's 4 turns of payoff that has to be considered in the industrial production of Improved Refined Crystals (versus Orbital Crystal Refineries) calculation.  The more time you spend gaining that efficiency, the less real production of Improved Refined Crystals (or anything else for that matter) that you're gaining.

 

It's hard to beat mining Crystals right out of the ground.  Orbital Crystal Refineries burn no Power and are more efficient than regular Industrial Complexes, but need to be built from other produced items.  Regular Industrial Complexes are slow but steady.  Improving on the efficiency of those Industrial Complexes takes effort and time, and will eventually surpass the OCR efficiency (but the time needed to build up IIC's has to be considered in that calculation).

 

Of course, while building better industries, or trying to improve your efficiency in Crystal production by rolling down the industrial path....some bad boy with a 20million ton warfleet might show up.  While you were fooling around with industries, he was building warships....  

OK, that's a good point Pete. Some calculations I've run suggest you might get .25 more stripmines for every OCR, meaning the real output is closer to 500 per turn as opposed to 250. Still, I wouldn't build any facility that takes 85 turns to profit.

 

Incidentally, building IIC's to increase capacity so that you can scrap IC's and build SM's a not only a ridiculously slow process that leaves you vulernable to attack, it is also very inefficient and won't pay for itself for many years. There is a much better use for IIC's. 1 IIC = 3 IC's. You make 500 Improved CM's for an IIC and scrap 3 IC's. You get 1500 CM's and 2 freed pop back out of the transaction. Those CM's and pop can be used for colony mines (or other installations). Colony mines then cost 1/3 as much, and pay for themselves in roughly 6-7 turns instead of 20 turns +. The bottom line is any facility that uses regular CM's now costs 1/3 as much. Anyone doing colonization should consider pursuing this technology.

[RTGPete]

There is a much better use for IIC's. 1 IIC = 3 IC's. You make 500 Improved CM's for an IIC and scrap 3 IC's. You get 1500 CM's and 2 freed pop back out of the transaction. Those CM's and pop can be used for colony mines (or other installations). Colony mines then cost 1/3 as much, and pay for themselves in roughly 6-7 turns instead of 20 turns +. The bottom line is any facility that uses regular CM's now costs 1/3 as much. Anyone doing colonization should consider pursuing this technology.

 

I'd agree with this - if you can find a decent Crystal yield and colonize it, building mines there is the way to go. You have to work a little harder to make a colony and carry the Crystals back, but the efficiency is very nice

[MadMartinB]

I'd settle for a 600+ iron world Pete..Instead my high is 656 and it is MEAT.

 

--- Grouse -----

 

[EternusIV]

MMB-

 

You mean you actually FOUND the sacred planet of Moooo?!?!

 

Chupacabra and Atkins dieters alike would be much pleased!

 

I have found a few worlds with Crystal yields over 600 I keep thinking I'll find Superman and his parents hanging out somewhere down there.