Newbie with questions

[Silfir (OP)]

- I've found out that by far the most promising non-asteroid mining options are at Neptune or even farther away (Eris and Triton, for instance).  My current Freighter design uses up well over 100,000 fuel to deliver just one Automated Mine and go back.  That seems crazy to me somehow.  Am I better off looking for options in some of the next systems, or am I doing something fundamentally wrong? My Freighter runs on one max-size Nuclear Thermal Engine, reaching a top speed of blistering 217 km/s, and has a standard cargo hold (i. e.  big enough for the mine).  Do I need better engines to make it worthwhile, or should I stick to the next systems, or is a million in fuel spent to get four or five automated mines and a mass driver on a planet with sizable deposits a decent enough investment for the future?
- What would be the correct set of orders to make my asteroid miners fully automatic? Colonies at all prospective targets, a small cargo hold?
- Is there a point to colonizing planets without or with crap minerals?

[Nathan_]

Early on your best bet is to focus on near earth resources. check out the comets for example. Likewise any jump points within the asteroid belt mean that other starsystems and planets ARE closer than neptune, but you'll have to see.

As for fuel though, Lower the engine power modifier as low as it will go and you should get some fuel efficient freighters, though as you can see they move slow. better technology engines, and better fuel consumption tech absolutely help however.  That said, the increase in fuel use is working as intended, 100,000 fuel isn't that much.

There is no way to automate asteroid mining currently, but you can reduce fuss by having a freighter travel with the miners with a mass driver in its hold.

If you see no reason to colonize right away then don't(I find that focusing on automines and freighters is best early on), but eventually you'll run into limitations that can only be solved by having other planets.

[Nathan_]

Further clarification on the numbers: each unit of sorium is converted to 2000 litres of fuel by a refinery, so that 100,000 fuel is just 50 sorium. a base mine on a 1.0 deposit will take 5 years to generate that. increases in mining tech, better mining admins, and so on reduce that number.

[Silfir (OP)]

I usually build the biggest possible commercial engine, since that seems to be the way to minimize fuel usage (It's "well over" 100,000, but ~75 Sorium to transport one automated mine doesn't seem too terrible.    Especially since Saturn has like 27 millions of the stuff).     So building better drives seems like the way to go.     I'll get to that right after I'm done with jump ship designs.   

 I need to look back at comets, since those seems to be the only really good mineral sources in the solar system right now; I always have this fear of my asteroid miners getting stuck in the middle of nowhere for a hundred years, without me getting my minerals.     How long can comets be out of reach, and how do I tell? If I watch out for slow-moving ones that are flying towards the sun (those seem like the best bet), how much time do I get?

If I put automated mines and a mass driver on a comet, will the mass driver get me my stuff? The comet will be far away but not technically leave the system, right?

- I'm getting kind of paranoid about this because I've never designed any kind of military ship - when do I need to start preparing for combat? I have a 4000 ton naval shipyard with two slipways, high density duranium armor and I've developed enough railgun tech to, well, mount railguns.  Though I suspect I need to research some Fire Control to aim them.  I can only find teach referring to "beam fire control" though; are those used for railguns or gauss, too?

[Nathan_]

Look at the orbits on the F9 page, generally if its near the sun when you start it isn't going far out of the system, and comets don't move particularly fast in any event. The mass driver will indeed shoot minerals anywhere, though for the furthest out ones it is better to freighter the minerals, and lastly comets do not leave the system that they are in.

[Silfir (OP)]

F9 only returns an error currently (something about a missing DLL, and it seems to be a known bug; I'll try and find the DLL online at some point), but I found the "Comet Path" checkbox and I feel very stupid now.   Most of them don't even go past Saturn orbit. 

brb strip-mining comets

(I was editing in a question when you replied, by the way - some pointers would be much appreciated!)

[Nathan_]

I usually build the biggest possible commercial engine, since that seems to be the way to minimize fuel usage (It's "well over" 100,000, but ~75 Sorium to transport one automated mine doesn't seem too terrible.    Especially since Saturn has like 27 millions of the stuff).     So building better drives seems like the way to go.     I'll get to that right after I'm done with jump ship designs.    

 I need to look back at comets, since those seems to be the only really good mineral sources in the solar system right now; I always have this fear of my asteroid miners getting stuck in the middle of nowhere for a hundred years, without me getting my minerals.     How long can comets be out of reach, and how do I tell? If I watch out for slow-moving ones that are flying towards the sun (those seem like the best bet), how much time do I get?

If I put automated mines and a mass driver on a comet, will the mass driver get me my stuff? The comet will be far away but not technically leave the system, right?

- I'm getting kind of paranoid about this because I've never designed any kind of military ship - when do I need to start preparing for combat? I have a 4000 ton naval shipyard with two slipways, high density duranium armor and I've developed enough railgun tech to, well, mount railguns.  Though I suspect I need to research some Fire Control to aim them.  I can only find teach referring to "beam fire control" though; are those used for railguns or gauss, too?

Re Gas Giant Sorium: This is different from stuff on asteroids or terrestrial planets, you need sorium harvest modules to get the stuff. also theres lots of it everywhere, so don't worry about that.

As far as military, that depends on how many spoilers and NPRs are active. if nothing is active, don't worry, you're largely alone. otherwise worry. Beam FCs work on everything that isn't a missile or missile launcher.  You will also need an active grav sensor to paint a target for the FC to shoot at. The ship design and advanced tactics forums have plenty of help on how to build a ship as well.

[Victuz]

If the DLL problem you're having is related to MSSTDFMT.DLL than install this http://www.pcwintech.com/simple-shutdown-timer and than simply remove it after you're done. It contains the DLL.

That's the one I know affects F9 screen so I think it should help.

[Silfir (OP)]

I was just about to ask, since downloading just the file didn't seem to work - I was trying to colonize a moon without mineral deposits because it had alien ruins, and I was at a loss as to how, since without mineral deposits it won't show up in the geological survey screen and I can't find a button to found a Colony anywhere, and I suspect it must be in the F9 window, which I have never seen.  That would be the first step into delving into secrets man was not meant to know.  (I do need a colony for my xenoarchaelogy team to work from, right?)

[clement]

Another way to create a colony is on the System Map (F3). Right click on the body you want to create a colony on and the I believe it is the 4th option in the context menu that will let you create a colony.

[andrea69]

Or just send your team there. The colony will be automatically created.

[Garfunkel]

Early game missiles are a better bet (punch-for-buck) than beams but it is entirely possible to utilize railgun-armed ships, especially for JP defence. Not too useful for attacking since your ships will probably be very slow.

You need the following:

• Active Sensor to find targets
• Beam Fire Control to "paint" the targets - don't waste HS by having more range than your AS
• Railguns
• Powerplants to feed them enough juice - and probably one or two extra, so little battle damage doesn't knock weapons out

As Nathan_ said, the Bureau and Academy have plenty of discussions and designs, including conventional start/early game tech levels.

[Silfir (OP)]

Got my xenologist team planted on the surface.  It's now marked as an Archaelogical Dig in the Populations and Production window on the left, so I'm assuming it's working fine and they're just doing their job properly by toothbrushing every bit.  Though the Summary still states "Abandoned Installations - " - "Unknown Race - Xenologist required" - I assume that's the norm until they're finished doing what they do.  Even in an age of interstellar space travel I'm guessing it involves lots of toothbrushes.

I've read something about an 150 skill limit with regards to teams.  Are any further skill points superfluous since they don't lead to better results, and consequently you want teams as close to it as possible? I can form Geology teams of that skill level, but my noob xenologists only add up to 105% at the moment; is that bad?

I'm going to need an engineer brigade to reap the rewards of my meddling with priceless artifacts.  I'm guessing I have to research that and train some; what's the tech path? Do I start with Construction Brigade and then get Engineering? Also, I "converted" all my low tech infantry and armor, and attack and defense for the new cadres is listed as 0. 10 (modified by combat bonus to 0. 11-0. 13).  That doesn't seem reassuring, but I have no scale to compare them on.  Am I fine sending those guys along with an engineer brigade to prepare for. . .  eventualities?

[tryrar]

Since 6.0, the original engineer brigades are no more, and have morphed into construction brigades, so you only need those(combat engineers are good fighting battalions that get bonuses fighting from or against pdcs, IIRC). However, low tech ground units tend to not be very good(only having combat bonuses that never exceed 4 without a VERY good commander). For comparison, a basic mobile infantry, the standard ground unit of a TN start, has an attack bonus of around 5, but they have a defense bonus of 10. They make very good defensive units for your construction brigade. That said, cadres aren't even fighting units anymore, they're now training units for your TN military, and as such, should NEVER(unless things go completely FUBAR) be used in combat

[Silfir (OP)]

Good to know that I haven't actually had a ground military ever since I reached Trans-Newtonian Tech.  I'm assuming a Construction Brigade can fight on its own okay, but is it wise to send them alone into those alien ruins? They might encounter . . .  unforseen circumstances.  Should I send several, or train dedicated ground combat units to send along?