Noob Questions

[tryrar (OP)]

Two things:

First, will my automated ships use lps if that makes sense for them to do so? For example, a system with two components that are pretty far apart, but fortunately have several lps connecting each other.

Second, what benefits do PDC barracks have for ground units?

[icecoldblood]

1. Yes, as of 6.0

2. Keeps them safe from planetary bombardment and allows them to protect the PDC.

[ProfiPRO100]

What is a mass driver for, how to use it, how does it interact with the celestial bodies on which it is located

[Black]

What is a mass driver for, how to use it, how does it interact with the celestial bodies on which it is located

Mass driver transports minerals from one body to another in the same system. You need mass driver in both location. Mass driver can send 5000 tons of minerals per year and it can receive unlimited number of minerals.

To set up mass driver, go to - Economics window and select Mining tab. in lower right part of the screen, there is Mass Driver Destination selection box. Choose destination from the box and the mass driver will automatically launch minerals to destination. Estimated Travel Time will show you how long will the minerals travel to the destination.

[ProfiPRO100]

Mass driver transports minerals from one body to another in the same system. You need mass driver in both location. Mass driver can send 5000 tons of minerals per year and it can receive unlimited number of minerals.

Thanks, but I still don't really understand the logic of his being in the game. After all, for example, it would be logical and more interesting to build a cargo ship to send minerals back and forth.
And how does a mass driver deliver resources? Is he teleporting or something???

[Black]

Mass driver transports minerals from one body to another in the same system. You need mass driver in both location. Mass driver can send 5000 tons of minerals per year and it can receive unlimited number of minerals.

Thanks, but I still don't really understand the logic of his being in the game. After all, for example, it would be logical and more interesting to build a cargo ship to send minerals back and forth.
And how does a mass driver deliver resources? Is he teleporting or something???

You can use cargo ships, but mass driver does not use any fuel to transport the resources. One mass driver launches minerals and another one catches it. Mass driver principle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_driver (You can switch the article for Russian version)

[paolot]

Cargo ships consume fuel and, in my opinion, they need too micromanagement to collect minerals around. In the game, a mass driver doesn't use anything to operate.
Again in my opinion, cargos are better used to move installations (or goods between different systems): e.g., you need cargo(s) to transport a mass driver to the body where you mine minerals (if you cannot build it there).
The game anyway allows you to use cargos as you want.

A mass driver (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_driver) is made of several electromagnets, mounted in a row, that are activated progressively to accelerate a projectile made of iron (or any material able to respond to the magnetic field), to launch it at very high speed. The projectile can be a container filled with everything you want.
A Gauss cannon is the military version of a mass driver.

[NullByDesign]

Mass driver transports minerals from one body to another in the same system.  You need mass driver in both location.  Mass driver can send 5000 tons of minerals per year and it can receive unlimited number of minerals.

Thanks, but I still don't really understand the logic of his being in the game.  After all, for example, it would be logical and more interesting to build a cargo ship to send minerals back and forth. 
And how does a mass driver deliver resources? Is he teleporting or something???

The folks above have already noted why it's generally more optimal to use Mass Drivers for in-system logistics.
The real benefit of cargo ships is to automate orders to move from planets aggregating resources in any particular mining system and shuttling them back to a capital system or other constructing system.   Those same cargo ships will be very useful for starting up the colonization of new systems until you can connect them to the civilian shipping network and remove some of those layers of micro-management in favor of civilian transport flagging.

On the note about how the resources are moved - Planets producing resources that have a mass driver and a target destination set will generate a resource packet at each production tick, that packet physically travels between that source and target destination and the time to travel is shown in that modal.   It's also possible to turn the visibility of those packets in the display menu if you want to see how these transfers are taking place.

[ProfiPRO100]

Everything is exactly somehow strange, for example, if you start playing in the "Conventional Empire" mode, you roughly have nothing to code except laboratories, converted factories and a couple of shipyards. You are studying trans-Newtonian technology and you can immediately build a mass driver. By the way, you haven't even flown anywhere yet, you haven't explored space, you haven't built ships, and even more so you haven't put this mass driver on other planets, but you can already immediately build a mass driver that will work always and everywhere throughout the game, somehow it doesn't make sense, or do I not understand something?

(by the way, can I deliver several masses of drivers to the planet and they will work twice as efficiently?)

[Black]

You can stack several mass drivers. Single mass driver can send 5000 tons of minerals per year. So if you mine more minerals per year than 5000 tons and you want to send it all, you will need more mass drivers. You only need one mass driver to receive the minerals.

Mass driver is not really something that needs trans-newtonian tech to exist. It is something that could be build with our real technologies.

[bankshot]

If you mine more minerals than the mass drivers can fling they are added to the local stockpile, and will be handled later.  This is important for comets and especially asteroids which tend to have a large number of small high quality deposits.  So you mine very quickly at the start and tail off at the end - once mining output is below mass driver capacity it will start working on the stockpiles. 

Conversely if you have more drivers than required they will fling the mineral packets at higher speeds.

Also keep in mind the reserve levels - this is important for populated mining colonies where you want to keep some minerals on hand for production and construction, but send the excess elsewhere.

[Garfunkel]

Conversely if you have more drivers than required they will fling the mineral packets at higher speeds.

What? Are you sure this is the case? I have never noticed it.

[Snoman314]

Conversely if you have more drivers than required they will fling the mineral packets at higher speeds.

What? Are you sure this is the case? I have never noticed it.

Yeah, pretty sure. I think it's something like 1000km/s for a full size packet, 2000km/s for a half packet, and so on. Something like v=1000km/s*(maximum mass/actual mass)