Maintenance Modules

[SteveAlt (OP)]

You can add maintenance modules to ships in v3.2. They cost 200 MC, are size 25 and require 125 crew. They are similar in principle to mining modules or terraforming modules. When a ship or a PDC containing maintenance modules is on, or in orbit of, a population, the maintenance modules are added to the total maintenance facilities of that population for the purposes of maintaining ships in orbit. However, unlike normal maintenance facilities, they cannot build maintenance supplies.

This will allow you to create a fleet base without needing a colonisable planet. You can designate any rocky body as a colony, stick a PDC on it with maintenance facilities and you have a base where ships can be maintained or overhauled (assuming they are small enough for the available facilities). You will need to either ship in some minerals, mine them on site, perhaps with automated mines, or send them in via mass driver from elsewhere in the system. If you want to resupply, you will also need to ship in some maintenance supplies (if you don't have any planetary maintenance facilities to build them).

Steve

[Charlie Beeler]

Are these restricted to PDC's?  Or could you add them to a hull to created a mobile support base?

[SteveAlt (OP)]

Are these restricted to PDC's?  Or could you add them to a hull to created a mobile support base?

You can put them on a ship but the ship needs to be in orbit of a population (even just an asteroid temporarily designated as a colony) for the modules to have an effect. It makes life considerably easier when everything is handled at the colony level. If you have several ships (or PDCs), all their modules are added together and added to the total of any maintenance facilities on the planet. So if you had a fleet of maintenance ships with say 5 modules each, if you assemble ten of them together you can maintain and overhaul 10,000 ton ships. PDCs are probably going to be easier though because you can prefab them fairly quickly and assemble them where you need a base.

The ship-based maintenance modules, along with some support ships to transport minerals, fuel and maintenance supplies, could be used as a temporary forward base for survey ships

Steve

[jfelten]

How do you designate any rocky body as a colony?  Thanks.

[Hawkeye]

How do you designate any rocky body as a colony?  Thanks.

Activate SM Mode ( Ctrl+S )

go to "Systems Info ( F9 )

select the body you want the colony on

click on "add colony"

[jfelten]

Danke.  So no way to do it outside of SM mode I assume.

[Hawkeye]

Hm, if you drop autoated mines on an asteroid/planet, the program will automatically create a colony on that body (not sure if dropping infra on a habitable world will do the same, but I guess so)
Never tried with regular mines, factories or similar stuff, but might work too

Note: simply ordering the drop is sufficient, even if the installations don´t reach the planet/asteroid within the next 5-day-period, the colony will be created.

[jfelten]

Ah, so I could order 1 automated mine to be delivered there, which will trigger the "colony" to be created, then I can just cancel the automated mine delivery.  I'll have to give that a try.  Not that I can't just use SA mode for what I'm doing now, but I was thinking of having a couple friends try a multiplayer game so I'm trying to see if it can be done without everyone having SA mode.

[schroeam]

In the F12 screen (Task Groups) there is a button on the bottom of the screen that says "Add Colony".  It is only available if you select a system body (planet, moon, asteroid, comet) that does not already have a colony (I think I tried it on an existing colony world and got an error message).  Just select the appropriate system body, and click on the "Add Colony" button.  This will create a zero pop colony on that body for the race you are currently working with.  I don't believe SM mode needs to be activated for this.  Oh, BTW, I am working with v3.2, and am not sure if it works this way on previous versions.

Adam.

[Steve Walmsley]

Danke.  So no way to do it outside of SM mode I assume.

The Add Colony button doesn't require SM Mode. Any race can use it.

Steve

[Hawkeye]

Doh!

There you see what you get for asuming things

As I allways play in SM Mode, I just asumed this would be necessary for adding a colony


Sorry for my missleading you