The difference is the limitation in shipping.
Well, the difference is the limitation on shipping from Earth to Thebes. There is lots of capacity for shipping from Thebes to Earth.
You are right in that there is a large limitation on shipping from Earth to Thebes - but the limitation is in the
number of colonists - not in the amount of
items (i.e. mines/factories).
For example, the Commonewealth has only 5 colony ships - but it has 12 freighters. And so the Commonwealth is in the situation where it can transport more
items than the population needed to man the items....
What is limited is Theban manpower. So use Earth manpower in factories to free up Theban manpower for either mines or construction.
Agreed - which is why the Commonwealth is starting to automate the mines already
on Thebes, as well as the mines being transported
to Thebes.
Look at it this way - for every manned mine already on Thebes that is automated, frees up 50K colonists - exactly the same as if 50K colonists were sent to Thebes. (In fact, it frees up
more population on Thebes, as when the population on Thebes increases, the percentage of population on Thebes devoted to service tasks
also increases.....)
For example, using the approx 40 factories on Thebes to build infrastructure (using 320 BP for a population increase of 1.6M colonists - or approx 22 factories) leaves 18 factories free for automation/new construction. Using the 18 factories allows approximately 1.6 manned mines to be automated, freeing up an extra 80K colonists - or a
effective increase of 5% on the number of free population (ignoring the increase in service population due to the extra 1.6M colonists. If this is taken into consideration, then the figure of 5% is actually on the low side....)
In order to alleviate the shipping bottleneck, the Commonwealth needs more (or faster) shipyards. Good timing on that tech advance, by the way. Rather than build a shipyard where it will be destroyed, the next shipyard pretty much has to be in Thebes.
Agreed - but for different reasons.
The next shipyards constructed
has to be on Thebes, simply from the reason that any shipyard constructed on Earth will be destroyed when Nemesis arrives - not because Thebes is a better location. After all, from Thebes to Earth is only a 1 month trip!
So using Theban production to convert manned mines to automated is Theban production that could have gone to making a shipyard. On the other hand, by shipping automated mines and colonists, they boost the manpower available for Construction Factories, and therefore, faster shipyard building.
Building a shipyard on Thebes
now, is not necessarily a good thing. Using the construction factories on Thebes to automate the manned mines is a way to increase the amount of infrastructure on Thebes while getting around the colonist shipping bottleneck.
At this point in time, the Commonwealth needs to get the most amount of infrastructure on Thebes as possible, while at the same time leaving enough free population to support the new items, AND leave enough free population to support
other future items - such as shipyards....