Q. What do the numbers in the resource usage mean?
A. They represent the number of "normalised factory units" of this product that are produced. A negative number means that there is a shortfall (demand) for the product; a positive number means that there is a surplus.
Q. What’s a normalised factory unit?
A. The game is set up so that one factory produces enough products to supply one other factory. So its output would be considered a single factory unit no matter how much individual product is produced. (There are exceptions to this one to one output ratio examples are explained below – the major one being solar power plants).
Q. Some of the numbers aren’t whole numbers?
A. There are a number of reasons for this. Secondary resources are consumed at a fraction of the rate as primary resources so they will create a demand of less than 1.
Also mine yield that is not a multiple of 25 will create various output rates and NPC solar power plants create 4.4 unit of energy.
Q) Why are some rows coloured in the resource usage / greatest need grid?
A) The highlighted resources are thoses that aren't produced "locally". By local I mean within the number of jumps specified. I.e. if you select Queen's Space, you will see that Teladianium is highlighted with jumps = 1, as it is not produced in Rolk's Drift, Queen's Space or Melenlau's Frontier. However if you up jumps to 2 it will no longer be highlighted as Ceo's Buckzoid produces it.
Q. Do loops create false results?
A. Not if you add the stations correctly. Your feeder factory will be cancelled out by your output factory. Mines and Solar Power Plants are trickier; Sector Planner currently does not account for closed loops that produce an unintended surplus.
Q. How do I represent factory complexes?
A. For player complexes just represent them as the individual factories that make up the complex. You can use the 0Cr checkbox on the price setting dialgue to simulate
the free transfer of resources.
Q. Can I add a pirate base?
A. Yes, however as pirate bases spawn with random resources you will have to modify the resources it buys / sells.
Q. Can your planner read from save games and automatically add my factories?
A. Sort of! If you use Logaan’s company value script you can import the output log file directly into sector planner. However due to limitations of the scripting engine the yield of mines cannot be calculated.
Q. Can I make a profit even if there is a surplus in the sector?
A. Probably. Your sell ships are more efficient then the AI ships. The planner just helps you spot glaring needs. Always look in the sectors surrounding your suggested location to make sure there isn’t an abundant supply in the next sector.
Q. How can I tell the Push/Pull effect? (i.e. if there are not enough feeder factories to fuel stations it’s unlikely the higher up stations will produce and effect supply)
A. The sector planner isn’t set up to handle this it would add more calculations onto the program that would just slow it down for little gain. See this example
Soja Husk production is low-> (leads to)
Crystal fab production is low->
Energy cell production is low->
Silicon mine production is low->
Crystal fab products is *LOWER*-> Etc.
Instead just use logic and notice if the Soja Husk is in the negatives it will likely affect the entire sector.
Q. How do you set Yields on mines?
A. Add the mine (it defaults to 25 yield) then in the station list scroll down to your mine and edit the number.
Q. How do I delete a factory?
A. Open the add station dialog by double clicking on the relevant sector and then right click on the factory you want to delete, and then select delete.
Q. I think I've found a bug - or I have a really great idea for the next version
A. If you've found a bug, please check that it isn't already listed on the known issues page, otherwise OR for feature suggestions,
please submit a report using the feature request page.
Q. Why does the greatest need take so long when I set jumps to 5?
A. Sector Planner has to examine every single station in every sector and work out all the valid routes within 5 jumps and then analyse the demands. I have optimised this routine and will not get any faster in future releases.
Q. How do I calculate the yield for a mine I have already placed?
A. Work out the time it takes your mine to produce one product in seconds and multiply this by 2 for "M" or 5 for "L" mines.
I.e. if a "M" mine produces 4 products in 3 minutes, each product takes 45 seconds multiplied by two equals 90 seconds. Lets call this "prod_time".
-
If the mine is a silicon mine:
yield = ((25*96) / (prod_time-1)) - 1 -
If the mine is an ore mine:
yield = ((25*24) / (prod_time-1)) - 1
A) To keep things simple the station calculator makes some assumptions, firstly mines are all 25 yield and secondly that a SPP has a 2 minute cycle time. However the station roster DOES calculate the profit correctly.
Q) How do I use the plugins?
A) There are two types of plugins, (i) sector based and (ii) global. To use sector based plugins, right click on a sector to see the plugin options available. Global
plugins provide options on the Plugins menu option.