Problem Supplying a Complex

[Emerald Unicorn]

I built a complex in an Unknown Sector and it is completely self sustaining and I sell the final products to any traders. I recently decided to build another complex in the same sector that produces everything it needs besides Ore and Silicone Wafers and the demand is high (~160 stations in the second complex) and I set traders to Buy Ware at Best Price and then found out that (obviously) the best price and shortest distance is from my first complex, but they drain it of its stock in those two resources effectively leaving it crippled.

After that I set the supply traders to go to one specific station to buy the resources for the large complex, but the single stations dont restock fast enough and as an example, the trader gets back to my complex with only like 50 Silicone Wafers and I need thousands lol...

Basically... is there some way to set my traders to pick their own station to buy from while having them avoid my first complex? Any workarounds would be appreciated.

Also... since my second complex doesn't sell wares because I want my own stockpile, is there any way to set it so that when the supply traders buy resources it comes from my pocket and not what I set aside in the complex itself?

[Accused Parrot]

Tractor beam a silicon or ore asteriod mine close to your complex and attach it therefore saving you the hassle of having to transport the stock ( you have to have a mine on the asteriod for the tractor beam to lock properly ).

[Emerald Unicorn]

Originally posted by m.colak:

Tractor beam a silicon or ore asteriod mine close to your complex and attach it therefore saving you the hassle of having to transport the stock ( you have to have a mine on the asteriod for the tractor beam to lock properly ).

I have one silicon mine attached to the complex, but its yield is only 7. And Even with a max yield asteroid it only produces 5 wafers every minute and a half. There are a few other silicon asteroids in the sector but only one has a yield of 26 and the other few are less than 13. The other issue I have with that is that from what I have read, and through my own exploration, I have yet to get access to tractor beams because they are Terran products and as a member of the Argon war effort the Terrans are hostile to me.

Although, a few hours after posting this I tried something that appeared to be working for the last hour I played last night. I told my first complex to send out 4 traders all looking for silicon wafers and told my second complex to send out one trader. For some reason (maybe with my pricing on items, though I dont think that would matter) the four ships from the first complex jump OOS to buy the wafers, and the one ship from the second complex docks at the first complex and takes from that stockpile... I was pretty tired when observing this, so I will observe again when I am more alert, but it would appear as though the first complex is getting silicon wafers faster than the second complex is taking them, and it looks as though the second complex is getting the wafers faster than it can use them... so hopefully they will be fine.

[Accused Parrot]

Tractor beams can be bought in third redemption and the factories can be bought from there also.

[Emerald Unicorn]

I went there and I see that I can buy the factory, but none of the places just sell the tractor beam. And the Encyclopedia in the game confirms it. It only lists compatible ships, but no locations to buy it from.

[Emerald Unicorn]

Well I just bought the station and placed it in Third Redemption and have open trading and a trader set to buy each of the wares it needs, but even when I get the tractor beam, and move all of those Silicon mines to the second complex I dont think that will solve my issue of using the resource too fast... I really just want to be able to send traders out without them taking the resources from my other complexes.

[Accused Parrot]

The only way your traders would take from your stations is if they are intermediary products so change the settings on your complex so that intermediary products aren't traded.

[Atomica89 LP]

i have a !MJ complex n "herrons nebel" completly self sstaining. with 5 factorys for 1MJ shield. its the best ive ever done.

[CyberTaipan]

Boarding Pods! Take Over Terran Ships And Then You Would

Originally posted by Risk Galiant:

I went there and I see that I can buy the factory, but none of the places just sell the tractor beam. And the Encyclopedia in the game confirms it. It only lists compatible ships, but no locations to buy it from.

[PMBELL]

Originally posted by Risk Galiant:

is there some way to set my traders to pick their own station to buy from while having them avoid my first complex?

Let's see... if yoy have the Bonus Pack installed, your traders should have Commodity Logistics Software I and II, Navigation Command I, and Trade Command I and II. Homebase them on the corresponding station and order them to trade->'Start Commercial Representation'. Under wares list set it as 'trade list' and add silicon. Under 'Exceptions' set 'only trade with non player stations' to YES. Under 'Trade Duties' set it as Shopper. Under 'Station Settings' set the trade range and then 'Start Commercial Agent'. At apprentice level, they will only be able to buy wares, and only at Trader level they will be able to use the jumpdrive.
OTOH, you could set 'Only trade with non player stations' to false (so that they WILL trade) and select the station you want out and click on advanced->console->(any slot)->Trade Barrier. This will prevent the commercial agents from buying in that station only.
Later you can build a mining station in a system 4 or less jumps away, select it->'Adjust station parameters', set the price of silicon to the minimum, number of jumps to 4 or more, and 'Other races can trade with this station' to false. The commercial agents should prefer buying from that station, as it has the lowest price, but will also find other sources if that is not enough.
If you build a big mining station anywhere in the universe, you should add to it freighters using 'Internal Commodity Logistics'.

Originally posted by Risk Galiant:

since my second complex doesn't sell wares because I want my own stockpile, is there any way to set it so that when the supply traders buy resources it comes from my pocket and not what I set aside in the complex itself?

I haven't found any way of automatically sending money from the main account to the stations'... So the short answer is no.
But you could close the loop by building a mining station in another system, select it->advanced->console->Administration->Station Settings->Money Transfer, set to 'Activated', 'Money Remitee' should be the station that will buy your ores and set 'Money limit' to 200K. This way, the mining station returns the money it takes away from your second complex.
(You can also add a 'Money limit' and set 'Money Remitee' to 'Main Account' to the stations that will be earning money, so that it is automatically added to your account.)
A cheaper alternative to mining complexes, that needs much less ores in the system but is more complex to set up is remote mining operations. The trick is having a fleet doing 'remote mining' or 'collect rocks' and a trader doing 'External Commodity Logistics' taking the ores from each miner and unloading it in a TL or directly in the station.

[YENDOR MOSREH]

get a trading ship and make it home base the complex then tell it to buy the ore at the best price and if you have a few that should solve this problem, but realy if you have every factory in that complex then you will still find it hard to get enuff ore, maby you would be better off to have a few smaller complexes with there own trading ships supplying that big complex