How to find a builder?

[Raen]

A mission asks of me to build a dock onto my station. However, I need a builder to actually do that. I've been flying around for 6 hours so far and can't find one. Is there a trick to it? I was told to look near gates as allegedly they like to hang out there. No luck so far. Did they change something or am I missing something? I can't imagine it's that hard to actually build something onto your station.

[Andros]

Go into the build menu for the station and click “hire builder” at the very bottom then it brings you to the map scroll all the way out and it should have a list of them on the left side IF you have satalites up around docks

[Raen]

Originally posted by Andros:

Go into the build menu for the station and click “hire builder” at the very bottom then it brings you to the map scroll all the way out and it should have a list of them on the left side IF you have satalites up around docks

List is empty. Has been for 6 hours. So you're saying I need to deploy satellites around stations to find builders? Ok, I'll try that. Tutorial did not tell me that.

[Chris]

Originally posted by Raen:

Originally posted by Andros:

Go into the build menu for the station and click “hire builder” at the very bottom then it brings you to the map scroll all the way out and it should have a list of them on the left side IF you have satalites up around docks

List is empty. Has been for 6 hours. So you're saying I need to deploy satellites around stations to find builders? Ok, I'll try that. Tutorial did not tell me that.

Yes, you'll need vision on the map (either from satellites or other ships you control) & then you can scroll around the map to find a builder that is "looking for tasks". When you've pressed the "Hire a Builder" button, the map conveniently hides all ships/stations except for unoccupied builders.

[MykeEll]

You can also not assign a builder on the build screen, and if you find one while flying around you should be able to right click on it then assign it to an open build job you have waiting.

You dont need to hire the builder right away from the planning screen is what I'm getting at.

[Duke Flapjack]

In my games they tend to hover around shipyards, wharfs, and trade stations. Check them. Any builder can build anything BUT...

...MAKE SURE THE BUILDER'S OWNER IS NOT AT WAR WITH THE LOCALS.

I've made that mistake.

[McKillerroy]

In your maps object filter list on the upper left corner, go to (all?)objects>ships and then it will display all ships that are visible on your current map view/screen that are detected from satelites or ships of yours.

Scroll in close so you have only one sector on screen, go from sector to sector (on your map) and search the ships list for "construktionship".

You don't have to move yourself at all.

If you found one, right klick it on the list (or map) and assign him to what ever you want him to do.

Some of them are busy already, but I think it will tell you then.

[Knightingale]

Originally posted by Raen:

Originally posted by Andros:

Go into the build menu for the station and click “hire builder” at the very bottom then it brings you to the map scroll all the way out and it should have a list of them on the left side IF you have satalites up around docks

List is empty. Has been for 6 hours. So you're saying I need to deploy satellites around stations to find builders? Ok, I'll try that. Tutorial did not tell me that.

Yeah the Tutorial doesn't tell you a lot of things. Because there are many ways to do the same thing. You can also build a builder. Not cheap, but you can do it.
Or just fly around till you see one, then select it.
Most of us just learned to place satellites near stations we will trade at later. So we get updated price data. Especially at Warfs and Shipyards as others said because they always need supplies to make more ships for their little wars.
Unless you destroy their enemies. Then you destroyed your supply chain. It doesn't tell you that either.

The tutorials also don't tell you there may not be supplies to even build your station. If factions lost their production of certain goods, it could be much longer than 6 hours to see it start. So you may have to create your own production line from the bottom up.
And of course later you will find that is the only way to remain stable. It doesn't tell you that either.

[Andros]

I struggled with this a few times, what Usually about 20 or so satalites around warp gates and clusters of space stations I’ve always gaurenteed to have one on the list

[martingolding96]

I usually have satellites near gates and then set an alert for build ships

[Raen]

Okay, after placing the satellites, I eventually found a builder. It's funny, it's almost like the satellites slowly attracted them. First there was one, already busy, then another. I could watch them slowly popping up one by one.
Thanks everyone.

Maybe now someone could explain to me how to get the building materials onto the station? This is an interesting Catch22 situation. I need to put the materials into build storage so the builder can start building a dock. But I need a dock to load the materials into storage.

[EddieB]

Originally posted by Raen:

Okay, after placing the satellites, I eventually found a builder. It's funny, it's almost like the satellites slowly attracted them. First there was one, already busy, then another. I could watch them slowly popping up one by one.
Thanks everyone.

Maybe now someone could explain to me how to get the building materials onto the station? This is an interesting Catch22 situation. I need to put the materials into build storage so the builder can start building a dock. But I need a dock to load the materials into storage.

The Build Storage is separate from the Station Storage, it is a little structure just outside of the Station Plot's perimeter and it has built-in docking bays for depositing materials onto it in a stockpile, and this is created right after creating the station plot, so you have it by default. In order to get materials you either get them manually with your own freighters, or the more convenient way is to setup a construction budget and supply the station with money to automatically generate trade offers, NPC merchants will start fulfilling those assuming the economy is good enough in your universe. Construction budget is setup in the same Build interface at the bottom right, you have to click the little + boxes to show the buy offers and amounts.

[Raen]

Originally posted by EddieB:

Originally posted by Raen:

Okay, after placing the satellites, I eventually found a builder. It's funny, it's almost like the satellites slowly attracted them. First there was one, already busy, then another. I could watch them slowly popping up one by one.
Thanks everyone.

Maybe now someone could explain to me how to get the building materials onto the station? This is an interesting Catch22 situation. I need to put the materials into build storage so the builder can start building a dock. But I need a dock to load the materials into storage.

The Build Storage is separate from the Station Storage, it is a little structure just outside of the Station Plot's perimeter and it has built-in docking bays for depositing materials onto it in a stockpile, and this is created right after creating the station plot, so you have it by default. In order to get materials you either get them manually with your own freighters, or the more convenient way is to setup a construction budget and supply the station with money to automatically generate trade offers, NPC merchants will start fulfilling those assuming the economy is good enough in your universe. Construction budget is setup in the same Build interface at the bottom right, you have to click the little + boxes to show the buy offers and amounts.

I can't find the build storage on the map. When I click the station, I get the option to transfer wares with the build storage, but I need to dock with it. It really feels the game does everything to complicate things.
So far no materials were delivered, even though I provided a generous budget. Does it really take that long? I guess X4 can be quite slow then. Last X game I played was X2, I don't remember it being that slow, so I didn't expect that.

[EddieB]

Well, in X2 you just had to go to a shipyard and buy the whole station as a pre-built (which I believe were infinite supply), load it onto a builder then travel to the location and plop it down, instantly built. But that's because the universe, while being dynamic, was exceedingly stable, no real large scale wars and rarely any significant resource shortage, and I don't think there was any way for it to grind to a halt. Since then a lot of things have changed, both in terms of stations being modularly built and how dynamic the economy is, so now to build things it all depends on the economy state:

After setting a budget, all traders in the universe are going to include your station when they consider what trades will be more profitable based on parameters like distance (measured in gate jumps), profit per item, relationship with target customer etc. These are independent traders that belong to a faction just flying around doing their own thing, so they won't drop their current destination right when you publish a buy order because they most likely already have cargo in their bays and a ware reservation at the target station to sell said cargo. It won't be until they fulfill their current objective that they decide to perform a new trade, and it's until then that they might consider your offer if it's good enough.

In other words, yeah, it does take a while unless the economy is already booming and there's a bunch of unoccupied traders that already bought wares for cheap and are now looking to sell the stuff to whoever shows up. That said, the construction budget usually sets prices at a fair and enticing offer so it should be fulfilled eventually. Now, if the economy has a shortage somewhere, you could even experience a complete drought of the materials needed by factions to build the trading NPCs in the first place, meanwhile traders are getting destroyed by Pirates little by little harming the economy even further, and if so you could be waiting for a long time unless you do something about it. Which is why the option of delivering the goods with your own freighters is also there, or you can even try to figure out what is causing the shortage and attempt to plug the hole but then that opens up a whole new can of worms. X4 is far more complex than any of the previous games.

As for docking with the Build Storage, you can dock with it in your own ship while piloting but getting the docking permission to come up can be finicky, it's best to get up and let the relief captain do the trade for you or order one of your own remote freighter ships to take care of it.

[Pandorian]

Originally posted by Raen:

I can't find the build storage on the map. When I click the station, I get the option to transfer wares with the build storage, but I need to dock with it. It really feels the game does everything to complicate things.
So far no materials were delivered, even though I provided a generous budget. Does it really take that long? I guess X4 can be quite slow then. Last X game I played was X2, I don't remember it being that slow, so I didn't expect that.

Also keep in mind that you're probably doing the first quest and that station is located in an inconvenient spot if your starting faction is Terran and you're trying to build Terran modules.

If you really can't find the build storage try letting the NPC pilot fly with the order to transfer your wares to the build storage. Then just sit back as they taxi you also. This will allow you to watch where they take it so you know what to look for in the future.

[Raen]

Okay, after letting the game run for a while, the ressources actually got delivered. They apparently delivered it directly to the builder as I could see the trader ships approach the builder ship. For the future I know to just be patient.
Thanks everyone.