First station tips

[Max Horo]

I'm helping ZYA to survive and found out that Scanning arrays are the bottleneck of their production. Just bought the station blueprint. Do I need other blueprints like storage, docking module etc.?
How many ships I need to serve the station?
Would appreciate any general advice on building.
Thanks!

[aY227]

http://www.x4-game.com/#/station-calculator - choose scanning array and click autofill

You should have basic dock already, but yes - you will need better storage. Also you need solid storage for ore/silicon. Also add pier for L ships.

For that one you can go for 3 Scanning array prod modules - that will leave a lot of unused Wafers, so Microchips are a good idea.

Later you an add graphene and hull parts + liquid storage and gas miner

Hard to say about ships, really depends - that's like 10k/h so 1 L will be ok

[MiB]

IF you just trying to help ZYA to survive - build a couple of defense platforms for yourself in front of gates from Xenon sectors and that is it.
For me it took only 2 platforms: 1 in Family Zhin defending entrance from Tharka's Cascade XV and 2nd in Zyarth's Dominion I defending entrance from Matrix #598 (also looking to build another 1 in Family Kritt). But that's really depend's on your situation - where Xenons are pushing

Platforms have cross-like design (took if from Francis John guide on YT).
With those in place no ship larger than PE can pass and occasionally SE can sneak just because they're entering sector with travel mode enabled.

EDIT: typos

[Doom]

Originally posted by Max Horo:

I'm helping ZYA to survive and found out that Scanning arrays are the bottleneck of their production. Just bought the station blueprint. Do I need other blueprints like storage, docking module etc.?
How many ships I need to serve the station?
Would appreciate any general advice on building.
Thanks!

There is no "station" blueprint, but "station module" blueprint. Scanning arrays require other goods to make them.

At a minimum you'd want a docking module (M + S ships), a pier (L ships) and some storage. Station can work without any ships if you set prices right.

[Leto]

there is little to no energy cell production among the borons, so a solar power plant works extremely well there

[trooperrob]

My advice.
1 build small dock leaving room for a pier. I use 3m6.
2. storage. (med / S)
3. the module you want.
4. solar - can put this at 3 if first station or no energy in area.

I do this to minimise cost of stations early and get them operating quick.
You don't need the pier initially, but can service with s/med ships till the pier built.

Tip - plan the build, then look at the (overview?) - it will show if you are missing storage type or whatever.

If you need to, you can use large ships to put stuff in the build storage, then s/m ships to move to the station until the pier is ready.

Be aware that when you research weapons / shields you should check that it isn't building every module with the max defence unless you need it (cost).

The more storage, the more money needed to stock the station.

I advise revisiting ships on a station regularly, - you may need more to initially stock the station, and less once up and running.

Once you have your desired start (or a good factory) then save the blueprints.
Using your own ships may raise rep faster and may make more money.

Ideally only buy cheap blueprints,
Get the HQ, research steal bp, and use emp bombs for anything >500K or 1 mill.

[Max Horo]

Originally posted by trooperrob:

I do this to minimise cost of stations early and get them operating quick.
You don't need the pier initially, but can service with s/med ships till the pier built.

Thanks! Money is crucial for me now since ZYA economy is so slow. Most of my traders have to jump through 2-3 sectors for the good deals.

[trooperrob]

What is probably worth doing at some point is:
make a hull parts and claytronics factory.


Now it seems that Claytronics requires lots of 2 other mats to build so you may need to build those. - about 9Mill build cost for Claytronics alone.

If you build up your economy elsewhere, then have a good surplus before you get to ZYA it would help.

What you can also do, is build a few very small factories with min storage, and something in demand, then it constantly makes money, when you are short, you can raid its budget.

If you can cap ships to sell or use as traders you will save money (or make money).

[Bobucles]

There are several general ways to improve a faction's economy:
- Build more mining vessels. The extra resources will boost low tier production.
- Build more factories. Find an empty hole in production and fill it. Factions do have deliberate strong and weak points in their economy, so they benefit greatly from fixing their weak points.
- Build your own trading vessels. Your guys have access to more trade offers than faction ships, so they can provide resources the faction may not have access to.
- Build more defenses. If the faction isn't getting raided and losing stuff all the time, they'll need less production to survive.