HOWTO: Stations and a simple factory supply chain (as of Feb 2018)

[Hades]

Hi all,

I wrote this HOWTO while I was researching dozens of posts across Steam, Reddit, Avorion and the official wiki... and noticed that a lot of info was out-of-date or incorrect.

So thought I'd share my ifo with others.

It's possible there are errors below... if so please let me know and I'll update it.

STATIONS

• All station types can be made, from factories right through to shipyards, trading posts and outposts etc.. They cost a LOT (10 mill to 50 mill) - so probably a mid game or early alliance game effort.
  
• Stations can be built in any sector and will be visted by NPC cargo ships regardless of whether there is a warp gate.
  
• You can configure factories to buy or sell goods from NPC ships (or not at all), and while you can't control the price, you can control the margin against the galactic average (e.g. -15%, +10% etc.) which will influence how much NPC ships buy or sell.
  
• Stations do not require players to be present since the "out of sector" patch.
  
• You create a "station" ship in a NPC shipyard by selecting the "Station Founder" button... at which point you can fly the ship to whereever you want and then choose "Build Station" (your ship will convert into the station)
  
• The scaling and volume the station ship you build determines the size obviously... later when you build the station itself the type will extend from your initial ship. e.g. if you build a repair station, the repair structure will suddenly grow out from the side of your ship.
  
• However, generally you're better off with the tiny initial ship otherwise your station will have excessive thrusters and engines which may not be appropriate for a static station location (better off customizing your station later because it will want cargo, generators and shield gens, crew quarters primarily).
  
• For smaller stations (e.g. research stations) you might want to keep some thrusters on it in case they get "bumped" and drift away. Larger stations aren't easy to bump... except by very big ships).
  
• Stations come with a single docking location, you can add more as you want but you can't create the glowing red lights or holographic landing lights.

BUG WARNING: when you add more docking stations they are inactive, you need to go about 4km away and when you return they will be there.

A SIMPLE ASTEROID + FACTORY -> MANUFACTURED CARGO SUPPLY CHAIN

• I threw this together to explain how I got a simple supply chain of ore and crystals supplying to a glass manufacturing factory... resulting in glass being produced.
  
• Based on my own maths and reading various posts... it doesn't make economic sense to build these supply lines: the cost of establishing them will take an incredibly long time before you see a ROI (return on investment).
  
• They are essentially a money sink for your excess money, a roleplaying objective for imaginative players or just maybe a way to secure supply of an obscure good that the RNG gods have deemed will not spawn a factory for within a 1000 light years.

PREPARATION
1a. First up, you're probably going to found your supply chain in an empty sector with 2 or 3 claimable asteroids. Why 2-3 asteroids... see point 1b (make the most of your sectors economic investment)
1b. You'll also need to defend your sector from pirates... so you'll either want a big cruiser or maybe a handful of frigates to keep them at bay. Build your defense ships, bring them to your sector and order them to "Attack Enemies".
1c. Visit a Fighter station and build yourself a cargo shuttle and store it on your player ship. Don't convert your cargo shuttle to a blueprint.
1d. Hire 48 pilots... you might find them on a friendly shipyard, factory or repair dock (it's random)

ESTABLISH THE ORE ASTEROIDS
2a. Head to your new sector and claim the asteroid(s), and found it as an "ore" mine.
2b. Build and add a little bit of cargo space, and enough hull, shields and shield gen so that it won't be destroyed before your local navy intercepts any pirates. Consider using "stone" material... it's super heavy but super tough in health.
2c. Build enough crew space, then exit out enter [F] and choose "Hire Crew" to ensure you have enough staff.
2d. Enter [F] again and choose "Trade Goods".. on the second tab Factory Configuration [cog icon] turn off everything (except maybe sell, to handle excess production)

ESTABLISH THE CRYSTAL FACTORY
3a. From a nearby shipyard (in a different sector most likely), create a new ship with "Station Founder" enabled and make the ship minimum size... bring it to the sector with your claimed asteroid nearby, and found it as a "Crystal" station. Recommend you build it at least 5km away from the ore asteroid otherwise their "landing lights" can overlap and be confusing.
3b. Now enter [F] the factory, and build : similar to the asteroid above, you'll want to make sure there is sufficient cargo space, hull, shields and shield gen to endure... just like you did in step 2b. and 2c above.
3c. Enter [F] again and choose "Trade Goods".. on the second tab [cog icon] turn off everything again (except maybe sell, to handle excess production).

ESTABLISH THE GLASS MANUFACTURING FACTORY
4a. From a nearby shipyard, again create a new ship with "Station Founder" enabled and make the ship minimium size... bring it to the sector with your claimed asteroid nearby, and found it as a "Glass Manufacturing" station. Recommend you build it at least 5km away from both the asteroid and the crystal factory otherwise their "landing lights" can overlap and be confusing.
4b. Now enter [F] the factory, and build : similar to the asteroid above, you'll want to make sure there is sufficient cargo space, hull, shields and shield gen to endure.. just like you did in step 2b and 2c above.
4c. Special extra step: also build a hangar bay to accomodate 48 fighters (these store your cargo shuttles). See bug warning below... you'll probably want 15-121 fighter capacity to handle your 48 shuttles.
4d. Press [T] to return to your main ship, [F] again and choose Transfer Crew/Fighter/Cargo, click on the Fighter tab, then drag your cargo ship over to the Glass Manufacturing station new squad. Do the same for the 48 pilots you hired.
4e. Press [T] and [F] again and go back to the Glass Manufacturing station, bring up the ship menu, and convert your cargo shuttle into a blueprint.
4f. Add another 3 squadrons... for a total of 4. Each squad is 12 cargo shuttles x 4 = 48 shuttles which matches the number of pilots you have. Your cargo shuttles will automatically start fetching ore and crystals, and when you see one back in the hangar drag it into the 3 new blueprint slots and enable them.... so that all 4 squads have blueprints and are manufacturing new shuttles.
4f. Enter [F] again and choose "Trade Goods"... then click the second tab (the cog icon). Turn off all the options again, but this time for "Fetch goods" put your ore and crystal sources from the dropdown. If you don't see them they are probably in a different sector (oops)

BUG WARNING: you might notice your cargo shuttles stop getting produced after 6 or so shuttles, even though your ship HUD for fighter capacity says "1 - 40" and your shuttle requires 1 pilot. Just add more hangar capacity: 15 - 121 should be enough to accomodate your 48 cargo shuttles.

That's it... now you have a micro-economy producing glass within a single sector, which even works when you aren't there.

[Dr. Sperling]

Nice guide!

Do you generally make a profit with it? Even if the ROI takes forever, having a constant trickle of money sure is nice.

[agoraphobic81]

I had run into the same problem as I scoured the internet. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up.

[kaashy]

Wow, thanks for the guide! You could add the info to the wiki (here: www.wiki.avorion.net) if you feel like it, we and a lot of other people would surely appreciate it and it won't get lost in the forums over time!

[Zaflis]

1b. You'll also need to defend your sector from pirates... so you'll either want a big cruiser or maybe a handful of frigates to keep them at bay. Build your defense ships, bring them to your sector and order them to "Attack Enemies".

Are you sure about this? I have so far had no evidence that enemies are active on any other sectors than where players are present. Be it station or a mining/salvaging ship with captain alone in a sector, they've never been attacked.

[ravien_ff]

Originally posted by Zaflis:

1b. You'll also need to defend your sector from pirates... so you'll either want a big cruiser or maybe a handful of frigates to keep them at bay. Build your defense ships, bring them to your sector and order them to "Attack Enemies".

Are you sure about this? I have so far had no evidence that enemies are active on any other sectors than where players are present. Be it station or a mining/salvaging ship with captain alone in a sector, they've never been attacked.

You are correct. Pirate attacks trigger on the player, so a sector without any players will not get any attacks.

You still might want a defense force for the sector, however, as pirates and Xsotan can spawn in when you visit the sector. Things could get real messy real fast if you visit the sector and your stations can't defend themselves.

You can also place a captain in a station and give them some combat fighters and order them to "patrol sector" and they will automatically launch fighters to intercept enemy ships, though in the upcoming combat update you might lose fighters if there are pirates with anti-fighter weapons.

[Zaflis]

The new update changed things. You need protection... says my recently destroyed mining carrier.

[Rix]

Originally posted by Zaflis:

The new update changed things. You need protection... says my recently destroyed mining carrier.

you sure ? i didnt have prob with my miner ships

[Zaflis]

I left the miner alone hour or 2 before the event on my dedicated server. There was 1 other player online at the time and we were together far away from the miner's location.

[n17908]

Can you see the cargo planes moving around?

[Zaflis]

Originally posted by Object Class: Euclid:

Can you see the cargo planes moving around?

If you refer to my game, that was a year ago and i don't have the save anymore. Game has changed significantly since.