TUTORIAL: STATIONS AND MINES, How to Prep them for Transport and Re-Deploy them

[Night Writer]

I have seen a lot of people ask about what can be done with Stations/Mines specifically how to move them and or reposition them. If you don't know the tricks present in the game this can seem like a nightmare, ( I know because I went through this same thing when I first started playing) and stumbled through this process with trial and error.

The game tells you, you can switch a station into transport mode, but it does not tell you how to do the transporting properly or efficiently.

Step #1: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP: (Maybe)
=====================================
Find any ship in your fleet that has the least amount of crew, ( From this point on we will call this ship "STB". (STATION TRANSPORT BOX)

Fly "STB" to an equipment dock so you are within range to remove all the installed subsystems, so you don't lose them during the build process. Now remove the subsystems.

DO not worry about mounted turrets they will be re-mounted "automagically" later.

Fly another ship that has enough crew space to accommodate the crew from STB.
Get very close to STB and select interact and transfer all the crew from STB.

NEXT Transfer all Cargo from STB to your current ship.

Now you should have your "STB" ship sitting empty. No weapons, No Cargo, No Captains etc.

Enter your "STB" ship, and then go into build mode.

STEP #2: IN BUILD MODE
=====================
-Remove all blocks except 1 block.
-Make that block the core block.
-NOW SAVE the build. It will name the file after whatever the STB ship was previously called.
-Rename the newly saved file "SINGLE BLOCK". (this can be used for all sorts of things later. )
-Go back into the build where you are looking at the one block.
Now convert that one block to whatever the highest level Armor you can build currently is. So if its Trinium, convert the single block into a block of Trinium Armor.
(This adds more HP to your "STATION TRANSPORT BOX".


Next select the single block of Armor, and copy it with ctrl-c, then unselect it (click off the block) and do a ctrl-v, this will allow you to duplicate the original block size and make all blocks Armored, (more hit points).

Now select Middle Snap from the Snap options. and snap your copied block to the front and back of the original block. So you now have 3 solid blocks of armor, Do not Merge them.

Convert the Middle Block into a Crew quarters Block. So you can transport Mechanics and a Captain if need be for convenience later.

Now do 3 sections of Armor on the top and bottom, one for each block, use the match shape option, and make this armor thick enough so that when painted it can be seen from a distance.

Now paint the block that is the front facing block, "RED". This will ensure that while transporting the STB you always know which direction is the front.

Paint the Rear facing block "BLUE" again so you always know which direction is the rear.
You will always want to Dock your ship to the blue side, more on this later.

Now paint the top 3 Armor sections Bright Green, so you always know that's the top.
Paint the bottom Armor Sections Orange, So you always know that's the bottom.

You should now have a 3 Block, 6 plates of armor STB with a Red Front Block, a Blue rear block, and a Green top and Orange bottom.

Now add a thin Layer of Armor on each side (left and right side of the crew block). to protect it during travel, as the STB will have no shield and no integrity field. Armor is important here.

SAVE the file and then Rename the new file STATION TRANSPORT BOX-Final.
DO NOT EXIT BUILD MODE YET!!

STEP #3: STILL IN BUILD MODE
=========================
go back and revert your changes (using the undo option) until you have the original ship back and all weapons will be remounted etc. Do not worry your save file for your "STB" is still intact and is not reverted.

STEP #4: EXIT BUILD MODE
======================

and your ship is present exactly as it was before you made the STB file.

Now>
-Add back your crew members and captain to your original Ship, make sure your weapons are all mounted, and check to insure your Autofire turrets are still set to autofire, and add back all subsystems.

You will now be able to use the saved "STATION TRANSPORT BOX" file on any Station or Mine to move it, by converting the station/mine to the smaller box, more on this next.


STEP #5: CONVERTING A CLAIMABLE ASTEROID/MINE/STATION into your STATION TRANSPORT BOX:
==================================================================

Once you find a claimable Asteroid/MINE you will not be able to move this with any ship effectively. Asteroids are Massive and WEIGH MEGATONS. And Even a ship with similar weight cannot DOCK to and effectively move this weight in game.

To move them you will first go to the object in question "Station/MINE/ASTEROID".
For an Unclaimed Asteroid, once in it's sector, use your "OBJECT FINDER SUBSYSTEM," to locate it as a valuable object. Fly to it and get close.

You will be given the option to CLAIM it Or Sell It. (NOTE: You should always CLAIM it, because Mines can make you Hundreds of Millions of Credits in a single Play through), and are a very safe investment).

Once Claimed, interact with it and select which type of mine it will be, (WARNING: This is not reversible!!)

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ON LOCATION, TRADING AND PROFITABILITY:
========================================================
No Matter what Mine/Station you are going to be building or Founding, you need to plan where it will be going and check whether it is needed in the sector or faction space you are going to be moving it to. I can NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.. Your mine can make millions of more dollars per day depending on the demand for the specified product you will be producing. So before you decide where you are going to take your mine/station to, Check the faction space trading routes and demand for the mine you are founding or factory product you are producing etc.

YOU DO THIS BY: Equipping a ship with a HIGH TECH TRADING SUBSYSTEM, and flying to the sector you want to deploy the station in, then check the demand. If the DEMAND for water is 0%, you don't want to make your mine an ICE MINE, because that faction doesn't need water right? And you can't revert your choice for the mine after you found it, so.. Guess what you need to found another mine right?

NOT NECESSARILY:
===============
Just because a Mine produces a product that is not in demand where it is located does not mean it wont get traders, and it also doesn't mean you can't simply run sales missions with your trading vessels. Load up a Ship with 50,000 Aluminum and send it on a sell mission with a Merchant captain, and guess what you earned in about an hour? 10,000,000+.

For the next Steps: WARNING: It's a good idea to do this when no pirates are around, or are not expected, and no alien attacks or invasions are due. Try to do this immediately following a sector clear, Because after you perform the next steps you will have literally a BOX, and it will be destroyed if hit with too many attacks, Having a Brand new mine getting blown up on its first day would suck :(.

Now you have your MINE, and its HUGE. Use the ship you found your mine in and get close to the mine, interact with the mine and transfer all the Crew to your ship. typically this will be 30 non-specialized crew called "All-Rounders".

Next transfer 4 Mechanics to the Mine. You will need these in the "STATION TRANSPORT BOX" to prevent it from being destroyed (simply from existing somehow.)

Next interact with the Mine/Station and switch it into TRANSPORT MODE. ( you can still enter the build mode even if the Station or Mine is in transport mode, don't worry.

Next Enter the Mine and go into BUILD MODE!!

STEP #6: BUILD MODE AGAIN.
=========================
NOTE: All STEPS from this point apply to both MINES and Stations, that you would like to transport.

Once in build mode you should see your weighty new Asteroid/MINE ( or station if its a station). On the left hand side select the save file Icon (looks like a disk) and select SAVE FILE , so that it creates a file you can revert back to when you get your station/mine into position. This is very important and must be done if you are planning to use the original design of the mine/station again.

ONCE YOU SAVED THE ORIGINAL DESIGN:
Look for your file "STATION TRANSPORT BOX-Final" from the list, its icon should look like your "STB" you created earlier.

Click on it and then in the window Click "Apply Design". This will immediately convert anything in the game to your "STB" if you want. Any ship, any station, any mine, even salvaged ships and captured stations can be converted to this block for easy transport.

You will receive all the differences in materials upon doing so, so for instance lets say you want to Board a huge station of your enemy, and then repair it quickly and then wipe it out quickly, simply repair the station, then convert it to this block (or your single block file I mentioned earlier) and instantly salvage at 99.9% efficiency all the materials and credits instantly into your account, no cargo space needed, no refining, no R-Salvaging and hauling it all back to a refinery. You can literally wipe out entire factions like this..but I digress.

Exit build mode and your mine or station is now a floating small and easily movable block. Instead of a Massive Megaton Factory or Asteroid etc.

STEP #7: NOW FOR THE HARD PART :) DOCKING AND TRANSPORT..
======================================================
The slow methodical process that was specifically designed to torment your soul.

Your STATION TRANSPORT BOX is floating in space, cold and lonely, with 4 mechanics onboard, who all think they are on the Event Horizon Movie Set. Their massive station has been converted into a space toaster. It's a bad day at space camp.

Now you switch over to your ship, and position it to the rear of the STB, (BLUE BLOCK)
With the GREEN Armor Panels Facing upwards, orient the top of your ship so its facing the same direction. Its a good idea to perfectly align your ship here. Rotation is key, Rotate your ship, not the STB. (because the STB cannot move in any direction. )

Now you have aligned your ship and the STB so they are both the right side up and the front of your ship (WHERE YOUR DOCKING BLOCK SHOULD BE) should be positioned just behind the Blue block of the STB.

Now "GENTLY" move your ship forward inching ever so closely to the STB until it says "DOCK TO OBJECT" (NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A DOCKING BLOCK installed on your ship, you will not receive the "DOCK TO OBJECT MESSAGE", and will not be able to DOCK!!

Once you receive the "DOCK TO OBJECT" Message, press the appropriate key and you will see the STB moving closer to your ship. Do not let go of the "dock to object key" until you hear a satisfying "Ka-thunk" sound. This means you have successfully docked.

Congratulations YOU HAVE NOW DOCKED to your STATION TRANSPORT BLOCK.

STEP #8: THE FUN PART
=====================

Now this is where we separate the Astronauts from the folks at home looking through their TELESCOPES.

You'd think you can simply switch over to map mode, and tell your Captain to run a travel mission, and travel to whatever sector you choose,and that your docked station, will stay docked to the front of your ship right? "YOU COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG THAN YOU ARE RIGHT NOW!!"

So yeah, you can fight with your ship docked to the front of you, and can fly at 7000 m/s with no problem with it docked. You can even Mine Asteroids, Salvage Ships, or FIGHT OFF AN ENTIRE ALIEN FLEET in a rift, with this STB, glued to the front of your ship.

BUT GUESS WHAT YOU CAN'T DO? Travel Missions. So the only way to transport a docked station/Mine, is via hyperspace jumping from sector, to sector, TO FREAKING SECTOR!!

I am a patient man. I can understand logistical hazards being taken into account. I can appreciate difficulty when it needs to be applied to add "STRUGGLE" to a game. BUT THIS?!?! This is pure and simple torture on a level not seen since the original NINJA GAIDEN!! ( on the original 8 bit Nintendo)

So you have to plot a course from whatever sector you are in, manually holding the shift key in the map screen so that you can enchain, your commands. And lets say you found a claimable Asteroid and its 40 sectors away from the sector you want to deploy it in, and your ship can only jump 4 sectors at a time. THAT'S 10 JUMPS, with a cool down of up to 3+ minutes between each JUMP. Also you can be attacked by Aliens and Pirates at each sector you jump into. Possibly even getting the dreaded Xsotan Invasion in your sector while you wait for your Hyperspace Engines to cool down.

All while carrying a defenseless space baby on the front of your ship. I once transferred a Claimable Asteroid that I found in a titanium zone, to a sector in an Ogonite Zone (just outside the barrier) the enchained Hyperspace Jump commands took 41 minutes to complete. My ship was attacked 3 times, along the way.

So yes they made acquiring, moving and setting up stations and mines, very difficult.


Step #9: YOU WERE SUCCESSFUL...! (MAYBE)
====================================

Once you finally get your MINE/STATION to the correct sector, you need to place it where you want it and the orientation is key to not drive yourself bonkers if you have even slight OCD like me. This is where the colors on the STB really come into play, because if you docked to the block according, your STB will be oriented in the same direction and position as your ship is. So if you align your ship to another station in the sector, ( Like I do) you will be able to make sure you are always right side up and your station doesn't look wonky. You can use your thrusters for strafing and rolling to get the perfect position.

UNDOCKING: Not as simple as it sounds
================================

So here's the final trick.. When you are going to undock from the STB, DO NOT DO IT FROM WITHIN YOUR SHIP. Enter the STB (STATION TRANSPORT BOX) instead and then do a regular "Undock" option. NOT A UNDOCK ALL. If you do the undock only option, you will gently and nicely detach from the ship and keep your orientation, if you do the undock all option from within your ship, the UNDOCKING force is too much and will literally shoot the STB off the front of your ship. This has happened to me twice and I figured out how to do this via trial and error. So if you dont want to have to REDO the whole docking and re-alignment and positioning thing all over again. DO NOT DO UNDOCK ALL, or UNDOCK from within the ship. ONLY DO (Regular) Undock from within the STB. and it will be perfectly facing, right side up, not crooked etc.

STEP #10: IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
================================

Now that you have undocked from the ship that brought you all the way there semi-safely,
you need to convert your small pitiful STB back into your mighty MINE/Station. This is where that "Save a File of the original" thing comes into play, because if you didn't save the file you can not convert it back into what it originally was, in build mode.

This might be ok if you want to build your entire MINE/Station from scratch again, but this is not likely what you want to do to conserve time.

Either way Enter build mode Select your previous "Original Version Design file" and click Apply Design. Obviously for this to work all the materials need to be present in your Account, so don't mistakenly sell off all your XANION, and then try to restore a Station that was made of 400,000+ XANION and think it will restore, cuz it won't... Just Sayn,
It WONT...you got trust me on this. You can't make Mongolian Beef without Beef, and you can't make a XANION STATION out of IRON.

FUN FACT: In case this happens, you can convert materials to use a different material instead in the build options before applying the design. So in Avorion you can make Mongolian Chicken I guess.

Anyways after you apply the design, your station/Mine should now be present in the build screen, and you can now exit build mode and your New station is now present in the sector of your choosing.

STEP #11: YOU are NOT DONE
========================

So your station/mine is now back to its former glory, but the work is not finished.

- First Switch the station back to "STATION MODE" or you wont make any money..ever.

-Next you need to add the required amount of crew back into the station or Mine, because it only has like 4 mechanics in it and it will immediately start to decay. You can usually hop over to the local other Stations in the sector and buy 200-300 CREW members etc to stock your station or mine with.

- Next Add a Captain of your choosing. Merchants or Captains with the "Connected" and "MARKET EXPERT" traits are your best choices here for obvious reasons.

-Add subsystems for Turret Defenses, and Fighters etc.

-Add Trading Subsystem so you always have a point in that faction space that you can jump into that knows whats happening with the Trades Routes, and Demand ( which does change btw).

-Next adjust Buying and Selling options. You need to set your station/Mine appropriately to sell your goods, by selecting "Actively Sell Goods" etc. Also if you don't want your station spending your MONEY without asking you, you need to turn off "BUY FROM TRADERS" or you will see your finances sucked dry by AI that thinks it needs 5000 MINING ROBOTS for some reason. I like Mines specifically for this reason as they need no other incoming goods to produce their own goods and sell them, meaning after being built its pure profit except for the crew members salary.

-Next Adjust the Production output of your station/Mine which varies from S-Class (small) to XXL-Class Extra Extra LARGE. This is done by buying upgrades to the station in the settings that allow you to run up to "6 production cycles" at a single time. This is the fastest way to have sell-able product in large quantities.

-Attach Turrets to your mine/station to provide defense, do not go crazy though as stations have millions of hit points and shields typically ( if you add them) and take a lot of damage. RAIL GUNS and MISSILE LAUNCHERS with Seeker Traits are your best bet for defense of stations, or weapons with a range of 10 km + . Stations are only typically attacked if you are in the sector. Also Make sure to add fighters to help defend it in the event it is attacked ( XSOTAN INVASION EVENT, is literally the only thing you need to be remotely worried about).

-Adjust your goods Pricing. Lower Prices Attract more Buyers, supposedly. Its just the way the Galaxy works. I typically leave my goods right in the middle so they sell for the going rate in that faction space. If you reduce more than 5% you are simply losing money.


If all goes accordingly you should start seeing ships flying to your station and docking within about 10 minutes if you are in a busy sector. If you don't You might have forgot to engage Station Mode. Or you made your station in the middle of nowhere, in uncharted space, and Pirates and Xeno SCUM will be your only visitors.

Good Luck!!

[rickcarson]

If you start a new game you can make a single block ship immediately. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do all the crap you want to the single block ship in iron and then save it. Then in your other game when you go to apply it to whatever you want to move, you can do the material upgrade at that point (it's a drop-down (Material Change) when applying a design).

I feel like that would make a bunch of steps a lot shorter/redundant.

-------

There's also this which is very pretty:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2641955851&searchtext=argos

And a couple of other hits for 'station box' or 'station transport box'.

[Sasheria]

Keep in mind that once you dock your station/rock/dot to your ship, DO NOT use auto goto "location" cause it will undock. You will have to calculate target (pick your final destination) and jump each segment.

[Elimm]

Originally posted by Sasheria:

Keep in mind that once you dock your station/rock/dot to your ship, DO NOT use auto goto "location" cause it will undock. You will have to calculate target (pick your final destination) and jump each segment.

You mean chose the hauler ship and shift+right click on galactic map? Actually you CAN do that, I've been transporting captured enemy stations to my repair dock this way for quite some time.

[Sasheria]

Originally posted by Elimm:

Originally posted by Sasheria:

Keep in mind that once you dock your station/rock/dot to your ship, DO NOT use auto goto "location" cause it will undock. You will have to calculate target (pick your final destination) and jump each segment.

You mean chose the hauler ship and shift+right click on galactic map? Actually you CAN do that, I've been transporting captured enemy stations to my repair dock this way for quite some time.

If you jump each gate command it works, but I mean the "travel to" when you select the ship and it travel "afk" in 20 minutes or something, that is when you drop the ship.

If you let it travel with each jump gate (auto pilot) it works.

[Night Writer]

Originally posted by rickcarson:

If you start a new game you can make a single block ship immediately. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do all the crap you want to the single block ship in iron and then save it. Then in your other game when you go to apply it to whatever you want to move, you can do the material upgrade at that point (it's a drop-down (Material Change) when applying a design).

I feel like that would make a bunch of steps a lot shorter/redundant.

-------

There's also this which is very pretty:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2641955851&searchtext=argos

And a couple of other hits for 'station box' or 'station transport box'.

@rickcarson I appreciate the input but there are couple things I'd like to clarify>

-This Tutorial is written for "NEW" players, that's why its called a "Tutorial."
If you are already experienced enough in the game to know you can simply create a single IRON block at the beginning of the game, by creating a new game and creating a new single block file and then switch back over to your existing game, and use the ship file from the other galaxy, then this "TUTORIAL" about Station Moving and Deployment probably isn't geared towards players of your level.

-Also doing the above still does not negate the need for making your "STB" more resilient to damage, color coded for positioning/placement accuracy, and small enough and efficient enough to not slow down your ship in any way while docked and being transported.

-That container ship you Linked is clearly not designed for cost effectiveness, and is even labeled MID-GAME by the author and in no way is it geared towards an entry level player, in cost or materials, not to mention the ship size required to move it. The dang thing has 87,000+ hit points, and requires Naonite to build, meaning an entry level player in the Iron/Titanium Zones will never even be able to build this. My method and design still stands as a very effective and tested method for moving a station or mine, from anywhere to anywhere quickly, no matter what phase of the game you are in. If a player wants to pack all his Fighters, turrets, 1000+ crew members, and Cargo and move it to another sector, they are likely past this tutorial anyways, right?

-Also there are new players who go 100+ hours or more before ever finding their first Claimable Asteroid. (I was one of them). My first galaxy I got an extremely bad seed, and never saw a claimable Asteroid until like 140 Hrs in, and when I found it I had no Idea how to move it or what to do with it. So I learned from trial and error, because that's part of the fun of playing these types of games is the learning of all the systems etc. I don't just Youtube my way through games. It takes the excitement and journey out of the game for me, and I'd assume the same for others. I did the same thing when I dropped 600+ hours into Valheim, and had a blast without ever touching Youtube. (BTW if you haven't played Valheim I strongly suggest it)

-Everyone doesn't want to use someone else's designs when building ships, stations, or "Station Transport Boxes" Etc. My favorite part of this game is building my own ships and Mastering the craft of ship/station building, always bettering my builds and becoming more efficient or learning that my station really doesn't need 19 Million HP etc, or an R-miner in a titanium Zone doesn't need Xanion R-Mining Lasers etc. There is always growth and learning in these types of games, and in this game a huge part of that is learning how to properly build a functional and efficient ship, for this reason I never use any ships off the workshop. For me that takes A LOT of the fun out of it.

-My Tutorial also goes into several facets of Station Moving and Deployment that are not covered in detail anywhere that I have seen, so the steps are not redundant, and while yes bringing a "STB" file over from another Galaxy is a neat cheat, it doesn't show or teach anything required for the rest of the process, which as I'm sure you know is quite involved.

-I hope you took the time to read through all the steps of the tutorial and just didn't say TLDR, and then post the link to the GIGANTO BOX, As there are many other players now (and in the future) that do not know this stuff, and the tutorial covers all of it step by step I was one of those players 700+ hours ago.

Again thanks for your input though.

[Night Writer]

Originally posted by Sasheria:

Keep in mind that once you dock your station/rock/dot to your ship, DO NOT use auto goto "location" cause it will undock. You will have to calculate target (pick your final destination) and jump each segment.

This was completely covered in the tutorial.

[Night Writer]

Originally posted by Elimm:

Originally posted by Sasheria:

Keep in mind that once you dock your station/rock/dot to your ship, DO NOT use auto goto "location" cause it will undock. You will have to calculate target (pick your final destination) and jump each segment.

You mean chose the hauler ship and shift+right click on galactic map? Actually you CAN do that, I've been transporting captured enemy stations to my repair dock this way for quite some time.

Again, both of these were completely covered in the tutorial.

[Night Writer]

Originally posted by Sasheria:

Originally posted by Elimm:

You mean chose the hauler ship and shift+right click on galactic map? Actually you CAN do that, I've been transporting captured enemy stations to my repair dock this way for quite some time.

If you jump each gate command it works, but I mean the "travel to" when you select the ship and it travel "afk" in 20 minutes or something, that is when you drop the ship.

If you let it travel with each jump gate (auto pilot) it works.

Once again, completely covered in the tutorial....STEP #8...

"STEP #8: THE FUN PART
=====================

Now this is where we separate the Astronauts from the folks at home looking through their TELESCOPES.

You'd think you can simply switch over to map mode, and tell your Captain to run a travel mission, and travel to whatever sector you choose,and that your docked station, will stay docked to the front of your ship right? "YOU COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG THAN YOU ARE RIGHT NOW!!"

So yeah, you can fight with your ship docked to the front of you, and can fly at 7000 m/s with no problem with it docked. You can even Mine Asteroids, Salvage Ships, or FIGHT OFF AN ENTIRE ALIEN FLEET in a rift, with this STB, glued to the front of your ship.

BUT GUESS WHAT YOU CAN'T DO? Travel Missions. So the only way to transport a docked station/Mine, is via hyperspace jumping from sector, to sector, TO FREAKING SECTOR!!

I am a patient man. I can understand logistical hazards being taken into account. I can appreciate difficulty when it needs to be applied to add "STRUGGLE" to a game. BUT THIS?!?! This is pure and simple torture on a level not seen since the original NINJA GAIDEN!! ( on the original 8 bit Nintendo)

So you have to plot a course from whatever sector you are in, manually holding the shift key in the map screen so that you can enchain, your commands. And lets say you found a claimable Asteroid and its 40 sectors away from the sector you want to deploy it in, and your ship can only jump 4 sectors at a time. THAT'S 10 JUMPS, with a cool down of up to 3+ minutes between each JUMP. Also you can be attacked by Aliens and Pirates at each sector you jump into. Possibly even getting the dreaded Xsotan Invasion in your sector while you wait for your Hyperspace Engines to cool down.

All while carrying a defenseless space baby on the front of your ship. I once transferred a Claimable Asteroid that I found in a titanium zone, to a sector in an Ogonite Zone (just outside the barrier) the enchained Hyperspace Jump commands took 41 minutes to complete. My ship was attacked 3 times, along the way.

So yes they made acquiring, moving and setting up stations and mines, very difficult."
======================================================================

Thanks for chiming in here fella's glad to see, we are all on the same page now.

[rickcarson]

Thanks for the response. I understand that feeling of not being able to find any claimable 'roids , I think in one game I had a 60+ yellow system streak without one. Brutal.

My worst seed ever was a galaxy that was absolutely _filthy_ with rifts. Just covered in them. So hard to jump anywhere. On the flip side, this was the game that led to me finally grokking the value of the galaxy move command.

-------------

I like your colour coding stuff and all that jazz, but I'm perplexed that you feel that there are all these new players madly creating $10mil+ stations who have never even seen naonite.

The linked station container was something like ... IIRC ... 57k naonite?? And that's about 20 minutes worth of an r-miner with ♥♥♥♥♥♥* r-titanium lasers poking the tip of their shoe into the naonite area with a map mission, which many people consider sub-optimal play. (They prefer hand-mining because they have beef with the map missions)

So ... yeah... I mean ... why _wouldn't_ you want access to shields???

I don't get it.

-------------

*To be clear though they still have 90% efficiency. I'm not an animal.

[Night Writer]

Originally posted by rickcarson:

Thanks for the response. I understand that feeling of not being able to find any claimable 'roids , I think in one game I had a 60+ yellow system streak without one. Brutal.

My worst seed ever was a galaxy that was absolutely _filthy_ with rifts. Just covered in them. So hard to jump anywhere. On the flip side, this was the game that led to me finally grokking the value of the galaxy move command.

-------------

I like your colour coding stuff and all that jazz, but I'm perplexed that you feel that there are all these new players madly creating $10mil+ stations who have never even seen naonite.

The linked station container was something like ... IIRC ... 57k naonite?? And that's about 20 minutes worth of an r-miner with ♥♥♥♥♥♥* r-titanium lasers poking the tip of their shoe into the naonite area with a map mission, which many people consider sub-optimal play. (They prefer hand-mining because they have beef with the map missions)

So ... yeah... I mean ... why _wouldn't_ you want access to shields???

I don't get it.

-------------

*To be clear though they still have 90% efficiency. I'm not an animal.

Well considering you can find claimable Asteroids anywhere... ( and I do mean anywhere). In my current play through my Iron and Titanium R-Miner fleet (8 ships) moved into a yellow blip in a Non-Faction Zone, at the outer edge of the map. Upon arrival I received notification of a valuable object in the sector..... I couldn't believe it.

I flew over and sure enough there was a claimable Asteroid only about 20 sectors north of my starting Neutral Zone SECTOR.... WTF!!. So if I had headed to the outer edges of the map in the beginning of my run instead of towards the barrier, I would have had a claimable Asteroid in my first 2-3 hours of this play through. Hilarious.

So an entry level player, (newbie, whatever) could happen across a claimable asteroid and need to know how to claim it and move it off the edge of the map, to a more suitable sector, and yes they could need to know how to do this without ever seeing or mining any neon green roids floating around. Hence my comment.

Oh btw as a beginning level player, first touching this game, I had no Idea about R-mining Lasers, and or that they could gather ore faster or more efficiently than refining lasers. So yeah 57k Naonite ore would have been a dream to me at the time, thus My Tutorial, and my comments referencing the Giganto box, are relevant given the intended audience.

As I mentioned, you are a far more advanced player than the intended audience this tutorial was written for. You need to go back in time and remember how it felt, when you first double clicked that Avorion Icon. Everything was new and fresh, and you didn't know all the secrets.

Also I am currently experiencing the filthy rift map issue, with what looks like a maze to get to the core, its really annoying trying to travel at all. My travel missions keep failing or stopping half way... annoying design. I would much rather them have made it like you can fly through rifts but its more dangerous to enter them, and there are more Pirates or Aliens etc.

Like in Freelancer when you flew into a Nebula Cloud or something and had limited visibility and Pirates would show up in large groups, or Nomad alien ships etc. Was much more fun, than it just being a fake wall to block movement.

[rickcarson]

Looks like I should have put more emphasis on the 10 mil+ credits part of the question. Because you're just treating it like it's trivial in the starting area for a new player to found mines. But that surprises me because I wouldn't expect them to be able to afford it.

E.g. there are two parts required.
Step 1: find a claimable asteroid
Step 2: pay ~10 million credits

And of the two (in the early game) step 1 is _way_ easier, even with bad seeds.
(Later on when you have more $$ than all the rockerfellas put together it's the other way around)

So I'm genuinely interested what your style of play is and why you think that new players will have so much money. What are they doing to generate it?

---------

For comparison, I have a testing play-through where I'm in trinium, I don't have even close to 10 million credits, upgrading my existing ships to 8 sockets is going to use all my funds and then some.

---------

Material tier advancement in this game - in the early game - isn't especially hard.

E.g. if you can beat Swoks (and you should be farming him pretty early in the game) then you can beat a naonite pirate sector. If you can beat a naonite pirate sector then you can beat the naonite roving boss. If you can farm them then you can you can pretty easily unlock trinium. If you can unlock trinium and put shield-flat bonus and shield-% bonus on your fighting ships you can unlock xanion. Then you can get 10 slot ships, and almost 20 of them, so ...

[Night Writer]

Originally posted by rickcarson:

Looks like I should have put more emphasis on the 10 mil+ credits part of the question. Because you're just treating it like it's trivial in the starting area for a new player to found mines.

But I wouldn't expect that to be an issue for a new player simply because I wouldn't expect them to be able to afford it.

So I'm genuinely interested what your style of play is and why you think that new players will have so much money. What are they doing to generate it?

---------

For comparison, I have a testing play-through where I'm in trinium, I don't have even close to 10 million credits, upgrading my existing ships to 8 sockets is going to use all my funds and then some.

---------

Material tier advancement in this game - in the early game - isn't especially hard.

E.g. if you can beat Swoks (and you should be farming him pretty early in the game) then you can beat a naonite pirate sector. If you can beat a naonite pirate sector then you can beat the naonite roving boss. If you can farm them then you can you can pretty easily unlock trinium. If you can unlock trinium and put shield-flat bonus and shield-% bonus on your fighting ships you can unlock xanion. Then you can get 10 slot ships, and almost 20 of them, so ...

Since you asked, I play on Veteran, my first galaxy was Single Player, with all the inherent limitations that come with that. My second galaxy I then switched to Freestyle to tailor the game to my liking, removing the barrier, single player missions etc, I wanted a total Sandbox.

I am not saying everyone will be able to play at the same speed, skill or level as you or I do, but I will say I have basically played every Space game going all the way back to Wing Commander, Starlancer, Freelancer, ( I actually have freelancer installed currently btw) the X-Series, (X-2 the threat) is still one of the best in the series in my opinion) and so many MANY MORE. So I may have a leg up on the competition in the whole FLY, FIGHT, TRADE, MINE -Space genre. So you are right maybe I am thinking about the game more from a veteran space sim gamer point of view, going back almost 30 years. ( I am 44 btw)

But you and I both know if you are having a hard time getting 10 mil+ credits you need to adjust your play style. You need to focus specifically on Mining fleet growth in the beginning.

- You need small(ish) cheap Mining ships, with a few Mining Lasers each. Upgrading to 8 sockets is completely unnecessary if you are trying to make money in the early game. You need more ships drilling rocks not bigger ships sucking your finances down the drain.

-Is the 8 sockets for what? Attacking/Defending against Pirates? Even on Veteran I was killing all attackers and clearing sectors with a single main ship, that had 7 sockets, and I actually still use this same ship design as an Escort/Miner, 700+ hours later. ( it admittedly has more mining lasers on it now than armed turrets but still)

- You can have several miners all mining a single dense (2500+) Asteroid Sector in a Titanium Zone, and rake in enough Titanium and Iron to have 10 million in your first weeks
playtime in a new galaxy by reloading the sector (moving and going back to it, so the Asteroids Respawn.)

-You can also use Mining Missions, while your single main ship is off scouting for the next best zone to start your second fleet. Of course using the right Captains.

- You need to search yellow blip sectors with your main ship for Salvage ships to claim, and then send them to get repaired add them to your fleet, and continue growth, without being limited by material caps, (stopping you from going past 7 ships as an example) if you are playing single player.

-Even as a new player I was pulling in 5-7 million in a single play session by the beginning of my 3rd week in the game. (Play Session = 6-8 hours Average per day for me, more on the weekends) and yes I know not everyone has that kind of playtime available to them, but I do...)

-BTW just because you find a Claimable Asteroid, does not mean you have to found a MINE, you can sell it to massively boost your finances in the early game.

-You can also mark it's location on your Galaxy Map, and come back to it later when you do have the finances to found it, if you so choose.

Anyways in closing, like I said in the beginning maybe this tutorial is not meant for someone of your level of expertise in the game, that's fine with me, and I hope that's fine with you. Good Luck in Avorion.

[rickcarson]

Thanks for the synopsis, though I'm unclear on a couple of things.

Firstly you keep insinuating that you think that I think that anybody with less experience than me is a lesser lifeform. I don't know where you got that idea, and it's a gross misrepresentation of how I think and feel and I'd like you to stop, please. It makes me uncomfortable just reading it.

I wouldn't spend so much time trying to help other people if I thought they were worthless.

Secondly, and more to the point of play styles, you say you have 700+ hours in the game, but it's not clear how that matches up with talking about new players not having access to naonite? E.g. I remember talking to someone whose style of play was that they just wanted to build stations so they never progressed beyond naonite even with 300+ hours of play. And that's fine. If they enjoy playing that way that's great. I'm not going to tell them their fun is wrong. The problem was they were making a bunch of assertions about the game that just weren't true _if_ you progressed beyond naonite. So what they were telling other people about the game was 100% true _for their chosen play style_ ... but not true in general. And it took a _long_ time to drill down into their assumptions to figure that out and frankly it was a bit exhausting.

So ... to be 100% clear ... with your 700+ hours how far into the galaxy have you gotten? Are you still in the iron/titanium area? If so - and I say this in a non-judgemental manner - the common advice is to not build stations in that region. The reason is that ships get larger as you get closer to the center. And that includes trade ships. So the implication is that any station where you want NPCs to buy anything from you should be in naonite (and probably deep into naonite and preferably in trinium), otherwise the quantities the NPC will buy will be kind of piddly.

Now so that's the conventional advice, and as a bit of an iconoclast I'd say in counterpoint to it that if you're using the stations in a production chain in a station complex then you (probably?) don't give two hoots about what the NPCs are doing.

That said, even the longest production chain still has a final product, and whatever that is (unless you're feeding it into components for turret making??) will benefit from being in naonite or trinium (if you want to sell it to NPCs).

So I feel like it's not an unfair assumption that people will have access to naonite if they're building stations or deploying mines. Although I do know of at least one guy who steadfastly refused to go any _further in_ than naonite and his main thing was to build stations.

---------

Personally I came to Avorion _because_ I was looking for a space mining game (my other one of choice got de-platformed), so I respect your choice of profession / style of play, and I 100% support you in that.

[Night Writer]

Good Luck in Avorion.

[KnifeHeart]

I usually use the bottan artifact on my docking / transport ship. Cuts jump time significantly. If you're not far in enough to have that, yeah - step 8 is just as agonizing as you say it is.