Are nuclear structures really worth it?

[.farcilles]

Please only reply if you own and use nuclear structures!

Just like it says in the title, I would like to know how good nuclear structures are. Do they provide a good enough boost in production speed that having to power them each time becomes worth it?

[ArashiJoe]

TL;DR: Yes. However, what I'm about to say is just my two cents; I am, by no means, an expert player of Forager, and others may present a better description around a more ideal scenario.



They don't really provide any accelerated production; what they actually do is provide a guaranteed double output of whatever you use them to craft. Basically, instead of getting one of an item like normal, you'll get two.
It's also good to note that the double output of a Nuclear tier structure *does* stacks with the skill that gives you a chance at double output, for a chance at a total of 4x the items.

You do have to be careful about making structures Nuclear tier though, especially if you haven't gotten very far into late-game. Nuclear structures require Fuel Cells in order to operate; without them, they will not craft any items *at all*. Make sure to have a decent stockpile of Uranium and a fair amount of Toxic Sludge before you consider upgrading.

The best way to get both is by exploring the Void Biome. Even if your character isn't that strong yet, you can get free sludge and uranium at the end of every 5th floor. In addition, uranium ores start appearing at floor 6 and beyond, so it becomes relatively easy to stockpile; the real limitation is the Sludge, which only appears in the chests or as a drop from the Toxic Guardian.

If you have access to the upgraded Fire Rod as well as the Magic Scepter accessory, you can farm the void pretty easily and gather a decent amount of Toxic Sludge in a relatively short amount of time, even if you can only get through 10-15 floors at a time (the Thunder Elemental boss start appearing around the 9th floor). Higher attack damage, attack speed, and movement speed will make this even quicker and easier, and you get more sludge from each chest as you make it to further floors through the void. In my experience, you get an amount of sludge equal to 5 times the current floor number, but I've only made it to about Floor 35.

If you can upgrade a building to Nuclear Tier with about 5 fuel cells that would be an ideal time to start upgrading. I recommend beefing up a Factory first to increase Electronics (you're going to need them), and upgrading a Power Plant isn't a bad idea either since they can automatically distribute fuel cells to your other Nuclear tier structures.

[Yaviel_]

Just want to add one more note to above...very good explanation. If you are in early game and want to start collecting Nuclear supplies, set up several banks and several markets. Nuclear supplies show up in the markets on and off. Empty your banks and go shopping to help increase your stock for later in the game usage. As for whether or not it's worth it? Can't answer that cause I've not set up any nuclear structures yet. I'm just preparing for later. When ready, I will probably set a separate area aside for a Nuclear Fall Out Factory.

[Drokmon]

Just completed the Single Island Challenge with the Nuclear update. Nuclear factories are absolutely worth it since it takes so long to make electronics / plastic / fibreglass, so increasing the drops saves a ton of time. Even more so when upgrading cosmic steel to nuclear machinery; you don't need to get as many legendary gems to upgrade to nuclear items.
If you plan on using them, I would recommend upgrading your pickaxe and sword to nuclear tier ASAP so that toxic sludge can drop off of resources and enemies. One trip to the void to collect uranium, and you're all set.