Auto-building vs importing every resource, including workers

[eZudo]

Is there any cost difference between those two? If I auto-build with rubles, is this any more expensive then importing EVERY resource at the border post for my construction office, including foreign workers waiting at the border? Or are they the same cost-wise, only auto-build being way faster?

thanks

[melkij]

For auto-purchase, you pay shipping at the rate of one ton of cargo depending on distance. Not so cheap, gravel can be twice as expensive due to shipping costs. (though I don't remember the exact numbers)

But from the point of view of expenses, another point is important. For auto-purchase, all working days are paid. Whereas a construction office can greatly reduce the required number of workdays. First of all, if you use the cranes, the productivity of external workers is greatly increased - fewer workers are needed to complete a building. Excavators, bulldozers, pavers and rollers - although they cost money to begin with, plus eat up some fuel - can even replace many workers in the construction of buildings and roads.

Here is the beginning of my republic, it took me only 718 workdays of external workers to build a settlement: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934294226 (actually even less, part was spent by accident when leveling the ground)

However, you will need to spend decent money at the very beginning on a variety of construction vehicles. Perhaps a small settlement will be cheaper to build by auto-purchase (and definitely faster). But in the longer term, construction equipment will be cheaper.

[Silent_Shadow]

It is generally cheaper to buy the material and pay foreign labor to build something rather than auto-building. This is mainly due to two factors:

• Delivery charge - Auto buying charges you a fee based on how far the building is from the border (not the edge of the map) for each ton of material. Typically it will be 4 ruble or 7 dollars per ton-km at the start of 1960, but this may increase over time or with use.
  
  Generally the fuel cost to move a ton of material a mile by truck is far less. For example, the skd 706 RTTN can travel 2 km on a dirt road for about 0.12 tons of fuel, which costs around 16 rubles. So for ~16 rubles, this truck can go a km from the customs house and back.
  • For steel, bricks, prefabs, and boards, this reduces the cost to move a ton of material a km and return the truck to the customs house to about 1.2 to 1.6 rubles per ton-km, which is a lot cheaper than the delivery fee.
    
    
  • Electrical and mechanical components do not travel so well though. the skd 706 RTTN covered hull can only carry 4.5 tons of either, which increases the cost to move a ton of them to 3.556 rubles per ton-km.
    
    
  • This is also assuming that the skd 706 is hauling a full load, as partial loads can reduce the fuel economy substantially. Mechanical and electrical components are often ordered in small amounts, so it is typically better to have them delivered to construction sites with a small truck like the FZK A07.
    
    
  • You can estimate the ideal fuel efficiency of a road vehicle by the formula: F = S × 56 ÷ E, where F is the number of km a road vehicle can go on a ton of fuel, S is the average speed the road vehicle will go in km/hr (just the typical road's limit), and E is the engine power in kW. You can multiply this number by the cargo capacity to determine the ideal fuel economy (ton-km per ton of fuel) of the vehicle.
    
    Fuel efficiency/economy is very dependent on road speed limits; upgrading dirt just to gravel gives a 71% improvement, while sharp corners and curves in your road network force the vehicle to slow down and then to use more fuel accelerating back up to speed.
  
  
• Cost of labor - You can reduce the labor costs of auto-build in a couple ways:
  • Use machine power - Many machines can replace workers in various jobs (bulldozers for roads/footpaths, excavators for groundworks, pavers for asphalt roads and factory connections, etc.). Each machine will use up a cheap amount of fuel to do the work of hundreds of workers.
    
    You also don't need to worry about wasting workers on projects or losing them due to waiting limit time outs, but machines cannot replace all worker jobs.
    
    
  • Use cranes - Cranes increase the output of workers to 550% of their normal workday output, but this number is limited to the skill/speed rating of the crane.
    
    Foreign workers always work for about 60 seconds, so each foreign worker generally equals 1 workday. Auto-build also simply multiplies the number of workdays the construction needs by the cost of a workday to get the cost for labor.
    
    When you build a construction manually, you can use cranes, which will reduce the number of workdays needed to 2/11 of whatever the construction requires because each worker works 5.5 times as hard. This saves an appreciable amount of money, especially for large constructions with many workdays.
    
    The downside is that cranes cannot always be used with workers; some constructions do not have a vehicle slot (like small sections of road/footpath, or for small buildings like the electrical substation.)
    
    Transporting workers also tends to waste some of them, either by delivering more than are needed, teleporting en route once the job is done, or one of a few other ways.

[Nokia 3310]

Time flow for foreign workers is very fast.
One foreign worker shift cost 1 w*day price, but it covers only about 0.5 w*day of construction.
So, if you do not use cranes or excavators, you have to spend x2 labour cost or even more.

[Silent_Shadow]

That's true. I forget to mention that foreign workers also have a productivity rating of their own, which typically will not be great (50 to 100%). Republic workers are typically better.

[MeyerX]

Originally posted by Silent_Shadow:

some constructions do not have a vehicle slot

Looking at you, Coal Mine! Must be a bug, right?

[Silent_Shadow]

Well, short of a jumbo rig, I cannot think of any machine that would aid in making mine tunnels. Probably not a bug, especially if you plan on staffing a mine.

[ChalwaBechatex]

Originally posted by Silent_Shadow:

Well, short of a jumbo rig, I cannot think of any machine that would aid in making mine tunnels. Probably not a bug, especially if you plan on staffing a mine.

Drill? It would be good to have one in game :)

[Silent_Shadow]

Yep, you can always ask.