MPU WTF

[Scobee]

I took me about 3 runs after I got my first MPU to realize that it KEEPS PROCESSING minerals and I guess just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ yeets them into oblivion if you are out of PROCESSED storage. I assumed if my processed W storage was full at 7000kg and I picked up more W ore it would just stay in the damned unprocessed cargo bay, but it just disappears!

Am I stupid?

[Scobee]

I think I am stupid. I bought the Voyager Fabrication Plant. I think it's using my minerals to do other ♥♥♥♥.

[aY227]

No, it will always "eat" ore unless turned off.
If processed W is full and you will take W chunk it will disappear.

Voyager uses Iron for ammo and Iron + little platinum for drones

[Scobee]

Originally posted by aY227:

No, it will always "eat" ore unless turned off.

This sucks, but thanks for confirming.

[aY227]

It would clog cargo bay otherwise.
But IIRC there was some discussion about ejecting processed cargo in future.

[FreedomFighter]

Because most of MPUs can replenish propellant from a chunk of ice so it keep on processing them. Although, the one that doesn't replenish propellant will still eat the entire chunk anyway. You should turn it off once the processed ore storage is full or prioritize other ore type instead since processed ore storage is its own individual unit.

[Marrethiel]

if I recall correctly you can disable or types from the geologist tab... hmmm that might have been the tug drones.

[Tamara]

Once your cargo is full, you can disable it by using the little switches next to the name in the F menu.

[AtomHeartDragon]

I think it would be nicest if, on running out of processed stuff you'd just get pure metal nuggets stripped of volatiles in your cargo bay.

So basically processsing just concentrates nugget down to 100% metal, if you have storage then it just disappears into storage, if not it keeps bouncing around in the cargo bay.

[Koder]

Originally posted by AtomHeartDragon:

I think it would be nicest if, on running out of processed stuff you'd just get pure metal nuggets stripped of volatiles in your cargo bay.

So basically processsing just concentrates nugget down to 100% metal, if you have storage then it just disappears into storage, if not it keeps bouncing around in the cargo bay.

We tried that, and players complained that their MPU was getting clogged by unprocessable cargo.

[AtomHeartDragon]

Originally posted by Koder:

Originally posted by AtomHeartDragon:

I think it would be nicest if, on running out of processed stuff you'd just get pure metal nuggets stripped of volatiles in your cargo bay.

So basically processsing just concentrates nugget down to 100% metal, if you have storage then it just disappears into storage, if not it keeps bouncing around in the cargo bay.

We tried that, and players complained that their MPU was getting clogged by unprocessable cargo.

Just open excavator, reverse thrust and hurk the nugget out. Is it that hard?
Alternatively add MPU toggles to dump/retain specific metals when over capacity (or maybe even by default - imagine catching iron just to boil off some water propellant and dump the rest.

[Uriel]

I can totally picture a crew member in charge of proper MPU management. Tell them what to keep, what to throw away, if priority should be give nto refueling and whatnot... Opening options to several ways to use the MPU. At least two :

- Just like it is now, let's call it "priority to refueling"
- A mode that halts refueling, but nicely stacks ore bricks into the cargo hold, let's call it "priority to processing"

Of course, some MPU would be better for that than others. The basic Russatom-Antonoff one would be exceptionnaly good for it, despite its low yield, since the whole cargo bay can be processed.

[AtomHeartDragon]

I'd say have MPU screen with 3 state "discard" switch per metal: always, excess, never.

Then you boil off volatiles of nuggets and once they hit 100% concentration, based on the flag and storage state:
* always - the ore gets vented (handy if you're picking low value metals, but only want propellant and not extra mass)
* excess - the ore gets put in the storage, excess is vented
* never - the ore gets put in storage, excess nugget stays in the hold

[Ragnaman]

We have Geologists, put them to work and when having one give ability to dynamically allocate storage of various processed materials. Not sure how this works with separate cargo boxes, but maybe one could also allocate which materials gets sent home first with them from the same screen as well.

Ah, i see there are many good suggestions already. Definitely would be an improvement over current exercise in disappointment.

[Uriel]

Originally posted by Ragnaman:

h, i see there are many good suggestions already. Definitely would be an improvement over current exercise in disappointment.

A while ago there was a rather hot topic about MPUs, with at least one person claiming they served no purpose and were inefficient, to whichothers replied that sometimes you just want to bring as much as you can in a single trip instead of maxing money relative to player time, and so on. So a few sugestions flew around.

Koder replied to one thing about limited space per material. Apparently, the in-game justification for having exactly the same space allocated to each mineral is that there are chemicals to separate materials from each other, and when you're out, you can't store them anymore.

Gotta admit, I wasn't all too convinced. That would be a pretty realistic take I suppose, but we don't pick space icebergs with X% Vanadium, Y% Iron and Z% Palladium, we pick icebergs which contain 1 mineral, and maybe traces of others.

The game is pretty amazing, but improving the way storing minerals works would be awesome.

[AtomHeartDragon]

I really think we should be able to allocate processed storage pre-dive too.