Freighter fleets

[Marik]

Not sure how to use these? I built one but don't see any actual fleet to move or do anything with - how do we use these?

Marik

[aReclusiveMind]

In order to use a freighter fleet, you must first build an outpost on an asteroid belt using an outpost ship. The larger the asteroid belt, the better (they come in small, medium, and large).

Once you've established an outpost on an asteroid belt, you will have access to 3 types of exploitation. Production, Research, or Trade. Research and Trade do not require freighters.

When you choose to establish a Production exploitation, it will use the freighter fleet automatically. The amount of freighter fleets you have available, and that you have in total, is tracked at the top of your galaxy screen to the right of your normal ship support points (SSP) and strategic resources.

Production asteroid exploitations are a great way to get bonus production over to a colony. They are especially nice for building up your new colonies as they give a flat bonus that is independent from the number of pops living on the planet.

[gaiuskonstantine]

Just to clarify as this confused me at first also.

Production exploitation is the only type of Asteroid outpost that requires a freighter fleet to operate.
You must have the freighter fleet available before the option to select production exploitation can be selected.

[DiscoJer]

This is actually one of the odder quirks of the game. Freighter fleets only have one use and that is to channel production from an asteroid to a colony.

I dunno why that couldn't have been abstracted, like how trade doesn't need you to build ships, but eh

[Marik]

Ok thanks for the info - so does the colony that builds the freighter only get the benefit then, or does it go to all colonies?

Or do you have a choice when establishing the asteroid as production type which colony will get the benefit if you have an existing trade fleet?

Or does is depend on location of the asteroid to the colony?

Marik

[gaiuskonstantine]

Originally posted by Marik:

Ok thanks for the info - so does the colony that builds the freighter only get the benefit then, or does it go to all colonies?

Or do you have a choice when establishing the asteroid as production type which colony will get the benefit if you have an existing trade fleet?

Or does is depend on location of the asteroid to the colony?

Marik

Once you set the asteroid field to production, click on the field showing production. Your colonies will appear on the left, click on the colony you want to receive the benefit. In other words, the benefit is received by a single colony (not system), per construction exploit, that you get to decide.

[MizzouRah]

I put an outpost on a small asteroid field that says "no exploits" or something like that.. will that change over time?

[gaiuskonstantine]

Originally posted by MizzouRah:

I put an outpost on a small asteroid field that says "no exploits" or something like that.. will that change over time?

Click right where it says "no exploits" and all the available options will be shown, manually select a choice once that happens

[MizzouRah]

Originally posted by gaiuskonstantine:

Originally posted by MizzouRah:

I put an outpost on a small asteroid field that says "no exploits" or something like that.. will that change over time?

Click right where it says "no exploits" and all the available options will be shown, manually select a choice once that happens

Thanks.. finally figured it out!

[Galactic Origins]

Originally posted by DiscoJer:

This is actually one of the odder quirks of the game. Freighter fleets only have one use and that is to channel production from an asteroid to a colony.

I dunno why that couldn't have been abstracted, like how trade doesn't need you to build ships, but eh

simple answer ...
the freighter fleet is not destroyed when a player loses an asteroid field during war
the freighter fleet can be used when such a field is retaken, or used elsewhere
freighter fleets do use ship support points
also, the freighter fleet start and stop points are tracked across the map

I like the way asteroid field production is handled

[Marik]

Thanks again for the info!

Marik

[NETLIGH7]

Originally posted by MizzouRah:

I put an outpost on a small asteroid field that says "no exploits" or something like that.. will that change over time?

Actually you need to left-click on the "no exploits" blinking text at the asteroidfield to get to the menu where you can set what to do with the asteroid-field. I guess learning by doing/guessing is still part of the deal. But hey, compared to some of the other titles, this game has a very gentle learning-curve. I love it.

[NETLIGH7]

For those of us who weren't the first to discover these things, it is much easier to get the answers here, but I feel for the guys who had to figure these things out the first time around. Sometimes learning how to play is a mini puzzle game in itself. Hey you get two games in one, 1) figure out how to play 2) play. ;-)

[Gore]

Freighter fleets (ff) are also used for migration.
You can set colonies to emigration or immigration. This then affects the effective population growth by lowering it by the number of emigrated and raising it by the number of immigrated pops.
Beware though:
The effect is rather small and the number of ff needed increases with = [# of emigrating colonies] x [# number of immigrating colonies]

So it very quickly becomes too expensive in terms of upkeep for the ffs and micromanagement.

(This is another mechanic that I consider imbalanced and a worsening compared to the "original" straight forward MOO2 mechanic.)