Asteroid Mining

No Idea.



I noticed this too and I think it is because I only researched the basic colony tech and that your planets will reach full productiveness only when you research the advanced colony tech.

Hi!

Why don't you check by yourself? Upgrade an asteroid, move the Miner away, and click on the new minig base. In bottom part of the screen (context area) you'll get all the stats you're asking for.

BR, Iztok

The system lists what bonus the asteroid field is provided to a planet along with its max output when you click on it. For the basic level that is something like +3/+5. For each mini tile the field is away from a planet you lose one point of resource. So my example would have the planet two tiles away from the field not counting the tile the field is in nor the planet tile. The minimum a field will produce is +1. In order for a planet to get the max out of a field it must be directly next to the field.

As for how it is applied I'm pretty sure it is a direct 1/1 meaning if you are beaming +3 to a planet that planet's MP/SP/RP increase by that amount. I would need to double check that though to say 100% that it applies to all three production types.

As you upgrade the mine you increase the max amount of resources that mine produces each turn. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but I know a fully upgraded field can make quite an impact on a planet provided you aren't sending the resources halfway across the map.

As for bonus tiles I do think they were tweaked for DA but I've not noticed them occurring any less the what I remember in DL.

A basic produces 4 IP (Industry Points). A basic asteroid mine can generate up to 5 IP, but more often 3 or 4 depending on distance. So a basic asteroid mine has about the same effect as a basic factory on that planet.

An end-level factory generates 16 IP, while an asteroid mine that's one step down from the best will typically generate 18 or 19 IP. So a mid-level asteroid is somewhat better than the best factory (and doesn't cost maintenance).

I've never researched it, but I'm guessing a top-level asteroid mine doubles again, so it would be better than two Industrial Sectors. So a group of 3 asteroid fields could generate more industrial production than 7 Industrial Sectors, with no maintenance cost. The cost to build them is also pretty small, since it's only a cheap mining ship for several (though that can take time).

Maybe I should research that top level....

The effectiveness doesn't degenerate linearly. I've gotten some pretty high bonuses at long distances with the more advanced mines, and you'll always get at least one unit.

upgraded mining bases also have higher minimums, so while level 1 bases provide at least 1 industry point, a level 2 provides at least 3, and i believe a level three provides at least 6 (i can't remember what a level 4 provides off the top of my head, and maybe i'm confusing it with level 3). enough of those focused on the same planet can make a huge difference, even at signficant distance.

Do asteroids only yield IP?

They only give you manufacturing capacity, yes.

One downside to mining stations is that you can't speed up mining station upgrading at all. It takes 10 weeks to upgrade a single mining station to level 2 alone whereas factory construction can be sped up by focus or buying outright. I assume you can't get double upgrade speed by using two mining modules on a ship since trade and construction modules don't have multiple effects either. Annoyingly if you automate miner ships they seem to priorise building new stations, even if that means travelling across the map, rather than upgrade the station it is currently sitting besides.

Solution: build more miners...

the ip from the mines is also, AFAIK, for free. A huge bonus.

Indeed. Great for building up those smaller planets so you don't have to add factories then upgrade them later to something useful.

Also, the IP bonus from asteroid mines is immune to espionage effects.

I wouldn't call asteroids a HUGE bonus, but...a little bit of micro can grease your economy with them. Particularly putting out ships. If your planet's doing 142ip and you want to put out a constructor every turn, give it an asteroid. If you're doing 145ip, just redirect the asteroid somewhere else.

Asteroid fields are very easy to rip off as well. Just plant an Influence base right next to the ones along your border and they'll flip to you in no time.

I've found they're also very useful for getting those special planet types up and running. Since you can redirect them anywhere, just send a few of the more distant ones towards the Barren etc. planet you're just colonized, and you can get it actually build something. If the fields are only producing +1 to the closest planet anyway, it doesn't matter where you assign them to.

If you mean the solution to the problem of miners on automate wanting to cross a map instead of upgrading what's close to them, then your solution will almost always not work. Instead, you'll have two or more miners doing the exact same thing. Trust me, I've tried it.

I think one priority with improving mining is to give an option of automation, such as whether you want it to build as many basics as it can, or to improve bases as much as it can.

   Annoying, isn't it!

I usually control them manually until I can build miners with high speed (15+), then spam them out from every planet so that every single asteroid has it's own automated mining ship - no option but to upgrade in place then. When they're all fully upgraded, upgrade the miners to battleships or constructors en masse.

I like that idea. I'll have to try it next time I have the resources for such a mega-project.

Actually, I meant as a solution to the long upgrade times. The "upgrade lowest mining base" thing drives me nuts, too..

One improvement I'd like to see is having an "assign to closest planet" option. Right now I sometimes have to fiddle with them in order to find which one is going to benefit the most from them. If they're really distant it doesn't really matter, but sometimes I'll have two planets in a system that's already been mined, and it's not always obvious which one will benefit.

Yes, Belanos, that's really what I meant. That would be a great improvement.