Supplying the Headquarters

[Pyroden]

I just recently got back into X3 and been having a blast with FL, so thank you to all the folks that made it possible.

My question is how to feed the player HQ resources. In TC and AP I remember automating this using CLS software, but in FL I've been running into some problems and pretty much every guide I can find refers to AP or TC, and thus references CLS.

So what I have is two complexes that produce all the items required by the HQ to build anything it's capable of short of the discovery only components. What I would like to do is have automated ships deliver said components to the HQ up to the designated maximum amount using the minimum amount of ships possible. For reference the only mods I'm using are the unofficial patch and TC/AP Plots.

So basically I just want to use my complexes to supply my HQ as needed without buying wares, or at least only buying them if my complexes are empty.

I tried setting up trade distribution runs but ended up with ship just flying back and forth with a full load of energy cells once the HQ was full. This could very well likely be due to me not setting it up properly, so if anyone has any guidance on this, it would be appreciated. My next try was setting up the station manager at my PHQ. I set the two ships I had home based to Buy and set my complexes as supply stations. All wares were also set as resource and the jump range set to 50. This worked great for a while, my two ships were gathering from my two complexes and delivering to my HQ when possible and then purchasing wares if my complexes were empty. They continued on this way for a while, but then they just stopped. They just sit in my HQ with no orders even though there are plenty of wares within range either from my complexes or npc stations. Nothing I do seems to get them moving again. If I dock a ship with a resource; say microchips; and then transfer them to one of my managed ships, they transfer the wares to the PHQ automatically and then continue to sit with no orders.

So basically, I'm just looking for the best way to automate resource deliver to the PHQ in FL. I know I can do it by setting up a single ship per resource, but I'm sure I'm just missing something, so any help is greatly appreciated.

[Jimmy C]

I tried setting up trade distribution runs but ended up with ship just flying back and forth with a full load of energy cells once the HQ was full. This could very well likely be due to me not setting it up properly,

You used Stock and no waiting to fill up the HQ, correct? You did set it up properly. This is just a consequence of how TD works. There is no way to order the ship to wait at the source or the destination until it is needed at the other location. So it just bounces between the two locations until it can execute either of its TD orders.

If it's within your own sector, it should be fine when there's no incursions. And look on the bright side, at least it's not tying down a docking port.

I have to ask, are you constantly building stuff at the HQ? If you aren't, then I suggest you stockpile the items at the complex instead and transfer them manually only when you need to use them to build something at the HQ. Have a few TLs (one won't be enough) waiting within transporter range of the complex, then have TSes to do the transfers when necessary.

[BrigandPhantos77]

My question is how to feed the player HQ resources.

There is a lot of ways to feed it. Recycling captured ships is always viable. I like to board the Duke's Zeus' a few times when I need to build something heavy like an I or Pteranodon. Having a couple automated miners helps too. I keep one silicon and 1 ore going at most times.

For the rest- factories/complexes. For the PHQ, set needed slots to resource only.

[Pyroden]

I have to ask, are you constantly building stuff at the HQ? If you aren't, then I suggest you stockpile the items at the complex instead and transfer them manually only when you need to use them to build something at the HQ. Have a few TLs (one won't be enough) waiting within transporter range of the complex, then have TSes to do the transfers when necessary.

Currently I'm not building much, just boarding pods. I'm currently stocking the HQ to build a TOA, once that's done, the majority of what I'll be building won't require near as many resources so it won't be as big an issue. Funny thing is the station manager was doing exactly what I was wanting for a while and then it just stopped all together. Oddly enough, if i queue up a couple of boarding pods, the station manager will send one of the ships to a supply station for one of the wares, drops them off at the HQ, and then just stops again even though there's still plenty of storage and wares not close to the maximum amount. I'll probably just manually deliver the remaining wares to get the TOA built and then go from there.

I'll play around with trade distribution some more and will probably just end up using a couple of TL's as buffer storage until I can figure out whats going on with the station manager.

Thanks for the help.

And just a quick update. A few minutes after posting this I found the issue with the station manager. Apparently with the HQ, it will only gather wares if there is something in the production queue and you don't have enough resources on hand. With nothing in the queue, the two ships just sat with no orders, but as soon as I added the TOA to the queue, they both happily started gathering resources again. I'll keep an eye on it, but looks like everything is working how I expected now.

[Jimmy C]

For boarding pods, L to XXL factories can hold everything necessary for 100 pods. If your complex produces other stuff as well, you'll easily have enough surplus ore, silicon, food and ecells all the time too.
The materials for 100 pods are sufficient for building almost anything else. If you do happen to need more, go hunt down an M1 or M2 for recycling. Might as well put the pods to use, yes?

[Pyroden]

Oh I have no problem producing plenty of boarding pods and putting them to good use. The Yaki have been gracious enough to "gift" me many ships which have been funding my other endeavors.

Producing enough stuff for the HQ wasn't an issue, it was figuring out how to best move it all to it when I decided to make something larger, like a TOA. Thankfully it looks like I've figured out the issue I was having with the station manager and my ships are happily supplying it from my factories with no issues. During the time it took to get it all figured out, I've amassed a small fleet of Ryu's as well as a few of pretty much every other Yaki capital ship, so stockpiling, moving, and defending the HQ shouldn't be an issue going forward either.