Burianek's 2ndry Production Lines NEW v. 1.2 - AL plugin!

[Burianek]

update:

v1.2 -
This script has been completely rewritten to take advantage of the new Artificial Life standards introduced in version 1.4. It runs much more cleanly now, and the new AL version is a piece of cake to install / uninstall. This update is worth the time to upgrade.
Now, when you turn the script off using the AL settings page, it will actually remove the secondary resources from any factory which has them installed. The wares on board your stations will be liquidated for the minimum price, and the credits will be deposited to your player account. Better still, the game keeps track of which stations had the secondary production lines installed, so if you decide to reactivate the script later, all of the stations that previously had it installed will again have the secondary production lines active.
Also, text messages have been completely redone and reformatted, they're a lot prettier to look at now.
A load of polish all around has been applied.

v1.1 -
rewrote according to new X2 version 1.4 standards.
Added functionality so that the command to add 2ndry production will only be displayed if your ship's current target is a player owned factory.

Get from the site in my signature.
Called X2SecProdBurv1.2.zip
right click and save as . . .

Installation instructions are given in the readme.

[shameless plug]
Works well with my laser / economy rebalance
[/shameless plug]

excerpts from readme:

Congratulations for downloading Burianek's Secondary Production Lines script package!
These scripts add flexibility to the X2 economy model by allowing players to use secondary resources.
There are four types of secondary resource production lines, which can be added to most stations. These are described in detail below.
These secondary production lines are completely independent of the primary production of the station.
They can be thought of as 'a factory within a factory'
The cycle times are different from the primary cycle times, and a factory can be in primary production, secondary production, both, or neither.
In general, these add-on production lines supplement the profitability of your stations, but the secondary lines are just that, secondary.
They are nowhere near as profitable as the main production line of your factory.

To add a secondary production line to a station that you own:
target the station with a ship which has the trading system extension installed
in the Trade menu, you will see a new option 'Add 2ndry Production'
select this command and the script will prompt you for which type of 2ndry production line you wish to install.
The four choices are listed below, next to their corresponding number.
Details on the production benefits of each production line are also listed below.
General descriptions of the scientific theory behind how each works is given, as well as the concrete numbers and facts.

Yes, these production lines have far reaching effects into the economy model.
Yes new loop structures are possible given creative implementation of these add-on production lines.
I'll let you figure them out on your own, but I purposefully chose parameters for this script to make it as transparent as possible.


Types of secondary production lines available for purchase:


1. Energy Efficient Subroutines - Does your station struggle to keep stocked with energy cells? This could be just the thing for you!

Description:
A central computer algorithm is installed and run from the station logistics management office. It monitors all circuitry on board the station in real time and dynamically adjusts for various situations. Rooms that are determined to have less frequent traffic have lights dimmed by small percentages, robotic assistants that are determined to be performing redundant or unnecessary tasks are powered down until needed, etc. Excess energy saved in this fashion is stored in the station circuitry and rerouted to main energy storage facilities at regular intervals.

The result is that the factory is able to operate using 25% less energy than normal.

Various computer monitoring devices and controls are installed throughout the station and the system needs to be maintained. Every so often a computer component will wear out and need to be replaced. The station should keep extra components on board so that the systems may be maintained and run correctly.

Facts / Statistics:
This production line costs 75,000 credits to install.
When this production line is installed, every 32 minutes a computer component will be used, and 120 energy cells will be added to the main storage.
If computer components are unavailable, the system will shut down until they become available.
If energy storage is maxed out, the system will not operate so that computer components are not used up.
This system cannot be installed on Computer Plants or Solar Power Plants. (try in game to read the text to see why)



2. Next Generation Ore Smelting Techniques - Having trouble finding high yield asteroids where you want to set up production? Try this out!

Description:
This process is still referred to as smelting by the engineering staff, but in actuality it involves superheating the ore to be refined to the point of vaporization. Vaporization is accomplished using a mobile drilling system which has been specially rigged as part of a massive vaporization chamber. This vaporization chamber is air tight, and the resultant vapors are passed through a complex series of tubing and channels separated by valves to cool and separate the 'good' vapors from the toxic byproducts. The byproducts are routed out into space. The remaining vapors are cooled and pressed into a grade of refined ore many factors more pure than that available through conventional means. The facility is so versatile that if ore is not available on the station, the engineers can actually cannibalize any metal fixtures around the station. Metal tables, doors, exterior plating, etc. can all be scavenged and vaporized in the facility to provide refined ore for use in production.

These techniques combine to reduce the amount of ore needed for production by 50%.

Quantum tubes are used extensively in the network of byproduct and cooling tubes and channels. They tend to wear out in the harsh environment and need to be replaced every so often for the machinery to operate within safe parameters. The station will need to keep extra quantum tubes on board so that the apparatus may be properly maintained.

Facts / Statistics:
This production line costs 150,000 credits to install.
A mobile drilling system must be placed in storage at the station for the production line to function.
When this production line is installed, every 32 minutes a quantum tube will be used, and 40 ore will be added to the main storage.
If quantum tubes are unavailable, the system will shut down until they become available.
If ore storage is maxed out, the system will not operate so that quantum tubes are not used up.
This system cannot be installed on any station which does not have ore as a primary resource, or Mobile Drilling System Fabs. (try in game to read the text to see why)



3. Silicon Recombination Facility - Good silicon asteroids can be tough to find, install one of these today!

Description:
Every living being contains trace amounts of silicon, from the cell walls of plant life to the skeletons of human beings. Using new theoretical techniques, these trace amounts can be extracted from common waste products and fused together into solid, refined, spheres of silicon. Routing all common station waste through a silicon recombination facility can yield a considerable amount of solid silicon. The actual procedure is accomplished by rewiring a standard mobile drilling system to run more or less 'in reverse'. Instead of violently tearing the target apart, these modified drilling rigs violently slam the target inputs together. A magnetic field directs the liberated energy to vaporize unwanted elements. The remainder of the energy liberated in the reaction is used to fuse the resultant silicon molecules together into a solid sphere.

This facility reduces the amount of conventional silicon needed to be imported by 50%.

The only problem with this procedure is that the modified drilling systems run at extremely high temperatures while this process is underway. These superheated temperatures have been known to fry the internal circuits of the drilling systems from time to time. They can be easily repaired by replacing the burnt out microchips. For this reason, the station should keep spare microchips on board so that the facility does not need to be shut down when the installed chips malfunction.

Facts / Statistics:
This production line costs 100,000 credits to install.
A mobile drilling system must be placed in storage at the station for the production line to function.
When this production line is installed, every 128 minutes a microchip will be used, and 40 silicon will be added to the main storage.
If microchips are unavailable, the system will shut down until they become available.
If silicon storage is maxed out, the system will not operate so that microchips are not used up.
This system cannot be installed on any station which does not have silicon as a primary resource, Chip Plants, or Mobile Drilling System Fabs. (try in game to read the text to see why)

*note that with either mineral production line it would be possible to bypass needing a mined asteroid at all! Simply place a second station near the one needing the supply of minerals, and install the 2ndry production lines on both. 50% + 50% = 100% of the minerals needed to run one station. If you want to spend over a million dollars hauling a second station out to use it more or less as a mobile asteroid and not have it produce anything itself, be my guest. It's your million credits.*



4. Spacefly Furnace - Join the Split! Exploit nature for financial gain and high profit!

Description:
Now you can use the same technology the split have been using for years. It's pretty simple really, add spaceflies to the furnace and out comes energy. Not the most humane thing in the world perhaps, but what can we say? This is business.

Spacefly furnaces supply 50% of the total energy required for the station.

Facts / Statistics:
This production line costs 400,000 credits to install.
When this production line is installed, every 80 minutes a spacefly will be used, and 600 energy will be added to the main storage.
If spaceflies are unavailable, the system will shut down until they become available.
If energy storage is maxed out, the system will not operate so that spaceflies are not used up.
This system cannot be installed on Solar Power Plants. (try in game to read the text to see why)

[smiley]

Wow, this looks great.

May well try this out alomg with the MWM when 1.4 comes out.

Good work (assuming it works, of course)

Smiley

[marklaverty]

nice one Burianek !

[Burianek]

nice one Burianek !

Thanks for all your help.
Couldn't have written it without your scripting guide and a lot of kind assistance.
(the global variable was a lifesaver)

[Slocket]

Good work! I was playing with one of your older Economy Mods.

I wonder can you not script a SPP to make only 240 E-cells per cycle instead of 276 to fix the the SPP major profit problem? Just subtract E-cells and make it run in the background.

It is nice to see some scripts to spice up the simple economy. Many of the NPC stations use Secondary resources if they are out of Primary resources; and I always thought why not for the player too for more fun?

This is a step in the right direction. What do you think?

[Burianek]

I wonder can you not script a SPP to make only 240 E-cells per cycle instead of 276 to fix the the SPP major profit problem? Just subtract E-cells and make it run in the background.

You could. I 'fixed' this problem with spps in my econ fix versions 0.25 and 3.0 by just making spps cost a lot more. I like that solution better, because the game makes you think quite a bit more when you can't just drop down spps everywhere. (regardless of profit) It's more challenging to keep factories supplied and running. I like that additional mental exercise.

Many of the NPC stations use Secondary resources if they are out of Primary resources

They actually don't, but that's a separate discussion

This is a step in the right direction. What do you think?

Of course! Hope you enjoy it.
I modeled the math so that installing these production lines doesn't always make sense, depending on the resources around you.
It's actually more expensive to run an energy efficient station using components purchased from a trading station if energy is cheaply available near you.
I'm hoping players will have to think a great deal more given the new flexibility this offers.
'Can I get components easily or should I just pay a bit more for the energy?'
'Can I string a number of energy efficient stations into a better closed loop structure somehow? Are there any downsides to this?'
'Should I be making my own quantum tubes as I'm in a very low ore area of the galaxy? Can I rely on local npc supplies?'
'Would it be safe to send my transport four sectors for the Microchips (I wouldn't need to make the trip very often), or should I just pay the extortionist prices of the local silicon mine?'

[SetiRobert]

looks cool gotta try that tonight

Nice job Burianek

[Burianek]

Anybody trying this out feel free to post harsh unmerciful criticism

I was toying with the idea of not allowing spacefly furnace purchases in 'civilized' sectors. (Argon, Boron, Paranid)
What do you guys think?

[SetiRobert]

quote]I was toying with the idea of not allowing spacefly furnace purchases in 'civilized' sectors. (Argon, Boron, Paranid)
What do you guys think?[/quote]

hmmm, why not if you install the furnace your factory gets attacked
by that race police

just a thought

[Slocket]

Did you ever find out what happens to respawned NPC stations in Econ v3.0? That is the one I am playing with.

The thing about the SPP, it only requires ONE input. I just set down in Argon Prime a wheat farm 11k/hr and went mobile mining (required my full attention but makes insane profits; that is OK since you can not do it full time attention) to get my first 1.7 million for my first SPP then I was racking in 35k plus /hour.

Once you are over the initial SPP sticker shock, the profit making is huge to pay it back quick. At 240 cells, you are not guaranteed a profit (1.3 to 1.15), it was that way in X-T. So, unless you sold for more that 14 credits on the AVG, no profit.

The SPP in X-T was done great, could be bought for a lower cost for a starter low end product factory which it is, but the only way to make a real profit from them is to baby sit them, which can be done in the early game, later they can just be used to fuel your empire factories.

Thus it maybe better to use them in your own loop if in an energy rich sector later on.

Else the way it is now in Econ v3.0, I get my first SPP to make huge 35k/hr profits to buy the next SPP chain, etc. The same Energy Empire is back again!!?? Can you help me here on this. I do like your Mods, just a suggestion.

It also encouraged, 'elimination of the competition' NPC SPP if you wanted to corner the market.

I like your Econ Mod 3.0 but I would make the mining factory a bit cheaper. To start out with, you need (well not really if you like to guess) a Mineral scanner and a TS XL to sell later you get in game, but most times I play open sandbox with no story line in the way (Kha'ak are still there). Maybe lower the factory cost of the Mines by that 40k to start with so that I am not forced to go with a cheap wheat farm most of the time at the beginning.

As for the new Prod Mod. Can you make the player factory use a Secondary resource in place of the Primary Resource? Or maybe 'require' a secondary resource which gets used up slowly in order for the factory to even work? That would be even more of a challenge. Once in awhile you would need to go get a load of say Stott spices to keep your Space Feul factory running (make that beer taste spicier!).

UPDATE: I read your link to the Economy works, very good information! I see you figured out alot that can be modified and how things work. Gives me something tto think about. I guess you could lower the SPP from 138 to 120, but would that throw the universe off? I do see if you used two primary resources from the same typew uses OR logic. If two different types AND logic to produce. Fi running a Space feul factory needs energy and wheat. If you script in scott spices as a primary resource, what would happen? It would run with either wheat or scott spices present, or require both to be present to run?

[Burianek]

Did you ever find out what happens to respawned NPC stations in Econ v3.0? That is the one I am playing with.

They don't respawn

The SPP in X-T was done great, could be bought for a lower cost for a starter low end product factory which it is, but the only way to make a real profit from them is to baby sit them, which can be done in the early game, later they can just be used to fuel your empire factories.

. . . .

Else the way it is now in Econ v3.0, I get my first SPP to make huge 35k/hr profits to buy the next SPP chain, etc. The same Energy Empire is back again!!?? Can you help me here on this. I do like your Mods, just a suggestion.

I could alter the profitability in my v3.0 mod that requires the workaround by changing ware price. Altering the parameters of primary production by itself is darn near impossible with the script editor. There are no commands that allow you to adjust number of wares produced etc. and it's tough to sync up a manually created loop with the primary production (no easy way to do it, so requires constant commands watching for flags to be tripped etc. on every one of your stations, becomes a nightmare) It could be done, I'm just not sure it's worth it. It'd be easier just to change the average price of energy from 16 to 12, or even easier, tighten the range of prices from 9 to 23 down to something like 12 to 20. That would curb the spps ability to make money. Believe it or not though, I actually don't mind having them as profit makers as long as they're expensive. They're the only factory that can really 'fix' the local economy by adding surplus goods to it, so I want them kind of expensive and out of reach of newer players. I could make them obscenely expensive to make it even harder to set up an 'energy empire' like you say, but to tell you the truth I think I've placed them fairly given their profit potential. If you were to take the money you spend on a single SPPs now and put down five to eight wheat farms or so instead in decent locations, you'd make much more with the wheat farms with a similar investment of capital.

As for the new Prod Mod. Can you make the player factory use a Secondary resource in place of the Primary Resource? Or maybe 'require' a secondary resource which gets used up slowly in order for the factory to even work? That would be even more of a challenge.

Yes it would, and if I could do this, you'd see something a great deal more creative than what I've done in this script. It may be possible to tie a manually run script in with the default primary production of a factory, but it certainly isn't easy. It may actually require divine intervention to function properly. (There just aren't any economy/production related commands in the script editor, production is mainly hard-coded)

[marklaverty]

any time

(and thanks for your help too, will PM you with more news soon )

[Slocket]

OK I see your reasoning on the SPP subject.

Are youy saying that NPC station do not respawn (including Pirate bases) with the Mod? I thought they respawned normally in the normal game after a time, the NPC stations respawn; and the pirate bases randomly once below total of 6 in the X2 universe.

That is because I seen swarms of Kha'ak or pirates blow away a station in Boron space. I thought it was to respawn after 24 hours of time? Is that not normal for the game? Even asteroids do not respawn? Please clarify, it is important to me.

I have taken out the competition to boost my Wheat Monopoly and I assume they will respawn later. Is it no NPC station will respawn, or just some of them? Since they respawn and are 'created' on the fly while the Mod is in work, the game will try to adjust the NPC station parameters to fit the hard coded flow. If it can not, then they do not respawn at all?

In the post on the link above I thought a new station can be scripted to use two primary resources (plus energy), just use it to replace the original space feul factory. Two primary wheat and stott spices, plus energy. Instead of just plain old wheat and energy.

[Burianek]

Are youy saying that NPC station do not respawn (including Pirate bases) with the Mod? I thought they respawned normally in the normal game after a time, the NPC stations respawn; and the pirate bases randomly once below total of 6 in the X2 universe.

My mod does not alter/affect what the game does with spawning stations in any manner.
*note to all that we are talking about my econ fix v.3.0 here*
I have been told, (but have not tested myself) that npc factories do not respawn in X2. Pirate bases I think are a special case. Pirate bases must respawn or the setting to allow/disallow respawning wouldn't make much sense. Asteroids, i have been told, respawn after a random amount of time.

Since they respawn and are 'created' on the fly while the Mod is in work, the game will try to adjust the NPC station parameters to fit the hard coded flow.

If what I was told is in error, and npc stations do respawn given some certain criteria, i'd imagine they will be affected by the mod. For most stations, the player won't see a difference as the cycle time will be adjusted, but the player won't care since it's an npc factory. When I tested my mod, I found that one or two ultra high end (PPC) factories, the ones with really high cycle times, wouldn't get set up correctly and wouldn't start production.
Does that make more sense?

In the post on the link above I thought a new station can be scripted to use two primary resources (plus energy), just use it to replace the original space feul factory. Two primary wheat and stott spices, plus energy. Instead of just plain old wheat and energy.

You could. I haven't thought this completely through. I toyed with the idea of making "border stations" or "flexible work crews" where if you had a station, let's say, on the edge of argon and paranid space, you could purchase an add on that would make both meatsteaks and soja husks available as primary resources so that you could buy food wherever it was cheaper. I may add something like that in the future.

For your example for spacefuel, stott spices are an 'adv food' wheat is a 'basic food' if you made both primary resources the station would indeed require both to operate. You can't adjust the rate at which it's consumed if it's part of the primary production run though, to say, make it consumed very slowly. So adding it would kill the profitability of the station. More spacefuel wouldn't be produced, it would just take more resources, and hence be more costly, to produce each batch. That station wouldn't work at all. It would be nice if more fuel was produced per run, to reflect the fact that you're putting more inputs in, but it doesn't work that way.

[Slocket]

Could an extra primary resource be added to a SPP to make it less profitable and more challenging? Then the price of the SPP factory could be lowered, since it makes alot of profit for a 'one' input factory -make it into a two input factory.

Also thanks for the reply. I did read only Pirate (random places), asteroids, Shipyards, and Trade stations respawn. I guess that question is still not completly known.

One last question on the V3 Econ Mod, why are the Ore mine and Silicon Mine so expensive 280k when it average profit is the same as a wheat factory. Plus it takes a mineral scanner at 40k to look for a good asteriod. Is it because a good yield asteriod makes alot of profit with a fast cycle time?

For the silicon mine and wheat farm starting out are about the same profit per minute, the wheat farm factory cost is 180k compared to 280k for the silicon mine. Why should I ever think about a silicon mine in the beginning game?

[Burianek]

Could an extra primary resource be added to a SPP to make it less profitable and more challenging?

Possibly. Scripting seems to affect spps a bit differently than other factories. For example, you can't (I haven't been able to) create a spp with scripts. Every one i try to script only produces 2 energy cells per cycle. It may be possible to add another resource to every spp. Doing so would throw closed loop construction way out of whack though. I'm adverse to trying anything like this. I just think it creates too many problems.

Is it because a good yield asteriod makes alot of profit with a fast cycle time?

Bingo. I think I explained this in the readme. It's also because silicon has a wide price variation, so a well placed silicon mine (even an avg yield one) can make more than a wheat farm

[Burianek]

Anyone have any comments on these 2ndry production scripts?

[Slocket]

I think the extra production Wares are great to spice up the game! Need more. I still need to play with them and tell you how I see them working in game.

I like the idea that they are not guarenteed a profit unless you think about where you place them on what station and set them up.

I believe you want other people here that may have tried them to comment?

Hey People, speak up! This a great Extra Production Mod Burianek Made here. It is almost like getting an un official add-on!

[Slocket]

I have a question on the Energy efficient 25% secondary line.

I see that only about 1k an hour can be 'made'. So for 75k to install, it would take 75 real time hours to get my investment back?

Computer component is about 1100-1400avg and makes 120 E-cells every about 30 minutes. Profit is rather small (120*16) -1400 = 520 but only every half hour. Could it be a faster cycle time or lower cost? 75 hours of playing is a long time to get money invested back....

[Burianek]

It's more a convenience issue than a big money maker.
Like I said, it's definitely not worth installing on every factory, only where it can be difficult to fight for limited supplies of energy. The point is not to make every factory much more profitable, but to give the player more freedom and flexibility to customize a factory as they see fit. As it's the option with the lowest price tag of all 4, you'd expect it to make the least . . .
Also, new closed loop structures can be determined using this cycle time and production ratio. For people that like to set up closed loops, this energy efficiency may well be worth the investment. (but I don't want to post answers here, it took me a long time to figure out a good sol'n on paper. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who wants to think it through ) But if you want me to pm you why I made it the way it is, I can do that.
There are a lot of things to think about and consider before you decide to install one. This was precisely my intention. They're only good / useful if you make them useful. You can't just set them up on every factory and say, 'let 'em rip'
Sorry if that seems like a callous answer. I can't stand anything remotely similar to a 'cheat script' I'm not out to make your life easier, I'm actually looking to make it harder by forcing you to make more decisions and think through more issues. (which you seem to be doing admirably)
Keep plugging away