How do you manage chemistry?
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Right now I am selling all of my raw resources (Z,K,L, etc) and buying the T3 boosts that I need. Although I've never seen an analysis of this strategy, I think it is reasonably efficient. However, I'm interested in how other players set up their chemistry.
Do you:
- Have your trade network distribute all raw resources to each room and have every room create its own T3 boosts?
- Try to consolidate chemistry in a couple of centrally located rooms, and then use your trade network to distribute the final products to each other room?
It seems like in #1 on average you send minerals longer distances through terminals, but you only send each mineral at most once. It also seems like maybe you use more CPU.
It seems like in #2 on average you send each mineral twice but over a shorter distance, and you get to save on CPU because you have fewer chemistry workers. It also seems like there might be some benefit to centralize market activity in a couple of rooms, since you can have a max of 50 concurrent market orders.
It seems like #2 gets more efficient if you are doing chemistry in an SK mining city, since you will naturally have more of the raw resources you need on-site.
Thoughts?
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- You keep your creeps all natural, grass fed with no BMO. Say no to boosting!
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I do the #1 version. But there's a large BUT.
What gets created is determined empire wide. The whole empire works together to create the boost that there's currently not enough of.
In short:
- Every room needs a certain amount boosts as a reserve.
- Each room can request fully crafted boosts at any time.
- All rooms work together to create the most desired boost.
It looks like this:
Red arrow is the empire wide "desire", sorted from most desired to least desired.
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@dissi Do you know what the average utilization of your labs is? Do they run 100% of the time? If they are not running 100% of the time, do you do some sort of smart clustering to figure out where the cheapest place to make a compound is?
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I combine both methods. I basically have three independent systems-
Inventory Control
This defines how much of each mineral and boost each room should have as well as total empire amounts. It has some helper functions on top of it for things like "can use resource immediately", which can be used to prioritize market and terminal orders.
For boosts I only track tier3 with the inventory system- tier1 and tier2 are considered building material and always get upgraded in the room they are in.
The sum of all "needs" for each room is greater than the empire need.
Each room also gets assigned a priority mineral family that it produces (typically a mineral that the room itself mines), which means that room is more likely
Terminal Network
This uses Inventory Control to find surpluses and deficits, and then sends resources where they need to go. It only moves base minerals or tier3 boosts, with the exception of GH2O which I will transfer to rooms with X that also need XGH2O.
Alchemy
This controls the labs for each individual room. If there is X in the room it'll look for any tier2 boosts to match, then if there is OH it looks for any tier1 boost it can upgrade.
If there is nothing to upgrade it calculates what tier1 boosts it can make, and filters out the ones there is no need for. It prioritizes based on need (with the exception of GH, which is always the lowest priority). If nothing remains the system attempts to build G (for GH).