Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

No. Construction rates represent the maximum number of resources of each type that can be put into building and object in each turn. They do not represent a pool of construction points. Any unused rate is lost.

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, though I bemoan the loss of "unsued" construction points, I'm glad to see I haven't been getting my butt whooped because I didn't know about the most advantageous way to get ships out of the queue http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif .

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

The most efficient way to make sure that your construction queues are going to be used to full capacity is to design your ships with the largest cost (typically minerals) just under a multiple of the build speed.

Lets say your spaceyards are building at 3000 per turn.
Good ship designs: 3000 (1 turn), 5900 (2 turns), 8950 (3 turns), etc
Bad ship designs: 3100 (2 turns), 6250 (3 turns), 9400 (4 turns).
I sometimes even designs variations of the same ship for different speed spaceyards.

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

Just remove a comp or two, then retrofit the ship after finished to add those comps back on.

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, designing ships to closely match SY rates makes sense. However, without looking up retro-fitting costs, doesn't that cost more in materials (retro-fitting) than had it been built straight out of the SY?

I realize if you have the resources to throw away, it's alright but...

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

Retro is about economics. If you can aford it, do it. This is a viable alternative to races with weak production, but extra resources per turn.

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, that also makes sense. I guess that's another reason I get my *** kicked so often http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif .

Also, one of the reasons the game is so good!

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

you can get unused construction points to carry over into the next build by ordering multile units (ie one fighter takes one turn to build, but ten fighters of the same design might only need 8 or 9 turns at the same yard. YMMV)

I didn't know about ramming and experience, thanks.

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

Later in the game when you fight ships with shield depleters consider investing in Armor. It really pays off.

Yesterday, I did some experiments with hi-tech ships. I found out that ships with armor perform much better than those with shields, when facing enemy with shield depleters(this is logical, after all, but it didn't strike me before). I admit I didn't consider weapons that penetrate armor(this inludes almost exclusively crystaline tech tree, Null space weapons are too exppensive to be effective) and you will have to repair very often but this way your ships will survive longer and thus will have more experience. The point is that ships with shield depleters will have less damage potential against you. Another advantage is mineral cost. While a "standard" dreadnought with anti-proton beams costs about 27000 minerals, an armor-protected ship costs about 21000 minerals.
BTW: You can add one shield generator and one shield regenerator. Just in case there are some boarding fanatics. :-)

Re: Things in SEIV I never knew about....
 

Yes, that's true and that's why I proposed to give there shield regenerator. Anyway, if the enemy has the firepower to put down your shields in 1 turn(and on hi-tech ships he usually has) you are in trouble anyway. With armor you have at least something to protect you... And if you know that the enemy has those weapons, just retrofit one wepon to repulser beam and most problems are gone.