whats the math on mining bases?
 

My wife saw a bumper sticker that said "there are 3 kinds of people in the world, those who can do math and those who cant". She thought of me. I am ROTTEN at math.

Anyway, I have math problem for you. If I design a "Min1" mining base with one collector, and design a "Min2" with 2, and a "Min3" with 3.. then if I build a 1, retrofit to a 2, and retrofit to a 3... what is the length of time before paying off the investment?

I know its abit more expensive to retrofit but there is no destruction of materials, and even though the maintenance goes up on the unit being retrofitted it is still more than the unit is bringing in since the initial mining collector is still working while the new one is being repaired.

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

From the FAQ:

4.6.2 Remote mining uses supplies and maintenance, for this reason it is best to use bases as they have infinite supplies and reduced maintenance costs. If you use bases, you must build it with a Space Yard ship at the desired location.(Gandalph)
4.6.3 Only one Ship or Base can mine a location at once. Whichever is placed first will mine.
All mining components on a ship or base will produce, and the value of the planet or asteroids will drop exactly 1% per turn no matter how many mining components you have.(Suicide Junkie)
4.6.4 In a stack of satellites, up to three satellites can mine, provided they all have robo-miners working on different resources. Three mineral miner sats will produce the same amount of minerals as one mineral miner sat. A mineral miner sat plus a radioactives miner sat can both work on the same location at the same time, producing the full amount of both resources.(Suicide Junkie)
4.6.5 Remote mining depletes the available resources at the location. It does not happen quickly, but you will see the value of the location drop over time.(Gandalph)
4.6.8 Income generated from remote mining is not shared with your trade partners. So if you were a race that got a lot of it's income from remote mining your allies would be potentially getting less benefit from the treaty than you, even if you both had equal economies.

Mining, as I understand it, cannot be stacked. Therefore, you have to consider if you are building a base - its turn cost and how long you would have to mine a particular spot to break even. If you have that much time on your hands, it might make more sense to just turn that asteroid belt into a planet or develop Gas/Rock/Ice colonization for the planet.

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

Why would you want to stop at 3 miners? With a standard base, you can reach four miners (each at 100kt), and it would be possible to go from one to four in two retrofit steps.

It would be much more profitable to put as many miners as will fit, either by building the base directly, or through retrofits, since a single miner isn't enough to give you enough minerals. A ship might be a solution as well, especially if you already have Battlecruisers or above; ships cost more in maintenance, but you do not need a mobile Spaceyard to produce them, and they can travel at an amazing speed of one, even without supplies (if, for one reason or another, you need more speed, a few Solar Collectors should do the trick. Or more than a few).

The final output of your remote-mining operation will mostly depend on the resource value of the planet in question, and you should focus on these 150% and above resource values. Tiny, small and possibly medium asteroids are the most valuable for this purpose, since they are unlikely to bring more if you were to shape them into planets and colonise them. Larger planets should be transformed into planets though, as planetary-based mining is more efficient than remote-mining in this case. If you have already shaped the planets, you should leave out breathable planets as well; but there are easier things to predict than that.

Later on, *big* bases could be another solution, with twenty miners or so. These will give you an impressive boost to your resource income, and only big breathable planets will be able to rival with these remote-mining starbases. At least, you will still have a few asteroids about, rather than an uniform Empire full of transformed planets everywhere.

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

Now you realize, you don't pay any maintenance while the space station is being built. Also, you get the same depletion level each turn no matter how few mining components there are (when playing infinte resources). So you should put them all on and just build.

I recognize thats slow for battle station and starbase building. But in that case, you'll still want it as fast as you can, so just go for the 50% retrofit rule.

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

OK I got all of that. Lets see if I can respond to them all.

First off, it would stay at only one space station. But it would be a 1 miner, then become a 2 miner, then a 3 etc etc.

Also, Im aware of the maintenance but there is still some profit. So while the 1miner is being retrofitted to a 2miner, it still brings in minerals. When its a 2miner and I retrofit it to a 3miner then I am getting the benefits of 2miners working while the 3rd is being "repaired" into the space station. Continue until that station is full and then start a farming station.

All in all it seems a good idea because instead of waiting until the whole thing is finished I am getting benefits "while its being built" in a manner of speaking. Also, it gives me a chance to break off at any time and build something else... hmmm...no strike that. It frees up the ShipYard after the first miner is done, so I could build a level one miner base, and a level one farm base, and then a level one radioactive base, having them all retrofitting upward AND providing resources at the same time. I should have my ShipYard back for new orders after starting all three in less time than it would have taken to build the initially maxxed-out base that is being recommended?

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

While we're on this topic, I have always beleived that robo-miners don't actually stop mining when the ship runs out of supplies. At least, mine have never done so from what i can tell. Bug?

Alarik

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

Miners do not need any supplies to mine, no. This might have been done to reduce the tediousness of having to send all miners back to resupply depots periodically...

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

It's not a good idea to build all 3 in one sector, as only one will function;

From the FAQ:
4.6.3 Only one Ship or Base can mine a location at once. Whichever is placed first will mine.

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

Here's some starting math:
Cost to build Space station 500 kt with 3 Robo Miner I Mineral/Organic/Radioactive

5000 M/300 O/550 R

Maintenance per turn (12.5%):

625 M/37 O/68 R

Production for Miner 1 - 600 Min/Turn (at normal mining ability and 100% mineral content of asteroid/planet) + 600 Org/Turn + 600 Rad/Turn.

Obviously with Increased tech, it becomes Robo II up to 700, 800 per turn.

I am not sure where this discussion is going really, though.

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

Note that you can use 3 satellites in a sector, one mining each type of resource (but not 2 or 3 mining the same resource). The 1 vehicle limit applies only to ships and bases. Not sure how other units are treated, but a mining drone or fighter would be odd to say the least...

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

Nothing odd about a mining drone; the're just expendable ships. A mining fighter would be odd.

Re: whats the math on mining bases?
 

Note that resource aptitudes are NOT used while remote-mining, and so Nomads should scrap their resource aptitudes (unless they plan to capture a lot of planets or the like). A miner with 25% mineral aptitude will be just as effective as a miner with 150% mineral aptitude.

I would much rather put a single, specialised mining base rather than "one of each", as you will only deplete one of your basic resources this way. Once (or if) your mineral value gets too low, you will then be able to make a retrofit to the Organic or Radioactive variant. (Or vice versa if you started with Radioactives)

Gandalph, if you do want to do a retrofit, you should start with two miners then. It will add a single turn of construction (assuming you have 120% construction rate, which is more than advised if you plan on using mobile SYs), but will allow you to reach four miners through a single retrofit, giving you perhaps a few more resources and allowing you to gain one turn over the regular construction rate.

Alternatively, build your first base with one miner, the basics and a few components slightly increasing the price of the base (armour for example). The point is to have a base costing 4,800 resources in total, allowing you to add two more miners (1,200 resources each) with the first retrofit. Make sure to remove the armour components you have added previously though. Your spaceyard will have to remain at that sector while making the retrofits and the repairs though.

A Last way would be to build a basic base spaceyard at the asteroid spot. This base will be completed in a few turns, and will then build your remote-mining base, allowing your mobile spaceyard to repeat the process elsewhere. The base spaceyard will be able to handle the retrofit process, and will be useful to make the switch to Battle station/Starbase later on.