Things in SEIV I never knew about....

[DirectorTsaarx]

(Note: both quotes edited to conserve space)

Originally posted by Slick:

quote:

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Originally posted by raynfala:
Research III facilities cost 2500 minerals to build; you'll build one every other turn. In contrast, Research II facilities cost 2000 minerals; you'll build one each and every turn. By building a new research facility each turn instead of every other turn, you'll be accumulating more research points sooner. The extra 100 points of research generated by a level III facility (compared to a level II facility) does not justify the extra turn necessary to build the level III facility directly. You're better off building level II facilities more quickly, and then upgrading afterwards. This is where the extra 15,000kT of minerals come in: an extra 25,000kT to upgrade the 20 facilities (half of the level III facilities' cost), minus the 10,000kT saved by building cheaper facilities up front.

I just verified this on a spreadsheet this morning. Eeek, a spreadsheet!!! Does that mean I'm helping SEIV turn into MOO3?

--Raynfala

Yup. This applies to all "level II" facilities like Mineral Miners, Intelligence centers, etc.

p.s. I had to do the spreadsheet thing myself a few months ago to prove it to myself as well.

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Don't feel bad about this; back in December 2000/January 2001 there was a whole thread dedicated to figuring out the required formula, and whether there was a break-even point where it was better to accept the 2-turn build times of level 3 facilities vs. building level 2 facilities and upgrading later. It was a bit more complicated when comparing mineral miner facility builds, because then the upgrade cost reduced the benefit of the extra production. But it turned out as Slick mentioned - no matter how many facilities are involved, it's better to spend 1 turn building a level 2 facility and upgrade later than to spend 2 turns building a level 3 facility.

Too bad that thread is lost to the sands of old servers...