quote:
Originally posted by Drake:
Aren't those costs the same? I thought all upgrade costs were 50% of the cost to build the new facility from scratch.
-Drake
You may be right about that; however, the comment is still mostly valid - why pay the same cost twice if you only have to pay it once?
raynor - it shouldn't take 25 turns to upgrade 25 Miner II's to Miner III's; it takes (25*0.5*[cost of Miner III])/build rate. Obviously, I'm using drake's formula for cost. But you're still probably paying more overall, since you've essentially payed for the entire Miner II, plus half of a Miner III, and only have a Miner III at the end. Which probably negates mining 100 extra minerals for a few extra turns (even when you assume multiple facilities, if you have a net loss per facility, multiple facilities just compound the problem).
EDIT:
I did some checking; a MMF II costs 2000 minerals, while a MMF III costs 2500 minerals. Using drake's formula, it would cost 1250 minerals to upgrade a MMF II (or even a MMF I) to a MMF III. Therefore, if you build a MMF II first, and then upgrade to a MMF III, you'll spend 3250 minerals total for that MMF III. Whereas if you build the MMF III in the first place, you'll only spend 2500 minerals. Which means the upgrade route cost an extra 750 minerals. Now, a MMF II mines 900 minerals per turn; the MMF III mines 1000 minerals per turn. So two turns' worth of production out of the MMF II generates 1800 minerals; the MMF III only got one turn's worth of production (because it took an extra turn to build), and therefore only generates 1000 minerals. In which case, you got a net gain of 50 minerals by using the "build fast, then upgrade" idea. If we extend this idea, taking longer to get around to upgrading, we use the following equations:
(Build fast, then upgrade [BFTU]):
(N * 900) - 750 minerals
(Build best facility slower [BBFS]):
(N-1) * 1000 minerals
For N = 3 (i.e., it takes an extra turn to get around to upgrading), BFTU yields 1950 minerals and BBFS yields 2000 minerals. So it was better to build the MMF III first, even though it took an extra turn.
This gets much more complicated when one considers building 15 MMF II's, then upgrading all of them, rather than building the MMF III's initially. But my instinct is that it's better to build the better facility, even if it takes a little longer. Or, better yet, put a space yard on your planet first and build faster (at least for PSY II's and above).
[This message has been edited by DirectorTsaarx (edited 08 February 2001).]
Re: Next Patch Suggestion
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