Next Patch Suggestion

[DirectorTsaarx]

(The Last few Posts should probably all be in their own message thread, but oh well...)

Just so y'all know, I found a couple minor errors in the calculations; it doesn't change the final conclusion, it just means the spreadsheet is a tad inaccurate. I also did some tweaking for production and/or construction bonuses; nothing really changes until you can build the better facility in a single turn.

The corrected equation would be:

Upgrade plan net gain: 1387*N*N - 2700*N

where N=number of Mineral Miner Facilities being built.

Oh - minor point on build rates of 1250-1999; if the rate is 1500-1999, it's better to build the MMF1's and upgrade to MMF3's later. If your build rate is 1250-1500, it takes two turns to build any of the three MMF facilities, so it would be best to build the MMF3.

In case anyone missed it, the above information only applies if you have all three tech levels available; if you only have access to MMF1's or MMF2's, by all means, build them and don't worry about upgrading until you get the right tech level.

[Lastseer]

Look the bottom line is wasted construction.

If a miner II takes 2 turns to build (who cares why, maybe a race has lower production) and a minter II takes 3 turns. It may make sense to build the M-2 and upgrade to M-3 later because the upgrades can be grouped and you'll get to all M-3s faster (less wasted construction). However it depends on why they each take that many turns. If the M-2 takes 2 turns because it's really 1.1 and the M-3 takes 3 turns because it 2.95. Then the M-3s may be a better build.

All this ignores intermediate output and only considers fastest time to maximum output. It works better with ship design. If you have a ship design that takes 1.02 and thus 2 turns to build. Redesign an intermediate design (which differs by less 3 components) which can be build in 1 turn and then retrofit. Your first ship still takes 2 turns to full operation status, but you get 1 ship a turn after that instead of every other turn.