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Small complexes can be supplied with Energy Cells by Commercial Agents however there is a limit of 20 docking clamps at the Complex Hub meaning there is a limit as to how many ships can be supplying Energy Cells at any given time while local NPC Solar Power Plants will become exhausted. Eventually it becomes more economical to have an attached Solar Power Plant to generate the Energy Cells in-house and to supply larger complexes with Crystals. This is also necessary in sectors where there are no silicon containing asteroids . Self like Reservoir of Tranquillity. Some sectors like Megnir and Barren Shores have a surplus of Silicon asteroids and limiting amounts of Ore making them good for the production of Crystals to supply silicon poor ones. Self sustaining complexes have all the mines and stations for the Silion Wafers>Crystals>Energy Cells loop and enough spare Energy Cells to produce other products meaning only a single ship is needed to handle the end product. As self sustaining complexes do not require an expenditure of credits to operate they can act as a constant and reliable income or be used to avoid large expenditures on missiles.
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The Sun Strength is 300% so any Solar Power Plants get +4/9 productivity. This means Medium Solar Power Plants have 1.44x productivity, Large have 3.6x and XL have 7.22x. This means enough crystals can be produced for 3 Medium Solar Power Plants (4.32x productivity) or 1 Medium and 1 Large (5.04x productivity).
If going the 2 Large Crystal Fabs and 3 Medium Solar Power Plants the Energy Cells balance so far is:
- -5.5x productivity in Silicon Mines
- -3.5x productivity in Ore Mines
- -5x productivity in Bio
- -5x productivity in Food
- -5x productivity in crystalsCrystals
- +39.96x productivity in Energy Cells produced
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Construction
Hauling Asteroids
Complex Construction Kits can only easily link stations that are closer than 20km away and asteroids are often scattered throughout the sector making mines vulnerable to attack and travel times unreasonable. Once a mine (only use Large mines) is built on an asteroid, the player can move the mine using a Tractor Beam. Use an M6 ship since compatible TS ships lack the laser capacity to fire a Tractor Beam. To limit exposure to attack and make complex assembly easier the player will want to gather mines as tightly and neatly as possible. To do this, tether the Tractor beam to a part of the mine at a right angle to the docking structure before hauling it in the direction of the complex site while avoiding obstacles but aim at least 3 mine diameters below the destination. Once in the correct place on the X and Y axis dock at the mine and save before tethering the Tractor beam to the docking clamp and pulling the mine upwards into the final location. Try and cluster asteroids so that all docking structures are parallel on the Z axis and there is not enough space to fly an M3 between them. As bumping mines into each other results in instant destruction save only after the mine has come to a complete halt. Once the mines are in place the player can start placing other stations above them.
Avoiding Overlap
Most stations are compact and modular while others are not. When zoomed in once on the sector map make sure placed stations have at least half a station icon width between them along the X axis. Most stations can be stacked along the Y and Z axis with the icons overlapping and the ends of the icon corners just not touching. For unusually shaped stations (like the EMPC Forge) the station will need to be rotated to avoid collision. This is best performed using the (k) hotkey and an Advanced Satellite or using the F3 hotkey to get the camera view of the selected neighbouring station. Save before starting to place any new batches of stations (an Atmospheric Lifter can drop up to 5 per batch) and reload if you hear a thudding sound of stations colliding (always check all stations before linking them to a complex). Typically stack stations 3-4 high and then put the Solar power Plants on top. Start by placing the stations needed to get Energy Cells being produced from Silicon Wafers if the complex is going to be self sufficient as that allows for it to get up and running before the Energy Cells consuming stations are linked.
Placement of the Complex Hub
Once enough stations have been placed the player can start linking them up using Complex Construction Kits. When the first two stations are linked the player is given the chance to place the Complex Hub for the complex. The hub always defaults to facing North along the ecliptic and will need to be rotated. Place the hub closest to where ships will be traveling to and from the complex and rotate the docking clamps to face that direction (only important in sector). Other stations within range can then be linked to the Complex Hub. If a station is too far to link with a Complex Hub create a second complex hub with that station as close to the destination hub as possible. Then link the destination hub to the intermediate hub using another Complex Construction Kit (yes the directionality of linking is the reverse of what would be expected). Once the stations are linked all that needs to be done is get the complex operational.
Jumpstarting the Complex
With 100,000 Credits ships allocated to the complex as a Home Base can act as Commercial Agents and buy in enough energy cells to start production. With self sufficient complexes an injection of 300 Crystals or 30,000 Energy Cells is needed to get the Energy Cells producing cycle going. If the player has other self sufficient complexes then spare Crystals from older complexes can be used to initiate new ones.