Overview
This will teach you how to purchase, position and build factories that require very little attention. It will show you how to build a single, near-gate dock that comprises the entire sector.The purpose of this guide is for players who intend to complete the HUB plot. This plot requires extensive use of factories and require precise placing so you can build 200+ factory complexes.
Factories
You can purchase factories from shipyards throughout the X universe. Not all races have the same factories and specific items can only be purchased from a few or even just one race.
Each race has two factories that specifically produce food that only that race consumes. The factory that produces the food always requires a race specific primary resource and energy. The relationship between consumption and production is 1 to 1. This is important when placing factories down for race-specific materials.
Example 1:
If you want to produce Lasertowers you must build an Argon Cattle Ranch M and an Argon Cahoona M.
**Pictures will be coming, this is a prelimary construction for several guides coming to better explain how to acqurie the Dead-is-Dead achievements
Factory Efficiency
Factory efficiency relates to how quickly a factory can produce products. There are only three factories that have varying efficiencies. They are the solar power plant, the ore mine and the silicon mine.
Solar power plants vary based on the solar output of the sector. You can find this by looking at the sector in the universe map. The usual output rate is 150% however some systems have 100%. There are only 4 sectors that exceed 150%. Those sectors are:
- Akeela’s Beacon
- Aldrin 2
- Aldrin
- Terran Unknown Sector 1
For the silicon and ore mines the asteroid quality determines the output. A good benchmark is anything above 30 QL. However you can get up to 70. To determine the QL level of an asteroid you need a mineral scanner. Get within 10 KM of the asteroid and left click to find the scan button.
Placing a Factory
There are four requirements to build a factory. Those requirements are:
- You must have a TL class ship (e.g. Mammoth)
- You must have a factory inside that TL class ship
- You must have the TL class ship inside the system that you wish to build in
- You must be in the system you wish to build in
To begin select your TL class ship’s inventory by selecting the ship and hitting “f”. Next select the factory and an option “Build” comes up. Hit enter and you will be presented with the sector map with a flashing icon. You must now select a position for your factory.
The X universe utilises the Cartesian coordinate system. That is, it utilises three dimensions (x, y, z). This means that you must choose the position for each dimension using only two screens. The first screen you are presented with places the factory on the (x, z) axis and randomly assigns the y axis. To switch to the second screen click on the -/ button in the top right of the screen. To select a position on either screen left click on a position on the map. Left clicking on the flashing icon will build the factory.
You can also zoom into the map to better see the position of your factory. The option to zoom in is located next to the -/ icon you used to switch screens.
Factory Complexes
When you start building multiple factories it becomes impossible to manage them. To create a self-sustaining factory you will want to link multiple factories together. This is accomplish by purchasing a Complex Construction Kit from a shipyard.
To build a complex it works similar to building a factory. Select the complex construction kit and select two stations you wish to connect. They must be within 30 KM of each other (x,y,z). Now you must choose a place for the docking port. This can be quite far from the factories and should be chosen near a gate for easy access. After that left click on the flashing icon to build.
To connect more factories to the complex you need one complex construction kit per factory. Simply select the construction kit from the TL ship and select build. After that select the factory/complex and it will connect.
Super Hubs
To complete the hub plot quest you will need to learn to create super complexes or hubs that cover entire sectors. This becomes a problem due to the limited range that you can connect factories to complexes. To overcome this problem you can connect one complex to another complex. By creating a chain of complexes that can connect between each other you can create a sector wide hub. The first complex you select with the construction kit will be the new complex while the second complex will disappear.