Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: DE Guide to Factories
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Akkori
Sat May 22, 2004 10:54 pm
#1
Guide To Factories – DE 5-23-04
With the inclusion of the newest schematics in patches 7 and 8, you will find yourself running a LOT of components if you wish to offer the full range of products we can now offer. At the top of the list of Most-Used-Components are (in no particular order) Droid Brains, Electronic GP Modules (GP), and Electronic Memory Modules (EMM). The EMM and GP components are actually found in the Master Artisan box, but as the vast majority of DE are also MA (due to only those 2 components), so these MA parts will be included here.
Factories
Equipment Factories take a single lot, and require Maintenance (credits) and Power (any applicable power like Radioactives or Solar, etc…). Power is only consumed when the factory is actively running, but the Factory consumes Maintenance all the time just like a House. The Maintenance does not increase while it is making items. You can add Maintenance and Power through Radial Menu options, or use the following /commands. You must have the Power someplace in your personal inventory, but it can be nestled in a backpack if you wish. You can NOT remove excess Maintenance or Power after you have deposited it into the factory!
To add maintenance, target the factory and type (without the “” marks) “/paymaint XXXX”, where the X’s are replaced by the amount of maintenance you wish to add.
To add Power, target the factory and type “/addPower XXXX”.
Equipment Factories take a single lot, and require Maintenance (credits) and Power (any applicable power like Radioactives or Solar, etc…). Power is only consumed when the factory is actively running, but the Factory consumes Maintenance all the time just like a House. The Maintenance does not increase while it is making items. You can add Maintenance and Power through Radial Menu options, or use the following /commands. You must have the Power someplace in your personal inventory, but it can be nestled in a backpack if you wish. You can NOT remove excess Maintenance or Power after you have deposited it into the factory!
To add maintenance, target the factory and type (without the “” marks) “/paymaint XXXX”, where the X’s are replaced by the amount of maintenance you wish to add.
To add Power, target the factory and type “/addPower XXXX”.
A Word About Serial Numbers
Virtually everything crafted in this game has a Serial number. This unique ID is very important when you are doing complex runs of Droids and Droid parts. Some of the Droid Schematics you see in your crafting tool will be asking for a number of “Identical” components (like EMM or GP). What this means is that the schematic is calling for 2 or more of that specific component that has the exact SAME Serial Number. The only way that you can provide the Schematic with this is if you create the needed component in a Factory.
Virtually everything crafted in this game has a Serial number. This unique ID is very important when you are doing complex runs of Droids and Droid parts. Some of the Droid Schematics you see in your crafting tool will be asking for a number of “Identical” components (like EMM or GP). What this means is that the schematic is calling for 2 or more of that specific component that has the exact SAME Serial Number. The only way that you can provide the Schematic with this is if you create the needed component in a Factory.
Manufacturing Schematics
In order to make use of a factory, you must have a “Manufacturing Schematic” (MS from here on out). A crafter can make a MS if they are near an appropriate Crafting Station or a Droid with an appropriate Crafting Module installed. Obviously, DE use the “Weapon, Droid, and General” Crafting Stations. When you create a MS for an item, you are creating a “recipe” for the item. The factory will make multiple EXACT duplicates of that item (same serial number). But in order for it to do that, the factory must be loaded with the exact same ingredients you used to make the MS. This includes components as well. If you are making a run of "Stupid Droid Personality Chips", you must load the factory with IDENTICAL EMM components. This means you will have to run EMM components first.
In order to make use of a factory, you must have a “Manufacturing Schematic” (MS from here on out). A crafter can make a MS if they are near an appropriate Crafting Station or a Droid with an appropriate Crafting Module installed. Obviously, DE use the “Weapon, Droid, and General” Crafting Stations. When you create a MS for an item, you are creating a “recipe” for the item. The factory will make multiple EXACT duplicates of that item (same serial number). But in order for it to do that, the factory must be loaded with the exact same ingredients you used to make the MS. This includes components as well. If you are making a run of "Stupid Droid Personality Chips", you must load the factory with IDENTICAL EMM components. This means you will have to run EMM components first.
You load the MS into the factory through the radial interface. Once this is done, you just load up the Ingredient Hopper with the required component crates and resources, and choose “Begin Manufacturing”. Notice that you will use up one “set” of ingredients in the process of making the MS. Essentially, you are burning that set in order to prepare the data for the Factory. This is why Weaponsmiths like sets of 11 Krayt Tissue….if the item calls for 2 Identical Krayt Tissue (which is required of you want to run them in the factory), you will lose the first 2 for the Schematic, and only have 8 left to load into the Factory, resulting in 4 completed items from the factory. So, technically, if you want a “perfect” run of 1000 items, you will need enough resources for 1,001 Items. Also note that this is impossible if the finished product includes any components, since you can only make 1000 in a Factory. In our Example above with the Stupid Chips, you will only be able to run 999 items in the factory, since one of the EMM is burned in the MS.
You can run your factory on a single run up to 1000 units. But the factory “Output” hopper may “fill up” before the run is full. No one is sure how this works, but even though the Output Hopper says it will hold 100 items, it does not always mean that 100 crates will fit in it. This is an issue/bug affecting all crafters, and the Devs have not yet enlightened us on how this works. But the speculation is that the Experimentation on the Factory when it is created influences the amount it can hold in it’s Hoppers. Each item in a crate may go toward filling up the hopper. So 10 crates of components (25 per crate) might count as 250 items in the hopper. A good rule of thumb is to keep less than 60 crates of stuff in the Output Hopper. If the factory is stopped before it has finished its run (due to a server error, or a full hopper) you may lose one set of ingredients. This is very bad for things like Krayt Weapons or finished Advanced R3 droids. Not so bad for EMM or Personality Chips.
Don’t forget that in order to make 1000 units of something, you will need enough resources and Component crates. A run of999 (remember that you burn one set for the MS) Stupid Personality Chips will require 1000 Identical EMM components and 10,000 units of Copper with the same name. That’s 40 crates of Identical EMM, btw… (25 EMM per crate, divided by 1000 total EMM). Just drop all 40 crates in the Ingredient Hopper with the Copper, and go!
Akkori
Sat May 22, 2004 11:29 pm
#2
A Complex Example (but not the most complex)
Lets run through all the steps needed to make an “Advanced LE Droid” decked out for Combat. The final Droid Assembly will require a Droid Brain, Stupid Personality Chip, Armor Module, 3 Combat Modules in a Cluster, and an LE Adv Chassis.
Review Resource Needs
1Droid Brain – 14 Copper, 5 Inert Gas, 8 Siliclastic Ore, 8 Chemical, 4 Metal.
2.Personality Chip – 10 Copper, 1 EMM
a.EMM – 5 Polymer, 3 Copper, 2 Inert Gas, 2 Ore, 8 Metal
3.Level 4 Armor (level 4 ‘cause its easier) – 55 Duralloy Steel, 12 Ferrous Metal, 15 Non-Ferrous Metal, 10 Fiberplast
4.Combat Modules (3 per Droid)– 35 Non-Ferrous Metal, 5 Metal, 2 Inert Gas.
aCluster (1 per Droid) – Droid Brain, 7 Chemical, 7 Ore, 52 Metal
i.Droid Brain - Brain – 14 Copper, 5 Inert Gas, 8 Siliclastic Ore, 8 Chemical, 4 Metal.
5.LE Advanced Chassis – Adv Droid Frame, Droid Brain, Sensor Package, Motive System, Manipulator Arm
aFrame – 220 Steel, 70 Fiberplast
bBrain - Brain – 14 Copper, 5 Inert Gas, 8 Siliclastic Ore, 8 Chemical, 4 Metal
cSensor – 5 Chemical, 4 Copper, 2 Inert Gas, 2 Ore, 11 Steel
d.Motive – 5 Chemical, 5 Ore, 32 Metal
e.Manipulator Arm – 5 Chemical, 5 Ore, 45 Metal
So for each completed Droid, you will need 3 Droid Brains, 1 Adv Frame, 1 Sensor Package, 1 Motive System, 1 Manipulator Arm, 3 Combat Modules (inside a Combat Cluster), 1 Level 4 Armor, and 1 EMM component.
That’s a total of 12 factory runs! “What?!” You ask? How did I get 12? You only see 8? Here you go…Red is the MS count, or how many items of that type to make in the factory (remember, one item is burned in the making of the MS!)
1.Droid Brains 999
2.Advanced Droid Frame 333
3.Sensor Package 333
4.Motive Units 333
2.Advanced Droid Frame 333
3.Sensor Package 333
4.Motive Units 333
5.Manipulator Arm 333
6.The LE Chassis (uses parts from runs 1 through 5) 332
7.Combat Modules 999
8.Combat Capable Socket Clusters (with 3 Combat Modules EACH from run 7 and Brains from run 1) 332
9.Level 4 Armor 332
10.EMM (Master Artisan) 333
11.Stupid Personality Chips (with EMM from run 10) 332
6.The LE Chassis (uses parts from runs 1 through 5) 332
7.Combat Modules 999
8.Combat Capable Socket Clusters (with 3 Combat Modules EACH from run 7 and Brains from run 1) 332
9.Level 4 Armor 332
10.EMM (Master Artisan) 333
11.Stupid Personality Chips (with EMM from run 10) 332
12. Finished Droid (parts from run 1, 6, 8, 9,11) 331
Whew!!
Whew!!
Nowyou can crank out331identical LE Tanks for sale!
The hard part is getting together the resources. You will need Quality resources for some of the stuff ( like Combat Modules) and then there are parts that (to the best of our knowledge currently) can use the crappiest resource ever ( like the Personality Chips). The difficulty of this run isn't that bad, really. See if you can figure what it would take to make a run of Advanced R3 with Item Storage 6, Structure Maint 3, 2 Stimpack Dispenser modules, 2 Crafting Modules, and 2 Level 4 Armor modules!
AudioOrgana
Wed May 26, 2004 5:31 pm
#4
Excellent!
I have been meaning to do something like this for quite some time - there is a great need for factory education.
Perhaps you should add this to your .sig, as other professions could definately find the information useful as well.
Kudos,
Audio
Gribnitz
Thu May 27, 2004 8:35 pm
#6
How about some advice on maintaining your harvester? I gather so much crap in these things, it isn't funny. I find myself to be just like my wife in real life in that I can't bring myself to throw out that one GP module becuase I might need it sometime. I have so many old resource and crates in my factories I could hold a 4 week garage sale and still not get rid of it all. What do I do ? I just put up 4 more factories and used up all my slots ???
Handsnake
Mon May 31, 2004 1:16 am
#7
What I do: gather the parts with the smallest quantity, compare it to the ones with the highest complexity (advanced droid brains) and see what I can make of the most complex parts right then. If it is a run of chassis, I do the chassis. If it is something easier, like combat modules, I try to see if I cut the schem short (at less than 1000).
I see if there are the requisite subcomps, and if not, I delete the schem and hand craft the parts into a finished droid.
I turn as much of my stuff into chassis as possible. The rest I make into combat clusters and/or general clusters. The very few leftovers I make into handcrafted personality chips.
So, I have a few dozen chassis, of about 4 or 6 different serial numbers. Plus, I should have large (200 or so) runs of identical serial numbered chassis and modules in stock for standard model runs.
The short runs of chassis are used for specialty or experimenting droids. Hand craft them up and sell them.
The short module runs I keep for custom jobs and for filling out the short chassis to deed runs.
I do this about once a month and clear out all my clutter of small batches. I also focus on my short resource stacks first when I make production runs after I do this. This keeps my number of small stacks dropping.
ZeckAzuenden
Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:51 am
#9
When I do factory runs of components, during the naming process of the schematic I will include the serial number of the item. This saves a lot of time and hassle in figuring out just how many identical parts you have, without having to inspect every stack.
TheRealTK421
Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:24 pm
#10
I need to clean up the sticky area some...so I'm moving this to the DE FAQs / Links thread, found at:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=70439
/bow
Respectfully,
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=70439
/bow
Respectfully,
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