bug with satellites, or do i just need a patch?

Bella Hella · May 15, 2003, 14:40

last night, i noticed that when i built a hydroponics pod, nesseus mining station, etc., the game didn't seem to register that it had been built. that is, the improvement didn't show up in the list of base facilities on the right (in the base screen), and was still available in the build queue. i haven't looked too far into this, so maybe it's a bug i don't know about, or was fixed in a patch that i don't have. anyone know anything about this? or am i an idiot, and this is what the game is supposed to do?

i mean, can you build infinite numbers of the same type of satellites?? as in, can you build 10 hydroponics pods at the same base? just keep building them over and over? i just don't get it. i built the SP that negates aerospace complex restrictions (whatever that means). i'm not sure if that makes a difference. none of this ended up mattering anyway since i was so far past the AI at this point, but it still bothered me.

Archaic · May 15, 2003, 15:00

Sats. don't show up in facilities. They show up in your stats screens (Labs, Energy, Bases, etc).

CEO Aaron · May 15, 2003, 15:39

Well, since all satellites launched produce for every base, there's no reason for associating them with any particular base. There _is_ a satellite display accessible by pressing F6, which will show all the sats launched by your faction.

In answer to your other question, yes, you can build satellites til you're blue in the face. Each Sky Hydroponics Lab will supply one additional nutrient for each base, limited only by the current population of the base in question. The Orbital Power Transmitters and Nessus Mining Stations work in the same way. The upshot is that until you build habitation domes, the most satellites you'll get benefit from is 14, 16 if you've built the Ascetic Virtues.

All of the above assumes that you have Aerospace Complex built in every base, or the Skybase Academy. Without them, any benefit you receive from satellites will be halved. I'm not sure whether this means you can build 28 satellites to supply pop 14 bases, or merely that your benefit from satellites will be capped at 1/4 the base's population instead of 1/2.

RedFred · May 15, 2003, 19:22

The former. That is, two sats will get you one nut, nrg, etc. per base without an Aerospace Complex.

Bella Hella · May 16, 2003, 11:11

thank you for the responses - that answers my question! another one - do you pay maintenance costs for satellites?

/haven't played SMAX in a while

CEO Aaron · May 16, 2003, 13:39

No, there's no maintenance on orbital facilities, for the same reason that they don't appear on your base facilities display. During the turn breaks, each base's income and expenses is handled, one base at a time, which means that if your energy credit reserves are low, it's possible to lose a facility due to an inability to pay for it, even though you have enough positive cashflow to cover its upkeep. Since satellites aren't associated with a base, they can't be inserted easily into the accounting system, so they aren't. Besides, if you did have to supply an orbital facility with energy, you'd need a very long extension cord.

Flubber · May 23, 2003, 11:20

As a gameplay point, it would make little sense to charge maintenance for building a satellite whose purpose is to PROVIDE energy.

From a storyline point of view, I always figured the sats have solar panels or whatever to be self supporting in energy and the net production is bmagically beamed down to earth

CEO Aaron · May 23, 2003, 13:11

Energy banks and labs of all stripe have upkeep. It's merely a question of having enough initial income to overcome the cost of keeping them. If your base only produces 3 or fewer energy credits per turn, building a bank won't do any good. If you produce 1 or 0 credits, you'll be blowing turn advantage (by building the bank) for the privilege of losing money.

Flubber · May 25, 2003, 01:08

Quote:

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
Energy banks and labs of all stripe have upkeep. It's merely a question of having enough initial income to overcome the cost of keeping them. If your base only produces 3 or fewer energy credits per turn, building a bank won't do any good. If you produce 1 or 0 credits, you'll be blowing turn advantage (by building the bank) for the privilege of losing money.

Yes I know that all the facilities that act as energy MULTIPLIERS have upkeep and they are only worthwhile in bases producing sufficient energy. But an energy satellite provides 1 energy per base ( one half for those without an AC. To deduct any upkeep would seem odd. Bottom line is that they would still have to net you some energy or no one build them