Hi, some basic thoughts from a casual player that’s dropped off PU.
I really enjoyed PU initially. I loved learning it’s systems and the indirect player interaction. My initial goal was to get enough money to set up a base on a 2nd planet and produce something new - which I did.
After the 2nd base though, the micro management increased to the point that it effectively killed my enjoyment of the game - it was too much admin for the pay-off. Instead, at this point, I’d like to start learning new systems that automate my existing production, order placement and shipping, so I can put my limited time on planning and implementing new corp expansions. Is this likely? Does anyone else feel this way?
Fyi… I don’t play with spreadsheets and have a Basic licence.
If you have a basic account, 2 small bases, and you don’t have time, then automation won’t help you much. You just have to admit that there is a limit to the attention you can pay to the game.
You can optimize your management by building 2 bases in one system and spreading them out to 1000 areas.
When you have more cash, buy some consumables first for 2 weeks, then for a month or two.
Build several buildings that make consumables for your workers in addition to the same type of buildings for the main production. Although this isn’t very efficient, it will save a lot of time managing and shipping.
Try to choose items for production at different bases that use the same type of raw materials to create. You’ll be easier to buy raw materials and you can increase profits on the wholesale price can be very tangible.
In fact, managing bases can be a bit time consuming. It’s just that some opportunities appear with capital or time spent at the beginning of the game to calculate cost-cost concepts, promising production chains, where and when to buy raw materials, etc. Slow pace in the beginning is necessary to spend time on research and calculations, and then make most decisions with your spinal cord.
Thanks for that thoughtful reply @Nalini. I will try to consolidate base buildings, bulk up on consumables and expand on existing bases.
I was after LST for NS so ended up with a base on Nike in addition to a farm + h20 extractors on Prom.
You can also pay attention to the weight/volume of raw materials that your base consumes. If you need heavy goods it often makes sense to place a base on a planet where other players make the goods and buy them locally even if there is no CoGC bonus for you. Some bases can easily consume 1000t-1500t of cargo per day.
Or if you mine minerals it’s easier to process them locally as EXT+BMP, EXT+CHP…
You could look at HAL>CL production. This kind of production requires minimal effort, CL is very liquiden and quite light. You can feel comfortable enough with only starter ships. The main thing is to bring consumables for a couple of weeks or better a month.
This was one thing that worried me (or still does?), that the real limitation in “scaling up” would be in terms of how much actual time I want to spend. But you can turn that into part of the challenge - develop industries, markets, strategies, production lines, etc. which are all targeted at minimizing real life time overhead. Whenever I consider expanding somewhere, personal time requirements are definitely a consideration.
One such strategy is that if you pick stuff with natural synergies, the extra overhead required is a little less. Ex. If you already have a ship routinely going between two areas, adding another type of cargo is much less effort than adding a new ship/route.
Another suggestion to consider is you could try networking a bit. That doesn’t mean “join corporation” (which might just make the time management issue worse), just participate in local system chat, or you could start visiting Grandpacanuck’s Twitch who does a live stream and chat most weeks on Sundays.
If you have limited time and don’t want to mess with spreadsheets, try using PRUNner. It’ll do all the basic profitability calcs and help you do base expansion research.