Setting up a planetary colony: Difference between revisions

Extractors do have a lot of variance in the amount of resources extracted in a given time. All Factories process a static amount of resources per time. Even though the factories have one cycle of storage build in, this is usually not enough to compensate for the difference in the extracted resources. To buffer the spikes in extraction some kind of storage should always be connected an extractor. If at any time this storage is full no new products can be delivered to it and the goods would be lost. If fitting permits it is good practice to separate this buffer storage room from the final extracted product. A [[Planetary buildings#Storage Facilities|Storage Facility]] is the best option in most cases. A [[Planetary buildings#Launchpad|Launchpad]] provides decent storage for buffer and extraction if it has to be shared. The [[Planetary buildings#Command Centers|Command Center]] would be the worst option as it provides very little room.

To open the extraction program window either double-click the ECU, or select it and click the first icon [[File:Install Extraction Program.png|frameless]]. In the upper right corner of the extraction program window we can select which of the avaible resources will be extracted. One Extractor Unit can only extract one type of resource at a time. While a resource is selected the scanner automatically shows the heatmap for that resouce.

Below the Resource selection is the duration slider. This determines how long the the extractor runs before it stops and has to be started again. The longer the runtime the less resources are extracted per hour. The duration also changes the radius of the heads and the individual cycle time that define how often resources are delivered.  

Extractor Heads can be created and deleted by clicking on the dots on the left hand side. They can also be created and deleted by {{button|CTRL}}+{{button|LMB}} on the planet inside the Extractors radius while the Program Window is open. Drag and drop the heads in a position where the heatmap promises good results. Overlapping heads result in a penalty for both heads and should be avoided.

The lower right corner of the programmer window shows the amount of resources that can be expected to be extracted. The numbers change in realtime with the movement of the heads. Once you are happy with the placement of the heeads hit "Start extraction" and submit to start the process.

The red circle around the extractor indicates a possible problem with the building. Usually this means that resources are either not delivered to or from the building. If you followed the instruction above the extracted resources are not yet routed to be delivered to the buffer storage. For this we need to select the extractor again and use the [[File:Extractor routing.png|frameless]] routing tab. Here the resources can be selected with a double click that takes us directly to routing without having to select and hit "create routing". While the cursor is changed it expects us to select a destination. This can also be done by a double click on the destination or by clicking the destination facility once and hitting "create route".{{clear}}

{{Work in progress}}