Colony management: Difference between revisions

You do not have to setup your entire production chain on the one planet.   You can purchase missing products on the market or produce them on other planets.   However, then you need to get them down to the surface. In addition, ultimately you will want to get the fruits of your slave ..er "colonists'" labour to market.

These operations must be done in the system, and this exposes you to risk.   There are two ways to get goods off a planet (Cargo Link/Customs Office, and Launch Container) and one way to get goods down to the planet (Cargo Link/Customs Office). Many of these operations are done near the "(Planet Name)'s Cargo Link", which you will have to add to your overview.   The Cargo Link is like any other container, in that you must be within 2500m to transfer things into and out of it.  However it is like your personal hanger in that things placed in it can only be seen by you.  Then, unlike your personal hanger, it has a capacity of only 25,000 m3, so can service 2.5 launchpads.

Everything to do with the Customs Office must be done in the system, and in space.   While you can perform the Import/Export operations out in the dark at a safe spot (but must uncloak to complete the transfer), you must go to a known location to actually pick up the goods from the cargo link. The Launch Container method, while more expensive, can be done from anywhere in the universe, including docked at a station. However, you will still have to go to the system to pick up your launch can, and others can pick it up too if you don't get there first. (There are some nuances to this: The cans are on directional scan so people can chase them down, get a bookmark from you, or probe you down when you arrive on grid to pick it up. They do not appear with combat probes, so it is a non-trivial process to steal from a launch can.)

The Customs Office window is accessed either by right clicking on the Cargo Link, and choosing Access Customs Office, or from the rocket icon on a Launch Pad.

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Importing: To import items to the planet, you must have a Launchpad (found Under Space Port in your list of buildings.)   Having built this, the operation is to place the items in the Cargo Link in orbit. Next, right click on the Cargo Link and Access Customs Office. You can then move (or shift-drag to break up stacks) from the Planetary Customs Office pane on the left, to the To Be Transferred Pane in the middle.   When you have everything setup to your desire, click on "Import To Planet". The items will arrive in your Launch Pad, and can then be transported elsewhere through Expedited Transfer or Routing.  There is a cost of 1 ISK/something to import. Experimental numbers below.

For Export, you have two options: Launch or Export.   Export is performed in the same way as Import, by Accessing the Customs Office, and clicking on the Export radio button in the upper right corner.   This swaps the positions of the Customs Office and Launchpad such that the Launchpad(s) is/are over on the left.   Add items to the shipment, or drag them to the centre "To Be Transferred" pane. When everything is to your satisfaction, click on Export From Planet.   There is a cost of 2 ISK/something to export.  (ie 8640 ISK for 432,000 R0 (raw materials), 2190 ISK for 2,880 P1 products, 540 ISK for 180 P2 Products, 216 ISK for 18 P3 Products, and 200 ISK for 1 P4 Product.  These numbers are chosen from the "compression" resulting from processing.)  To spell out the subtext here: Highly recommended to process resources into P1 products, and preferably P2 products before shipping them off-planet, avoid too much shipping of R0, P3, and P4 products.

Alternatively, you can launch your products into orbit.  This is performed from the Command Center's storage, and so each launch is limited to 500 m3. Click on the rocket icon in the Command Center (insert picture), which brings up the launch drop-panel(?), where you can pick whole stacks to go into the rocket by selecting it and then clicking on the Add button.   Once you are satisfied, you can click on launch. It will then launch a package into orbit for you to pickup within the next 5 days.   You can find your package and warp to it in your Journal, under the Planetary Launches tab.   There is a cost of 3 ISK/something.

To create a warpable bookmark (eg if you want to ask someone else to pickup for you), you must warp to the can and bookmark the can.  There is no ranged warp available, but you might land more than 2000m from the can, so you may be able to do it without being decloaked. You (and others) can not probe down the launch canister with a combat probe, but they can probe down a ship picking up the package.

* A planet will not have a Customs Office in orbit until one person using the planet has constructed a Spaceport/Launchpad.

[[File:Overview_CustomsOffice.jpg|300px|left]]

To view if a planet has a Customs Office you will need to ensure that "Planetary Customs Offices" in the section "Planetary Interaction" is enabled in your overview settings.  This will show every Customs Office in the system which will make it easy to determine if a planet is already being harvested by someone else.