Solar vs. Nuclear - Chapter 1

[the enforcer]

helios are not worthless on colder planets they just have a higher roi.

which is paid for by the higher hydro output.

the difference in a 43 helios powered colony and a 9 helios powered at hydro lvl 25 is 3555 hydro with the 43+ npp running at 10% and the 9+ npp running at 80%(yes somebody blew up my helios last night). the larger the mine the bigger the difference. by lvl 27 mines that difference is close to 7k hydro, that is about an extra capitol worth of hydro every 2 hours.

[BrianC]

Call me crazy, but Helios are even more important on cold planets, if the intent was to colonize a planet for the sake of hydrogen production.

Most people will get to a level 22 Solar Array and 11 Nuclear Power Plant before they start considering their options and thinking their upgrades are limited due to the large amount of resources needed to build the next level of either.

If you have the defenses to protect them, build a metric tonne of helios. You're going to save 314 Hydrogen per hour, on a planet you build to produce more hydrogen in the first place, which is already most likely producing 300-500 more hydrogen per hour, depending on the temperature difference and level of mine. The only upkeep to a Helios is the potential ability for destruction. But, if you leave enough defenses behind, you'll likely not run into problems.

At 7 energy per helios, it'll take roughly 242 Satellites to make up for the energy production of a level 11 Nuclear Power Plant. Already, it's cheaper to build, but then you figure the 314 Hydrogen/hr decrease, and you'll find that those NPP's are quite taxing, to the point where they are not worth it to have operating. If you have the extra fields, go ahead and build the sats and turn the NPP's off.

[Bill E Bob]

helios are not worthless on colder planets they just have a higher roi.

which is paid for by the higher hydro output.

the difference in a 43 helios powered colony and a 9 helios powered at hydro lvl 25 is 3555 hydro with the 43+ npp running at 10% and the 9+ npp running at 80%(yes somebody blew up my helios last night). the larger the mine the bigger the difference. by lvl 27 mines that difference is close to 7k hydro, that is about an extra capitol worth of hydro every 2 hours.

Im just going to nod my head slowly and let you think I understood that.. Sorry about your helios.
What is a higher ROI?
R U saying the power output can be increased from the solar sats by hydrogen levels on the ground?

OK now i get it with the explanation of how vast numbers can compensate for the lack of power..
At xmas time u can decorate them and make them look like a global xmas canopy from hell

[Bill E Bob]

So about the helios and there fragile nature, are they destroyed if one is attacked with or by cargo ships only? I assume they can handle probes...

[Big S]

So about the helios and there fragile nature, are they destroyed if one is attacked with or by cargo ships only? I assume they can handle probes...

Weapons on a probe are 0. Hull of a probe is 100. Helios have weapon rating 1 and hull 200. So 100 helios can dispatch 6+ probes. Probes do no damage.

[Bill E Bob]

So about the helios and there fragile nature, are they destroyed if one is attacked with or by cargo ships only? I assume they can handle probes...

Weapons on a probe are 0. Hull of a probe is 100. Helios have weapon rating 1 and hull 200. So 100 helios can dispatch 6+ probes. Probes do no damage.

It has no weapon does not mean it cant do ritualistic suicide i.e. collision.. In addition Helios are on the "chose a ship to attack" list. Sats are not. It doesn't matter. The bigger the fleet the juicier.

[the enforcer]

helios are not worthless on colder planets they just have a higher roi.

which is paid for by the higher hydro output.

the difference in a 43 helios powered colony and a 9 helios powered at hydro lvl 25 is 3555 hydro with the 43+ npp running at 10% and the 9+ npp running at 80%(yes somebody blew up my helios last night). the larger the mine the bigger the difference. by lvl 27 mines that difference is close to 7k hydro, that is about an extra capitol worth of hydro every 2 hours.

Im just going to nod my head slowly and let you think I understood that.. Sorry about your helios.
What is a higher ROI?
R U saying the power output can be increased from the solar sats by hydrogen levels on the ground?

OK now i get it with the explanation of how vast numbers can compensate for the lack of power..
At xmas time u can decorate them and make them look like a global xmas canopy from hell

return on investment.

you are paying x for power out put to be converted into rez. so on a 24/21/21 colonoy in a low slot you might have a 20k/15k/7k and hour output that requires sa 25 75 helios or a 24/21/21 on a high slot and it produces 20k/15k/9k sa 25 225 helios. you can trade 1:1 hydro to crsytal so you are looking at an extra 178 hours of hydro to pay for the extra helios that you had to invest in.  now that planet is going to produce more res per hour for invested rez into it.

sure you can save money on power at the lower slots, you can make more money at the high slots.

[Capt_B]

Okay
I'm late in reading here. but very interesting.
I'm not upgrading my Solar Arrays anymore. There all at lvl 28 except for 1 at lvl 29 and yes freakin expensive to build and my nukes are all at lvl 7 and from what i read about the 1/3 formula I could bring them up to lvl 9-10. I'll do that and bring them down if not needed. Of course on high field planets. Time to up my defenses now for sat's and mine production

[2$Bill]

I just want to know if, with all of the nuclear meltdown crisi in Japan, if I should stop building NPP's.  I feel that they are safe enough, but i worry about the Cs-141.  Am I being too cautious?

[DOH]

SATS FTW!

[Tygger Meltdown]

Well, I am happy with my home world's level 20 NPP and No Solar Array.  It was the only way I could fit level 30 mines.  I am gradually replacing all Solar Arrays with NPPs on planets under 260 in size.  They just get in the way.

Remember, that the high costs of NPPs go towards your resource spent points.  You get way better rank out of a planet going all nuclear.

[NormanPreece]

Long story short:
Solar Arrays are way better than Nuke Plants when your Energy tech is low.
Nuke Plants are better than Solar Arrays once you get your Energy tech really high. For example, at Energy level 15, Nuke Plants outperform Solar Arrays (even taking into account the hydrogen consumption).

Energy tech 15 costs over 13 million crystal, and I doubt anyone even has energy tech level 12. The players who could afford that just built another solar array on every planet.


I'll answer the solar vs. nuclear question for you guys:


1. You need both.
2. If your reactor produces more energy than your solar array, you did it wrong, and probably have a HUGE hydrogen shortage and find yourself unable to get enough for techs that require it.
3. Use sats to keep your reactor turned down. If you're afraid of your sats being wiped, build defenses.
4. Yes, high level solar arrays are expensive, but you need production power.
5. Using a reactor to power a hydro synth is a waste of resources unless you build sats later to relieve the reactor.
6. Use the reactor to power ore and crystal mine upgrades at first so that they can produce more OC for the solar upgrades.

Actually I have Level 15 Energy Tech and think Nuclear is far superior to solar as you get to the higher levels and am knocking down all my solar

[NormanPreece]

I should add that I shall shortly be doing level 16 energy which will increase energy on ALL my planets - you cannot do this with solar

[cupAsoup]

Is the consensus that people stop building SA's at around level 22? I didn't get that memo because I've built a few lvl 27 SA's. I have NPP's on my planets up to around 12, but I haven't turned em up yet.

[Victor Doom]

  I tend to use the Keep it simple approach... in the beginning... stick to solar arrays and nuclear power..

Quick and dirty ratio... Solar array level approximately twice that of Nuclear plant... ie: lvl 24 SA/12 NPP...

 I have found that if you build one level solar array and bump up the nuke plant by a level.. you can upgrade Ore/Crystal/hydro mines by 1 without issue...

 Beef up to a good level of Energy tech and as you're building higher level nuke plants their energy output greatly increases...

 As time progresses and you've managed to build up a good defensive matrix... Launch some Helios and power down the nuke plants... keep the nukes in place in case someone crashes the helios and you need power now.. .

 With the mine outputs of extreme uni's, the hydro losses incurred by nuke plants is negligible compared to energy output...