Absolutely totally n00bie question on acquiring power

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andyinkuwait
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Absolutely totally n00bie question on acquiring power

Post by andyinkuwait »

Am I right in saying if I have a shortage of electrical power but I amat capacity production, I have to build more power plants?? am I also right in saying it is not possible to trade for electrical power only the raw materials (like coal) needed for your own power stations? Thanks guys and sorry for being so utterly overwhelmed..
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tkobo
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Post by tkobo »

If your running short on power production :
a) You can build more power plants

b) Spend more money on power production effeciency-this will make your existing power plants produce more power

c) Buy the power from an outside source,but this will have to be done each day as the game has issues with long term power trades/treaties.
Good thing about this is the minister will do it automactically once you set it up.Bad things is,you cant trust your ministers 100%.Some days they seem to be quite the slackers.

d) you can cut your usage.If your new to the game its likely you have not yet learned to refine your power usage.You can do this by stopping any uneeded production- IE switch from capacity to demand on some or all of the other productions and /or Deactivate facilities you dont need to use.

e) Get techs that increase your power plants production.

Now any of these solutions "can be the best" choice depending on your exact circumstances.
This post approved by Tkobo:Official Rabble Rouser of the United Yahoos
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Il Duce
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Post by Il Duce »

To illustate Tkobo's points a bit -
production has a long tail. You could do a couple of things, short and long term.

1) raise the consumer markup on power. If you spend on efficiency in power produciton, be aware that that will automatically introduce a net price reduction in consumer markup, so be sure to bump that under these circumstances if you do invest in efficiency.

2) reduce other production - not just 'unutilized' facilities (such as shutting down unused manufacturing, switching to demand, etc.), but you may also be overloading manufacturing with military builds. Reduce missile production temporarily - notably, turn off autobuild if you are using it, as the missile autobuild logic doesn't really understand if it is overdrawing manufacturing - it just builds near capacity. You may also consider 'pausing' items on build queues, or micromanaging to limit utilization there (limiting a three-cap base to using only one slot, for example).

3) you could also consider other indirect methods to raise the cost of living generally to reduce power demand. Both this item, and item 1 above will impact your DAR, so plan carefully.

4) Under the circumstances, you might check and control your immigrant flow - if you are at capacity in one or more commodity, the last thing you need is more consumers.

Since I (and many players) use no minister automation whatsoever, I would expect to spend a few tedious hours micromanaging power purchases. In the long run this will probably reward you with a smoother recovery. Think it through - if power outages are constraining or delaying your production (as in the emails you are probably getting from your ministers) get ahead of it and pause production until you can support it. BTW, you can also pause the construction of facilities, OR bring them online in less than maximally built condition. They are less efficient this way, but they can contribute to a bootstrap rebuild of your economy.

This is a very complex game - that is part of its attraction- and every player on this board has gone through what you are going through: somewhere in here there's a post similar to yours from me (and not too long ago either, all things being relative). Don't be afraid to ask on the forums, and make sure you take every answer with a bit of skepticism, as we all play with different premises, doctrines, and styles.
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BigStone
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Post by BigStone »

And invest heavily on your infrastructure ... build some rail/roads around your plants.
Another thing i do when i start a new game and there are a few hydrodams, is to look if those dams are placed at the right spot.
If not you might consider to scrap the dam and replace it on a better spot.
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el_slapper
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Post by el_slapper »

BigStone wrote:And invest heavily on your infrastructure ... build some rail/roads around your plants.
Another thing i do when i start a new game and there are a few hydrodams, is to look if those dams are placed at the right spot.
If not you might consider to scrap the dam and replace it on a better spot.
is it always wise to maximise infrastructure expenses? I always do that, but it is unclear to me its really worth it...
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Il Duce
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Post by Il Duce »

Infrastructure is by definition a long-term prospect. If you plan to zoom through a scenario, then you probably would ignore it, but if you expect to stay in for the long haul, it's a must. After about a year or two of play, building a solid infrastructure, you can almost ignore it thereafter, building just one or two facilities as demand increases, and of course, optimizing your gains and plunder. Basically, even without minister assist, a well-set infrastructure pretty much runs itself, so the whole focus of the game shifts to developing your conquests, without scratching for assets. Just my opinion.

Now, just how you do this is a matter of style and circumstances. Each region presents a different set of problems, so you have to be flexible. Don't take your last game's experience too literally - understand why it worked, and then apply the basic principle to what's at hand in your present scene. For instance, the debate about power technologies is pretty much about what mineral assets you have to work with. Sure fusion power is nice, but improbable in a lot of places. If you've got oil or coal, burn it. If you've got uranium, dunk it - no point investing in developing scarce oil just because nuclear plants are expensive to operate. If you have neither - you picked a really difficult region to play and perhaps you can get some UFO's to drop an alien tech on you.
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BigStone
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Post by BigStone »

el_slapper wrote: is it always wise to maximise infrastructure expenses?
Not always.Better be carefull maxing out things in this game.
Like Il Duce said it depends on the circumstances (and there are ALOT :wink: )
Do you have enough money, no labourshortage,raw material... etc ?
I usually play with a infrastructurerating around the 105-110%.
And i place new industry (if possible) around the biggest bases or upgrade small bases.
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bergsjaeger
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Post by bergsjaeger »

U could always upgrade ur power plants if their not maxed out yet up to 100% except hydro dams. Cheaper than building new ones. U could also set the production of I/G, C/G, and M/G to demand or 99% of demand. Then there's the option of DoW some region and taking any power plants close to ur border. Course then u have to defend the area because there never be any hope for peace. All I can add since nearly everything else has already been said.
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StoweMobile
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Post by StoweMobile »

I am also having some problem. The problem though is not in my capacity. It says Im am having a raw metiarl shortage, but I am not. I have more petorelu, coal, and unranium than is demanded, yet It still says that I am having a shortage, and its driving me crazy.
Il Duce
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Post by Il Duce »

While you may have capacity, you may not actually be producing enough. Check the production quota sliders. It happens occasionally -you could theoretically produce, say, 3M bbls oil, and your total demand is 2.7M bbls, but you are in fact only producing 2.5M bbls. It's real annoying.
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Balthagor
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Post by Balthagor »

Also, there is a known bug of a "false" raw materials shortage report. We made changes in 3 of the updates to try and fix this but were never able to squash that bug...
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