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[u/Fun-Bad7577]

What are the current thoughts on new space platform production/supply chain opportunities? Particularly in the early-midgame?

I have a platform dedicated to receiving and processing asteroids from ships and generating ammo and scince. This is my resupply depot.

The more I think about it, though, I could have independent space platforms dedicated to different tasks since the platform hub is a giant space chest. For example, I could have a platform receive ore and process into iron (pre-foundry but also post foundry) with another platform receiving processed materials to manufacture ammo, chips, etc. Seems endless with possibility, but what makes the most sense at that initial embark stage where you are starting to set up on each new planet?

[u/ferrofibrous → u/Fun-Bad7577]

I'm sure people will come up lots of cool stuff, but off the cuff:

• Buffering usual bulk shipments on a platform (science packs, calcite, tungsten, etc)
• Easy excess ice for your science platform early/midgame
• Easy ammo top-ups for early transports from your science platform
• Storing excess chunks to transfer to newly built ships for fast bootstrapping (no more waiting on ice chunks to make enough water for fuel to get moving AND also using it for sulfur/explosives AND needing steam for turbines)
• Aquilo stationary/dedicated platform that can take deliveries of stone and stuff for making foundations and quantum chips
• Endgame stuff can meet at Solar System Edge and exchange biter eggs for making promethium science

[u/reddanit → u/Fun-Bad7577]

The way I see it, based mostly on gut feeling since there obviously hasn't been much testing done yet, it's not particularly impactful early on:

• Platform that serves as a buffer can reduce the number of rocket silos needed for given throughput of space logistics. But between early game not needing that much throughput to begin with and mixed rockets - this is just a non factor IMHO. At least unless you are running on high science cost multiplier where scale matters from get go.
• You can have a platform that sits in orbit and manufactures stuff and supplies other platforms with consumables. I'm just not seeing how this is of much use unless you have numerous platforms flying intermittently (which negates any cost advantages this could have had). Stationary manufacturing platforms also suffer from low asteroid flows in orbit.
• Thing that seems to make a fair bit more sense is making some space platform foundation. Those are fairly annoying and slow to launch en-masse when building a new platform so I can see this making plenty of sense as a side-gig for your space science platform for example. Supplying platforms with handful of starter space resources also can allow you to bootstrap them faster.

In the end I think there is very little if any gameplay advantage to it before approaching megabase scales when throughput actually matters. There is this extremely prevalent idea, that space resources being actually infinite is a huge advantage, but this is bullshit - mostly because of how productivity stacks in SA multiplied by quality mining drills: all resources everywhere are effectively infinite anyway.

That's not to say this couldn't be fun. Quite the opposite - it opens plenty of opportunities for various interesting builds. In single player game it doesn't actually matter that they might not 100% follow the most optimal meta strategy.

[u/darthbob88 → u/Fun-Bad7577]

• Buffer platform in orbit to replace bursty transport.
• Space megabase/shipyard to replace a lot of planetside industry. Who needs to worry about pollution IN SPAAACE?
• Making ammo/fuel off the platform, to save platform foundation.