X3:Reunion Manual - Steam

easy to lose it. The Teladi are not very inventive, tending to borrow tech from other races,but are excellent in exploiting what they get, and are the masters of producing and tradingall base commodities.Factory PricesBasic materials:High tech commodities:Weaponry and shields:Teladi squeeze the last drop out of common items.Excellent: Cheaper than average Solar Plants and Mines.Good: Again, the Teladi are above average in many types ofcommon technical commodities.Budget gurus: The Teladi excel in manufacturing lowerpriced, "lower tech technology" that has been around forever.They don’t really do cutting edge technology."No profit grows where there is no pleasure taken." - William ShakespeareBuild and Trade GuidanceWe have been able to offer a rare chance to gain some experience of the best factory andsystem traders at the annual convention and lectures of the Guild of System Merchants.The first of these are extracts from the questions asked of the famous Argon Tidi Onetree,who has defined the current understanding of energy on his famed guide for Solar PowerProfits. After his lengthy and very interesting lecture, he opened the floor to questions.FactoriesQ: Factories; are they expensive?A: The price varies greatly, dependent upon the technology level of that factory, e.g. Foodfactories are much cheaper than Laser Tower factories. Remember also that the price of afactory may vary between races, even if it is of the same type. Stations become more andmore expensive for the same amount as you 'climb higher up the tech ladder'.Q: Can I place my own factories anywhere?A: Just about, yes. A few words of advice though before you place a factory. There is no pointin placing a factory producing goods in an area where there is an over-supply already of thosegoods as you are immediately against the competition (unless this is what you intended ofcourse). Conversely, there is no gain to be made in positioning your factory in an area thatdoes not require what you sell.The stations and complexes in the systems you visit will be relatively close to each other.There is nothing stopping you placing your factories anywhere in a sector. Please bear inmind that your ships need to fetch resources and your customers need to travel to you.48Q: So I purchased and deployed my own factory and I’m on my way to “Mogul” status.But my factory isn’t making any money and it flashes yellow in the system map. Help?A: The yellow flashing is warning you that the factory in question is in need of some attentionand is probably too low in resources or Credits to make its product. It does not specify whatthe problem is; only that something is stopping the factory from operating (note: your propertywill flash red when under attack).This could be a lack of resources, a lack of Credits to purchase resources, a lack of ships togo and fetch/purchase the resources or a combination of any coupled with the fact that thesettings you have applied to the factory are stopping it from working correctly, for examplehow many systems in which you will allow the ships to go searching for resources.Q: I have transport ships and Credits. How do I get my factory to get what it needs?A: Firstly, transfer Credits to the factory from your account. Every factory requires workingcapital to buy its resources. You must then assign your transport ship(s) to that factory. This isknown as their “homebase”. Once you have assigned a ship its homebase, a whole set ofnew command options will become available.