Author Topic: Nanotech Facility Tech Tree  (Read 12103 times)

Offline Falciform

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 16
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« on: January 23, 2007, 04:58:27 PM »
I guess the most important part you would need in a walkthrough would be the tech tree to get the Nanotech Facility.

These are required.

Underground Laboratory

Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence
Chemistry - Biochemistry - Quantum Chemistry
Physics - Theoretical Physics - Quantum Physics

Hot Lab

Computer Science - Nanotechnology 1
Physics - Nanotechnology 2 - Nanomachines - Assembler
Physics - Nanotechnology 2 - Nanomachines - Replicator
- Mining
- Construction
- Medical
- Terraforming
- Food Production

I would build two UG Labs and set one researching Basic Research and the other to Artificial Intelligence.  AI is the fastest way to get your Hot Lab facility.  Build two Hot Labs and get them going on Nanotechnology 1.  You should have several more UG Labs by now and should be done with or almost done with Theoretical Physics and Quantum Physics by the time you're done with Nanotechnology 1.  Then get started on Nanotechnology 2.

Here's a .jpeg with the tech tree and an example of my build strat.


Offline BinaryMan

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 35
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2007, 05:25:02 PM »
These are the research points (or number of turns for a single lab) to get each tech for nanotech facility:

Underground Laboratory: (total 200)

Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence (25)
Chemistry - Biochemistry (25) - Quantum Chemistry (75)
Physics - Theoretical Physics (25) - Quantum Physics (50)

Hot Lab: (total 175)

Computer Science - Nanotechnology 1 (25)
Physics - Nanotechnology 2 (25) - Nanomachines (50)
   - Assembler (25)
   - Replicator (25) - Mining (25)

Also:

The administrative facility requires efficiency studies 1, and efficiency studies 2 will upgrade the building.

Only Replicator->Mining is required for Nanotech. Not all 5 of replicator.

I like your layouts. I tried Hard mode with no mining (SPEW only) and I managed to get Nanotech in time. It requires a lot of residences and minimal structures. Many structures only take power/people, and so there isn't much limitation on those.

Some observations:

- Residences create 1 sewage each per turn, which translates to 1 MPG per turn. Factories also create sewage.

- You generally get back construction costs when you recycle buildings (automatic with a SPEW).

- If you run out of all resources, the SPEW may maintain the colony, but you can't build anymore stuff. Same if you run out of labor. However, you can get by without using Metal C/D as a maintainence resource if you don't overbuild or build things that need it every turn. You can then research until you get nanotech.

- Hot lab (if actively researching), Tokamak, and Nanotech facility WILL explode on Hard mode (and perhaps medium/easy). They only last for about 50-100 turns it seems, which is a pain. DIRT facility is actually meaningless to preventing it (at least in Hard mode). I remember that beginner mode seems to have no such explosions.

- I always bring a solar sat/solar array so that I don't suffer through Tokamak explosions (and possible loss of power and the game). Unfortunately, you can only build 1 or 2, and other colonies must use Tokamak. Sucks on hard mode as you have to constantly watch for explosions and build in cycles.

- I have never seen the disasters do anything to my game. All explosions are from the above buildings when their "timer" expires.

- Your results may differ as I am using v1.5 and v1.51 is what others are using. I believe there are some minor adjustments, especially to the population mortality rate in the beginning.

- I like to trade with the rebel colony, but I can't prevent morale from going to 1000 except with a LOT of police stations on hostile. Trouble is, after researching, they have less negative effects on morale, and I also get morale bonuses from research. My only recourse was to destroy all except one residence to make it stop going up. Even then, it's still hard to equalize the morale level. I see that you have some luxury factories and other morale boosting stuff, so you don't mind taking over the rebel colony. I tried building Tokamaks to decrease morale, and it works well, but then they explode after a small time. So there is no effective way on hard mode to keep it in a range like 600-800.

- Trading with the rebel colony is overrated. The only thing they have that I don't is repair robots, and I can't use them when they offer it anyway (at least not that I can see).

- Population control is achieved from limiting food supply and running out of food. Normally, I just trade out students for worker robots from the rebel colony. Robots can't die :)

- The only upgrade with a tangible effect is when the agri-dome gets 2 upgrades it produces 15 food not 10 per turn. I cannot verify any others, but I think the lab gets a boost too.

- I never build most of the underground structures; morale is so easy to max out, it seems meaningless to build UG Factory, commercial, entertainment, medical, or park. But they do look nice in your screenshot :)

- Explorer bots do work (I've seen new sites), but you won't get much more than are there from the start. Get Nanotech soon ;)

- After turn 100 (I think), you can trade with the rebel colony.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2007, 03:37:32 AM by BinaryMan »

Offline White Claw

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 854
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2007, 07:33:04 PM »
SPEW only eh? That's pretty interesting. I think I might try that. Did you just build fields of residences and a SPEW (plus the other minimum essentials)? Seems like you'd have to build a ton since they only provide one point of MPG per turn. With this strategy, you could build anywhere without worring about mine locations.

Falciform, I like your layouts. Nice graphic...

Offline BinaryMan

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 35
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2007, 04:49:45 AM »
Quote
SPEW only eh? That's pretty interesting. I think I might try that. Did you just build fields of residences and a SPEW (plus the other minimum essentials)? Seems like you'd have to build a ton since they only provide one point of MPG per turn. With this strategy, you could build anywhere without worring about mine locations.
 
Yes, it takes a lot of residences. They take 12 resources to build, then provide 1 afterward. CHAP, AgriDome, and SPEW only take 3 resources each to operate I think. To avoid labor problems, build 2-3 AgriDomes (which allows 200-300 population cap). Keep SPEW window up to watch for fluctuations. There are limitations to this strategy: if you use up all natural resources and only MPG remains, you are not allowed to build anymore, and the game is essentially over. You can avoid this by building only what you need plus labs - you should be left with MetalC and MetalD, and maybe the fusions. Keep a warehouse and 2-3 robot controls active, as they have no resource operating costs. Build 1-2 solar panels because the never explode. Use the seed factory to build dozers/diggers to replace those that fail. If you move through the tech tree outlined above, you can get nanotech before it becomes a problem. Or just trade with the rebel colony for robots or resources to continue building (they will take excess people off your hands too, useful for trading non-productive students!) Remember the nanotech facility WILL explode (depending on difficulty level), regardless if a DIRT facility in present (so don't bother on hard mode, just stagger the timing of your builds).

Offline White Claw

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 854
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2007, 06:43:00 PM »
So you only build off of the resources you have brought with? (i.e. no mining at all?) Or do you do one mine level and that's all of your resources. I take it you also have to have enough metals to build the nanotech facility.

I was always a bit confused on exactly how much resources you start out with.

Have you mapped out the tech tree yet? I know there's the guts located in the outpost readfile, but just curious if you mapped out the results...
« Last Edit: January 31, 2007, 11:29:39 AM by Mez »

Offline BinaryMan

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 35
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2007, 11:42:26 PM »
Quote
So you only build off of the resources you have brought with? (i.e. no mining at all?) Or do you do one mine level and that's all of your resources. I take it you also have to have enough metals to build the nanotech facility.

I was always a bit confused on exactly how much resources you start out with.

Have you mapped out the tech tree yet? I know there's the guts located in the outpost readfile, but just curious if you mapped out the results...
You start with something like 20 Fusion A/B/C, 20 Prec A/B, 200 Metal/Min A/B/C/D (right click on Command Center and check its Assets). It will get you through until you get SPEW and a lot of Residences if you manage it well, but you will exhaust almost all of it by the time you finish the research (it is used before MPG). If you have any categories remaining (or maybe just one used in the construction) you will be able to build the nanotech facility - the rest is filled with MPG from SPEW. However, if you are in Hard mode and have to rebuild it (from it exploding), and have turns where you use the remaining materials, you might be unable to rebuild it. It might be worth doing one mine for this purpose only, but that defeats the challenge :)

I only got the tree for Nanotech; it would take awhile to map out the rest, if you mean the results of research. It's hard to know all the components of a result without doing it several times. Honestly, most of the results are trivial to the game anyway. Once I get Nanotech, I just mass build labs and finish off all research. The Administrative building appears not to help much, but I haven't tested it thoroughly. In the Computer Science category, the technology yields humanoid workers which lets you expand rapidly without fear of labor shortages. Most other results are just prettier buildings.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2007, 11:43:25 PM by BinaryMan »

Offline White Claw

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 854
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2007, 07:45:46 AM »
Thanks for the tips. After some investigating, I actually started this new colony yesterday. I almost screwed up because I nearly forgot to build my solar power array (I was so busy with the residences). It was completed as my power demand was 56 out of 50. (however that works...) And I should have build another digger.

 

Offline White Claw

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 854
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2007, 08:12:17 PM »
Hmmm... I just finished getting four of the nanotechs. Just have terraforming left to get. Everything was fine until turn 200 when the Rebel colony collapsed and I was flooded with about 250 refugees. I ended up with about 46 UG residences with two UG labs and two Hot Labs humming away.

Offline Falciform

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 16
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2007, 07:35:26 PM »
The Biology - Medicine - Pharmacology etc tree leads to the cure for the alien virus, which can be pretty useful later in the game.

Only do the Theoretical Physics branches (except Quantum Physics) when you're ready to build a monorail or build your spaceship.

Physics - Electrical Engineering - Robotics 2
Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence - Robotics 1 - Humanoid Workers
Those are the branches you need for humanoid workers.  Humanoid Workers, Repair Robots and Airborne Robots only become available after you research Robotics 1 AND Robotics 2

Computer Science - Systems Analysis - Efficiency Studies 1 gets you your building upgrade for everything.  Or vice versa with below.

Computer Science - Systems Analysis - Efficiency Studies 2 lets you build an Underground Administration building.  Or vice versa with above.

Biology - Plant Biology - Agriculture 1 leads to a second improved Agridome.

Physics - Theoretical Physics - Quantum Physics gets you the second upgrade to your Underground Laboratories.

One of the Social Sciences branches leads to the second upgrade for your Underground Residences.  I can't remember which.

Biology - Ecology - Alien - etc leads to the result "New food source" whatever that is.  Maybe it increases your Agridome output?

Those are about all the interesting ones I can think of.

Offline White Claw

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 854
Nanotech Facility Tech Tree
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2007, 07:54:22 PM »
Sweet. Thanks!