What, really, does each counter for mines and refineries mean? Are you supposed to keep each one at zero? Is a higher number in either field desirable or just bad?

 

I need to understand the mechanics of this game!

 

EDIT: Just coming back, 3 years later and editing the title of this post to make it a bit more PC. Sorry for any offense

 

On the bright side, I've learned a lot about the game in these 3 years

Edited October 2, 200818 yr by Darth_Gonzo

Starting from the left:

 

The first box is your raw minerals. Those are the minerals that will eventually turned into refined minerals, but are waiting to be processed. If you have a ton of these and 0 refined minerals, then you really need to make more refineries.

 

The next box is your refined minerals. You use these up when you build anything. If there are no raw minerals and your barely getting any, then build more miners.

 

The third box is also required for building stuff except...once something is built, it still requires these matenience points to run. If this third box goes negative, be prepared to either scrap stuff yourself or watch a fireworks show of things blowing up.

 

Hoped I helped.

Ideally you want equal mines and refineries... you can check how many total of each you have under the Overview option selected by clicking on your "helper" droid guy.

so if I were doing something right, the displays would both read '0' or would it be zero raw minerals, and X refined materials...?

You never want 0 refined minerals(second box)...0 raw minerals are okay, as long as you are getting enough refined minerals...but basically, having 0 in anything is not good at all. Having 0 raw minerals aren't too bad, as I said...but try to maximize your production with this stuff =)

wow, I've been playing incorrectly all this time. So, the more the merrier in either box then, eh? As long as Refined (second box) is higher in number than Raw (first box) you're good...?

 

I'm not to bright...

Instead of thinking about it in numbers just think about how it would actually work.

 

The miners are mining raw minerals on their planets. Then those raw minerals are shipped to a refinery. Whatever the refinery produces will let you produce more units and buildings.

 

For every pair of miner and refinery, you get 50 matenience points.

 

Is this helping?

do we know the ratio of refineries to mines? how many mines can a refinery compliment? i ask because i build as many mines as i can, and build refineries on planets after i can build no more mines. this would suggest that an equal balance of mines to refineries would be an overkill of refineries.

 

i would guess that refineries to mines = 1:3

 

Also,

during one game, Sessenewa system lost most of its resources and enegry. the blocks were simply not there anymore. what really sucked was that Yaga Minor was my main Ship production facility. all of that was gone. this happened to multiple planets at the same time, including Corrusant. this was isolated to that sector.

The ratio is 1:1 I believe.

Rob is correct. A 1-to-1 ratio of mines to refineries gives 50 maintenance points per pair. That is the most efficient configuration. If you have more mines, then raw materials begin to accumulate; more refineries, then they process surplus raw materials if available or just sit there doing nothing.