Engineer Production Boost Questions

[foodie]

So, I just picked up this game a few days ago after falling in love with it, and I had some questions about engineer production boosting - I read the community wiki where it said engineer boosting was inefficient, but also that the information was outdated. If so, what's the current situation with regards to engineer production boost amount/efficiency? Is there an optimum engineer:factory ratio? Do different engineer tiers make a difference in boost amount/efficiency? Is the 3-engineer-per-production-factory cap still in effect? I've noticed well over 3 engineers grouped up on one space dock when they haven't anything better to do, and they all have little green production boost lines so I'm confused. 

Sorry for the barrage of questions, and thanks for making an amazing game that I was gladly willing to pay for even given my starving college student budget :3

[x4000]

Hey foodie,

Thanks for your support of the game, and I'm glad you're enjoying it so well!  You're absolutely right, that info is definitely terribly outdated in the community wiki.  To answer your specific questions:

- There is no longer a 3-engineer cap per constructor.
- Due to the high energy cost of constructors, my belief is that it is good to build as few constructors as you can (1 per planet in general, often 3 at once per galaxy map overall for me), and to then just use engineers to double, triple, or (vastly) more increase their output.  I have not done the math, though, so someone else might correct me and say that the ideal number of engineers is 5 or 6 or something, which is around what I tend to have per dock, anyway.

Sorry for the confusion there, hope that helps!

[Revenantus]

The engineering rate of an engineer affects the amount by which it will increase the production rate. Engineer I,II and IIIs have engineering rates of 1, 1.5, and 2 respectively.

An engineer attached to a constructor will increase the constructor's build rate by the constructor's base build rate multiplied by the engineer's engineering rate.

As an example;

A standalone space dock builds at a rate of 60 build points per second. Attaching an engineer I to the space dock causes it to build at a rate of 120 build points per second (60 + 60*1). For this reason, you'll always want to have as few space docks as possible because space docks consume more energy than engineers, and attaching just a single engineer to a space dock causes it to produce ships just as quickly as 2 space docks would. Engineers also have the added benefit of also being able to perform other tasks if required, such as enacting repairs.

As another example, attaching an engineer II to a space dock causes it to build at a rate of 150 build points per second (60 + 60*1.5).

[foodie]

Wow, thanks for the quick response! Now I can rebuild my 2k+ fleet that got vaporized instantly upon jumping into a T4 system faster

Also, another completely unrelated question: if I'm not mistaken, knowledge raiding only works if you have supply, and supply is only granted when you capture a system? So is it actually a reasonable tactic to capture a system down the road, towards the AI HQ, just to have supply to get the knowledge around said system (6k total, since my map consists mostly of straight lines), when otherwise you'd just neuter and move on because it has absolutely nothing of interest? I have this morbid fear that I'm killing too many command centers for my own good and digging my own grave;

[Revenantus]

Science labs only function when they're supplied. For a ship to be supplied, you must have a friendly command station within 1 hop of its current location.

The tactic you describe is certainly valid - there's no requirement for all your planets to be linked together so you can certainly skip some AI controlled areas and establish another base closer to the AI. This can be a great way to progress without unduly increasing the AI progress as you suggest. Whether the planet is worth holding on to or abandoning after having collected the knowledge is a decision for you to make - there are so many interesting decisions to make during a campaign.

You've hinted at it already, but you definitely don't want to destroy any command stations/warp gates if it's not necessary. Keeping the AI progress as low as possible is vital, and raiding data centers where possible to help with this is definitely recommended. Good luck in your campaign!