Goekhan wrote:May I ask a question? I'm a little bit lost here.
I usually had big trade empires, never got into building stations and such. But in AP, there are SEVERE supply problems, so I throw some mines here and there to keep the production going.
After this, I installed the bonus pack for AP, everything in it. I got CAG, CLSI/II. But as you might imagine, I'm "overwhelmed" with more settings.
Anyway, long story short, I've set up 4 CAGs going, 1 CLS in standby. I don't understand the importance/requirement of CLS so far. Please correct me if I'm wrong:
CAGs are there to "take care of it's homebase station", right? Buying resources, selling products, etc... 4 of my CAGs are currently busy loading the station up with ECells, so I guess they'll actually start selling some stuff when they advance in their careers.
Yes, correct. Also it is suggested to fit the CAG's with practically everything (Trade Command Software 1, 2, 3, Fight command software 1, 2, Jumpdrives etc. also I think Best Selling / Best Buys locator is useful). The Readme file that comes with the Bonus pack actually tells quite a lot of details about this!
Few things to note:
* When CAG's advance in their career, they start to learn to use Jumpdrive, they can go further about and in general get more efficient at their job.
* At first, even if they are set as "Trader" they only Buy resources; it will take some levels before they start to Sell!
* I recommend doing a sector blacklist or requirement setup in the advanced settings; i.e set them to trade only with sectors which have a Gate in it, if you have good satellite network use "Only trade in sectors with satellites in them".
* I also recommend putting all pirate sectors as Black Listed, since that ought to be trouble in times, unless you are in relatively good terms with 'em
Goekhan wrote:
My question about this part is, how much do they buy/sell for? I set ECell buying price (on my mine, I mean) to 12, but CAGs stopped working. Then I set it to 16, they now continue to work. So, if I'm to assume that, CAGs try to buy at/below, and try to sell at/above the prices you set on their home station? Just this answer would clarify a lot of questions on my mind.
They try to sell at the best price possible. So, if you have high-level CAG running around on a Solar Power Plant (just an example), and you have set the sell price of Ecells to 14creds, they will aim at around 16 creds (or so) per sold unit, because they take a bit of a pay too so it would only make deficit if they didn't find proper profit. If there is a, let's say, factory running at no eCells and have their price at 19, they will aim there first etc. So CAG's understand supply/demand and do their best to work on it. Also with the Trader settings you can set limits as how much you have to be able to get your resources to your cargo hold before the CAG actually goes about to sell it. I leave these at defaults!
So this is in short all the stuff I usually do with my CAG:s. REMEMBER: after you have set up the settings, if you want to use them easily again, go to Data Storage (or whatever it was called) and SAVE YOUR SETUP! Makes your life so much easier in the long run, trust me
1) Fit my CAG's with at least: Full shields, weapons (set at Missile Defense), full Engine and Rudder tunings. Then I'll get 'em Mosquitos (10 pieces, additional command and Missile Defense Mosquito enabled. Not *required*, but it seems to help
)
Fight Command Software MK1, MK2
Trade Command Software MK1, MK2
Jumpdrive
Best Sell/Best Buy locators
Patrol Command software
Navigation Command software's
Carrier Supply (or something) Software
Transporter Device (when I remember to get it:)
Triplex Scanner, if possible (easy to get with the "best" TS's as CAG's, from Legend's Home if you use Mistrals, which are quite excellent.
2) Do a setup as about following:
Assing a homebase (of course!
, set the trader to take trainings and USE THE STATION ACCOUNT, check Jumpdrive settings that they are proper, set blacklisted sectors (usually all pirate sectors and in the case of AP, also all the warzones), set the Satellite and Gate requirement on (depending where I have the station, if it is in Terran space, then I do NOT set the "Only trade in sectors with a gate", since that would block out most of Terran space). Satellite requirement is quite nice, since at least the trader knows then where is the good stuff available at good price, or where they need something desperately.
SAVE IT
I use self-explanatory save names to keep it simple, for example:
No WZ, R/Gate, R/Sat = blacklisted warzones (and pirate sectors as per default I always do), Require Gates (R/Gate), Require Satellite (R/Sat). After you have saved it, press ESC to get back to the CAG main menu -> Start Commercial Agent.
You're done. It feels like a lot of work to do, but when you've done it couple of times you can do it in the back of your head. It really, really pays off.
Phew, think that's pretty much it.
Goekhan wrote:
My other questions are related to CLSI/II, so if you're not using them, you don't need to read those, thanks anyway.
About CLS, I fail to see the difference/necessity of CLS and CAG so far, maybe since I only use mines. One question that bugs my mind is, what is the difference between internal/external CLS?
If I'm to assume that, internal is based on one station, focused to distribute the products of it; meanwhile external is based on one "route", focused to do whatever you tell the pilot to? For example, you have an ECell complex going, am I to use internal CLS to distribute ECells among my other complexes? And likewise, if I have a lot of deliveries and pickups to make, I should use external CLS (in other words, building a "virtual" complex)?
If anyone can clear this out for me, they'll earn e-cookies
Thank you.
(note: I asked the same question on CLS topics aswell. If you can, please reply a copy as a PM; if someone would like to enlighten me, I don't want to miss out on some "cruical" information)
I haven't really used the CLS ever before, few times I tried to make one do some supplying job for the HUB in X3TC, but it was easier to just set up a CAG to do the stuff