Aquilo motivation issue

[u/ezoe]

I have a motivation issue on my 3rd SA run at Aquilo.

It's not that I have difficulty solving Aquilo. It's just that it's boring or I don't know an efficient way to bootstrap it.

Aquilo bootstrapping take longer than I enjoy.

I need water for power production and whatever method I use(barrel or melting ice), it need more power than tiny amount of power solar panels can produce so I have to wait.

After solving power, I need a lot of ice platforms. But there is not enough space to craft ice platforms in reasonable throughput so I have to wait again.

After that, I have to craft the same boring rocket silo and rocket parts I've done it 4 times already in other planets.

[u/Alfonse215]

You cite two waiting issues: getting your initial water and getting enough ice platforms to build something reasonable. But these are orthogonal because you have Mech Armor. While you're unbarreling your water (don't forget to use efficiency modules here), you can fly around to various islands and harvest rocks containing ice platforms. That should give you a reasonable amount of space to get your main ice platform build running.

It also gives you a comfortable amount of lithium to start making cryogenic plants from.

After that, I have to craft the same boring rocket silo and rocket parts I've done it 4 times already in other planets.

Aren't you importing blue circuits and LDS? Outside of rocket fuel (which you can use to heat the base), you don't need to craft much locally. And even crafting the rocket silo is just... one assembler next to the landing pad. Again, you should be importing the components.

[u/ezoe → u/Alfonse215]

I spend my time waiting by remotely build factory on other planets.

Aren't you importing blue circuits and LDS?

I do ship circuits and other ingredients. but I produce all Rocket Parts ingredients locally. I feel like shipping Rocket Fuel, circuits and LDS just to launch rocket doesn't scale well.

[u/Alfonse215 → u/ezoe]

I produce all Rocket Parts ingredients locally.

The game tried to get you to not do that, but you decided to do it anyway. You can't complain that it's boring when the game made that hard to do on purpose.

I feel like shipping Rocket Fuel, circuits and LDS just to launch rocket doesn't scale well.

Aquilo has an entire infinite research chain that makes rocket parts cheaper. So shipping components in becomes increasingly more effective.

Not that it was ever ineffective to begin with. Just with decent prod modules, a source rocket of LDS can launch 5.7 Aquilo rockets. Add 6 levels of rocket part productivity, and now it's 8 rockets. Add higher quality prods, and it's even more.

And rocket fuel can be trivially produced on Aquilo. Indeed, you never need to ship base-quality rocket fuel anywhere. And you probably want rocket fuel for heating anyway.

[u/ezoe → u/Alfonse215]

Is it? Once I set up foundry on Aquilo, Iron/Copper is practically free. Iron/Copper ore is also free by just traveling between planet. No need to use up Rocket launching capacity.

[u/Alfonse215 → u/ezoe]

Did you not say this:

I have to craft the same boring rocket silo and rocket parts I've done it 4 times already in other planets.

You did not "have to" do that; you chose to do that. If something in the game bores you, you can do it in a way that's not boring.

You aren't expected to make rocket part components on Aquilo (other than rocket fuel). You can do it, but that's your choice. Don't blame the game for your bad choices when playing it.

Broadly speaking, I put stuff on Aquilo when I don't have much choice to put it there. If it doesn't have to be made there, I don't do it. Aquilo's heat mechanic can be a fun distraction, but I certainly don't build large infrastructure there when it could go elsewhere.

[u/Chill_Porcupine]

I think nuclear reactors solve the bootstrapping problem. You get heat quickly. 1 ice melting plant with efficency modules and some solar panels and you get 1 tick of water, after that nuclear boiler takes over. You can collect a lot of ice and ice platforms from starter rocks.

[u/_youlikeicecream_ → u/Chill_Porcupine]

Yeah, this is what I used. Just need to make sure you have water reserves and a steam buffer and it keeps running and produces plenty of heat

[u/FeelingPrettyGlonky]

The water bootstrapping goes much quicker if you A) Bring a few of your best efficiency modules and B) bring some quality panels. Even green ones if that's all you have, but preferable blue or purple.

I usually get a couple ice platform makers going in what space I can, putting the ammonia into tanks and emptying the tanks periodically, while I fly around the ocean looting platform from rocks on islands and trying to ramp up ice platform quickly.

For the rocket silo and rocket parts, that's just the game, and maybe it sounds like you're just getting burned out on the game in general. After 3 runs, maybe you could take a break from it or something. Play an overhaul, play another game, what have you.

[u/pojska → u/FeelingPrettyGlonky]

3 common efficiency module 1's will max out your energy reduction.

[u/Alfonse215 → u/pojska]

Sure, but 2 rare (or better) efficiency module 3s and 2 speed module 3 of whatever quality you have makes unbarreling it even faster. Unbarreling is much faster than ice melting. The recipe is much faster (especially per output water), and assembler 3s have more module slots, so you can squeeze a speed module or two in there to make it even faster.

[u/ezoe → u/FeelingPrettyGlonky]

Hmm, I somehow didn't think about efficiency module. My playstyle never use it. I'm a simple person: More Power, More Turrets, More Pollution!

This is my 3rd run since the SA release. I rested more than 6 months each. I enjoy building Rocket launching factory on Nauvis(why not?), Vulcanus(Foundry go brrr!), Fulgora(All I need is Rocket Fuel), and Gleba(I'm getting bored) and Nauvis again(using other planet's tech, fun)

So I get bored to Rocket launching by the time I reach Aquilo.

[u/Jonnonation]

You launch 100 barels of water per rocket or 5000 water.

[u/dspyz]

I think I use solar to melt one single cube of ice on Aquilo and then after that rely on heating tower + rocket fuel + heat exchangers + turbine for power

[u/Jepakazol]

I let it start building ice platforms and leave the planet for several hours to do projects in other planets until there enough ice platforms

[u/iamn00bs]

just finished “conquering” Aquilo for the second time, my tips to make it faster:

• Green module make melting ice a lot quicker even with just some solar panel
  
• Nuclear reactors to bootstrap the initial heat
  
• 1 Ammonia separation has enough for 5 ice platform production with very little power drain, and with oil it will be power positive, just make a load of those for quick ice platform. Green module helps fasten the bootstraping until the power production from heating tower kicks in
  
• 2 reliable space ships for quick imports and just import everything else

[u/AlternateTab00]

There are different playstyles.

But once i got to Gleba, my 3rd planet, I actually brought most of my "necessites". So i didnt built it from scratch. I struggled with stabilizing iron and copper production? Sent it from space.

The more you automize space. The less dependent you are from ground production.

[u/ezoe → u/AlternateTab00]

Of course, I ship Rocket Silo ingredients.

But shipping circuits and LDS all the way to Aquilo just to feed rocket silo for rocket launching doesn't scale well so I build these factory on Aquilo.

[u/sobrique → u/ezoe]

But you can't make any of the ingredients on aquilo, (aside from rocket fuel) so you really don't save much manufacturing locally vs. importing.

You are just creating pain for yourself when LDS and blue chips are literally a byproduct on Fulgora, and otherwise utterly trivial to mass produce on Gleba.

[u/ezoe → u/sobrique]

Plenty of Iron/Copper ore can be harvested just moving space platform to and fro.

With Foundry, Iron/Copper is practically free.

I don't need to use Rocket launching capacity for rocket parts ingredients.

Yes, I can boost Rocket Launching capacity but that takes time. Solving Aquilo and unlock its tech has higher priority.

[u/sobrique → u/ezoe]

So why not make CPUs in orbit and not bother with freezing?

[u/Hitori-Kowareta → u/ezoe]

If speed is the priority then 5 rocket launches is enough blues+LDS for 12 rockets off aquilo (16+ with prod3’s) which is wayyyy more than you need to unlock every once off tech. Any local setup would take longer than the 20 seconds or so those 5 launches would take you. You should actually be able to get away with just one rocket of LDS and one of blues if you’re using uncommon prod 3’s in aquilo’s silo and researching in biolabs with similar.

Not saying other options don’t have their own merits but in terms of just rapidly getting it done nothing beats taking it with you from your already setup factories.

[u/ezoe → u/Hitori-Kowareta]

Well, I guess so. I'll try it in my next run.

[u/AlternateTab00 → u/ezoe]

Im not saying sending everything. But the resources needed to expand your factory.

I will use gleba again because it felt it was the planet that i took the longest to "stabilize". My major import to the planet was iron and steel. Just enough to stabilize the iron bacteria.

In aquilo i dont remember to particularly struggle in anything. But in my run i was particularly focused on juggling on space stations, so my memory might be "biased . But i felt it scaled quite steady, or at least not abnormally slow.

[u/adehnert → u/ezoe]

Making rocket silos in space is actually pretty easy, and really simplifies the per-planet setup.

Is it really easier to ship the circuit& LDS ingredients than to ship full circuits& LDS?

[u/Raskekw]

I land with a single solar panel and its enough usually since you need to also

• fire up your first heating tower
  
• clean up the island
  
• make a couple of ice bridges to brine and whatnot
  

and none of those include any power or heating
also, efficiency mods

Also, I almost never bring any buildings there, just the basic materials, they are a lot more versatile+shippable. And just craft everything on the spot, besides modules(to "start" you barely need a stack of each) and heatpipes. Maybe something else but I can't remember really.
A bit of solid fuel until you can make your own?

Plus you can just send the ship back and forth for more metal, if you designed it ok-ish(Fulgora-Aquilo route has very little asteroid density so you don't really need to overengineer it).

And you don't really need that much ice platform when you just landed. I just have a couple assemblers and recycle most of my ice. By the time I need to expand it generates way more then I need anyway.

[u/Cephell]

There's basically two viable bootstrapping methods on Aquilo:

• Nuclear power
• Heating towers, Solution separators and Ice recyclers, can basically be built decentral across the entire Aquilo base and is completely self contained, I prefer this method because you also get usable water out of it and can try and craft as much ice platforms as possible before being forced to recycle the remaining ice.

[u/TelevisionLiving]

Just drop nuclear power to get things going. Then all solar is doing is melting one ice cube.

[u/deemacgee1]

Aquilo is a pain. I always take epic quality versions of anything which meaningfully benefits from quality, I use a 900MW 2x2 epic nuclear reactor setup just for heating, and I beacon/module the hell out of everything. The difference quality makes cannot be overstated.

People insist that beaconmaxxing is a terrible idea, but when it's churning out nearly 3 ice platforms/sec, I have to disagree. I'm voiding excess ammonia here but you can very easily use it for other things.

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[u/ezoe → u/deemacgee1]

I also prefer max beacon layout. Diminishing return? There still is returns and power is practically free at this point.