Many players like to balance the development of their infrastructure by their relative cost. The normal way of doing this is either through a haphazard ordering of structures in the construction queue, or to go on advice of others. This page provides the players with an at-a-glance view of the relative cost (and value) of manufacturing structures at that tier.
The following production calculator shows you what structures you need for balance, and what the relative construction and production values are of Metal-2 and Metal-3 bases. Adjustments for Cybernetics is included.
Production Calculator
Metal Refinery
cum: 3596
Cybernetics
cum: 0
Robotic Factory
cum: 2397
Construction Metal-2
per: 343
Nanite Factory
cum: 2052
Construction Metal-3
per: 293
Android Factory
cum: 2250
Production Metal-2
per: 240
Shipyard
cum: 18206
Production Metal-3
per: 215
Orbital Shipyard
cum: 10000
Balanced Structures
YESNO
Total: 38501
Balanced Structure Table
The following table lists the six key manufacturing structures: Metal Refineries, Robotic Factories, Nanite Factories, Android Factories, Shipyards and Orbital Shipyards. They are organized on tiers of their relative cost, with the cost column baselined on the price of Metal Refineries at that tier. The other structure costs are relatively the same.
The parenthetical value represents the construction value of that tier, based on a Metal-2 astro. Add an additional 1 per level of Metal Refinery at that tier to get the construction value of that tier.
The italicized value represents the ten percent increase in production created by having Cybernetics-2, which is the minimum technology necessary to build Orbital Shipyards. That suggests that at this level and beyond, the true value is different from the estimated value. This is also the case if you have a Construction or Production commander assigned to that base. So, remember to adjust these numbers according to your specific situation.
Cost MR RF NF AF SY OY CV-2 CV-3 PV
1 1 - - - - - 2 3 2
2 2 - - - - - 4 6 4
3 3 - - - - - 6 9 6
4 4 - - - - - 8 12 8
5 5 1 - - 1 - 12 15 14
8 6 2 - - 2 - 16 21 18
12 7 3 - - 3 - 20 27 22
18 8 4 - - 4 - 24 32 32
26 9 5 - - 5 - 28 37 38
39 (32) 10 6 - - 6 - 32 42 44
Cost MR RF NF AF SY OY CV-2 CV-3 PV
58 11 7 - - 7 - 36 47 50
87 12 8 1 - 8 - 44 58 60
130 13 9 2 - 9 - 52 65 70
195 14 10 3 - 10 - 60 741 80
292 15 11 4 - 11 - 68 83 90
438 16 12 5 - 12 - 76 92 100
657 17 13 6 - 13 - 84 101 110
986 18 14 7 1 14 - 98 116 126
1478 19 15 8 2 15 - 112 131 142
2217 20 16 9 3 16 - 126 1462 158
MR RF NF AF SY OY CV-2 CV-3 PV
3326 (140) 21 17 10 4 17 - 140 161 178
4988 22 18 11 5 18 - 154 176 190
7482 23 19 12 6 19 - 168 191 206
11085 24 20 13 7 20 1 182 206 232 255
Cost/Time Scale
0 1.0 1.0
1 1.5 2.5
2 2.2 4.8
3 3.4 8.1
4 5.1 13.2
5 7.6 20.8
6 11.4 32.2
7 17.1 49.3
8 25.6 74.9
9 38.4 113.3
10 57.7 171.0
11 86.5 257.5
12 129.7 387.2
13 194.6 581.9
14 291.9 873.8
15 437.9 1311.7
16 656.8 1968.5
17 985.3 2953.8
18 1477.9 4431.7
19 2216.8 6648.5