Orbital Collector

Logistics

Used to collect the resources of Gas giant, it needs to consume the collected fuel materials to maintain the energy required to work in orbit.

Gathering Target		Gas Giant
Work Consumption		30.0 MW
Gathering Speed		8 * Mining speed * GG base - Cons.
Made In		Assembler
Hand-Make		Replicator
Stack Size		10

1

30 s

1

50

20

Summary

Generates Hydrogen and Deuterium when placed on the equator of a Gas Giant, or Hydrogen and Fire Ice on the equator of an Ice Giant.

The resource collection rate depends on the yield of the giant and the gathering speed of the Orbital Collector. The default gathering speed is 8. The gathering speed can be increased with the Veins Utilization upgrade. The collection rate is calulated as yield * gathering speed.

However, some of the collected resources will be used to power the Orbital Collector, which drastically lowers how much resources are actually usable. Both resources will be used to fuel the Orbital Collector, regardless of how much is stored of each resource. The resources are used proportionally to how much is collected per second, and how much energy is generated by burning the resource.

For example: A giant has a yield of 0.5 fireice/s and 0.25 hydrogen/s. The actual resource yield can be calculated like this:

Collection rate	Power value	% of total power collected	Power diverted to Orbital Collector	Resources remaining
0.5 fireice/s * 8 = 4 fireice/s	4.8 MJ/fireice * 4 fireice/s = 19.2 MW	52%	0.52 * 30MW = 15.4 MW	(19.2 MW - 15.4 MW) / 4.8 MJ/fireice = 0.77 fireice/s
0.25 hydrogen/s * 8 = 2 hydrogen/s	9 MJ/hydrogen * 2 hydrogen/s = 18 MW	48%	0.48 * 30MW = 14.5 MW	(18 MW - 14.5 MW) / 9 MJ/hydrogen = 0.39 hydrogen/s

With the default gathering speed, most of the resources are lost to power the Orbital Collector. Researching higher levels of the Veins Utilization is important to get good yields, as this increases the gathering speed of the Orbital Collector while keeping the power consumption the same.

Production Chain

Recipe	Building	Replicator?	Technology
1 30 s 1 50 20 20		✔

Player Tips & Tricks

It is possible to place more than one collector on a Gas Giant, although there is a minimum distance between collectors required. Placing them at the minimal possible distance will let you place a maximum of 40 collectors.

In order to export products from an orbital collector, set to the collector to "remote supply." Then on the planet where you wish to receive the collected products, set up an Interstellar Logistics Station with fire ice, hydrogen, and/or deuterium set to "remote demand."