Distributor

"Alien life form. Looks like it's been dead a long time. Fossilized. Looks like it's growing out of the chair. Bones are bent outward, like he exploded from inside."

Auto-pilot ships (APS) using the distributor module search for planets with excess resources (sources) and deliver them to places where they lack (sinks).

Distributor Modes

• Distribute colonist clans to planets with natives
• Distribute neutronium

Distributor Behavior

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Where will the pilot look for potential sink and source planets?

• Scope Range:
  • Auto: Depending on how many distributor are active within the default range (=max warp distance) of the current position, scope range is adjusted. If there are more than 4 active, the default range is doubled.
  • User setting: A general scope range can be set by the user (-> Dashboard -> nuPilot).

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Which sink planet will be selected?

• Potential sinks
  • Clan distribution: All planets within scope range that inhabit natives are potential sinks
  • Neutronium distribution: All planets within scope range that are in demand are considered potential sinks
  • Low-demand-cut-off: Demand must be at least half of minimum capacity to qualify as actual sink
• Sink classification and prioritization
  • Clan distribution: 3 classes, prioritized in the following order, all sinks sorted by distance to APS
    • Planets inhabiting natives with government level higher than 5 (feudal)
    • Planets inhabiting bovinoid natives
    • Planets inhabiting technological advanced natives
    • Planets inhabiting natives to which none of the above applies
  • Neutronium distribution: only one class, no prioritization, all sinks sorted by distance to APS
• Sink selection
  • The first sink for which an adequate source could be determined and that passes subsequent tests (security, mission conflicts), will be selected as mission destination.
• Fall-Back
  • In case there are no valid sinks within scope range, two sinks from outside the scope range are included if an appropriate source can be located.

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Which source planet will be selected?

• Source determination
  • Planets that offer excess of the resource in demand at the sink planet are considered potential sources and are categorized in two groups:
    1. Those that offer excess that will satisfy the demand of the sink
    2. Those that offer excess that won't satisfy the demand, but the excess fits or surmounts the minimum capacity
  • The route distance (ship -> source -> sink) is calculated for each source and the groups are sorted by ascending distance.
  • The first planet that passes subsequent tests (security, mission conflicts), will be selected as secondary mission destination.

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What will be loaded?

• Loading procedure
  • A distributor will load at least as much of the resource to reach minimum cargo capacity. If the demand of all planets within scope range of the sink planet is higher, the corresponding amount will be loaded. If the demand of the sink planet is higher, the corresponding amount will be loaded. Upper limit is the cargo capacity of the ship.