Starbase – How to Refill Propellant Tanks

List of useful methods for filling your ship’s tanks.

Starbase is a game in which you must do the majority of the work yourself. Als gevolg hiervan, you must replenish your “gas” tank with propellant on a regular basis. Echter, the current tutorial does not explain how to do so, and there is more than one way to do so. So I’ll try to explain various methods for refilling your propellant tanks and give a brief overview of their benefits and drawbacks.

Refueling Terminals

There are multiple locations on the Origin Stations with the following configuration:

1. A terminal from which to launch your ship.
2. A Resource Bridge to connect your ship to other ships.
3. A terminal for purchasing propellant or energy (electricity).

You can always buy as much propellant as you can fit here, but the procedure is unclear.

The first assumption, that you only need to spawn your ship and use the terminal to purchase propellant, is incorrect. The resource bridge exists to connect to your ship’s resource bridge. Simply connect them and you’re ready to fill the tanks that are linked.

This setup can be found at the following Origin stations:

• Simple to Construct Hall (though you need to turn the Easy Build Mode off to interact with the Resource Bridge on your ship)
• Starsol

en, in the absence of the spawn terminal:

• Towers of Ore

Pluspunten:

• Quick
• There is no need for tools.
• Eenvoudig, because the device fields of the resource bridge are irrelevant.
• No artisanal skills are required (and as such no Research)
• Capable of refilling any tank

Nadelen:

• Met 1568.16 Creds for the equivalent of 1 stack Ice converted into propellant, this is most likely the most expensive option (in comparison to Ice) (1,728,000 propellant)
• Only available on Origin stations.

Tank Change

This technique is simple:

• Unbolt your Propellant Tank, en dan
• It should be replaced with a full tank
• and secure the new tank

This requires you to either buy the tank from the auction house or craft it (which requires you to have the research unlocked and a sufficiently upgraded basic crafting bench) and is thus dependent on your research level as to how effective it is in the long run as there may not be a consistent supply of ready-made propellant tanks.

Echter, it is tied for the cheapest as long as auctioned Ice is less than 1568.16 credits per stack (and you only change empty tanks), as the Refill recipe requires only Ice.

One thing to keep in mind is that not all ships have easy access to their propellant tanks.

Verder, some tanks are connected to pipes in such a way that when they are removed, the pipe snaps, potentially disconnecting the support.

Pluspunten:

• Goedkoop (depending on Ice Price)
• Location doesn’t matter (if research unlocked)

Nadelen:

• Work intensive
• Tanks might not be accessible
• Research intensive as each tank-size needs its own research
• Requires tools (bolt tool, possibly crafting bench with upgrades)
• Might lose some propellant when refilling not fully emptied

DIY Pump

The final option is to transfer data from one network to another. This could be within the ship, another ship, or a single tank with a resource bridge.

Echter, those still require the use of one of the other two methods to resupply the network but have the advantage of not requiring the ship to be deconstructed.

The requirement is to have two distinct pipe networks, two resource bridges (to connect them), and to configure their device fields to FlowOut/FlowIn 1/0 en 0/1 depending on where the propellant must flow in.

And because this can be built in 5 or fewer parts (Resource Bridge, Hardpoint, Steun, Tank), you can keep a basic setup in your inventory. It’s worth noting that the resource bridge can support up to 50.000 Propellant every second or two. Als gevolg hiervan, this is the slowest method.

Pluspunten:

• No tools required (unless refill needed)
• Location does not matter
• Does not require physical access to ship tanks (if using basic setup)
• Can refill any tank

Nadelen:

• Time Intensive
• Needs device field setup
• Can only redistribute, not add to the propellant total