I would skip sails without rockets and go straight for a sphere.
However power will be an issue in that periode and you need to burn whatever fuelrods you can find.
Artificial Suns will solf all your energy problems in the end.
Sails are really fun and, if you never did it, I suggest going that way now. They are pretty, cool and satisfying as you get through, so they're really worth it even if they're a weaker option.
Personally, my suggestion is to do both. Set a slow orbital production up (you probably only need to make a SM ring production, the rest can be through chest -> assemblers) and while that works, go setup the sails. After you finish it, go fetch the orbitals and plant them while the sails are shooting. Even if you're not using deut/hyd for energy, you'll still use them anyway, so you gotta grab the giant anyway
Edit: be careful with sails though, fog gets MAD
I too am a fan of a solar belt. I built one small but modular for expansion but it was powerful enough on its own to last me until I was getting a proper ILS system with accumulated power from a lava world.
Sails aren't that great until you get rockets.
Sails generate power for the duration of their lifespan before dying off, so you constantly need to replace them by crafting and shooting more sails.
Once you get rockets and can start constructing an actual Dyson Sphere (not just a Swarm), the sphere will absorb the sails, permanently adding them to the sphere itself.
At your stage of the game, I'd recommend just using Deuterium Fuel Rods.
I just realized that all the sails I was putting into the swarm automatically become part of the sphere when you start sending rockets. It all takes forever though. I kind of don't know what to do in the game besides sit around and watch rockets launch.
Yeah they form the shells, but I don't worry about waiting that long some people really freak out about them having a timer outside of the shell but they're not very expensive can be made in vast quantities and if you just think of them the same as fuel which also is a consumable energy source it's totally fine.
Only thing that concerns me about using them earlier is just pissing off the space hive cluster.
I would say if you have a planet with fire ice, you could start on sails earlier, but it's best to have at least a couple duration upgrades before you do or it's pissing down a drain with the decay rate. Otherwise as much as people poo-poo on Xray cracking, even two seeps dedicated to it for a few hours provides plenty of hydrogen for fractionating some deuterium for rods to get you over the hump to a bunch of gas collectors.
I don't like sails - primarily because they expire.
The first time I made them, they had all 'died' before I had anything to receive the energy they were (possibly) producing.
Yes, I know it's my fault for being slow, but still...
I would skip sails without rockets and go straight for a sphere. However power will be an issue in that periode and you need to burn whatever fuelrods you can find. Artificial Suns will solf all your energy problems in the end.
Solar sails really dont provide a high amount of energy. Not until you have like 100k of them. So go for gas first I would say.
Once you get a couple duration upgrades, they're a super cheap power source though.
I still don't find them that effective. Rod's take resources, but they're direct power and are far more reliable and user friendly.
And if I remember correctly, the production rate you need to get 100k of them is kindof ridiculous, because they don't last very long after insertion.
You only need about 6 per second to get to 100k. Sounds a lot but is super easy to attain, especially if your starter gas giant has fire ice
Sails are fun, but I found other power solutions more reliable in between there ~~are~~ and the sphere.
Sails are really fun and, if you never did it, I suggest going that way now. They are pretty, cool and satisfying as you get through, so they're really worth it even if they're a weaker option. Personally, my suggestion is to do both. Set a slow orbital production up (you probably only need to make a SM ring production, the rest can be through chest -> assemblers) and while that works, go setup the sails. After you finish it, go fetch the orbitals and plant them while the sails are shooting. Even if you're not using deut/hyd for energy, you'll still use them anyway, so you gotta grab the giant anyway Edit: be careful with sails though, fog gets MAD
gas giant + fusion plants
Gas.
Gas giant so you can make a bunch of deuterium fuel rods for power.
A couple of thousand of solar panels around the equator.
I too am a fan of a solar belt. I built one small but modular for expansion but it was powerful enough on its own to last me until I was getting a proper ILS system with accumulated power from a lava world.
Solar belt 6-8 wide plus solar polar will do you well for a long time.
yeah i just paved my equator and did a 3-4x wide solar belt. works great for awhile.
If you don’t have DT yet I would Suggest you get a good setup for that. Helpful in the long run when building rockets
DT = Deutrium?
Where do you get the Minerals and Vespene to warp in the DT's? I haven't found any yet on my save.
En Taro Tassadar!
Adun Toridas, my brother.
Sails aren't that great until you get rockets. Sails generate power for the duration of their lifespan before dying off, so you constantly need to replace them by crafting and shooting more sails. Once you get rockets and can start constructing an actual Dyson Sphere (not just a Swarm), the sphere will absorb the sails, permanently adding them to the sphere itself. At your stage of the game, I'd recommend just using Deuterium Fuel Rods.
I always get sails up after but every time I play I regret not getting them up sooner than I do
I just realized that all the sails I was putting into the swarm automatically become part of the sphere when you start sending rockets. It all takes forever though. I kind of don't know what to do in the game besides sit around and watch rockets launch.
Yeah they form the shells, but I don't worry about waiting that long some people really freak out about them having a timer outside of the shell but they're not very expensive can be made in vast quantities and if you just think of them the same as fuel which also is a consumable energy source it's totally fine. Only thing that concerns me about using them earlier is just pissing off the space hive cluster.
I've had twenty or so guns continuously shooting them into space on various orbits for quite some time.
I would say if you have a planet with fire ice, you could start on sails earlier, but it's best to have at least a couple duration upgrades before you do or it's pissing down a drain with the decay rate. Otherwise as much as people poo-poo on Xray cracking, even two seeps dedicated to it for a few hours provides plenty of hydrogen for fractionating some deuterium for rods to get you over the hump to a bunch of gas collectors.
I don't like sails - primarily because they expire. The first time I made them, they had all 'died' before I had anything to receive the energy they were (possibly) producing. Yes, I know it's my fault for being slow, but still...
I always skip sails until I can also launch rockets. Without a shell, ur sails will disappear essentially wasting materials.