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My current best optimized Solar tiles so far per priorities below. Hope it is useful for others, comments welcome as always.

TL;DR: as some panels are not fully covered with substations I was able to save some space and reach 98.56% area coverage w/full logistic. Also I've saved some space with the checked logistic pattern -> slower build time for robots

This is the small 330MW / useful coverage 98.56%/300MW. In the following post see the 3.3GW / useful coverage 98.6141% version.

Blueprint attached as TXT as exceeded the char limit here.

My priorities were:
- tileable
- perfect ratio: 6065 Accs / 7160 Solar Panels = 0.8470 ratio (0.84672 is perfect)
- logistic coverage: 100%: robots must be able to build it w/o construction train or spidetron
- no empty space
- useful area coverage maximized: 98.56%: 253 subsations vs the 277.7 needed to fully cover this area (averaged)
- rectangle shape as possible for easy tiling w/o grid lock: 900x100, only +/- 1 tile horizontally
- self contained electric and logistic coverage
- normal quality for now

Not relevant for me:
- walk / drive through
- trains: just avoid the substations
- radar coverage - Roboports now have 2 tiles of radar range
- rare etc quality items

Further possible improvements:
- substations can be even further (4 tile gap vs current 2 tile gap) - see the screenshots below. I don't have a fully covering pattern idea for this...
- a better looking pattern would be cool
- quaility: you can exchange (almost) any 2x2 solar panel blocks to 3x3 accumlator blocks and vice versa to change the ratio. There are unpowered full rows of 2 tiles between the subtation rows where it won't work, also on the left side there are some other dead spots for accumlators (panels are OK)
- I had a version where extra substations added vertically to the left or right edge outside the 900x100 area saving the mess on the left, a tiny area% can be gained that way. For me it does not worth the hassle
- wanted a nice 1GW version, but at least in this pattern I cannot get a rectangle 1GW version ( smallest cell is 450x100 and 150MW, this is a x2 version to have roboports also tileable nicely)

Power:
- In theory Net 300.66MW - as 18 roborts using 0.9MW of the 7160*0.060*70%= 301.56MW power
- tested w/625 beacons in editor, see screenshot below, more 299MW-ish...
Wiki references:
- Solar_panel/Optimal_Ratios
Forum references:
- Day-Night cycle times in Space Age and Solar Power
- Solar Power in Space Age - Definitive Ratios for Planets, Qualities and Throughput-Limits
- Just another solar farm
- Compact 88 MW Solar Field + Accumulators

The current idea:
Future idea (so far I did not have a pattern for this setup):

98.61% useful coverage is possible using the new pattern.

The theorietical max useful coverage numbers are (external wires on the side needed, not counted):
- 98.9899% w/o roboports: as a 2x2 substations take out 4/(22x18) = 1.0101%
- 98.6699% with roboport coverage: as 4x4 roboports take out 16/(50x50x2) = 0.32% (roboports in pepita pattern)

I was able to reach 98.61% as
- roboport aligment sometimes required more substations as roboports/accumlators must be placed area w/o power
- added substations to connect the wires to avoid "add these substations to the left or right side" pain

Perfect ratio can be reached by adjusting alternating on a 6x6 block where power is available:
- 2x2 solar
- 3x3 accumlator

So here is the Blueprint for the 3.3GW Solar tile with the updated pattern. Blueprint attached as text. Yes this is big... and w/o higher qualities.

Tile size: 900x1100
Area coverage: 100%
Roboport coverage: 100%
Useful coverage: 98.6141% (Solar+Acc area / 900x1100) - 1.4%: substations & roboports
Acc/Solar ratio: 84.6863% (84.6720% is perfect)
Power: 3.3GW day and night
by B3lt3r, v9.4

Don't forget to prepare, all normal quality:
2.652 substations
202 roboports
78.872 solar panels
66.767 accumlators
(a little bit less if you tile it, this is for the BP attached)

Hola. You can remove some roboports. You only need squares of 2's alternating joined by a half diagonal for 100% construction area.

adam_bise wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2025 3:33 pm You only need squares of 2's alternating joined by a half diagonal for 100% construction area.

I did not see this coming That's a lot of roboborts in this scale! I will update the BP, will boost the % a bit.

Thank you for the picture, w/o that not sure I'd get this!

Actually, connecting the Roboports only horizontally or vertically there might be a gain of 10 tiles after every two roborts (as construction area is 110 and not 100). It would need a complete redesign fo this pattern as the Robort repeat pattern is 100 tiles in the traditional but 160 in the other direction....

Probably this striped 850x850 robort tile is the most efficient? Far from ideal on the edges but covers the area with 85 roborts only. I've put the stipes next to each other that they cover the construction area only.

Full logistic coverage (all orange) is 1 robort per 50x50 area: 0.04% roboports
Pepita (checkboard) is 2 robort per 100x100 area: 0.02% roboports
This is 85 per 850x850 area: 0.01176% roborts

Well, the 850x850 Robort pattern is not really compatible with the 18x22 substation pattern - as 850 is 2*5*5*17(!)... Tile would be 11900x13600 and tons of work (least common multiple).

So made small compromises:
- 846 width: so losing 2+2 Robort tiles per 850 tiles
- 850 height: so losing 14 tiles of substation coverage per 850 tiles (-> +1subtation row)
- as the two patternd collide, the ususal replacements were done. To achieve ideal ratio, accs added to the top row

Area Coverage: 100.0000%
Useful coverage: 98.73008% (solar+acc)/total area

Acc/Solar ratio: 84.6727%
Optimal Acc/Solar ratio: 84.6720%
Difference: 0.0007%

Power: 2.4GW night and day

Start with an edge BP, then add tiles in any direction w/force. Then add the normal tile with Shift again to have edges. It is needed to merge the robort areas.

Screenshots: a single and a 3x3 tile with edges added.
Blueprints attached as TXT, using grid for easier replacement (adjust offset if needed)

Tile stats:
Solar: 57.316
Accumlator: 48.531
Substation: 1.943
Roboport: 85

Substation illustration: common to legendary and their respective patterns.
- these are not ideal ratio, just 100% area coverage. Ratio to be set by replacing 2x2 solar panels w/3x3 accs
- top and bottom solars are only powered by 1 tile, so only solar panels can be at the top and bottom of the pattern
- vertical size is always +4 than the substation coverage due to this