Now first of all. No. I do not think T2 mass fabs are worth it if you build the power for them. My argument is that they are worth the cost if you don't consider their power consumption.
For comparison: http://www.faforever.com/faf/unitsDB/un ... 04,URB1106
A reminder, using mass storage adjacency next to a T2 Mex will get you 0.75 mass.
A mass fab needs 4000 power to be built (2500 more than a mass storage) and needs a further 15000 energy to produce enough mass to cover it's mass cost. Which it can cover in 1:40. That is a fair amount of power, and building the infrastructure for that isn't worth it, but show me a player that doesn't waste energy.
If you think you might waste more than 18000 energy (short of 4 OC's and a bit) then the only thing you have consider is the mass cost of the fabricator. Would you use 100 mass for a +1 gain? I'd take that! I'm spending 900 mass to get +4, and 200 mass to get +0.75!
You can make it even better.
Rather than drawing lines of power, I draw this grid using a template: How2FabMass.png
I just click on the mex's I think will be safe. If the game should come to it later, I'll upgrade my safe mex's to T2 and add mass storage. Which creates some nifty low hanging fruit. Mass fabricators built like this produce 1.25 mass, at 131 power, and they won't chain react.
They need 10480 energy to pay off their mass cost, a reduction of nearly 5000 power! All of this using infrastructure you were going to need anyway, using power you were going to waste anyway. So It's just gravy.
Of course you'll need a mass fab manager to shut the fab's off when you really do need the power. Want mine? Mines good!
Statistics: Posted by Ghoti — 20 Aug 2012, 06:13
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