Why 7 and 21?

Because it's just easier to know how much two more metal extractors will affect your economy.

He was kidding, calm down.

"Why do metal extractors go in multiples of seven?"

What do you mean they 'go' in multiples of seven?

Basic is seven and advanced is 21 (except it's not, my bad; Stuart corrected me earlier)

Even if the advanced was 21, I've still no idea why you're saying they 'go' in multiples of 7. They don't 'go' anywhere, it isn't a trend, it's just two units.

Are you asking why isn't a basic 1 and an advanced 3 with all unit costs being reduced by a factor of 7?

Wat?

I know they don't physically go anywhere, it's just how speech is. To go in multiples of seven is to be in multiples of seven. If T2 metal was 21 then it'd be a multiple of seven, and obviously 7 is a multiple of seven.

You're overthinking things, all I meant to say is that 7 is an odd thing to use, and that 5 or 2 would have been a better choice, as everyone knows the multiples of 5.

It would be quite hard pressed to say that people don't know the multiples of 7

I mean I get that if they are multiples it's easier to add the numbers, but do you really do that in gameplay?

Ok I'm using 345 metal / tick and making 300 metal / tick. I need to build 3 more mexes and 1 more advanced mex to balance out my eco.

I don't think I've ever done this. I just build as many as I can, covering every available metal spot. If I've built all that I can and I still can't keep up with my usage, I either cut back on usage, or focus on getting either jigs built, or taking over more territory so I can build more mexes.

Same thing with power, I've never gone, oh I need 3 more Advanced Energy Plants, I just grab some builders and queue up a line of them, if that finishes, and I still need more, I queue up more.

And if I reach a point where I'm making metal and energy in surplus, it just means I'm not spending enough, so more factories go up, or unit cannons or nuke launchers, or orbital factories, or whatever.

What's easier to find 25 metal extractors that produce 2 metal, or 25 metal extractors that produce seven? Yes people know the multiples of seven but two or five are just.. Easier! Which would you rather do, honestly?

agree.

fix plz UBER.

personally I like 2 as a multiple.

I think from now on every value expressed in planetary annihilation should be √ x, to add an additional tactical layer, and to add more strategy™. So the correct way would be:
T1 mex produces √ 49
T2 mex produces √ 576
Don't you just feel the tactical?

Why not a t3 metal extractor that produces i metal? ;P

i honestly don´t care at all about that ..
i rather want both mexxes to have a fair number of metal generation so spamming or tech up or tech-up-spamming are fairly viable

That's all balance, youd change unit costs to fit whatever. You could keep balance exactly as it is now with a t1 producer of say 2 and t2 of 10. You'd just change the unit and building metal costs to fit proportionally.

I see what you mean now.

A basic mex gives 7 so when you have 10 of them you have 10x7.

So instead of saying "Why do mexes go up in multiples of 7" you could have just said "Why does a mex produce 7 metal instead of 1".

Anyway, I'm with nateious. I never don't build a mex because I don't need it unless I'm stalling on energy. You should always aim to build all mexes available to you as far as I can see. This is in stark contrast to SupCom2 where a mex was so expensive to build that it would take a long time to recover the cost which meant that the game was a lot more cut-throat in the sense that you could win or lose a game by building a mex and having it killed.

I support this motion, the value of complex numbers for economy systems in RTS has been underestimated long enough.

Cool, you could use that to build imaginary units. You'd need field generators with a phase of -π/2 to force them to become real-valued before you can shoot them. Though I suppose that would make any nearby real metal extractors produce -i metal, which would actually be funny in an enemy metal field.