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Caterium Computers are S tier

diRt · 5d ago

It's insane that Caterium computers aren't listed as S tier it's for sure one of the best recipes in the game. Like I understand that it's based on some objective cut but that's not all there is to rating a recipe. Are alts in the chain being taken into account? Most things that use rubber are pretty good but not all are best in slot.

Update from the maintainer

Answered: the Ranker's scoring is explained on the wiki, Reference > How the Ranker scores (v0.19.5).

3 comments

  • Xuqari maintainer · 21h ago

    Fair challenge, and worth explaining, because the tier is not a vote on how good a recipe feels to use. It is one number: how much cheaper the whole optimised factory becomes when the recipe is forced in versus the standard one, with every other recipe free to adapt around it, scored on power, item throughput, machine complexity and raw resources weighted by how scarce each is on the map. Caterium Computer trims that total by about one percent (A, score 71.3): it drops the plastic and cable side of the chain, but it spends caterium, which is one of the scarcer ores, and the scarcity weight eats part of the win. The S recipes save several percent of the entire game's factory, which is a high bar. Alternates in the chain are taken into account, yes: with your save loaded the ranker only uses the alternates you have actually unlocked, so the table changes as you unlock more, and the default table is the everything-unlocked baseline. If the weights do not match what you care about, the weights panel above the table lets you move them (or pick a preset) and the ranking recomputes on the spot. The methodology is written up on the site's Ranker page if you want the full model.

  • Xuqari maintainer · 21h ago

    One correction to my own comment: the full write-up of the model is not on the site yet, only in my notes. The paragraph above is the model in short; the proper page is going on the wiki with the next release.

  • Xuqari maintainer · 21h ago

    The write-up is now on the wiki, in v0.19.5 rolling out now: Reference, "How the Ranker scores" (pioneertoolbox.com/planner/wiki/reference/ranker). It covers what the score measures, the tier cut-offs, why a favourite like Caterium Computer lands in A, and the weight presets. Closing this as answered; if the weights still feel off after reading it, say which term you think is under-weighted and I will look at the numbers with you.

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