Commie factory just exploded! Is this normal?

[NosmoKing]

I am in galaxy 2 and was zipping up to the local people's paradise purveyor of things that go BOOM. I was lining up on the docking port from a reasonable distance away (the docking port was about the width of the laser crosshairs).

All of the sudden, it blew up into a zillion alloy hunks (bringing my system to a screeching halt until they disbursed a bit).

What the heck? Do these things just blow up for no really good reason all the time?

[Captain Hesperus]

Yeah, that happened to me too. I think it is to do with the proximity to certain suns, hotter suns damage the factory and cause it to go ka-blooey. Maybe if you ask Dr. Nil nicely he might alter the code to make the ZGF's if not immune, then at least very resilient to solar damage.

Captain Hesperus
"Whenever I go out in the sun, I make sure I'm wearing lots of sunscreen. Factor 'Python' is my favourite...."

[MtKlima]

Gentlemen,
I've really enjoyed the variety brought about in the Commies OXP. I have been looking all over for the zero-G factory, could you point me in the right direction?
Thanks, Michael

[Captain Hesperus]

If you got an Advanced Space Compass, then set it to F when you enter a Communist system. If you don't, then point your ship sunward and don't stop 'til you see the big red box. Looks a bit like a floating factory, with smoke stack (and, I think, a tennis court on the top).

Captain Hesperus
"What the hell are you talking about 'well maintained'? That Navi-comp swore blind we were at Raxxla, even though I was talking to the Lave Station Approach Controller!"

[Dr. Nil]

"Move us closer to the sun! The five year plan must be fulfilled!"

The commissar was clearly drunk. The veins in his eyes looked like they were about to burst, there was a thick string of drool across the front of his uniform jacket and the orange lower lip revealed his love of Beanenian lethal brandy.

The young engineer didn't even shrug his shoulders this time. His initial insubordinance had already doomed him. From everything he'd learned in solar sciences at the polytech it was madness for Ercetidi to have a ZGF anyway. He realized that his last act of defiance was to be found in complete obedience to the commissar's orders.

"The five year plan must be fulfilled", he echoed and started spinning the dials and pulling the levers...

It happened once to me while I was docked, when first testing the factory, but I thought that it was fixed by making it as tough as a station. It'll get even tougher now. Thanks for repporting on it and please tell if the problem persists after the update.

If you got an Advanced Space Compass, then set it to F when you enter a Communist system. If you don't, then point your ship sunward and don't stop 'til you see the big red box. Looks a bit like a floating factory, with smoke stack (and, I think, a tennis court on the top).

The 'smoke stack' is a, an, eh... damn, why didn't I ever listen to my techno bable teacher. I did realize before embarking on the construction of the ZG factory that it would probably end up quite ugly, but I really wanted there to be factories and couldn't wait for someone more skilled to create some. On the upside there's no risk of any games cancelled due to lack of sun on the Zero-G tennis deck. Some cool looking factories will of course be welcomed.

NB. The factories only appear in communist systems with tech level 8 our higher.