refineries affect each extractor in the local and adjacent grav wells. and up to 3 refineries can be affecting each extractor

No disrepsect, but you guys are a little off. If anything, the advent ability on the tradeport is the worst of the three for getting additional resources.

I only use them on planets with 4 mines (Ices and Lavas). Anywhere else I stick to tradeports. Tradeports bring in ~1.6ish cred per second by default. The longer the trade line, the more that number grows. To give you an idea my record is 4 cred/sec per tradeport with a 14 planet trade line (a little overkill sure).

If you're looking for an econ upgrade with advent, I recommend the +10% allegiance upgrade at tier 8. Better upgrade than getting resources from Advent tradeports.

The way refineries work is the building will send out a ship to every mine in the grav well and then 1 to every mine in adjacent grav wells. This includes neutrals. I don't know the % off the top of my head, but you get a % back. Because of how this functions, extractors should be placed at planets where there are many phase lanes connecting to many mines. Find 1,2, or possibly 3 spots in ur empire where there's a bit of a hub (4+ phase lanes, I've seen 8 before). Build three refineries. Three because that's the limit for how many refineries that can mine the same extractor.

If you get it in the right spot, three extractors should bring in about 1-2 extra metal and 1-2 crystal. Not a bad investment if you find the right spot to use 'em.

You playing on all fast? A single tradeport doens't deliever 1 cred/sec on all fast.

I'd agree with you... up until the very late game.  The thing is, the other refineries only stack up to 3 (4 on uncolonizable gravity wells), whereas Advent ones can stack indefinitely.  Ever seen induced reverence, allure, and culture (+50% loyalty) on a 4-rock ice with 6 resource focus refineries?  Absolutely awesome, but you won't even consider that combo until very very late game.

However, the Advent refinery has several weaknesses.  First of all, you need its high level efficiency upgrades to make it viable, making it essentially more late-game than allure of the unity and you almost never see it as a result.  The second issue is, of course, that it doesn't affect adjacent gravity wells.  Depending on the map, this may not be a big deal... or it could make a world of difference. 

No, it wouldn't.  Refineries would be scaled down with trade ports, so their relative resource acquisition rates would be the same.

Thank you Amish, Darvin, and Extremor...

Question answered.

I can only speak for TEC, but you should research refineries, even if you don't use them. The subsequent upgrades to cargo holds also increases capacity on trade ships. A trade port income can jump from, say, 2.0 to 2.4 just on these upgrades.

Late game when you research more fleet capacity, that will take a big percentage out of your metal and crystal income. At this point you will really need those refineries.

TEC & Vasari Refineries can provide awesome income if you place them well, assuming you are not overstocked on resources.  It is not uncommon to find hubs where a refinery has access to 12-15 extractors.  And rarely you find a sweet spot with close to 20 extractors accessible.  If you are overstocked on resources, this isn't as big a deal, but most people are credit rich and buying it off the black market.  An extra 1.5 - 2.0 per second of needed resources is very good income, especially for someone who does not have a super long trade route.

Some multiplayer games I don't use them, but if I find a sweet spot and the game doesn't look like it will end soon, I will actually rush to slap up 2-3 optimally placed refineries....they take a little longer to pay for themselves due to the research and building costs (15-20 mins), but at that point, they provide very solid income comparable to a tradeport with an obscenely long route.

Advent resource focus is usually a bad deal.  The math only clearly supports it for 4 extractor planets with high allegiance or resource bonuses, and then only if it is saving you from purchasing the resource in question off the market.

One thing I like about the Advent tradeports is that you can turn resource focus on and off. That means when you get one of those planets with 4 extractors early in the game, you can build the tradeports for trade income, and when you get max resource focus and you're short on materials, you can switch to resource focus. And should you somehow get more material than credit income you could always turn it off and go back to credits. With resource extractors your stuck with using that logisic slot for materials, and you can't change it unless you scuttle it and build a trade port, which is not very efficient or good use of resources.

I only research them so I can use cargo holds, cause I like being the first to dominate the economy.

The thing is that 10 less developed planets cost a fraction to set up compared to those five highly developed ones.  In the long run the larger empire will have more highly developed planets and crush you if he's any competent (the AI isn't competent, by the way).  Moreover, your potential trade network is much better on larger empires.  Against competent opponents, your small efficient empire won't actually survive long enough to reap the benefits you talk about.

That's true of the AI, but presume that against a player at your own peril.

I'll admit that what you say is usually true, but you're forgetting about the maps I'm talking about; they're pretty big and ideally suited for defense. Gateway is... a little bit different and who says that you can't take out anyone early? By the time the main enemy fleet can even reach you you can destroy them with a fleet half their size, so long as you have a starbase. And maybe a couple of gaurdians. If you have both you can probably take over their homeworld, right? The advent colonize ability makes up for the cost of planet development to a large extent; giving you a headstart with how many trade centers you can create. Which usually results in exponential gains. Population is small beans compared to tradecenters because you can make such quick gains. But with the advent you can have both. I guess its just because the advent are so damn good on defense against enemy fleets and the other players weren't as experienced as players like Raging Amish. Yeah, I'll admit that this doesn't work when someone is knocking down your front door with spam... usually I just turn down the ship and build speeds so players can't be quite so cheap; send the pirates after their asses a few times at the start of the game too... pirates are weak as shit though. To tell the truth, I usually just don't even bother playing the game online anymore if it isn't a modded one. *spam* mad scientist mod rocks, keeps people from spamming to a certain extent; it makes you have to really think shit through a bit more. *end spam, sorry*

but yeah, I play online and understand that this wouldn't really work on a small map 1v1. AI does suck pretty hard... it shouldn't be possible to take on a team of 3 or 5 unfairs or however many and win.

Wow man, nobody here can just take advice. lol! Oh well, suit yourself (: