The schematic browser is an invaluable resource for nearly everyone playing the game. Even if you are not planning on being a major crafter you can still craft some of your own items, and using the kubaF schematic browser makes this process a lot easier.
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The Page Layout & Picking a Schematic To View
At the top of the page you are going to see a few links which won't be covered in this guide, they are: Description, Schematic browser, Resource browser, CS stock comparer, and NPC Tracker.
If you down arrow after this you are going to have some text and links, the first important bit are the radio buttons for choosing what reduction matrix is used in the craft if one is being used. The reduction matrix is a device that reduces the amount needed to craft an item. This works on all modules and the final craft. The largest reduction matrix(RM) cuts the total resources by 20%. Selecting the RM4 radio button will auto calculate the amount subtracting 20%. If you are not using one then don't worry about this section.
If you continue to jump by forms mode after the radio buttons you will run across an edit field to type in what type of schematic you want, this is the first way of finding a schematic. It will search as you type. the results will show up under the edit box in the form of links. clicking on the link will populate the edit box with the correct name. I don't normally use this feature to find my schematics but it is an option.
If you continue to jump by forms you will eventually get to a combo box labeled as category. There is one tricky bit with this combo box. If you enter into forms ode on it you then have to hit alt down arrow to expand it. If you don't do this then it will bump you out of it every time you hit down arrow. This is because it re populates the next combo box with all the schematics in the category you are choosing. So for example if you open the first combo box then hit alt down arrow you could brows down too the extractor category then hit enter. This will fill in the combo box under it with all the different extractors you can build. You do not have to hit alt down arrow in the second combo box, you can just hit enter on it and browse through the different options. For this guide I'm going to choose one of the commercial extractors. It doesn't matter what one as they all require the same resources.
After choosing a commercial extractor flora under the combo box I have a field for entering how many I want to add, I'm going to set this to 10 just because I can. Then I'll hit the add button and it will load the resources required and all the schematics for making 10 commercial extractors.
Viewing a chosen schematic resource list
After adding the schematic the best thing to do is hit control home to jump to the top of the page then hit T to jump to the top of the first table.
You can use table commands or just use down arrow to read the information. For the top of the table I usually just use down arrow.
At the top of the page it will read
Manufacture
120 (120)
Production
80 (80)
This next bit is the middle of the table where it will list all the resources you will need for building 10 of these extractors with no reduction matrix. The table headers are: Name, Quantity, and Total Price. Here I normally read using table commands but you can also use just arrow to run through all the rows.
The listing of all the resources is...
Alucite Ore 4,000
Construction Components: 2,760
Electronic Components: 2,500
Isotopes: 900
Ore: 20,000
Plasteel: 1,300
Refined Chemicals: 200
Refined Metal: 4,100
Refined Ore: 500
Steel: 4,000
Technological Goods: 500
Tessarine Ore: 100
Again this would be the amount needed to craft 10 of these commercial extractor floras. Under the resource list you will have a smaller listing of resources. This smaller list only shows the resources needed to craft the final build, the above list is everything needed in total. I normally just ignore the next section and will move on to the last section of the table. The section which starts with the cell which reads "All components". This is going to tell you the list of modules needed for the build. This is useful if you need to buy t hem, or if you just don't remember what goes into it.
From this section of the table you can see it takes the below modules...
Commercial Drill Unit: 20
Drill Rig (Small): 40
Extractor Wall Module: 40
Hopper Unit (Large): 20
Hopper Unit (Small): 40
This is all fine and nice but it doesn't tell you what order to craft the items in. The next table on the page is what lays this information out.
The Crafting Tree
This table seems to be confusing to a lot of people because it is not uniform. It really is sorted like a tree, like a family tree for example. The first modules needed for the craft are located at the bottom, and the final build is located at the top of the table and takes up one spanned cell. Under the final craft which is the commercial extractor flora is one sub module which is 20 commercial drill rigs. Under that you have a bunch of sub modules that go into the commercial drill rig and into the final build.
The easiest way to read this is to start at the very bottom module which is 40 hopper unit smalls. If you were building this the first step would be to make these as they will go into the modules above. After building them you would move to the next item which would be the hopper unit larges. After those then move on to the extractor wall modules. If you just keep using up arrow to read the next module up in the tree and building them as you get to them eventually you'll be at the final build which is the commercial extractor.
Now to look at something that is a bit more complex. Clear these schematics from the browser by clicking on the link that reads Restart or clean address less RESET greater. Now go to the category combo box, hit enter then alt down arrow and find the ship category and press enter on it. Then in the second combo box choose the engineering frame 2, choose to add one of them and hit the add button. This may take a few seconds to load as this is quite a large resource listing.
You an look at the resource list if you want but I'm going to focus on the crafting tree.
If you go to the second table from the top, just control home then T twice you'll be at the crafting tree. You can also hit control end and it will put you at the bottom of it.
go to the bottom of the table and you will see it reads your cell as column 52linkAI Hub Module (x2). This is because there are 52 modules you have to build in the first step of this build...yeah that is a shit load. Use control alt up arrow to go up a row and you'll see it will then read column 51 through 52linkFlight Deck (x2). This is because there are exactly half the amount in this step of the build. This specific module called a flight deck requires both 2 AI hub modules and 2 human control interfaces. This crafting tree table is pretty straight forward and you can use table commands to navigate in it and get the feel for it.
Summary
As long as you can manage to select your category, then your specific schematic, read the resource listing, and read the schematic tree you will be all set to go with using the schematic browser. Just don't forget alt down arrow to expand the category combo box and how the tree is formatted. If you can do this then you will be all good to go.