Nope.
Quoting onomastikon, reply 3What exactly is debris? Is that the cosmetic stuff floating around, or is it ship wreckage? How close does it need to be, how long does the debris float around before dissapearing? thanks
I don't know the game inside out, but I've played Vasari, like, almost always and I've used vortex a lot.
Debris comes from destroyed stuff. Ships, structures. Debris, although seems to disappear visually, is present forever (or almost forever, I know I had starbases suck in debris left over from 2 hours earlier). The starbase sucks debris towards it from quite far away (seems like 5 or more times the size of the starbase in every direction) though it takes time for the most distant pieces of junk to reach the orky, so not all of it manages to work for you in one cast.
I have once noticed that it SEEMS that debris left over by structures cancelled after their construction began (so that they blow up instead of simply their "shadow" disappearing) also heals the starbase, although it should not yield any health (cause the player gets all the money back when he cancels the construction).
It still isn't confirmed though.
Debris is produced and is hardcoded to be able to be used no matter where it came from... Scuttling a structure WILL produce debris that your Orkulus can use.
Ahh. This then brings up an interesting point.
Against the AI, I sometimes tech up Vasari salvaging (you know, the one that gives you resources that are sucked up by your Cap ships when there is debris nearby) if I find myself in a resource deficient situation.
However, this might cause a problem for your orky with debris vortex if all the cap ships are sucking all available debris near the starbase. I might actually help the orky to keep em clear.
The Vasarian research does NOT absorb debris, it just gives you money for destroyed objects.
If you are using a mod like Distant Stars, or Bailknight's that produces more debris than normal, about only half of that debris is real, as the other half is actually particle effects designed to look like debris.
