All Supply lines go dark at once.

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GreyBeard
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All Supply lines go dark at once.

#1 Post by GreyBeard »

What does it mean when all supply lines go grey (with thin magenta line centered in supply line)?

I cannot find any mention of this condition and there is nothing in the Sitrep to explain it.

All seemed normal until turn 167 when I noticed wasted production on a particular planet.
My Production Point total is 189 with 16.7 wasted for no discernable reason. There is no enemy nor monster visible, but to me the larger issue is that all of the supply lines look blocked.

I reloaded from turn 165 and at turn 167 the same thing happened. No explanation in the several turns of sitreps up to this condition.

I am using FreeOrion_v0.4.7_2017-04-24.60d06dc_Win32 on Windows 10.
If the game file and log files are needed to replicate this issue, I will attach them however my initial question is whether this is a normal condition which I am encountering for the first time.

BTW, I have followed this game since 2010, loading it about once each year to check progress. I am always pleased with the progress, but with this version, I feel it is a playable game. My compliments to everyone involved in this project.

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#2 Post by Geoff the Medio »

You probably have unused production points available at the locations where the starlane colours are different.

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Oberlus
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#3 Post by Oberlus »

GreyBeard, if you can't find the source of the wasted PPs, post a screenshot with the production queue open.

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Dilvish
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#4 Post by Dilvish »

Seems we've had a spate of this lately. It's making me wonder what else we could do to make things more clear.

-- make the wasted PP/RP icons flash

-- make a sitrep that would be at the top of the list & could be clicked to open up the Objects Window with a special filter to show all the empire planets that are in resource groups with wasted PP
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GreyBeard
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#5 Post by GreyBeard »

I know exactly which planet has wasted PP. That is not the subject of the post or my question.

I am wondering why ALL of the supply lines went dark at once.

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#6 Post by Geoff the Medio »

You (probably) don't have just one planet that could use the wasred PP. Any connected planet could, so the PP is wasted at all of them, so the connections between them are are highlighted so you know whete they could be used.

GreyBeard
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#7 Post by GreyBeard »

OK. I will try this one more time.

All supply lines have gone dark. Not just one planet. I understand which planet has wasted PP but every planet I have has NO supply line to it. All supply lines have gone dark. Not just the affected planet. No planet seems to be connected to any other planet.

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#8 Post by Geoff the Medio »

You should probanly post a screnshot if what I'm referring to isn't whar you're asking about.

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Dilvish
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#9 Post by Dilvish »

GreyBeard wrote:All supply lines have gone dark. Not just one planet. I understand which planet has wasted PP but every planet I have has NO supply line to it. All supply lines have gone dark. Not just the affected planet. No planet seems to be connected to any other planet.
Hmm, no I think it's looking like that precisely because they are all connected. Having the fat supply lines shift color is because there is wasted PP in their supply-connected-resource-group; in this case it appears your whole empire (or at least all the PP-producing planets) are supply connected, so if you don't use all your PP they all go dark (or light as the case may be, it is the color complementary to your main empire color).

The inner core of the supply lines shows supply connection and will go grey if it is blocked, but it does not change color like the outer part of the fat (core) supply lines do-- the outer portions go to the complementary color if and only if there is wasted PP in their supply-connected-resource-group, which may happen to come about because of a blockade or which may have nothing to do with a blockade and simply mean not enough items on the queue.

Now that we have a way to include pictures in the ingame Pedia I suppose we really should get around to explaining this with example pictures.
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MatGB
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#10 Post by MatGB »

GreyBeard wrote:I know exactly which planet has wasted PP. That is not the subject of the post or my question.

I am wondering why ALL of the supply lines went dark at once.
Planets produce PP and add it to their Resource Group, which is all the planets they're linked to via supply. PP can then be spend on production at any planet within the resource group. If a resource group isn't using all the PP available within that group then the supply lines will be highlighted for the entire group.

What you're describing is, unless your description is way off, the visual cue the game gives you that this resource group has wasted PP. If it's not that then we really need a screenshot.
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Vezzra
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#11 Post by Vezzra »

GreyBeard wrote:I know exactly which planet has wasted PP. That is not the subject of the post or my question.
A single planet can't have wasted PP, unless it is cut off from the rest of your empire (either because it's being blockaded by hostile armed forces or too far away from the nearest system you own). Only so called resource groups have wasted PP. A resource group is a group of systems which are (resource) supply connected to each other (which is visually represented by the "thick" starlanes). Usually all systems in your empire should belong to the same resource group, unless parts of your empire are cut off (which is usually a bad thing).

The reason for this is that all colonies in a resource group share the total PP produced there, and can therefore be used by all colonies in that resource group. Which is why it doesn't make sense to say a specific planet/colony has wasted PP, unless that planet/colony is a resource group of its own (which happens if that planet/colony is cut off from the rest of your empire).

So either this is the case with the planet you're talking about, in which case we need that screenshot to get an idea what's going wrong here. If that is not the case, I suspect you might have misunderstood the concept of resource sharing/pooling in FO - maybe my explanation above made things a bit clearer for you? Otherwise please ask again, so we can try and figure out where the problem is.

Jaumito
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#12 Post by Jaumito »

Dilvish wrote:Seems we've had a spate of this lately. It's making me wonder what else we could do to make things more clear.
Myself, I find the way it's implemented/displayed quite clever and intuitive as it is.
-- make a sitrep that would be at the top of the list & could be clicked to open up the Objects Window with a special filter to show all the empire planets that are in resource groups with wasted PP
Even better, you could use the "Unused Production" window for that (the one that appears when you hover the mouse over the exclamation mark in the menu bar). Just make it non-transient, add a list of the affected systems, click an item in this list to open the production menu for said system.

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Oberlus
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#13 Post by Oberlus »

Jaumito wrote:add a list of the affected systems, click an item in this list to open the production menu for said system.
Maybe change "system" for biggest (or oldest, or sth else) planet of the affected resource group.

But I also think current way is pretty much intuitive and handy, and I'm inclined to think that a dedicated sitrep and some better explanation on the relevant pages (in-game pedia and on-line pages) as well as maybe a short tutorial would be enough.

GreyBeard
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#14 Post by GreyBeard »

Yes, I see. I am surprised that I have not encountered this before as I am quite sure I have had insufficient items in que to use all PP in the past. However, I understand the display now and thank you all for your help.

Great game.

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Vezzra
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Re: All Supply lines go dark at once.

#15 Post by Vezzra »

Glad to hear we could clear that up for you :D

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