Question re: Production

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ghealy
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Question re: Production

#1 Post by ghealy »

Is there a way to decrease production time required to build something?

Specifically I am interested in anything that would help reduce the lead time to produce warships. I find myself by mid-game onward having to wait 5 turns to produce 5 warships (Customized robotships & asteroid ships) or 6 turns for Large Asteroid ships. Tried building ships from several locations, but last in queue doesn't start until first finishes. I realize the amount of supply points available has a bearing on how fast items are produced.

Reviewing several of my last played games, I see it is in fact the total supply points that appears to limiting production rates. So as well as ways to reduce prodcution times, are there ways to significantly reduce costs or increase supply points?

Appreciate any and all suggestions. TIA

- Gene

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MatGB
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Re: Question re: Production

#2 Post by MatGB »

I'm not at all sure what you're asking here.

By "supply points" are you talking about the Supply stat on a planet that indicates how far it will link up into your network, or are you asking about Production Points that add to your industry?

Because the phrasing could be either. There are techs and buildings that increase both. Supply techs are normally in the Construction (yellow) section, and Production in the brown Production section. In addition, higher populations increase industr, smaller planets have better supply, the system uses the best supply within it to link to the network.

There are currently no techs or other methods to reduce the scripted build time of an item, if it says it takes 5 turns then it takes 5 turns minimum, if it's getting less PP than it could use it'll take longer.
Mat Bowles

Any code or patches in anything posted here is released under the CC and GPL licences in use for the FO project.

ghealy
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Re: Question re: Production

#3 Post by ghealy »

Thanks, MatGB. It was Productions Points I was referring to. And you answered my question.

- G

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Gargamel
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Re: Question re: Production

#4 Post by Gargamel »

I would like to see a mechanic where an item in the production queue could be expedited. For example, a ship takes 6 turns and 500 pp (total) to produce (random numbers for easy math). If I expedite it, it would take 3 turns, and 1000 pp. So a 50% time reduction for a 100% cost increase. And while this could be a one off thing, making this "stackable" might have a place too. If you click the expedite button again, the 3 turn, 1000pp ship now will take 2 turns and 2000pp (actually 1.5 turns, but round up to simulate diminishing returns). And then again for 1 turn and 4000 pp.

And then you could possibly add a property to the various ship hulls and parts to have a minimum time to produce. Let's say a particular hull is set to take 6 turns, but it could have a minimum time attached to it, so no matter how many times you try to expedite it, it wouldn't drop below say 2 turns. And the ship design itself would have a minimum turn requirement based on the particular parts on it.

Same things with buildings. You could expedite a drydock for example. Some buildings would have impacts other than just PP cost. The genetic storage building (drawing a blank on it's real name), doesn't cost much at all, but takes a lot of turns. That's probably to simulate the procurement of the genetic material across your empire. If you expedite a building like this, there should be population on happiness penalties. Like if you cut the time in half, every planet should take a 10% population hit, then 20%, etc. Just a bunch of ideas for you guys to think about.

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MatGB
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Re: Question re: Production

#5 Post by MatGB »

Gargamel wrote: The genetic storage building (drawing a blank on it's real name), doesn't cost much at all, but takes a lot of turns. That's probably to simulate the procurement of the genetic material across your empire.
Actually, it's for game balance ;-)

The whole bioterror/genome bank mechanics need reworking at some point (bioterror sucks because the genome bank stops it completely). If I go to the effort of setting up a bioterror projection base and then you can expedite cutting it off completely then I've wasted all my work. Turns to build is one of the balance mechanics in the game and in some cases it's a fairly important feature.

Drydocks, for example, are going to have their costs increased at some point (they're far too cheap but the AI overbuilds them and until the AI production glitches are solved it's a low priority), but the ability to, for example, capture/colonise a planet in the heart of your opponents area then expedite the shipyard and drydock to be able to repair all your fleet really quickly would be speed up the steamroller effect that we're trying to slow down.

Rule of thumb: pretty much everything in the game is restricted for balance, then a justification is written up, it's not a simulation, we don't do stuff for realism, we justify things to keep suspension of disbelief going.

I am always happy to consider rebalancing things and change build times (I'm working on a couple right now), but I'm loath to have a catch all time reduction ability (we recently took one out that had been annoying me for ages) because the build times are set for a reason.
Mat Bowles

Any code or patches in anything posted here is released under the CC and GPL licences in use for the FO project.

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Gargamel
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Re: Question re: Production

#6 Post by Gargamel »

MatGB wrote:
Gargamel wrote: The genetic storage building (drawing a blank on it's real name), doesn't cost much at all, but takes a lot of turns. That's probably to simulate the procurement of the genetic material across your empire.
Actually, it's for game balance ;-)
That's a completely acceptable reason. It was one that came to mind with a long build time. This would easily be a non expeditable building.

But game balance issues aside, as they are needed, I do think the option to crash build something is needed. It would of course have to be balanced in the whole scope of the game. Maybe even increasing the penalty. All other active production is on hold while the crash build occurs, or is heavily penalized in time.

It might not be a simulation, but it needs to be rooted in some sort of reality (obviously within the sci fi scope of the game lol). Historically, ship yards have been able to crash build vessels when needed. Look at the Liberty ships from WWII. They were able to produce a heavy cargo ship in 40 days. Granted they had a tendency to snap in half a few years later, but that would also be a good balancing item. Ships that are crash built would suffer a performance penalty too. Each expedition of a ship would suffer like a 25% stat penalty.

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: Question re: Production

#7 Post by Geoff the Medio »

Gargamel wrote:Historically, ship yards have been able to crash build vessels when needed. Look at the Liberty ships from WWII. They were able to produce a heavy cargo ship in 40 days. Granted they had a tendency to snap in half a few years later, but that would also be a good balancing item. Ships that are crash built would suffer a performance penalty too. Each expedition of a ship would suffer like a 25% stat penalty.
What you are describing would be / is modelled as production of a different kind of ship that can be produced faster, not as producing a penalized version of an existing ship in fewer turns.

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