Supply Line Problems v0.4.3

[vossnick]

I am running version 0.4.3 and seem to be having supply line problems that seem explainable. I am new at the game, so it could just be me.

Here is a link to the save game file: http://www.digitalsimplex.com/me3.sav

Can someone download and play that and see what I mean? Three are a bunch of items that say they will never be completed. But they are connected to the supply line. It is odd that the line is purple somethings and green others. At any rate, everything is connected but all the resources it says are being wasted.

Thanks in advance!!!

[MatGB]

The test version of the game I have installed won't run 4.3 savegames, but it's worth asking, are your planets completely connected? If some have green lines, that implies they aren't connected to the rest of the empire, they've got excess production while other bits need more.

There was a bug that caused 'never' to show when it shouldn't, but fairly sure that was either later than 4.3 or fixed before it, hopefully you haven't found something.

Look at each system and hover over the production icon at the top of the system sidepanel, it'll tell you what's available for export and/or being imported, so that can help track down which system's out of the loop.

Researching the supply improving techs in Construction, especially Gravitic Architecture and Galactic Infrastructure, as well as Intersteller Logistics, is helpful, and sometimes building Space Elevators (unlocked by a tech needed for Reinforced Hull so worth taking anyway) and/or Outposts can help.

If noone else can run the game I'll install the basic release tomorrow and give it a go, but let us know if the above helps.

[Dilvish]

One thing not yet mentioned -- if your planet is captured, any ships being built there will still be in your build queue, but will be marked as never completing. If you recapture the planet you can finish them.

It is odd that the line is purple somethings and green others. At any rate, everything is connected but all the resources it says are being wasted.

To clarify a little on the colors -- your supply connected starlanes will generally be colored with your empire color (unless maybe if theres an overlap with a neighbor). Within each set of your supply connected systems (a Resource Group), the core lanes will be larger, all with your empire color. For a Resource Group that has wasted PP, the border of the core lanes will be a sort of opposite to your empire color. With the game default colors then, the wide starlanes that look purplish would be for a resource group that has wasted PP.

[vossnick]

That's the thing tho, I do have space elevators like almost everywhere. Hopefully someone else can load this and see if they can produce different results with the same version.

This did occur to me, I did lose a few planets, none that would have broken any routes, but maybe there is a maintenance amount (i.e. ship maint) that isn't being met so then you cannot build anything? I haven't seen anything like this and furthermore, it says the resources are being wasted, so that is an unlikely prospect.

Hopefully someone can take a crack at this.

[Dilvish]

you indicated that some of your starlanes were green, some purple -- perhaps if you posted a screenshot we might be able to give you some more info or suggest something to check.

[vossnick]

Here is a screenshot of the problem:

http://www.digitalsimplex.com/tfiles/supplyprob.PNG

I can screenshot other stuff, just let me know.

[Geoff the Medio]

Only the thick lanes indicate wasted points. The thin lines (and the thin lines within the thick lines) indicate lanes along which you could share production, but which aren't necessary to connect your systems that contain colonies.

There's probably a reason why the "Never" completing items on the queue can't receive any PP. I don't recall if v0.4.3 has it implemented, but try mousing over the same items in the producible items list. It should / might give you a tooltip that indicates the requirements to produce those items, and whether the selected production location doesn't meet them. Check that for a location where you're producing something that isn't receiving any PP.

[MatGB]

Here is a screenshot of the problem:

http://www.digitalsimplex.com/tfiles/supplyprob.PNG

I can screenshot other stuff, just let me know.

No, that's fine, fixed. You've managed to somehow let Caebeth's population die off. I'm guessing that you're using Chato, and have converted a red star into a black hole. Phototrophic lifeforms really dislike black holes, as they get no light from it at all. Right click the planet for suitability and it'll show Chato showing somethign like -40.

Population free planets can't build ships.

Looking at the rest of the screenshot, um, yeah, you don't have any homeworlds other than your capital, if so you're a bit screwed as you can't repopulate that colony with chato easily.

What you can do is build a colony ship with multiple cryonic pods and they'll take awhile to die off, but that's not ideal.

I'm not actually sure if that's a balance thing we'd want to change, even with techs—I dislike that a class of species can't use some planets whereas all other classes can, OTOH Chato in particular have such massive advantages in younger galaxy types and you can always throw in someone else, or Exobots (and you're on vanilla 4.3, Exobots can still shoot straight in that).

[shawndream]

I just also want to mention, because all your production is single items (1x), that this game has a bit of an unusual production mechanism where certain things always take at LEAST X turns to be produced no matter how many resources you throw at them.

(This is true for both research and production queues).

This means that regardless of how much RP or PP you have, you can only spend 1/Xth of the total cost on that project on any given turn. Thus, to avoid wasting production or research you may need to produce larger quantities at once (5x, 10x) or add a lot more items to the queue that only get worked on when your primary goals are all being met.

And furthermore, I want to say I'm not a fan of the racial types, for this and similar reasons.

[vossnick]

Sure enough, the population did die off. That is unfortunate. And a total miss on my part. Thank you for resolving my riddle heh...