Never do your turn when up for 26 hours

[ExSentinel]

I was up for 26 hours and the deadline for our game's turn was coming in about 5 hours. I had been very careful about using resource converters this whole game and making sure that I did not have it on repeat orders. Unfortunately, I was also trying to get a batch of fighters off the planet on a regular basis. So what happens, I went from 500k of rads in storage to 43 and nothing got built last turn... Urgghhh I wish that particular bug would get fixed, but hey I knew about it, just was doing a turn through bleary eyes.

Ticked me off so bad I had to share it

[douglas]

It's not a bug, it's a feature http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif. In some cases, people really do want resource conversion on repeat orders. But, yes, it would be nice to have a special confirmation request specifically for adding convert resources to an order queue on repeat or turning on repeat for a queue that already includes a resource converstion.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Tired makes brain is mistakes are when made the.

[TurinTurambar]

Is there a "how-to" on resource converters somewhere? I've never really gotten into using them, though I always get to them in Research.

~T/threads/images/Graemlins/icon42.gif

[ExSentinel]

douglas said:
It's not a bug, it's a feature http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif. In some cases, people really do want resource conversion on repeat orders. But, yes, it would be nice to have a special confirmation request specifically for adding convert resources to an order queue on repeat or turning on repeat for a queue that already includes a resource converstion.



I can not see that as a feature if it empties out an entire inventory in a single turn. I could see it if you wanted a "standard once per turn conversion" but where is the sense in having it just continue, in one turn, to convert until all the resources are gone. That is like the Stellar Manipulation technology for creating storms. You put that item on repeat orders and you get I think 250 storms in one sector of space. The technology is supposed to be one use, but you can exploit it.

[douglas]

Huh. I thought planets on repeat orders only went through their orders once each turn. It turns out that planets execute exactly 21 orders each turn, going through the list multiple times if it's shorter than that and on repeat. So, to do a resource conversion once per turn, put some units on the planet (troops will do), give the conversion order, fill out the queue to 21 orders with unit launches (any type, regardless of what's actually on the planet), and turn on repeat.

As for the storm creator, I tried that in a test game a while back with the latest patch, and it didn't work. Maybe it's because storm creators are destroyed on use now and weren't earlier (I don't know whether that was changed in a patch or not), but it's not a problem in stock any more.

[Fyron]

TurinTurambar said:
Is there a "how-to" on resource converters somewhere? I've never really gotten into using them, though I always get to them in Research.

What are you looking for, exactly? They convert excess resources from one type to another at a 50%, 60%, or 70% rate of exchange. That is all. They are especially handy for a monolith economy in full swing, since you will be producing a huge amount of useless organics and radioactives. A Monolith III effectively generates 1800 minerals per turn if you have only Resource Converter I (50% loss) and convert all of the organics and radioactives to minerals. Best case scenario nets 2,160, over double that of a regular Mineral Miner III.

douglas said:
As for the storm creator, I tried that in a test game a while back with the latest patch, and it didn't work. Maybe it's because storm creators are destroyed on use now and weren't earlier (I don't know whether that was changed in a patch or not), but it's not a problem in stock any more.

The destroyed on use ability was added to storm creation devices in the 1.91 patch.

[TurinTurambar]

Thanks Fyron.

And IIRC it's a command you give to the facility whilst playing a turn and it dumps all that planets resources (minus the loss) into your minerals cache (or other) for the next turn? And you would manually issue this order at each planet so equipped once per turn?

Turin/threads/images/Graemlins/icon42.gif

[Fyron]

Not exactly. Resource Converters convert resources in storage from one type to another, in the amounts and types that you specify. They bear no relation to the planet on which they are located. You have to issue the order from that planet, but it uses the global stores of resources. You only get automated conversion if you use repeat orders, which can be quite dangerous with converters. There is a limit of something around 1 million resources converted per turn, but that only comes into play for truly massive empires.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Isn't that limit per resource converter?

[Fyron]

Yes.

[Ed Kolis]

So there IS a use to having multiples! I wonder if one per system really is all that's effective, though...

[Fyron]

That is a meaningless descriptor, since systems have nothing to do with resource conversions. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[TurinTurambar]

Alright so, SCENARIO:

I'm in a game with no Stellar Manip, so I am supporting late-game fleet sizes with Remote Mining. As a result of the common use of a standard DeepSpaceMiner which is fitted with all 3 resource capabilities, I have a surplus of roughly 140,000 Organics per turn. So if I give one little facility off in bumble-F backwater System-X the order to convert Org's to Min's with its Resource Converter III, I'll get 98,0000 Min's the next turn in my Minerals Storage?

That seems outlandishly easy.

T~/threads/images/Graemlins/icon42.gif

[Fyron]

As long as you have the capacity to store the resources, yes. Converted resources in excess of storage limits are lost.

[TurinTurambar]

I have the capacity for 660K and I'm at 380K... so I guess I'm a go!

Thanks Fyron.

/threads/images/Graemlins/icon42.gif/threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif

[douglas]

Is that for minerals or organics? You need to have the 140000 organics in storage in order to convert, but your minerals storage doesn't matter a bit if you can manage to spend it all in that one turn. Converted resources are available for use immediately on the turn you do the conversion, even for retrofitting and unmothballing.

[TurinTurambar]

I have 220K Org's in storage, so, no problem. Now that I know I CAN.. I WILL find ways to spend it all in one turn...

EVERY TURN!

MMMUUUAAAha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa!

<oops, sorry>

Turin