[Slick]

That's just it. I do know what I want. In the example above, I want a spaceport built on the 4th turn as follows:

Turn 1: Build 1 turn's worth of mines.
Turn 2-4: Build spaceport (normally takes 3 turns to build).



I don't care if turn 1 generates 10 mines or 6, but either will stop the lone colonizer or pesky frigate until I can get established. What I do care about is that I have a spaceport in 4 turns, protected during construction by as many mines as I can make in that time. What I don't like is having to use trial and error to make that happen. Even once I figure out that number, and I might even make a saved queue for the mines (which will overwrite any existing queue when used, but that's another problem), as technology and cost of these units increases, the number changes. Then I need to make another saved queue (and can't delete the old obsolete saved queue, which is yet another problem). Of course these saved queues would only work with a minimally populated planet with no spaceyard; since 1 turn's worth on a planet with more population or a spaceyard could very well be capable of making more in 1 turn. Soon, the saved queue list will be filled with junk that can't be deleted. A definite PITA that would be solved with the "1 turn's worth" option, which CAN'T be that hard to implement. Although you provide valid examples of how the "spilling over" of construction points does minimize the impact of this problem, there are many more examples of having (or not having) construction items be complete on a given turn makes a huge difference.

Is there an easier way to do this that I'm not seeing?