Knuckle Cracker

Creeper World 4 => Pre-release chatter => Topic started by: Grabz on November 24, 2019, 09:49:45 AM

Title: Suggestion for Miner's third operation mode
Post by: Grabz on November 24, 2019, 09:49:45 AM
Miners currently have two operation modes - Generate Energy and Dispatch Bluite.

What if there was a third mode, in which a Miner would generate energy until our energy store is maxed, at which point it would switch to dispatching Bluite. Once our energy store starts depleting, the Miner switches back to generating energy.

(https://knucklecracker.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=33104.0;attach=27265;image)

The idea behind this is that it might lessen some of the energy micromanagement, by ensuring that excess energy is used for something. It might be satisfying to see Miners automatically switch to sending lots of Bluite in times when the battlefield calms down.

As a secondary idea, I identify that with too many Miners set to this new operation mode, it might become difficult for the player to tell just how much energy they actually have. Originally I thought to add a second energy meter, showing current generation + potential generation from all meet-demand Miners, but I think that's overcomplicating it. I suggest that the existing energy meter fills this role, showing the sum total of current energy generation and potential energy generation from meet-demand Miners currently set to dispatch Bluite.

(name "Meet Demand" suggested by Alophox)
Title: Re: Suggestion for Miner's third operation mode
Post by: WithersChat on January 11, 2020, 09:38:27 AM
Absolutely EPIC
Title: Re: Suggestion for Miner's third operation mode
Post by: Zoura3025 on April 06, 2020, 02:20:23 PM
This idea is good on paper but would probably be extremely resource intensive, especially with a good number of miners. To enabld smooth operation, they'd have to check once per frame, so it would become 30*X operations per second where X is your meet demand miner count.

Overall, I like the idea, but it'd be hard on lower-end PCs.
Title: Re: Suggestion for Miner's third operation mode
Post by: GoodMorning on April 06, 2020, 08:36:26 PM
Compared to the packet-dispatch, that load is trivial. The UI for it would be more intensive.