Auto Colony Management

[Misfire]

I'd think you'd want it to just move it up in priority. Like you said, it's kind of necessary for resource PF's to be built regardless.

[Iceman]

I'd think you'd want it to just move it up in priority. Like you said, it's kind of necessary for resource PF's to be built regardless.

Done. But resources are pretty high on the priority list of Buildings anyway - unless we want to also give them priority over the constrution of PFs too But that might generate unemployment and/or starvation. So...

[Misfire]

I'd think you'd want it to just move it up in priority. Like you said, it's kind of necessary for resource PF's to be built regardless.

Done. But resources are pretty high on the priority list of Buildings anyway - unless we want to also give them priority over the constrution of PFs too But that might generate unemployment and/or starvation. So...

If it's pretty high in the priorities anyway, maybe it doesn't make sense to even have that as an option. Could hide the button but leave the infrastructure there in case we run across some other option that makes sense.

[Iceman]

If it's pretty high in the priorities anyway, maybe it doesn't make sense to even have that as an option. Could hide the button but leave the infrastructure there in case we run across some other option that makes sense.

I think we can leave it, at least for very small systems it might be of some use.
For now it is working, I'll try to see how it can be made to be more useful.

The Manage Production Facilities options are not yet working, it'll always use Balanced for now. Should change in the future.

The future is now
While some improvements might still be needed, I think that only Intelligence is not yet doing anything.

One question about the Resource Production option:
Right now the colony will only build resource generating buildings if this option is enabled.

It nows does what the tooltip says, increases priority.

[the6the]

I had a couple situations where the autobuilder was scrapping farms, and the system had starvation that turn. At first I thought it was a comet strike, but there was no sitrep. Sorry, I don't have the savegame.
Anyone else notice anything like that?

[Iceman]

I had a couple situations where the autobuilder was scrapping farms, and the system had starvation that turn. At first I thought it was a comet strike, but there was no sitrep. Sorry, I don't have the savegame.

So, the system had starvation even though it was on AutoBuild control
And in the same turn that it had starvation, some farms were scrapped

Just trying to understand exactly what happened.


Should AutoBuild scrap excess farms

[the6the]

I just know that I left the system with full pop, enough farms to cover everyone there, moon habitation included (pretty sure), and relatively advanced (like at least type 5 everything). Then I turned on autobuild, and kinda forgot about the system entirely. That is until I got a sitrep saying there's starvation in the system. I don't know if they were scrapped or not (where could I see that? I never thought to check log file.. I really need to get better at that) Oh, it was kinda late game-ish, so I only had orange notifications on.
I would leave the ability to scrap excess farms, (or maybe leave like one excess farm, which is what I always do - don't ask me why), but it shouldn't scrap necessary ones.
I'll try recreating the bug again, or finding the initial one in one of my savegames.

[Iceman]

I don't know if they were scrapped or not (where could I see that? I never thought to check log file.. I really need to get better at that)

You can't.
You can use CTL+~ (tilde) to view the log, during a game, BTW.

I would leave the ability to scrap excess farms, (or maybe leave like one excess farm, which is what I always do - don't ask me why), but it shouldn't scrap necessary ones.

I do that too And so does the AutoBuild.
It doesn't scrap necessary ones. It even checks if you can build Moon Habitation (or are building), and if so, it doesn't scrap any farms. Looking at the code, everything looks ok. It'll only scrap farms if there are 2+ inactive, pop is maximized and net food is >= 0.

I'll try recreating the bug again, or finding the initial one in one of my savegames.

[the6the]

Cool! I have no idea why the system went starving then. I tried searching through my savegames to no avail.
I'll turn on autobuild for most systems and I'll report any suspicious behavior by Otto

[Iceman]

The auto build.. Actually quite good but I only used the balanced option so far.
While the population is still growing it could maybe build one more farm in advanced sometimes before it starts something else but it fixes that early enough so people would not be starving for too long.

It tries to predict to some point the food it will need, but with Best option for Production Facilities it might fall short because of the higher build times.

Then once the max pop is reached and nothing else would need to be built it could automatically reassign capacities to universities and also build more of them (might be too much automation already).

But industry is also necessary to either make more credits (trade goods) or, in the case of systems with dilithium and a shipyard building ships, increase shipbuilding output (if the build queue is empty ofc)!
Setting autobuild to Research builds more labs (and less industry/intel).

Besides I like the shorter building times also for colonies compared to botf. It takes a bit longer but you can actually use it at least for another shipyard e.g. which is very nice.

[Spocks-cuddly-tribble]

The auto build.. Actually quite good but I only used the balanced option so far.
While the population is still growing it could maybe build one more farm in advanced sometimes before it starts something else but it fixes that early enough so people would not be starving for too long.

It tries to predict to some point the food it will need, but with Best option for Production Facilities it might fall short because of the higher build times.

Do you have a 'food output for max growth' priority option?

- big systems with good growth percentage should set food for max growth (unless other emergency priority)
- small, bad growth systems and early colonies with still low pop need only food surplus for the max expected pop growth (BotF low case +1)

And automatic features should struggle to predict expected extra bonuses due to upcoming tech advancements (including unlocked structures for static or % bonuses)?

[Iceman]

It predicts the amount of pop in 3 turns IIRC, with total growth taken into account ofc, and checks if a new farm is needed.
The only tweak needed is, when adding something to the build slot, check if it will take more than those 3 turns.

[Spocks-cuddly-tribble]

I imagined an overcomplicated approach using a certain percentage of the treasury for auto buy tasks depending on settings if needed.

[Iceman]

I imagined an overcomplicated approach using a certain percentage of the treasury for auto buy tasks depending on settings if needed.

The AI will only buy a build (any build) if it is urgent, and if it can afford it (with plenty to spare), yes.

[Lakotavar]

It tries to predict to some point the food it will need, but with Best option for Production Facilities it might fall short because of the higher build times.

I kept an eye on that and it seems usually starvation would last for about 2 turns only. From a story point of view it's not so nice but for the development it was very minor. I think citizens would die somewhat delayed.

But industry is also necessary to either make more credits (trade goods) or, in the case of systems with dilithium and a shipyard building ships, increase shipbuilding output (if the build queue is empty ofc)!
Setting autobuild to Research builds more labs (and less industry/intel).

I also observed this and now I had the feeling that the AI would shift capacities once the build queue is empty. I did not try yet if it would be shifted back once I want to build something.