upgrading facilities pet peeve

Slynky · #1 March 10th, 2004, 04:02 PM

As long as we can "branch out a bit", and though it's a small thing, it would be nice if, when a planet on repeat build fills all the facility slots that it would turn off the "repeat" switch. I get irritated at going to a place and telling it to build a spy sat, or a group of fighters (or something similar) and noticing later that it is repeating that build.

Slick · #2 March 10th, 2004, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Slynky:
As long as we can "branch out a bit", and though it's a small thing, it would be nice if, when a planet on repeat build fills all the facility slots that it would turn off the "repeat" switch. I get irritated at going to a place and telling it to build a spy sat, or a group of fighters (or something similar) and noticing later that it is repeating that build.

I'd like 2 more things that generate log entries along this idea:

1) let me know when a planet is on emergency build but not building anything

2) let me know when a construction queue finishes so that I can do my "per planet" upgrade thing that I mentioned in the first post in this thread.

Slick.

Roanon · #3 March 11th, 2004, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Slick:
1) let me know when a planet is on emergency build but not building anything
2) let me know when a construction queue finishes so that I can do my "per planet" upgrade thing that I mentioned in the first post in this thread.

At least #1 is simple. Construction queues (F7), select Rate. Click on Rate, then Construction to sort: non-building colonies are listed first, starting with highest production rate (i.e. usually those on emergency) on top.

Having the same #2 problem (haven't we all?

) I usually design a few units named like "* upgrade *" or "* build ship now *" etc. Inserting them into the queue at the appropriate places alerts me to take action whenever I see an item starting with "*" in the queue. And they are listed first if you select sort by Construction, so it is easy to check it.

rdouglass · #4 March 12th, 2004, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Roanon:
...Having the same #2 problem (haven't we all? ) I usually design a few units named like "* upgrade *" or "* build ship now *" etc. Inserting them into the queue at the appropriate places alerts me to take action whenever I see an item starting with "*" in the queue. And they are listed first if you select sort by Construction, so it is easy to check it.

Nice tip! That's one I'll be sure to use. Thanks...

Slick · #5 March 11th, 2004, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Roanon:

quote:
Originally posted by Slick:
1) let me know when a planet is on emergency build but not building anything
2) let me know when a construction queue finishes so that I can do my "per planet" upgrade thing that I mentioned in the first post in this thread.

At least #1 is simple. Construction queues (F7), select Rate. Click on Rate, then Construction to sort: non-building colonies are listed first, starting with highest production rate (i.e. usually those on emergency) on top.

Having the same #2 problem (haven't we all? ) I usually design a few units named like "* upgrade *" or "* build ship now *" etc. Inserting them into the queue at the appropriate places alerts me to take action whenever I see an item starting with "*" in the queue. And they are listed first if you select sort by Construction, so it is easy to check it.

Agreed on #1, but I'd still like a log entry so that I don't have to explicitly look for that each turn. Although I almost always do that sort every turn anyway.

#2... You know, I don't know why such a simple trick like this is incapable of being formulated by my feeble mind. This is a great idea! Thanks. I wonder what the absolute cheapest, smallest unit is... probably an empty small mine... Thanks again!

As for the "build ship now", I assume that you use this because you can't add a ship to the build queue until after a spaceyard is built. Check this out from the FAQ:

4.4.15 Q: How do I set up a planet�s construction queue to build a spaceyard and then build ships without having to edit the queue after the spaceyard is built?
A: Normally you can�t add ships to a planet�s construction queue until after the planet has a spaceyard facility. However there is a neat interface workaround. First, go to another planet that has a spaceyard and add your ship to its construction queue. Then save the construction queue using the process in section 4.4.13 above. Now, when you colonize a new planet, you can set up the build queue to build a spaceyard using the normal method and add ships to the queue using the saved queue.

Slick.

Roanon · #6 March 11th, 2004, 04:48 PM

Ahh, I should read the FAQ more often. Thanks for the hint, this really solves another small problem.

I wonder how people not reading this forum manage to get along

Maerlyn · #7 March 11th, 2004, 05:03 PM

i knew that one slick, but roanons ideas are very nice and useful, thanx a lot

another thing I use to min/max my empire: I click on the production thing, and then on usage. this way I can check which planets of mine are using very few minerals (lets say something less than 1500 per turn) I check them and try to change my designs, buildings ques or what so ever in a way to maximize this. not useful at everytime, but a nice way to ensure that your empire is constructing at its maximum lvl.