Malfador: System bonus facilities do not work

[AndonSage]

I just got done doing some tests regarding facilities that give a system wide bonus (System Robotoid Factory, System Citizen Complex, etc.) because I wanted to see how each of them stacked with the other. What I found was that system bonus facilities do not work at all!

I built a Mineral Miner facility on a planet then added each of the bonus facilities (Robotoid Factory, System Robotoid Factory, Mineral Scanner, System Mineral Scanner). The Robotoid Factory does not stack with the Mineral Scanner, but I'm not sure if this is intended or not. I would think they would stack, but I suppose since the Mineral Scanner is cheaper to build that you would use this in the later stages of the game rather than the Robotoid Factory which gives a bonus to all resources on the planet, if you were only "farming" one resource. However, if they are supposed to stack, then this is another bug.

However, I also found that the System bonus facilities do NOT work. There was no increase in the mineral production when either of the System bonus facilities was built.

I then checked this System bonus facility problem with Intelligence. Again, the System bonus facility did not work

Please include a fix for this in the next patch

Edited: These tests were done using SE IV Version 1.11

Thanks,

AndonSage


[This message has been edited by AndonSage (edited 27 November 2000).]

[LintMan]

So in your test, you built the system robotoid factory after already having built the regular one on that planet?

Perhaps the situation is that the system Versions do not stack with the planetary Versions. So since you had a local one, the system one has no benefit. (As a test, you can try scrapping the local robotoid and seeing if you're still getting the bonus.)

That's a little disappointing for something that costs so much research to get to, but I guess it can save you a lot of facility space and build time to just have one system robotoid factory instead of one regular factory per planet.

As for the scanners, I would have hoped they would be cumulative with the factories, otherwise why bother to spend all those RP's on that stuff?

[AndonSage]

>> So in your test, you built the system robotoid factory after already having built the regular one on that planet? <<

Yes.

>> Perhaps the situation is that the system Versions do not stack with the planetary Versions. So since you had a local one, the system one has no benefit. (As a test, you can try scrapping the local robotoid and seeing if you're still getting the bonus.) <<

Already did that. The System bonus facilities did NOT work. I built all 4 facilities (2 regular, 2 system), then selectively scrapped the facilities, trying all the combinations. I even tried building the System Robotoid Factory before the Robotoid Factory.

>> That's a little disappointing for something that costs so much research to get to, but I guess it can save you a lot of facility space and build time to just have one system robotoid factory instead of one regular factory per planet. <<

That would be OK too, if the regular and system ones didn't stack (although it would be nice if they did). But that assumes the System facilities work, which they don't.

>> As for the scanners, I would have hoped they would be cumulative with the factories, otherwise why bother to spend all those RP's on that stuff? <<

My thoughts exactly. Until this is fixed, there is no reason to research Computers beyond level 3.

AndonSage

[Kirk]

I think that they do actually work. I just tried it with Research Centers/Computer Complexes and Mining Facilities/Robotroid Factories. [Edit: I also tried it with Intelligence Centers/Database Complexes, as noted below.]

With the Mining Facilities, the behavior wasn't obvious so I could see how you might have missed it. Here's what happened:

1. Started a new game, with starting Tech high.

2. Scrapped all but 1 Mining Facil. Resource production now 1596 for my homeworld, and thus my whole empire.

3. Built System Robotroid Factory 3. The
planet info panel still showed only 1596.
But, the Empire Status screen showed mineral production up to 2075. And, 1596 * 1.3 = 2074.8 so it clearly works.

So, I can see how you would have missed the effect of the Robotroid Factory. But I really don't see how you missed the effect of the Computer Complexes, though, the numbers were all updated on the planet info panel. Same for the Intelligence Complexes, my experiments showed they are working perfectly.



[This message has been edited by Kirk (edited 28 November 2000).]

[Baron Munchausen]

Yes, a "system level" production enhancement doesn't get displayed on the planets' production summaries. It might be a simple bug, or it might be something very difficult to do and so MM just doesn't plan to do it. I don't know enough about the code to say. I have asked more than once for a SYSTEM level production report/summary. Maybe the effects of these facilities could be displayed on that report. But maybe that's as hard as accounting for system level facilities on each planet's report? sigh... I hope not, but you never know.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 28 November 2000).]

[AndonSage]

>> But I really don't see how you missed the effect of the Computer Complexes, though, the numbers were all updated on the planet info panel. Same for the Intelligence Complexes, my experiments showed they are working perfectly. <<

Sorry, just checked it again, and while the Planet facilities will show an increase on the Planet display, the System facilities do NOT.

But, thanks for checking this out, I didn't think to check the Empire Status window.

AndonSage