Constructor ships idle?

[Scotias]

Has anyone else experienced constructor ships on fully automated sat idle, when there are plenty mining / research / resort bases to be built as per the new locations tabs?
I'm getting to the mid game I'd say and I kept building more constructors, only to find that for some reason about 6 were sat idle in this case. I only noticed because it bugged me that the same resort spot kept pinging on the map haha.

I manually ordered them to build the bases in the end and switched them back to full auto, I'll see if they go back to sitting idle or not.

Ships were fully fuelled and latest build, with more than enough range to reach the planned bases My other constructors seemed to be working fine and working on further bases I'd ordered.

Anyone else noticed a similar issue or able to explain at all?

EDIT: I didn't explain very well - the bases are ordered, constructors are in fully automate. I don't have any resource shortage issues or unable to reach the ordered bases due to any fuel / storms / hyperactive range issues.

The issue is constructors are not being assigned to these builds, even though they have nothing better to do at all.

[Ingor]

I've noticed it, no explanation in sight, and it's very frustrating indeed.

[Scotias]

I've noticed it, no explanation in sight, and it's very frustrating indeed.

So, i have now noticed that if their automation settings are set to auto build mining stations specifically, they will build all in my queue. As a result most of my constructors are now set to build mining stations and a few each to salvage and for each other kind of base.

Not ideal for optimal coverage, but for anyone else experiencing the same issue, it may help for now.

[SamuraiProgrmmr]

I have noticed it as well. I have the policy set to 'suggest' and it simply doesn't suggest them. If I go to the mining tab and assign a mining station to be built, it will do it.

My current theory is that the suggestion routine is complacent if it thinks you have 'enough' of the resources. I'm not saying this is incorrect behavior, but it may explain what is going on.

I have also noticed (maybe in a prior version) behavior where I trigger the build from the mining tab and then after a short time (5 to 10 seconds I think), it will suggest that I build that one.

Other things that can influence this (just in case) are if the civilian economy doesn't have enough money (or as much as it would like to have) and (possibly) the presence (or claim) of other races.

[btd64]

Available resources is the most common problem. If you don't have enough resources then you will see delays....GP

[Scotias]

Available resources is the most common problem. If you don't have enough resources then you will see delays....GP

I hadn't considered that, however in my case they carried out the order fine when manually ordered or set to build that type of station in their automation settings and i have had no resource shortage issues at all. I no longer have half a dozen queued stations in limbo waiting to be assigned a construction ship at all, or ever, since i stopped using fully automated constructors.

So I'm convinced it's not a resource issue and it's a problem with the fully automate setting on the constructors.

[Scotias]

I have noticed it as well. I have the policy set to 'suggest' and it simply doesn't suggest them. If I go to the mining tab and assign a mining station to be built, it will do it.

My current theory is that the suggestion routine is complacent if it thinks you have 'enough' of the resources. I'm not saying this is incorrect behavior, but it may explain what is going on.

I have also noticed (maybe in a prior version) behavior where I trigger the build from the mining tab and then after a short time (5 to 10 seconds I think), it will suggest that I build that one.

Other things that can influence this (just in case) are if the civilian economy doesn't have enough money (or as much as it would like to have) and (possibly) the presence (or claim) of other races.

In my case I had ordered the bases, half a dozen or so, but some of them just got overlooked for years. Weirdly other bases ordered afterward got built fine, but then the constructors went back to sitting idly and ignoring the former bases. It took me a while to notice the weird behaviour and manually rectify it.

[MichaelJ007]

I have the impression constructors wont pick up jobs that are outside their fuel range. The same job might get picked up later by another constructor that is close by.

Adding fuel cells to your constructors may help, and also manually moving one or two closer to where the work is might help.

[Thineboot]

I'm experiencing these idle constructors while plenty of work is ordered to do in [1.0.4.8].

There was no such thing in [1.0.4.6], at least it didn't happen to me.

Many of these idle constructors had cargo left. Many, not all. And I let the game run for a year. Not a single job was picked up.
I reordered job, no change. I still can order them manually.

There are two explanation I can come up:
1. When any constructor with cargo becomes idle the whole building order breaks.
2. When you retrofit a bunch of bought mining stations your private sector may run out of money. Once recovered, having plenty of money again, building won't start, because the then necessary stop which is never reset. DISPROOVED by Edit2.

Edit:
3. A mining station needs 24 Polymer and I have an production shortage of -25.75/sec while 263,686 are in stock. That's more than 10,000 sec in storage.


As for the fuel range assumption: my constructors can reach nearly every spot in the galaxy. Many mining locations are even within jump range.


Edit2:
A new resort base was proposed by the AI and I accepted it - and the job was taken instantly.

So there is something broken with the mining queue.