[1.2.0.0] beta - construction ship early automation

[Buio]

I just started 1.2.0.0 beta and a new game. Used fairly standard settings for the new game and played as Quameno. I tested again with a different species and same happened.

After surveying a close moon, I ordered to build to build a mining station using the moon interface. Later I noticed that the automated construction ship had turned around to retrofit as soon as "Early warp field experiments" research was done. This was despite moon not being jumpable by warp. After retrofit it went back to build the mining station slow speed again, thus adding time before the mining station was built.

[Buio]

Forgot about the report form here;
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 6&t=380457

Added another potential issue there instead. Won't add this to avoid duplicate.

[OrnluWolfjarl]

I am not sure that's a bug exactly. Automated construction ships will always prioritize retrofitting if they are not actively building something. This helps a lot later on in the game.

If you are playing prewarp, you should definitely not play with automations on during your first couple years. The rate at which new research is completed is so fast, that you'll be getting the same issue with other ships too (explorers, freighters, etc). And you want to be directing your constructors and explorers to places that really matter first (Caslon, Steel, Silicon, etc). You also don't want to be wasting resources and dockyard slipways on pointless retrofits.

At the very least you should turn off auto-retrofits in your policies and auto-design in the designs screen. At least until you get going.

[Buio]

It's mostly a standard game, only changed opponents a bit. So there is pre-warp time and automatation. Should we not test standard settings? And why is my way of playing the game wrong, i.e. "you should definitely not play with automations on during your first couple years"?

1) Starts game with researching Early warp field experiments (default)
2) Explorer is finished, I order it to survey near moon then turn it back to automated for now
3) Construction ship is finished, fully automated
4) Minerals discovered at moon, I order to build a mine on the moon
5) Construction ship starts to slow travel (sub-light/no warp) to moon to build mine
6) More than half-way in slow travel Early warp field experiments research is done
7) Construction ship turns around and slow travel back to retrofit
8) Retrofit is done, starts traveling back to moon still in slow travel as it is to close to warp jump
9) Finally builds mine

[OrnluWolfjarl]

I don't mean to berate you or put you down for making a report.

Simply saying that automation is focused on helping you when the empire is large and unwieldy. That might cause unintended issues on game start.

I'm offering a solution in case it's bothering you. Sorry if it came out the wrong way.

[StormingKiwi]

I don't mean to berate you or put you down for making a report.

Simply saying that automation is focused on helping you when the empire is large and unwieldy. That might cause unintended issues on game start.

I'm offering a solution in case it's bothering you. Sorry if it came out the wrong way.

No, automated construction ships should finish their current mission before starting the next. In this case, the current mission is to build a mining station. They should finish that committed mission before going idle and starting the second mission (retrofit to latest design).
It is either a bug for the game to abandon the mission in favour of retrofitting, or it is an intended bad user experience by design.

I find frequently the automation does not help make life easier for the player, it takes over from the player and leads to encounters on forums with players berating each other for playing the game wrong.

[MaximKI]

Thank you all for the feedback and the notes. We'll consider this for future game improvements.

@Buio and @StormingKiwi do you mind uploading any saves to this thread that show what you're talking about?

[elliotg]

Normally ships will not abort their mission for retrofits. But the problem described in the original post is some special-case logic to handle the initial research breakthrough that provides the first hyperdrive (Skip Drive).

This major breakthrough is considered so important that all ships will immediately retrofit if they have no hyperdrive, even when they are already on a mission.

However if a construction ship has already started building a base then it will first complete it. However if they are simply on the way to build the base, then the construction ship will immediately retrofit to obtain that critical hyperdrive.

So in summary, this is working as designed.