Mining stations not creating resource demand

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ReadeB
Posts: 100
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:15 am

Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by ReadeB »

Running 1.9.0.11. After a mining station retrofit order I got resource warnings at all stations... except 1. I was continuing to get them after a long time, so I stopped building or retrofitting to let the private economy catch up, but they never did.

The resource warnings are mostly complaining about Dilithium Crystals. After checking, I confirmed that the stations had rsvd amounts that exceeded the amounts in storage.

My 1 station that mines dilithium is fine. It has over 17000 units and no rsvd. It has no damaged or unfinished components.

Next I went through all my freighters, none of them have missions for moving dilithium. 1 is sitting all fueled up with no mission...

How do I trigger the demand or get the dilithium out there?
mSterian
Posts: 155
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:46 am

RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by mSterian »

No way to trigger. I find myself in that situation sometimes as well.

Also, are you playing as a pirate or normal empire. I seem to run into such problem mostly when playing as a pirate.

The freighter AI seems to not prioritize retrofitting it seems. That's then the problem mostly occurs. New contructions usually work fine if the constructor if able to get all the needed resources from the spaceport before it starts building. If not, it will encounter the same problem as retrofitting.
The freighter AI at the moment prioritizes gathering of resources already mined at mining stations to bring them back to the starport. And also trading I think. Retrofitting seems to take a back seat.

Maybe there's a logic behind this. It maybe does this so it can build more freighters so eventually it can handle all types of requests. Problem though, is that your starports may be already backed up with SHIPS trying to retrofit. This gets you intro a very nasty position.

I suggest you switch to manual retrofitting for the moment. Look out for when star ports aren't building freighters
ReadeB
Posts: 100
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:15 am

RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by ReadeB »

I noticed that a few of the freighters are queued up to retrofit, but I figured that the idle freighters would pick up and start delivering.

I noticed what you saw as well. There were a bunch of idle freighters waiting around my home world until one of my attack fleets came in to retrofit. Then they scattered to pick up steel and lead I assumed.

I'm wondering if I can stop and start the retrofit somehow to see if it triggers the freighters. Maybe create a new design.
mSterian
Posts: 155
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:46 am

RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by mSterian »

Yeah, that's the problem. You can't cancel retrofitting. But, about those freighters standing around, if they don't stand TOO long, it's just due to the delay the AI has on controling freighters (I think). Sometimes is just takes a bit for it to "think" and then assigns the freighter to something. In my case they always start transporting something after a bit of standing around. Just not what I would want transported.
Starke
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Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2013 8:16 pm

RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by Starke »

As a pirate, I have 10K Krypton gathering dust in my main starport, while a sector away one of my fleets is stuck in retrofit hell at a newer spaceport. It's been over a year now, and no supplies have come. Most of my freighters seem to be fulfilling various smuggling contracts at a rate of 35 units per shipment. =/
The Distant Worlds sale made my purchase possible. Thank you!
mSterian
Posts: 155
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:46 am

RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by mSterian »

You most probably have too few freighters. And making money seems a priority in the pirate AI.
Stop accepting smuggling missions, and wait for the current ones to end.
You might get lucky and get 1-2 freighters assigned to take resources to that starport.
Though chances are your freighters will just start shipping resources from your mine stations... but to your wrong starport.
That's just how the freighter AI is :( Happened to me lots of times. So, just make sure you don't have a shortage of freighters.

BTW, I have another theory. I think that it tries to apply a good tactics, in theory, and tries to import resources from another empire/pirate while keeping your freighters busy with something else. And maybe something happens to the freighter that should be bringing goods to you. Maybe it gets it's hypedrives shot of or something so it never gets to bring you the goods, but your starport keeps waiting for it.
ReadeB
Posts: 100
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:15 am

RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by ReadeB »

Finding more idle freighters when I go looking for them.

Also, I agree with Starke above, I've got new colonies trying to build defensive bases that never seem to complete due to resource shortages on the planet.

Definitely seems like the entire demand structure needs to be checked by the freighter AI occasionally to see what's getting missed and if there is a freighter mission assigned.
ReadeB
Posts: 100
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:15 am

RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by ReadeB »

Started a new game being careful about too much resource demand.

Went through a cycle of arming the mining stations and the resource shortage were addressed OK.

My next cycle might not be so smooth as Titan Beams and Meridian shields require Dilithium and I only have 1 source..

I'll see if things grind to a halt again..

Tip: Show all designs and watch the counts of ships/bases still using old designs. You can tell what hasn't gotten the refit yet.
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Erik Rutins
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RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by Erik Rutins »

Hi guys, have you uploaded save files for these situations?
Erik Rutins
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elliotg
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RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by elliotg »

Thanks for these reports.

The next update has a number of improvements to freighter resource transport, including better prioritization of construction shortages.

Elliot
ReadeB
Posts: 100
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:15 am

RE: Mining stations not creating resource demand

Post by ReadeB »

Started a new game and it appears that resource shortages are being addressed eventually as long as you take things slowly.

The issue appears to be when something happens to a freighter enroute. Those resource missions should be requeued as soon as the freighter becomes immobile or out of fuel as well as any queued missions. Queued missions should be dumped off to any idle freighters as soon as those freighters become available.

Not sure if there is any intelligent routing going on, like queuing up complimentary missions etc. That might mean dumping off queued missions could take longer.

The ability to be able to see the current missions and manually prioritize the queued list would help. Also the ability to create resource minimums to trigger missions whenever resources go below a certain amount would be especially useful when you are planning for a major ship building phase and want the resources prestaged.

Reade
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