View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0024242AI War 2Bug - GameplayFeb 12, 2021 9:54 pm
ReporterKahuna Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product Version2.705 Clarity, Refinement, and Performance 
Fixed in VersionBeta 2.725 Techs, Metal, Energy And Ceasefires 
Summary0024242: Production induced brownout on high game speeds
DescriptionBuilding ships against energy limit and simultaneously losing ships makes it possible to build over the energy limit, which causes a brownout without losing any energy producing structures. This does not seem to happen on normal or 1,5x speed.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Wait until the energy is down to "0.03k" and metal production is positive (in-game time 1h 41m).
2. Select the support fleets/factories on planet Cray (Shortcuts 2 and 5).
3. Unload the factories 2 and 5 and select the four Combat Sentry Frigates.
4. Send the four Combat Sentry Frigates to Spides PL 2 hops away.
5. Send a Combat Sentry Frigate through the Nagao wormhole
After a short while there will be a brownout.

TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

Kahuna

Dec 17, 2020 8:28 am

reporter  

BrownoutBug.save (296,252 bytes)
BrownoutBug.savemet (109 bytes)

TechSY730

Dec 17, 2020 8:30 am

reporter   ~0060026

Really? It was happening all the time to me on normal speeds. It was quite annoying.

Kahuna

Dec 17, 2020 9:26 am

reporter   ~0060028

With the steps I described and in this specific situation, I was unable to reproduce it on normal speed. However, I would not be surprised if this could happen in some situation on normal speed too.

Chris_McElligottPark

Dec 17, 2020 5:36 pm

administrator   ~0060053

It sounds like this is overall an edge case when there are a lot of ship producers at once and there is low energy. Does that sound like an accurate statement? Overall it seems like things are preventing this from happening unless there are a whole lot of things happening at once, or the game speed is up, or both?

With that in mind, it sounds like there needs to be some sort of remediation for inevitable cases (this is multithreaded after all) where "too many things were created in the last second and thus we browned ourselves out." My first thought is to detect this situation and implement a new "unable to function because of insufficient energy" status on the units that slipped through.

I can also chase this from the front end, trying to prevent extra units from being created in this fashion, but it's unlikely to be perfect. We do our best, but there are many potential sources of energy flipping around slightly, like the transports unloading or whatever else going on.

At any rate, making it so that it can't possibly send you into a generalized brownout will be a good thing.

Arides

Dec 18, 2020 5:43 am

reporter   ~0060073

I may have an idea to go around this. Before elaborating I'd just like to add that reclaiming destroyed developed planets causes brownouts regurarly as well.

Workaround:
How about adding a personal preference for defining a safe energy margin? A slider defining how much energy should *always* be stored and not used for construction. Some players could even use it to have such a surplus that they'd avoid brownouts after hunter targets their eco station.. if they can afford it.
This potential workaround is far from ideal (player will define he always wants 50k stored and he'll end up with 49.8k), but at least it won't be sending players into random brownouts any more.

Chris_McElligottPark

Feb 12, 2021 9:54 pm

administrator   ~0060514

I think that this is fixed, but if you are able to make it happen again, please let me know! Brownouts were changed a lot partly in response to this ticket.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Dec 17, 2020 8:28 am Kahuna New Issue
Dec 17, 2020 8:28 am Kahuna File Added: BrownoutBug.save
Dec 17, 2020 8:28 am Kahuna File Added: BrownoutBug.savemet
Dec 17, 2020 8:30 am TechSY730 Note Added: 0060026
Dec 17, 2020 9:26 am Kahuna Note Added: 0060028
Dec 17, 2020 5:36 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0060053
Dec 18, 2020 5:43 am Arides Note Added: 0060073
Feb 12, 2021 9:54 pm Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
Feb 12, 2021 9:54 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => resolved
Feb 12, 2021 9:54 pm Chris_McElligottPark Resolution open => fixed
Feb 12, 2021 9:54 pm Chris_McElligottPark Fixed in Version => Beta 2.725 Techs, Metal, Energy And Ceasefires
Feb 12, 2021 9:54 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0060514