View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0026654AI War 2Gameplay IssueMar 8, 2022 8:19 pm
ReporterRelay Bot Assigned ToStarKelp  
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product Version4.001 Autobuild Automation 
Summary0026654: Macrophage feel awkward to play with
DescriptionOn planet Erythro, before the Architrave arrived, there's been a battle going on for most of the game between a single Macrophage Harvester, a Dire Heavy Beam Guardian, and a Swarmer Forcefield Guardpost. The Harvester has somehow managed to heal enough health from the drones to reduce the damage to next to nothing for a very long time, and at the same time has been harvesting metal off of them...leading to an excess of 100000+ metal being collected. At the same time because the Harvester can't crack the Guardian it absolutely refuses to return to its Telium, meaning that it will keep collecting metal from the drones until it dies or something kills the Guardian.

The problem is that the Macrophage almost definitely win if the Harvester would return to its Telium; it'd mark up as well as getting backup or spawning spores, as well as being able to do it again soon because of the steady (maybe even too high) supply of metal from the drones. And this is an issue I see a lot; a lone Harvester "wins" by getting a ton of metal until it encounters even the slightest bit of real resistance, at which point it'll keep trying to destroy said resistance instead of actually reaping its rewards. But because it doesn't really do much damage to anything above a mid-tier guardian it'll next to never be able to actually win a serious battle, just draw it out for a really long time. And because the Harvester doesn't win more often than not, it's hard for any spores to be created...meaning the Macrophage are essentially stuck on their home planet until someone else comes along and does all the work for them OR the AI gets attritioned down on minor worlds after an hour or 3.

I think the best way to go about this is to make it so a Harvester is FORCED to return to its Telium after collecting a certain amount of metal, maybe double or triple the amount when it normally wants to return? That or letting it remotely transfer metal, maybe by something like how the Dark Zenith use Transports? Either way it really feels like the Macrophage have the potential to make a real difference in a game without being Spire-Infused or doing a Taming hack/making them friendly to players/ai, but are held back heavily in a way that doesn't feel great.
TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

Relay Bot

Mar 8, 2022 5:09 am

reporter  

Odd Macro on Erythro.savemet (116 bytes)   
CL
694812467
5623
test
<color=#ff3232>Hard </color> Special Forces Master
Difficulty 1
1
<color=#007fff>Husk</color>
Odd Macro on Erythro.save (170,537 bytes)

Zer0h1nder

Mar 8, 2022 7:36 am

reporter   ~0065211

I saw that kind of behaviour a lot of times as well. It always bugged me that Macrophage didn't have any real impact (even on Intensity 10) as long as it was on non-allied Planets.

StarKelp

Mar 8, 2022 7:13 pm

developer   ~0065243

The Phage already is forced to return. When looking into this, I thought it was a conflict of new logic; but upon loading your save it immediately began moving to deposit its metal.

Did you modify any External Constants values? It's meant to return when it reaches its custom_int_Macrophage_MaxMetalHarvesterCanHold value.

Zer0h1nder

Mar 8, 2022 8:02 pm

reporter   ~0065246

I have reproduced the issue in the attached save, it persists even after reloading. If you look at planet "Ash", the Macrophage there currently has >17 000 metal, but still fights its enemies instead of returning the metal to its Telium.

This happens without any mods or custom modifications by me.
Macrophage_not_returning.savemet (79 bytes)   
UK
810697741
3127
tests
Random
Difficulty 7
1
<color=#00ffff>Zer0h1nder</color>

StarKelp

Mar 8, 2022 8:19 pm

developer   ~0065249

Aha! All of their movement commands were being queued up, behind their targeting. It's why it only appeared to occur when they're fighting extremely tanky enemies, like Dires.

I've updated it to override their existing commands for the sake of Telium movement, thanks for the reports.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Mar 8, 2022 5:09 am Relay Bot New Issue
Mar 8, 2022 5:09 am Relay Bot File Added: Odd Macro on Erythro.savemet
Mar 8, 2022 5:09 am Relay Bot File Added: Odd Macro on Erythro.save
Mar 8, 2022 7:36 am Zer0h1nder Note Added: 0065211
Mar 8, 2022 7:13 pm StarKelp Note Added: 0065243
Mar 8, 2022 7:13 pm StarKelp Assigned To => StarKelp
Mar 8, 2022 7:13 pm StarKelp Status new => assigned
Mar 8, 2022 8:02 pm Zer0h1nder Note Added: 0065246
Mar 8, 2022 8:02 pm Zer0h1nder File Added: Macrophage_not_returning.save
Mar 8, 2022 8:02 pm Zer0h1nder File Added: Macrophage_not_returning.savemet
Mar 8, 2022 8:19 pm StarKelp Status assigned => resolved
Mar 8, 2022 8:19 pm StarKelp Resolution open => fixed
Mar 8, 2022 8:19 pm StarKelp Note Added: 0065249