Metals Storage Overflow

[Psudomorph]

When your metal storage is full, every time metals are subtracted from it, including just 10 or 20 for repairs, any cargo trucks waiting on your smelters dump their entire load to be smelted, and any extra metal is discarded. The more smelters you have, the more metal is wasted.

This can be a nuiscense* when a mine is relatively untapped, and its yield goes down with each truckload. It would be even worse to deal with if Outpost 3 ended up having mines with a limited lifespan.

Assuming the resource gathering system will work similarly in Outpost 3, I propose that any of these "overflow" resources get added to your metals count regardless of whether there is technically room for them, but afterwards your cargo trucks will not attempt to unload unless the overflow has been used up.

(*I don't know how to spell that word, and neither does my spell checker.)

[Freeza-CII]

There are Common and Rare Ore storage buildings that you could build.  How ever i dont think there should be the finite resources.  The mines should be like that in op2.  Moving bases around all the time would be a b**** in the game.  The resources arent wasted when the cargo truck waits to unload it just sits in the cargo truck till there is space.  Plus its not like the Mine is just constantly spewing out the ore it only loads ore when some thing is on its pad.  And yes i do get what you mean you use 10 units of ore and the truck dumps in 340.  And your saying you would loose 330 ore.  Well that is how it is any way its not like it goes over the max ore limit.

[Psudomorph]

Storage tanks are a temporary solution at best.

I am aware that cargo trucks wait to unload, and mines wait for cargo trucks before producing ore. The inefficiency of the cargo truck emptying its complete load every time causes that cycle to continue unnecessarily, with more truckloads being moved, and more full loads of ore being harvested from the mine.

Well that is how it is

Agreed, and I tolerate that inefficiency because the mines are infinite, and I have not yet encountered a situation in Outpost 2 where every RU counted. If mines in OP3 are infinite, and resources are plentiful, then I will continue to tolerate it if I must, but I would prefer not to.

Granted it is only an inefficiency, not a crippling problem, but it is one that Outpost 3 could be made without. I therefore proposed the simplest solution to the problem that I could think of. Its a small problem, with a small solution, but I think it is worth the OP3 developers noting so that it can be avoided.

[Tellaris]

Just spend at a rate that prevents you from hitting the cap.   Too much ore?   Build a bunch of tanks.   That'll solve it really fast.   After all, you can always use more combat vecs.

[Arklon]

Build a bunch of tanks.   That'll solve it really fast.   After all, you can always use more combat vecs.

Unless you're at the vehicle limit, which is incredibly easy to hit.

[Psudomorph]

There is also the possibility that you have a lot of rare metals but not enough common, or vice versa.

Or maybe your smelter is far from your mine, and it takes more time to traverse the distance than it takes for the trucks to unload. (Not enough people for extra CC or time to lay tubes, or the mine is in too dangerous an area, etc.)

Without being able to name them specifically, I estimate there are between 3 and 5 different situations where this would have a noticeable effect. My worry was/is the possibility that the number could rise in OP3, either in the main storyline, or in player-created missions afterwards. It would be especially bad if there is any chance that OP3 might have finite mines (I get the feeling it wont, but haven't heard anything concrete).

[Hooman]

It is a slight nuisance for people who keep an eye on efficiency, but it's certainly not a problem the way it is in OP2. It could be eliminated by a truck not unloading if there isn't room for the whole load, but that also has problems. Like if they needed to spend an amount equal to their max, but couldn't max out because they were a little short and the trucks weren't unloading. Could be a little annoying trying to build the common/rare metals cargo.

Also, there isn't any point in wasting money on vehicles in a level that doesn't have enemies.

I think an interesting solution would be for trucks to drop the raw unprocessed metals at the refinery, and the raw metal would slowly get processed into usable metal. Each refinery could have a certain raw metal holding capacity as well as a processed one. Make sure the raw capacity is bigger than the cargo truck capacity, and it shouldn't be a problem.

Also, it'd be nice to extend storage capacity with silos in a more effective manner. Having to use up a worker to keep each silo running, which only has half the capacity of a full refinery is of questionable value. Maybe if there was some sort of silo complex, where it only took 1 worker to run the whole thing, and you could add extra silos to it, up to a certain limit. Or at least if silos had better capacity.

[Combine Crusier]

Ummmmmmm........
Perhaps we could have a system that will only let the trucks uload when the amount of space avalible is greater than or equal to the amount of ore in the truck.

EX.
StorageCap = 10000;
TruckOre = 340;
OreInStrorage = 9840;
availablestorage = 0;

StorageCap - OreInStorage = availablestorage;
availablestorage = 160:

(truck won't unload but then you biuld something)
availablestorage = 340:
(truck unloads)

[Tramis]

Does this really matter?

Assuming you have a Common Ore Smelter at all, the cap is at least 10,000 units.  Any self-respecting OP2 player has 2 or 3 smelters.  Now, if you have 20,000-30,000 units of ore, do you honestly care about a measly few hundred?

[Combine Crusier]

Depends on whats happening....... If your in the middle of an all out war YES it does matter!

[Freeza-CII]

in the middle of a war your not going to be maxing out your ore

[Rambo]

Why Not Have The GORF Hold That Little Bit Of Extra Metal?

[Freeza-CII]

The gorf doesnt handle raw ore it handles scrap ore which is already refined.

[Combine Crusier]

Like I said... Just don't let the blasted truck unload until there is enough room to hold all the blasted ore!

[Rambo]

Once The Ore Goes Into The Smelter It Becomes Refined, So Therefore, It Still Wouldnt Be Dealing With Raw Ore.

[BlackBox]

Like I said... Just don't let the blasted truck unload until there is enough room to hold all the blasted ore!

This is exactly what Hooman already discussed. The only problem with that, is what if the player needs to build something that costs the same amount as the metals cap. That is, say the player has an metals cap of 10000 and needs to build something that costs 10000 (like the common metals module).

If the trucks just wait until there is enough storage to hold the entire contents of the truck, the player will never be able to get 10000 metals (they would have to build another storage facility in order to be able to get enough metal).

Another solution would be to just have the truck to dump a partial load, and then sit on the dock with the rest of the load while waiting for more capacity, but this creates some logic flaws, which I will discuss next.

Once The Ore Goes Into The Smelter It Becomes Refined, So Therefore, It Still Wouldnt Be Dealing With Raw Ore.

As Rambo just stated, remember that ore to metals refining is not 1:1 (that is, if a truck empties 350 ore into the smelter, more or less metal might be produced -- this is modified through research). It might even involve random factors (I really don't remember though).. but it means that you can't be 100% aware of exactly how many units of metal are going to come from a known number of units of raw ore.

[Rambo]

Those Random Factors That Affect The Amount Of Refined Metals That Are Produced Are But Not Limited To: Coke(High Heat Producing Coal), The Gases And Elements In The Ore(Carbon,Silicone(Silica),Oxygen, Phosphorus,And Sulfer), Also The Grade Of The Ore Depends On How Many Tons It Will Take To Produce 1Ton Of Refined Ore. The Chemical Processes And Heating Of The Ore Also Make A Huge Difference In The Amounts Produced.It Takes 2 Tons Of Ore + 1 Ton Of Coke + 1/2 Ton Of Limestone + Other Reactions And Proceeses To Complete To Create Pig Iron. Steel Is Refined Pig Iron Where The Contents Of Slag(The Impurites In The Metal) Are Removed To Get The Determined Effect Of The Desired Steel.

Sorry I Am A Machinist And Like To Show My Geniuss.

[Tramis]

How about this: if you absolutely have to have that last teeny bit of ore, try coughing up that excruciatingly expensive 250 common to build another storage tank!

Or as I said before, just realize that a few units of common metals don't matter in the slightest if you have 20,000-30,000.

Also, there isn't a single unit, structure, or even starship component in the entire game of outpost 2 that costs more than 10,000 let alone 20-30k.  We haven't gotten around to creating unit stats and costs, but I still highly doubt this will change in OP3.  If you need a ton of ore for something, and you want that little bit of ore, then if you've got the 25,000 to fill 2 and a half smelters (again, you should have 2 or 3 to begin with anyways, if you don't have that many at a point in the game where you need something that costs more than a couple thou, you're screwed anyhow so don't even bother building whatever it is, just hit alt+f4, you're cooked.) then just build the bloody thing, and then you've got your free space in the smelter to make use of that extra 150 common.

Seriously though, I don't really see this as being that big an issue.

[Combine Crusier]

Here is a thought...

Statistics:
Ore Dump:
HP: 1200
Armor: None
Ore Capacity: No Capacity (Contains 2 sections where trucks can dump raw ore and return later to pick up the ore (one for rare one for common))
Ability: Holds raw ore from trucks until ore is picked up by the trucks
SAbility: Can be told what amount of ore to load onto a truck.
Common Ore: 1200
Rare Ore: N/A
3rd Ore: N/A
Power: 40
Colonists: 2 workers

This could be used to hold excess ore until you have room in the smelters. NOTE: This structure will NOT refine raw ore into metals it only holds the raw ore.

[Freeza-CII]

No