Don´t know if bug. Still think it should be looked over.

[Simsuy]

"Problem" When buildings are shut down in a dust storm they can´t be turned off completely. It´s like they are in a middle ground where the workers will still prioritize on putting the resources to fix the building but they won't fix the building until the storm is over. This becomes a waste of precious resources and it should be avoidable.

"Solution" There should be an option to force shutdown and to avoid the building until the storm is done. Just like the normal "Turn off/on the button" but that it works for during the storm and it just stops from workers putting resources in buildings that can´t be used for the moment.

 

[DARK_MASTER]

The buildings that are shut down by the dust storm will use no power will be maintained just like every building that is on during the dusts storm, because you didn't shut them down before it started.
We get plenty of warning(maximum up of 3 Sols 3 hours in advance) before a dust storm starts, to have enough time to shut down all buildings that will be affected. Which is easy when you use Ctrl+click even if you have 100+ solar panes and such.

If you waste the warning time to shut these buildings down before the start of the dust storm. You can always reduce the work area of your Drone Hubs not to reach the buildings and get them fixed during the storm. And/Or move the Command Rover or reduce it's work radius also.

 

[Simsuy]

I like the advice on the drone hub.

And yes, of course, you get a warning but what about that timing?

The power supply of the solar panels and the water from the moisture Evaporators are kinda important to the last second and of course, it´s possible to build backup water supply but I still don´t see a reason why it shouldn´t be possible to simply shut off the affected buildings so the drones don´t Maintain things during a storm.

 

[DARK_MASTER]

The timing gets up to max 3 Sol 3h warning. It depends on how many Sensor Towers you have. If you have none it's only 17, 18 hours. You need only 6 Sensor Towers to get the maximum warning time. More than that is useless specially when you have all of the map scanned for example.

The Dron Hub and RC Commander work areas is real clever way also to save resources on maintenance. For example a Large Wind Turbine needs 1 machine part. Even if you have turned that building to the lowest priority it will still get maintained. But there is at least 1 full Sol of working time in that building until it actually brakes and stops working. With managing the drones work area you can get a lot more working time of a building and save resources.

The reason for why a building keeps getting maintained even after it's been shut down by a dust storm. Is maybe to teach the players to manage their base better. Or it's just an oversight.
Basically it's intentional or not. I think it's a bit intentional because we have plenty of warning. And also it makes sense that a building on Mars deteriorates/brakes during a Mars dust storm even if it's shut off. After all, during a dust storm ALL buildings turned off or not deteriorate faster.

 

[Marirosa]

You really only need one hour warning to shut down all the solar panels.

 

[DARK_MASTER]

You really only need one hour warning to shut down all the solar panels.

True. And we have the PAUSE button also.

BUT, I have no idea how this is for Xbox players. They don't have a Ctrl button after all. Maybe that's what we are dealing with here.

 

[Simsuy]

I´m not on Xbox and yes you are right that you only need one hour to stop these.

I get hung up on details and this is probably just an annoyance from my part.

 

[DARK_MASTER]

I´m not on Xbox and yes you are right that you only need one hour to stop these.

I get hung up on details and this is probably just an annoyance from my part.

Yeah, disasters are annoying. That's their purpose. But now the regular storms can be completely stopped so you don't have to deal with them the whole playtrough.

Just more pausing.

My biggest problem is dust devis. These don't give any warning when they will show up and where they will pass through your base. And brake everything.

 

[UltimaGecko]

There's no reason that shouldn't just be automated. If the game gives you the warning they won't work and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, they should shut off on their own.

I'm already over here micromanaging transporters and making sure colonists haven't randomly sauntered out of the polymer plant set at max priority and commanding the drones by hand to fix the giant water tank at max priority because they can't do it on their own despite being idle in range of 2 drone hubs with mountains of metal nearby. I don't need more menial tasks.

 

[Lord Yanaek]

You really only need one hour warning to shut down all the solar panels.

Actually i would like if you got a one hour warning in addition to the long warning because then i wouldn't miss the start of the disaster just because i'm not looking at the timer 100% of the time with speed at x3

 

[DARK_MASTER]

There's no reason that shouldn't just be automated. If the game gives you the warning they won't work and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, they should shut off on their own.

No, there is plenty of logical reason and what you can do about it.

All of that I explained above.

Actually i would like if you got a one hour warning in addition to the long warning because then i wouldn't miss the start of the disaster just because i'm not looking at the timer 100% of the time with speed at x3

With a mindset like that. Why not just put in alarm clocks or something ??

 

[Lord Yanaek]

With a mindset like that. Why not just put in alarm clocks or something ??

Same reason i'm not playing with a dozen spreadsheet doing optimization math (for whatever strategy game i'm playing, not just Surviving Mars). A game should be fun and not a chore and if i have to use external tools it becomes a chore for me (note that i'm fine using the wiki as a replacement for the in-game documentation but that's about the extend of what i consider acceptable). I really don't see what would be wrong with having both a long and a short-term warning BTW, maybe just make the countdown blink or something so it's harder to miss.

Also i don't really care about loosing a bunch of materials for maintenance and never stop anything before a dust storm but i've been annoyed when i missed the start of a cold wave by a couple seconds and then had all my water tanks freeze

 

[DARK_MASTER]

Same reason i'm not playing with a dozen spreadsheet doing optimization math (for whatever strategy game i'm playing, not just Surviving Mars). A game should be fun and not a chore and if i have to use external tools it becomes a chore for me (note that i'm fine using the wiki as a replacement for the in-game documentation but that's about the extend of what i consider acceptable). I really don't see what would be wrong with having both a long and a short-term warning BTW, maybe just make the countdown blink or something so it's harder to miss.

Also i don't really care about loosing a bunch of materials for maintenance and never stop anything before a dust storm but i've been annoyed when i missed the start of a cold wave by a couple seconds and then had all my water tanks freeze

I'm not doing any math and such I just know what to do. Maybe sometimes I just check the SM wiki if I plan more ahead.
I see YT ppl playing SM doing math and such which is funny when I see at the same time the waay bigger problems they have with their colony which latter just make for great schadenfroide. For example cold waves. YT SM players HATE cold waves. I just love to see when they talk about this and that, but at the same time choose maps with 0 cold waves and such. I don't remember I ever played any of my playthroughs without cold waves. It's just funny.

All in all the disasters are not a big deal. Ppl are just more bothered that they missed to react(despite all the warning) than anything else. A minor annoyance because of missed opportunity.