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I've seen a couple very robust threads about some of the bigger issues with Surviving Mars at the moment - poor AI leading to issues assigning colonists, the colonists' lack of ability to move between domes easily, etc. However, one I haven't seen - which you might not realize if all your domes are physically close - is that managing the flow of resources between distant locations in an exercise in tedious micro-management (at best).
Let's take a look at this situation: a tale of two domes. Farm Dome is a medium dome with a collection of farms (shocking), and it specializes in producing the colony's food supply. Simple enough, and the game definitely encourages specialization of domes, so it fits with the design philosophy. Mining Dome is on the other side of the map. It was placed there due to access to multiple Metal deposits. Sadly, the metal supply near Farm Dome has been exhausted. Farm Dome produces Food. Mining Dome produces Metal. To a degree, both domes will require both resources. Now, here's the rub...
You can setup a RC Transport with a route to pickup at one location and drop off at another. For a starter, that's it. You can only create a one-way route. You cannot, with one RC Transport, pickup Food at Farm Dome, drop it off at Mining Dome, and then pickup Metal to bring back to Farm Dome. You would need two RC Transports for that to work, and they'd each spend half of their time empty. Logistics 101 tells you that's a poor model. On top of that, if either transport gets to either stop and can't perform the action (nothing to pickup or no space to drop-off) it just... stops. If you want to use RC Transports, your only real choice is to micro-manage the crap out of it. If you (like me) have played Banished, you'll find this type of design absurd in a game which, at it's core, is about resource management. One other issue is that when defining a transport route, it's an all-or-nothing affair. You cannot tell the RC Transport to only carry 20 Food per trip. It will attempt to fully load itself (30 or 45 depending on tech) even if that means the farmers in Farm Dome will starve now.
Now, you might argue, "Just use Flying Transports!" This, however, is an even more inefficient option. For starters, the Flying Transports consume fuel. RC Transports do not. Already we've introduced an extra cost. Additionally, the hubs have their own maintenance. Yet another problem is that the Flying Transports can only carry 3 resources. Yes, it is possible to uncover a tech which doubles that. However, it is still an incredibly expensive option compared to good, old-fashioned, ground-based trucking routes (which is essentially the role an RC Transport should fulfill). Flying Transports are good for moving passengers, and can help supplement a resource supply chain. They shouldn't be relied on to be the backbone, however.
The colonists in Surviving Mars are using robotics to make their lives easier, and to make survival on an utterly hostile planet possible. Robotics is all about automation. Unfortunately, in its current state, Surviving Mars has laughable control of automation - one-way routes which stop working without even a notification. This system, along with others being discussed in other threads, really needs to be fixed. Some ideas on how to do that:
- setup of two-way routes (at a minimum)
- setup of multi-point routes (A > B > C > A) with pickup and dropoff at each (ideally)
- define how many resources to pickup (not just all-or-nothing)
- ability to set minimum stock levels at resource storage points (Farm Dome still needs to feed its farmers...)
Those are the basics. Honestly, I think a lot could be learned from the way Banished handles resource supply chain management, but those few adjustments would at least make the system workable.
Let's take a look at this situation: a tale of two domes. Farm Dome is a medium dome with a collection of farms (shocking), and it specializes in producing the colony's food supply. Simple enough, and the game definitely encourages specialization of domes, so it fits with the design philosophy. Mining Dome is on the other side of the map. It was placed there due to access to multiple Metal deposits. Sadly, the metal supply near Farm Dome has been exhausted. Farm Dome produces Food. Mining Dome produces Metal. To a degree, both domes will require both resources. Now, here's the rub...
You can setup a RC Transport with a route to pickup at one location and drop off at another. For a starter, that's it. You can only create a one-way route. You cannot, with one RC Transport, pickup Food at Farm Dome, drop it off at Mining Dome, and then pickup Metal to bring back to Farm Dome. You would need two RC Transports for that to work, and they'd each spend half of their time empty. Logistics 101 tells you that's a poor model. On top of that, if either transport gets to either stop and can't perform the action (nothing to pickup or no space to drop-off) it just... stops. If you want to use RC Transports, your only real choice is to micro-manage the crap out of it. If you (like me) have played Banished, you'll find this type of design absurd in a game which, at it's core, is about resource management. One other issue is that when defining a transport route, it's an all-or-nothing affair. You cannot tell the RC Transport to only carry 20 Food per trip. It will attempt to fully load itself (30 or 45 depending on tech) even if that means the farmers in Farm Dome will starve now.
Now, you might argue, "Just use Flying Transports!" This, however, is an even more inefficient option. For starters, the Flying Transports consume fuel. RC Transports do not. Already we've introduced an extra cost. Additionally, the hubs have their own maintenance. Yet another problem is that the Flying Transports can only carry 3 resources. Yes, it is possible to uncover a tech which doubles that. However, it is still an incredibly expensive option compared to good, old-fashioned, ground-based trucking routes (which is essentially the role an RC Transport should fulfill). Flying Transports are good for moving passengers, and can help supplement a resource supply chain. They shouldn't be relied on to be the backbone, however.
The colonists in Surviving Mars are using robotics to make their lives easier, and to make survival on an utterly hostile planet possible. Robotics is all about automation. Unfortunately, in its current state, Surviving Mars has laughable control of automation - one-way routes which stop working without even a notification. This system, along with others being discussed in other threads, really needs to be fixed. Some ideas on how to do that:
- setup of two-way routes (at a minimum)
- setup of multi-point routes (A > B > C > A) with pickup and dropoff at each (ideally)
- define how many resources to pickup (not just all-or-nothing)
- ability to set minimum stock levels at resource storage points (Farm Dome still needs to feed its farmers...)
Those are the basics. Honestly, I think a lot could be learned from the way Banished handles resource supply chain management, but those few adjustments would at least make the system workable.
