UPS hit from "Artillery Shell Range" research

[BigTrains]

Has anyone else found that doing 'artillery shell range research' caused a hit to UPS (in a very large base).

I hoped doing a bunch of artillery shell range research might help UPS by clearing out biter nests near my base, so I researched it up to level 10.

Instead of helping, however, this seems to have made my UPS to degrade significantly. I think what happened is that this research greatly increased the artillery range, increasing the size of the 'known world' and also increasing the number of biters being tracked.

Unfortunately, there isn't an option to undo the effects of research...

P.S. For anyone who is curious, this post describes the base, where I've scaled by making longer trains instead of more trains -- currently 10K science/minute using trains that are 720 cars long:
viewtopic.php?f=204&t=63020

[eradicator]

Unfortunately, there isn't an option to undo the effects of research...

Sure. You can "unresearch" the tech, which also removes the bonus.

Code: Select all

/c game.player.force.technologies['artillery-shell-range-1'].level  = 1

I'm pretty sure @Rseding91 said that artillery scans at a constant speed though. So the UPS degrade would have to be soley based on "more map == more biters", in which case it should settle once the artillery has killed them all off?

[ColonelSandersLite]

I'm pretty sure @Rseding91 said that artillery scans at a constant speed though. So the UPS degrade would have to be soley based on "more map == more biters", in which case it should settle once the artillery has killed them all off?

The problem with that line of thinking -

The range of the automatic targeting is only 40% of the range of the artillery piece.

So, at range upgrade 10, you have increased the amount of area covered by the gun (which must presumably be loaded by the game) by a factor of 16 but the gun will only automatically target 16% of that area.

Edit: Fixed a math error.

[eradicator]

The problem with that line of thinking -
The range of the automatic targeting is only 40% of the range of the artillery piece.
[...] (which must presumably be loaded by the game) [...]
[emphasis added by eradicator]

Yea, i can see the problem with that line of thinking pretty well. And until someone tests it we won't know if the game automatically generates the map for every chunk you could theoretically manually target. But based on the generation lag in this video i strongly doubt it does. And even if it did it shouldn't have any impact, because biters that aren't doing anything are inert (and they don't do anything unless you poke them with pollution or weapons).

[zOldBulldog]

At least the fix for the UPS hit should be easy enough that maybe they'll consider adding it to 0.17:

- Only add an area to the "known world" if it is in the 40% of the artillery range that can be hit blind, if it is visible, or has been reached by the pollution cloud. (or even something else entirely that follows that general train of thought)

[eradicator]

At least the fix for the UPS hit should be easy enough that maybe they'll consider adding it to 0.17:

- Only add an area to the "known world" if it is in the 40% of the artillery range that can be hit blind, if it is visible, or has been reached by the pollution cloud. (or even something else entirely that follows that general train of thought)

While you're busy mindlessly jumping on random gossip and placing ridiculous demands (again...) i wasted some time on writing actual proof that neither automatic nor manual range generates any chunks at all:

• Start a new map, do not move (will not proof anything on old maps).
• Use the code below. (Will freeze the game for a few seconds while it explores the map and spawns some artillery.)
• Open the map and wait till the biters are dealt with. (don't forget to enable show turrent range).
• Killing the biters will generate a few chunks (<10), but when all the nests are gone,...
• ...no new chunks will be generated unless you...
• ...walk around or use the artillery remote and see how new chunks are generated. (All chunks are always visible on the map.)

Code: Select all

/c
--[[pregenerate chunks so the game doesn't do any background generation]]  
local p = game.player
local r = 800
p.surface.request_to_generate_chunks({0,0},r/32)
p.surface.force_generate_chunk_requests()
p.force.chart_all()

--[[print a warning if additional chunks are generated]]
script.on_event(defines.events.on_chunk_generated,function()
  game.print('A wild chunk appears!')
  end)

--[[build some artillery turret and arm them]]
for i=1,50 do
  local ent = p.surface.create_entity{
    name="artillery-turret",
    position={x=p.position.x-10,y=p.position.y},
    force =p.force}
  ent.insert{name="artillery-shell",count=50}
  ent.destructible = false
  end

--[[set infinity research to level 12 because thats about as much range as we have map generated...]]
p.force.technologies['artillery-shell-range-1'].level  = 12
p.clear_items_inside()
p.insert('artillery-targeting-remote')
p.character.destructible = false

--[[lets wait faster....]]
game.speed = 60

--[[continue to update the map]]
script.on_nth_tick(60,function()
  for _,s in pairs(game.surfaces) do
    s.force_generate_chunk_requests()
    end
  for _,f in pairs(game.forces) do
    f.chart_all()    
    end
  end)

[zOldBulldog]

While you're busy mindlessly jumping on random gossip and placing ridiculous demands (again...) i wasted some time on writing actual proof that neither automatic nor manual range generates any chunks at all

Frankly, if going by what is being said in the thread and applying logical deduction to it is "mindless", then sure. Not everybody has time to waste learning yet another low interest scripting language (I stopped at about a dozen languages, not interested in more) and writing code just for a game.

[BigTrains]

I think the UPS drop resulted from the (major) enlargement of the explored map area, including associated tracking of biters/etc. Previously, only a small distance beyond the walls of my factory could be seen in the map view. At least for solar fields that don't pollute, I assume the generated region probably didn't extend too far beyond.

The big boost in artillery range resulted in the artillery clearing out biter nests over a large distance from the base. The total land area visible in the map now extends to the range of the automatic firing... and that region still biters (since artillery only gets nests).

FYI, I get some, but not all, of the UPS back if I manually kill biters and erase pollution.