[0.18.7] Inconsistent display of consumed resources for Fluid Electric Mining Drill

[Squelch]

Description:

Electric mining drills that require fluid input resources do not always show which resources they consume in the tooltip information panel.

Reproduction:

See attached savegame combined with the following reproduction steps.

1. Place an electric mining drill over uranium ore (ensure uranium is the only ore to be extracted)
2. Place the pointer over the electric mining drill and consult the information panel on right.
   1. Note consumed resources
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for a ghost electric mining drill (shift+Left)
   1. again noting the consumed resources
4. Perform steps 1 and 2 as above, but on overlapping ore patches (Uranium and any other) so that the mine will extract both ore types
   1. Note consumed resources
5. Perform step 3 as above for a ghost, but on overlapping ore patches
   1. Note consumed resources
6. Repeat step 4, but supply power and sulfuric acid to the mine, connected to a short length of output (for witnessing output) and finally a sink for the product
   1. While holding the pointer over the operating mining drill, note the consumed resources in relation to the output product.

Expected:

It is expected that the required resources for the fluid type mine to be displayed in the information panel in the same manner as many other entities with fixed recipes ie not assemblers etc. This applies to entity-ghost for entities with fixed recipes as a general rule too.

When placing an electric mining drill over any ore that requires a fluid for extraction, the player has no control over the ore type to be extracted, and the mine adopts the fluid type of mine regardless of other ores present. Those secondary ores are mined along with the fluid requiring ore in a random manner. This is accepted, and has always been the case.
In the case of the vanilla game. only uranium requires sulfuric acid fluid to mine. Mods may add many more fluid requiring ores.

Observed:
The consumed resources shown for a fluid mining drill is inconsistent across the various states of operation.

• Step 2a of the reproduction yields expected results. Sulfuric acid and electricity are required

  

  Mine-resource-recipe.PNG (463.56 KiB) Viewed 1832 times

• Step 3a of the reproduction yields that only electricity is required for the ghost

  

  Mine-resource-recipe-Ghost.PNG (380.17 KiB) Viewed 1832 times

• Step 4a of the reproduction yields that Sulfuric acid and electricity are required

  

  Uranium-Stone-Mine.PNG (1.19 MiB) Viewed 1832 times

• Step 5a yields that only electricity is required for the ghost

  

  Uranium-Stone-Mine Ghost.PNG (1.15 MiB) Viewed 1832 times

• Step 6a for an operating mine yields that sulfuric acid and electricity are consumed only when extracting uranium, and electricity only consumed while extracting the secondary basic ore

Matrix of results:

Code: Select all

======================================================
= Step = State	   = Ore Patch Type = Consumes       =
======================================================
= 2    = Actual	   = Fluid          = Sulfuric acid, = 
=				    = Electricity    =
=----------------------------------------------------=
= 3    = Ghost	   = Fluid          = Electricity    =
=----------------------------------------------------=
= 4    = Actual	   = Basic + Fluid  = Sulfuric Acid, =
=				    = Electricity    =
=----------------------------------------------------=
= 5    = Ghost	   = Basic + Fluid  = Electricity    =
=----------------------------------------------------=
= 6    = Operating = Basic + Fluid  = Sulfuric Acid, =
=				    = Electricity/   =
=				    = Electricity    =
======================================================

A Supplemental observation is that the ghost entity for a fluid type mine is shown as a basic model without plumbing. This may be intimately related, but is hard to determine how entity-ghost is selected for electric mines from the prototype definition.

Conjecture - The strong coincidence of incorrect model and missing consumed resources combined with only showing the consumed resource while actually outputting, would logically point to a relationship. ie the ghost has nothing to output, therefore selects basic model. /conjecture

Concluding notes:
The subject of this report has already been posted in ideas and suggestions, but after the model discrepancy was pointed out and upon further consideration, this looks like it is a defect, or at least an unforeseen oversight as a result of the improved GUI and enhanced information. The vanilla game only has one fluid requiring ore, but Mods can add many more of this type, so being able to firstly find out which resources will be required, as well as an indication of the amount as displayed in the information panel, would be expected to remain consistent.

[valneq]

Does anybody know what happens when you place a miner in range of several ores that require different fluids to mine?
I mean: With Angel's Ores and divOresity you can generate such a situation where a miner needs ~4 different fluids.

Apart from the problem of fluid mixing – what does the tooltip say in such a situation? What would you expect to be shown in the tooltip?

What if, as you suggest, you have a miner in range of uranium and stone, one needs fluids, the other doesn't. The phrase "requires 1 sulfuric acid per mining operation" is strictly speaking not true: it only needs sulfuric acid when mining the uranium, but it may just as well mine some stone without requiring sulfuric acid, and it will.

All of the issues I mention above apply to both actual mining drills, as well as to ghosts. But since this bug report is about the inconsistency between actual mining drills and ghosts, I think these thoughts should be considered when dealing with this report.

[Squelch]

Does anybody know what happens when you place a miner in range of several ores that require different fluids to mine?
I mean: With Angel's Ores and divOresity you can generate such a situation where a miner needs ~4 different fluids.

Apart from the problem of fluid mixing – what does the tooltip say in such a situation? What would you expect to be shown in the tooltip?

That's an unknown to me right now. I have encountered this situation during a pY suite game, but didn't actually try it (I expected bad things and didn't tempt fate at the time)

What if, as you suggest, you have a miner in range of uranium and stone, one needs fluids, the other doesn't. The phrase "requires 1 sulfuric acid per mining operation" is strictly speaking not true: it only needs sulfuric acid when mining the uranium, but it may just as well mine some stone without requiring sulfuric acid, and it will.

That's correct. Supplying sulfuric acid to the mine does allow both uranium and stone to be mined, but not supplying it does not force stone mining alone. Due to the random extraction of ores when mixed, we may get lucky and initially mine the basic ore first. The mine does cease working when it needs to extract uranium. When placing a mine over any uranium, the mine will adopt the higher tiered(?) fluid mine regardless and without player control.

All of the issues I mention above apply to both actual mining drills, as well as to ghosts. But since this bug report is about the inconsistency between actual mining drills and ghosts, I think these thoughts should be considered when dealing with this report.

Absolutely, and thanks for raising them. I will try and generate a mixed fluid scenario and include them in the report. Primarily, I wanted to focus on the vanilla behaviour first, but modded games are also a large consideration to be had.

[Klonan]

I don't consider this worth looking into