Allow labs with incomplete science pack requirements contribute to research

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Earendel
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Allow labs with incomplete science pack requirements contribute to research

Post by Earendel »

Problem: Some mods add science packs to techs. Some mods make special labs that can only use certain science packs. The combination can create a situation where you have all the needed science packs in the labs that can accept them, but they're not all in the same machine so the tech cannot progress.

The proposal is that if a lab has some of the science packs required for a tech it is allowed to run with just those science packs ahead of the current research progress by up to 1 tech 'unit'. If multiple labs are doing this with different parts of the unit the unit completes and the science progress goes further. Listed tech progress percent is the min value of any given science pack progress - which ever one has fallen behind.

Vanilla Example:
2 labs: Lab 1 has only red science packs, Lab 2 has no science packs. The tech requires 10 units of 1 red 1 green.
Lab 1 processes 1 unit with just red science and stops. Tech progress is still listed as 0%
All science packs are removed from lab 1. Green science packs are added to lab 2.
Lab 2 processes 1 unit: One unit is completed, tech progress goes to 10%. Lab 2 continues to process 1 unit of green then stops. Tech progress still at 10%.
Red and green science added to lab 2:
Lab 2 processes 8 units of red and green, at which point tech progress is at 90%. It then continues to progress but only red science packs are consumed as green was 1 unit ahead. Once 10 units of red and green have completed tech is finished.

Modded example:
A tech for modules requires special module packs and a special modules lab, and space science packs in a space lab.
The module packs can't go in the space lab and the module bits can't go in the space lab. Currently it's impossible to progress, but with the proposed changes assuming both labs have their own pack, both lab run at the same time. It is likely that 1 set of labs is faster than the other, but it can never get further ahead than 1 unit so it will stop periodically to let the other set of labs catch up.


It maybe be that limit of researching ahead of other ingredients should be 1% of the total tech research requirement instead of 1 tech unit, or perhaps whichever one is lower.
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