Path finder raising up to 50000?

[Guenni7]

I lately encounter huge UPS drops and it looks like it's coming from the path finder who goes up to 50K sometimes.
Does the path finder only for the biters have such huge impact?

[orzelek]

Yes it can.

Are you using artilliery and per chance researched range increase? That has been a trigger for pathfinder related deaths for some people. Biters attack CPU directly bypassing defences

[Guenni7]

Yes, I use artillery and have researched art-range some days ago.
I did cut off art-shell supply now to see if it gets better when they're running out of ammo.

[Guenni7]

So, cutting off ammo supply didn't work.
Enabling path-finder-fringe in debug mode revealed the problem I think: The path finder is constantly updating all over the map and not only in charted territory, but also way off, even out of manual artillery range.

[Zavian]

even out of manual artillery range.

How far does your pollution spread? Because if pollution reaches nests out that far, then that would be expected.

If you think you have a bug, then upload the save.

[Guenni7]

How far does your pollution spread? Because if pollution reaches nests out that far, then that would be expected.

If you think you have a bug, then upload the save.

As the teritorry is not explored, I can't see the pollution. But the path finder activity is in a big circle around the base, so pollution is most likely the cause.
The very long range of the artilley keeps the biter nests far from base, so the pollution absorbtion from biters is done very far too, which gives the biters long ways to the base.
As a temporal solution I used a MOD to eliminate undiscovered chunks, but the problem will come back as the pollution cloud is steadily growing.

[eradicator]

If the pollution cloud is so large that the pathfinder is choking on it then arguably it doesn't have any effect anyway and you might just as well disable pollution completely?

Code: Select all

/c game.map_settings.pollution.enabled = false for _,s in pairs(game.surfaces) do s.clear_pollution() end

[Guenni7]

If the pollution cloud is so large that the pathfinder is choking on it then arguably it doesn't have any effect anyway and you might just as well disable pollution completely?

Code: Select all

/c game.map_settings.pollution.enabled = false for _,s in pairs(game.surfaces) do s.clear_pollution() end

That would sure do it.
But I'm always shy to alter basic game behavior, using the mod to clean unused chunks was already hard on the (my) barrier.

[Koub]

Exploring the area within your pollution cloud, and clearing all the biter nests in it (by setting up your artillery further out) could solve your issue (once the clearing is done).

[eradicator]

If the pollution cloud is so large that the pathfinder is choking on it then arguably it doesn't have any effect anyway and you might just as well disable pollution completely?

Code: Select all

/c game.map_settings.pollution.enabled = false for _,s in pairs(game.surfaces) do s.clear_pollution() end

That would sure do it.
But I'm always shy to alter basic game behavior, using the mod to clean unused chunks was already hard on the (my) barrier.

How about using a mod that offers "pollution cleaning" buildings that suck up the pollution at the source so it doesn't stretch as far out? (No particular mod in mind, just know those exist.)

[orzelek]

If the pollution cloud is so large that the pathfinder is choking on it then arguably it doesn't have any effect anyway and you might just as well disable pollution completely?

Code: Select all

/c game.map_settings.pollution.enabled = false for _,s in pairs(game.surfaces) do s.clear_pollution() end

That would sure do it.
But I'm always shy to alter basic game behavior, using the mod to clean unused chunks was already hard on the (my) barrier.

You could try to use efficiency modules.. they work nicely in some things like miners.. it all depends on how are you building tho.

[Guenni7]

Exploring the area within your pollution cloud, and clearing all the biter nests in it (by setting up your artillery further out) could solve your issue (once the clearing is done).

I give it a shot, maybe I'm able to hold the pollution cloud inside the claimed territory if it absorbs enough pollution.
Anyone ever felt guilty because of all murdered trees?

[Guenni7]

How about using a mod that offers "pollution cleaning" buildings that suck up the pollution at the source so it doesn't stretch as far out? (No particular mod in mind, just know those exist.)

I tried that yesterday, I built a large array of air-cleaners and it slowly brings down pollution.
The problem is, I'm short on UPS, and that array wants processing power too.
But with more cpu power it would be a good solution.

[eradicator]

How about using a mod that offers "pollution cleaning" buildings that suck up the pollution at the source so it doesn't stretch as far out? (No particular mod in mind, just know those exist.)

I tried that yesterday, I built a large array of air-cleaners and it slowly brings down pollution.
The problem is, I'm short on UPS, and that array wants processing power too.
But with more cpu power it would be a good solution.

Here's a command to clear pollution just once without disabling it completely (I'm a modder, i don't have a "conscience" that prevents me from "cheating" :p. If you have enough CPU+Cleansers you might be able to stop it from growing problematic again.

Code: Select all

/c for _,s in pairs(game.surfaces) do s.clear_pollution() end

[Guenni7]

You could try to use efficiency modules.. they work nicely in some things like miners.. it all depends on how are you building tho.

Most pollution comes from the assemblers (80/m), the miners do 40/m, but sure it would help.
The more I think about it all... Maybe it's time for me to start a new map and use all the ideas I got here. Some fresh 60UPS are tempting

I would like to thank you all for your help!

[Guenni7]

I bring this old tread up again because I want new players not to run into the same I did,
so here is what I learned when starting a new map trying to evade the problem:

1) Trying to enclose the pollution inside your defense perimeter is a mission impossible if you go for a megabase. I would need four times the space conquered I have now and my savefile is already 150MB, so ~600MB would be it and no warranty that the pollution doesn't grow even below that.
(I really tried hard with efficiency modules, but that makes the factory slower -> more assemblers needed -> even more UPS eaten)

2) When you increase the conquered area and build defense with Artillery, it also increases computing time for Artillery to scan the surroundings.

My conclusion is to keep your playfield as small as possible, let the pollution grow and don't take care. That way you have much less biters going angry, which means less path-finder, much less Artillery-scanning also. Not to mention that your savefile is a lot smaller.