[2.1.11] Players can exploit min_expansion_distance by leaving 1 nest alive

[HeliGungir]

2.1 added a minimum distance before a chunk is considered valid for enemy expansion, and it only takes one nest to invalidate all chunks in a 5x5 area.

So players can leave one nest alive in every enemy base to reduce the amount of pollution absorbed - and thus the frequency of attacks - yet enemies will not expand to repopulate this thinning.

It also lets players choose the easier nest to defend against; perhaps spitter nests on Nauvis and small egg rafts on Gleba. This also impacts mods that add new spawners and new (usually more difficult) enemies.

[Jap2.0]

I feel like this would require almost as much infrastructure as a proper defense...

[Panzerknacker]

Good find

[HeliGungir]

I feel like this would require almost as much infrastructure as a proper defense...

No it's just... halfway between "clear your entire pollution cloud" and... not doing that. You go out and clear nests and worms from your pollution cloud, but you always leave one alive. Now a larger portion of your pollution can be absorbed by terrain and trees instead of nests, so attack parties are less frequent than they otherwise would be. Less pollution is being absorbed by nests, and since there's only one nest per "base", each attack party takes longer to become filled with units.

PLUS you get to choose which nest to leave alive. Spitters have half as much health and no physical resistance, or biters lack a ranged attack and have less explosive resistance (I would prefer spitter nests). On Gleba, small egg rafts only spawn wrigglers.

[Jap2.0]

I feel like this would require almost as much infrastructure as a proper defense...

No it's just... halfway between "clear your entire pollution cloud" and... not doing that. You go out and clear nests and worms from your pollution cloud, but you always leave one alive. Now a larger portion of your pollution can be absorbed by terrain and trees instead of nests, so attack parties are less frequent than they otherwise would be. Less pollution is being absorbed by nests, and since there's only one nest per "base", each attack party takes longer to become filled with units.

PLUS you get to choose which nest to leave alive. Spitters have half as much health and no physical resistance, or biters lack a ranged attack and have less explosive resistance (I would prefer spitter nests). On Gleba, small egg rafts only spawn wrigglers.

Oh I see, I thought you were going the direction of enclosing each base.

[Klonan]

Thank you for the report,

For now I don't want to be touching the logic, its is all technically working correctly and not causing an issue

The gameplay affect, maybe its the player being smart, maybe its ruining the defence/offense balance, we can see how it goes