Construction Robot Pathfinding / Destination Selection Logic
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 12:22 am
I've searched around for this idea and could not find anything. Apologies if this was previously suggested
Problem: Using a personal roboport, the construction robots seem to prefer to place / deconstruct the farthest entities first. This would not be quite as annoying if they did not also tend to fly in all directions at once.
Suggestion: Construction robots should prioritize the closest entities to the player / roboport. Furthermore, as suggested elsewhere, they should prioritize deconstruction over construction.
Advantage: This does not require the computational expense of pathfinding*, merely an update to the logic which selects the robots destination. The resulting behavior would greatly reduce the time spent when using blueprints in the early game before the late speed upgrades. This is because you could move with the bots systematically while they choose to place items near you, rather than flying off in all directions, running out of batteries, etc.
*Disclaimer: not a programmer
Problem: Using a personal roboport, the construction robots seem to prefer to place / deconstruct the farthest entities first. This would not be quite as annoying if they did not also tend to fly in all directions at once.
Suggestion: Construction robots should prioritize the closest entities to the player / roboport. Furthermore, as suggested elsewhere, they should prioritize deconstruction over construction.
Advantage: This does not require the computational expense of pathfinding*, merely an update to the logic which selects the robots destination. The resulting behavior would greatly reduce the time spent when using blueprints in the early game before the late speed upgrades. This is because you could move with the bots systematically while they choose to place items near you, rather than flying off in all directions, running out of batteries, etc.
*Disclaimer: not a programmer