Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Web version of freeciv. Please mention the site you're using, if speaking things other than general freeciv-web codebase.
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MikeDuk
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 3:58 pm

Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Post by MikeDuk »

I am playing at freecivweb.org with the Classic ruleset.

To transform from Swamp to Ocean/Lake you need 36 worker turns, or 18 Engineers.

For several reasons, I didn't want to transform the tile all in one go. I placed 17 Engineers to transform the Swamp tile, with the idea of keeping just 1 Engineer transforming the tile next turn, in order to accumulate 18 Engineer/turns in 2 player turns.

But it didn't work as planned.

The following turn I needed 15 Engineers to convert the tile into Ocean/Lake, which is surprising. Anyway, I decided to still do it in 2 more turns, so I placed 14 Engineers transforming, with the idea of keeping just 1 the following turn.
14 engineers Transforming.png
But it didn't work as planned.

Now the client says I need 9 turns to complete the transformation into Ocean/Lake, despite I have already accumulated 17+14=31 Engineer/turns.
After the transformation is done, I don't want all my Engineers being displaced into HEISELBERG, so that's the reason I want the final transformation done by just 1 Engineer, just in case it ends up locked up in HEISELBERG.
8 engineers Transforming.png
I thought work on a tile is accumulated between turns.
Ignatus
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Re: Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Post by Ignatus »

MikeDuk wrote:I thought work on a tile is accumulated between turns.
It does but it accumulates in workers (as long as they don't move/act or switch to another activity to the turn end). So your solution was placing 9 Engineers and giving them 2 turns to do the job.

Also, note that bouncing on terrain change is not random. If possible, you first go north-west (and then by inner direction numeration, write digits from 0 to 7 into a 3x3 table skipping the center).
MikeDuk
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 3:58 pm

Re: Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Post by MikeDuk »

Please explain the workers thing.

I thought 9 Engineers in 2 turns was equivalent to, for example, 14 Engineers in turn 1 and then moving 10 Engineers out of the tile and leaving 4 Engineers for turn 2 (not moving, not switching to another activigy). 14 + 4 = 18.
MikeDuk
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Re: Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Post by MikeDuk »

By "inner direction numeration", do you mean clockwise or counter clockwise?

Thanks.
MikeDuk
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 3:58 pm

Re: Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Post by MikeDuk »

I think I got it.

Do you mean this?
image3698.png
image3698.png (230.92 KiB) Viewed 5434 times
Let's suppose Engineers are transforming tile "X" (red). When they finish, they will be displaced into tile "0" (yellow), if that tile is allowed and reachable. If not, they will be displaced into tile "1", then "2", etc.

0: North-West
1: North
2: North-East
3: West
4: East
5: South-West
6: South
7: South-East
Ignatus
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Re: Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Post by Ignatus »

MikeDuk wrote:I think I got it.

Do you mean this?
Yes, likely so. At least, it was the situation in earlier versions and it seemingly was not changed.
Please explain the workers thing.
The counter of work done sits in unit, not in a tile it works. If the unit moves or finally changes its job, the counter is zeroed, thus ones that really contribute into the work are those that are on the tile when the work finishes. Tile transformation etc. happens when a unit working there is processed (player order is usually random for each turn, unit order likely not) and sum of activity counters of units doing the same activity there reaches or exceeds the needed value (the reminder is lost even if you can continue transforming the same way, this and any now illegal activities are canceled).

Btw, worker speed = basic worker type move speed * worker veteran strength bonus, no other effects affect it for now.
MikeDuk
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Re: Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Post by MikeDuk »

Thanks for the explanación. The tile has no memory, the worker has.

It is weird however that accumulated work is lost if the worker/engineer moves or changes activity.

If two people are digging a hole/mine for a week and then one of them goes somewhere else to irrigate a field, then magically the pile of dirt he has dug out goes back into the hole and the other worker has to dig it out again :D :D
Lexxie
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Re: Engineers not working as they are supposed to

Post by Lexxie »

Counter-intuitively, work-units are stored inside the working unit and not the tile. I believe it's documented here:

https://freeciv.fandom.com/wiki/Terrain ... provements
Two or more units working on the same square under the same orders combine their labor, speeding completion of their project.

When a unit's orders are interrupted (which can be done just with a click on the unit), its progress is lost. This will also happen if the unit's former home city is conquered or destroyed.
I will say, just clicking the unit doesn't erase it, that must have been an older version. As long as the activity icon of the unit continues to show what it was doing last turn, it won't lose its progress, unless you moved the unit off the tile and back.
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