Order of operation, possible bug?

[iuewen]

Rast:

I was sitting on 8 coal, 1 sand. I had Idle (A) showing on two refineries, a greenhouse, and my newly built factory. I had Delete Firepower unchecked for now. I have 1 cannon.

Is there some reason that the game is putting everything on hold so that my factory could start first? I tried and tried to figure out why my refineries and greenhouse weren't starting. I unchecked them from autostart (without touching the factory), clicked back and forth between my map page and the trades, and had a harvest cycle happen in the middle of attempting to get my refineries running. When I finally checked "Deplete Firepower" it immediately consumed 8 coal and a sand, and started the factory.

[Rasteroid]

It will try to start buildings that consume more materials before those that consume less. So, it will try for factories, then refineries, then greenhouses.

When you say the factory started, consuming a sand, I assume you mean four sand (ie. to start a palantir) which was possible because of your "harvest cycle" (correct terminology: perma-mine).

So, it sounds as though the blocking factor was not materials, but power, which led to the factory starting first due to the priority ordering I mentioned above. What you have not included in your report is power, but since you say 8 coal was consumed, I will go ahead and assume your power was eight, which makes sense and tells us that your firepower was blocking your production.

I will amend the section on Autoharvest to mention that in a material-scare environment, buildings that use more materials take precedence over those that use less. Please adjust your control strategies accordingly.