Annoying Dead Asteroids...

Why must they interfere with my trade?

from Sins Forums
I don't know if this is a bug, an improperly designed feature, or just something that nobody noticed or what but Dead Asteroids are extremely annoying when you're trying to get trade income. To sum it up the only planet type in the game that can break your longest trade route (which determines your trade income to a large extent) is a Dead Asteroid. Unless you have the +4 logistics research there is no possible way to get a trade route to pass through one of those planets, even through it'll go through asteroid belts, stars, and gas giants without any difficulties.

I suspect that the reason is a line of code somewhere that's used in determining the longest trade route which says something along the lines of 'If planet is colonizable and doesn't have a trade route then you can't go through it'. The problem is that certain planet types (only dead asteroids in the default game, but I'm sure someone, somewhere has introduced new types with no logistics) don't have any space for a trade route, without anything else built, and so act as impentrable walls to your trade route, which is irritating (play a game on doppleganger, enjoy the max length of 3 for your routes when you have planets that are 5 apart. Not a huge difference, but enough to be irritating) and doesn't make any sense.

Therefore I'd like to request that this at least be looked into, and that, hopefully, a simple method of making it so that planets have to be colonizable, not have a trade route, and have >0 max logistics in order to break a trade route.
40,055 views 20 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
/agree

It seems like a bug to me, trade routes shouldn't break in gravity wells that can have 0 population (its not like the ships will stop to trade with nobody?).
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
The code only counts neutrals for the bypass, as far as I know by design.

Yes, dead asteroids break up trade routes. Whoopteedoo. If your TEC, you can fix this by placing a trade port there. Personally, I don't see this as a bug.
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
If I was the equivalent a futuristic space trucker I don't think I'd put dead asteroids on my list of rest stops. Maybe if they put a restaurant there. Then I'd reconsider.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
If not a bug, it is still irksome. No population, and from a design standpoint dead asteroids aren't much different from other space rocks. They shouldn't even bleed credits for that matter. If anything, you should start with 0 tactical slots and just have to research more. Right now they are less than useless; they are a trap for people with auto-colonize activated. :P
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
I agree with the not bleeding credits (that one was bandied around several times). I believe the basic counter-arguement was that there you aren't upgrading the civilian infrastructure, your upgrading the military outpost to be moderately self-sustaining.

That said, I do find them highly useful as defense checkpoints. Sure, they don't mount as many defenses as a planet, but they function just find as a defensive node anyway.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Not that I like them interrupting my trade lanes either, but colonizing them also reveals any enemy traffic passing through them, as well after upgrading detection, any enemies flying at or near them. That's one other benefit they have over just a resource asteroid in an otherwise empty gravwell.

-- Retro
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
If the asteroid is dead how can you build a trade port there or anything else? Also how can you capture a resource port that is there
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
If the asteroid is dead how can you build a trade port there or anything else? Also how can you capture a resource port that is there
End of quote


If your TEC, you get +4 logistics from technology to build trade ports. Otherwise, you can't build logistics buildings. No resource asteroids appear in orbit around dead asteroids.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
There are some asteroids that have either a crystal/metal extractor on a small asteroid and says you can capture it. How? You cant Colonize that asteroid field. I know how to build a trade port.
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
Some ships have the "crew extractor" ability, which allows them to "colonize" the extractor. This ability uses antimatter, so you will have to wait some time for your ship to do this.

IIRC the TEC and Advent colony ships as well as the Vasari scout ship are able to
capture extractors.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
So what, even though it maybe odd and hard to believe, having a dead asteroid is a good thing... military tactics show us that these places are useless to an economist, but good for defense against enemy fleets.

If you have trouble with the trade routes, just conquer planets near your planets you cannot reach...
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
Besiege, you're missing some details. Your trade route income is directly proportional to its longest uninterrupted length from one edge to the other. If you have a dead asteroid in the middle of what would otherwise be a chain of seven joined tradeports, you only get the money multiplier that stems from having an uninterrupted chain of four, and that's a huge income hit. It's often a restriction that the map places on you (for example, if a random map creates a dead asteroid as a natural choke point) and you can't do anything about it.

As an example, I recently played a map that started me at a homeworld-asteroid-deadasteroid chain with the deadasteroid having the only phaselanes to elsewhere, and the dead asteroid cut off my trade income at a maximum chain of two until I could conquer at least three more planet/asteroids beyond it, including some that were already colonized by enemy races.

It's a legitimate beef for serious players.

-- Retro
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
I understand the complaint but I disagree that it's a "legitimate beef for serious players." Everyone is laboring under the same constraints. This is like complaining that some maps have no volcanic planets on them, so it's hard to get metal on those maps. Some maps have extra resources, some have less resources, some let you make lots of trade income with big juicy chains of trade ports, other maps put dead asteroids in your path.

Variety, spice of life, all that...
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
badken, you might not say that when your starting random-map position dumps your home planet behind a single phase-lane exit that leads to a dead asteroid, especially if you're playing TEC and get the earlier trade research. :)

Yeah, I know it's "luck of the draw" and to be fair the maps would have to be perfectly symmetric and stuff, but it's a fairly big influence on how well you'll be able to kickstart your own economy.

-- Retro
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
if stars/asteroid fields etc dont interrupt trade chains, why should a 0 logistics (ie you cant build a trade port) dead asteroid? definitely something to fix.
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top
if stars/asteroid fields etc dont interrupt trade chains, why should a 0 logistics (ie you cant build a trade port) dead asteroid? definitely something to fix.
End of quote


Because those systems are completely uncolonizable. A dead asteroid is colonizable.
Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top
^^^
Yes, and people are saying that is an oversight.
Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top
If you want perfect fairness to all players, then play on symetrical maps.

As it is, it's never gonna be completely fair unless all players use the same race, the maps are symetrical, and there's only one type of planet.

I like there to be challenges in the game that are different from game to game.

It is luck of the draw.
Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top
if stars/asteroid fields etc dont interrupt trade chains, why should a 0 logistics (ie you cant build a trade port) dead asteroid? definitely something to fix.Because those systems are completely uncolonizable. A dead asteroid is colonizable.
End of quote


and your point is? yes, colonizable, no, cannot build a trade port. if you cannot built a trade port, it shouldnt count, colonizable or not. the colonizable status is meaningless. no trade port possible, so you shouldnt be punished for not putting one there. simple.