[Freeciv-Dev] Re: (PR#3550) Partial buy production

["Greg Wooledge" <greg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ChrisK@xxxxxxxx (ChrisK@xxxxxxxx) wrote:

> > > > 3) "Buy what you can" - you decide how many "shields" buy.
> > > > exp. you dont have enouch money but you want pay something to hurry
> > > > production.

> 3) is simply useless, you give up the decision how to invest your gold
> too early.

No, not at all.  It's extremely useful in Alpha Centauri, because
SMAC only lets you carry over 10 shields (minerals) toward the next
item in the queue.  So if your base has a positive mineral output
of 15, and your item is fully paid for, you've wasted 5 minerals.
But if you pay 10 gold (energy) less than the full cost (for a
building), then you'll be exactly 10 minerals over on the next turn,
which is operating at optimal efficiency.

After a while, you can do the arithmetic without even thinking any
more -- at least for buildings and wonders (special projects), where
the costs are linear.  Units have a variable energy cost per mineral,
and I never quite learned the formula for those.

-- 
Greg Wooledge                  |   "Truth belongs to everybody."
greg@xxxxxxxxxxxx              |    - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
http://wooledge.org/~greg/     |

pgpkOg0GFu7w2.pgp
Description: PGP signature