In my mod, workers do not not need to return resources to a base. Instead a worker can harvest at a mineral patch and the minerals are immediately added into the bank. Just as Wisps did in Warcraft 3.
Players only need to have 1 worker at a single mineral patch. Adding more workers to the same mineral patch does NOT increase mining efficiency. It is however possible to mess with enemy workers, by sending your workers to their mineral patches. (Sounds silly, I know..) It is also quite easy to miss that several workers are harvesting on the same mineral field. (They stand still and "hide" behind each other since they have no collision when harvesting)
I am considering two different approaches:
1. Do it like in Warcraft 3 - two Wisps could simply NOT work on the same tree, not even occupy the same tree.
2. Force a worker to stop working, if ordered to harvest at a mineral patch that is already occupied. (It will bounce to nearby mineral patches, but if all of them are occupied the worker will become idle)
Any ideas how to solve this in the editor? Not sure if it is even possible
If your resource unit uses a behavior for its resources(which it probably does) then there's the "Ideal Harvester Count" value in the behavior. I haven't had much experience modifying resource units but that sound like the best method to me. I don't know if this value will change how gatherers behave but its worth a shot.
Thanks, yea I have played around quite a bit, but have not been able to find a good solution.
"Ideal Harvester Count" does indeed make only 1 worker work at the same time on it. The downside is that other workers who are assigned to harvest on that mineral field will bounce to nearby ones until they find a free one. If they do NOT find a mineral field that is free, then they will stand and queue, as if they wait for the mineral field to be available. (Which it will never be, just as with Wisps in Warcraft 3. They could stand forever and just gather wood)
Players tend to not notice that several workers are standing near a mineral field without doing anything, since it looks like they are waiting for work
It would be nice if workers without any work just became idle and even moved away a little bit from the mineral field. This would be more noticeable for players
I am considering to assign an issue order to workers, which moves them away in a random direction for 1 sec, and then forces them to stop. This would separate themselves from mineral fields. But I have no idea how apply this issue order ONLY when a worker has no available mineral fields nearby...
Haven't tested or anything, but something like this trigger might do that. Would probably need to add more conditions n stuff. Give preference to the player who was harvesting first n such.
In my mod, workers do not not need to return resources to a base. Instead a worker can harvest at a mineral patch and the minerals are immediately added into the bank. Just as Wisps did in Warcraft 3.
Players only need to have 1 worker at a single mineral patch. Adding more workers to the same mineral patch does NOT increase mining efficiency. It is however possible to mess with enemy workers, by sending your workers to their mineral patches. (Sounds silly, I know..) It is also quite easy to miss that several workers are harvesting on the same mineral field. (They stand still and "hide" behind each other since they have no collision when harvesting)
I am considering two different approaches:
1. Do it like in Warcraft 3 - two Wisps could simply NOT work on the same tree, not even occupy the same tree.
2. Force a worker to stop working, if ordered to harvest at a mineral patch that is already occupied. (It will bounce to nearby mineral patches, but if all of them are occupied the worker will become idle)
Any ideas how to solve this in the editor? Not sure if it is even possible
Have you tried messing with the "Minerals (Mineral Field)" Behavior? Such as the Ideal harvester count field.
If your resource unit uses a behavior for its resources(which it probably does) then there's the "Ideal Harvester Count" value in the behavior. I haven't had much experience modifying resource units but that sound like the best method to me. I don't know if this value will change how gatherers behave but its worth a shot.
Thanks, yea I have played around quite a bit, but have not been able to find a good solution.
"Ideal Harvester Count" does indeed make only 1 worker work at the same time on it. The downside is that other workers who are assigned to harvest on that mineral field will bounce to nearby ones until they find a free one. If they do NOT find a mineral field that is free, then they will stand and queue, as if they wait for the mineral field to be available. (Which it will never be, just as with Wisps in Warcraft 3. They could stand forever and just gather wood)
Players tend to not notice that several workers are standing near a mineral field without doing anything, since it looks like they are waiting for work
It would be nice if workers without any work just became idle and even moved away a little bit from the mineral field. This would be more noticeable for players
I am considering to assign an issue order to workers, which moves them away in a random direction for 1 sec, and then forces them to stop. This would separate themselves from mineral fields. But I have no idea how apply this issue order ONLY when a worker has no available mineral fields nearby...
Haven't tested or anything, but something like this trigger might do that. Would probably need to add more conditions n stuff. Give preference to the player who was harvesting first n such.