Roll off time is indeterministic

The roll off time is between the production of two units. It is usually defined by how long it takes for the unit to roll off the build pad. The time is not deterministic, some units have a tough time existing for the first few seconds and therefore delay production quite a bit.

While working on a pull request, inspired by this forum post I noticed that the roll of time only exists because the factory is forced to wait for the unit to finish the first command (that makes it leave the build site). But what if instead of waiting for the unit to leave the build area, we just wait a set amount of time and then just start building the next unit?

In short, do we really want to wait for the unit to leave the build site or should we make it deterministic and just start building after a second or two?

i think it's gonna be way better to have it optimised and pop units faster tbh, would have a positive impact on having overall more units on the battlefield

I think of naval factory's stacking up a ton of units in the same spot

A couple of the AI ignore the rolloff delay that results in quicker production. @maudlin27 said he hit an issue when implementing it (required him to sometimes clear the factory commands after a unit is produced) that could 'potentially' pop up when you do this Jip.

If the physical space needed to start building the unit is not occupied then definitely start building asap

@veteranashe said in Roll off time is indeterministic:

I think of naval factory's stacking up a ton of units in the same spot

I can see the same issue, we'd need to tweak them separately.

@jip said in Roll off time is indeterministic:

The roll off time is between the production of two units. It is usually defined by how long it takes for the unit to roll off the build pad. The time is not deterministic, some units have a tough time existing for the first few seconds and therefore delay production quite a bit.

While working on a pull request, inspired by this forum post I noticed that the roll of time only exists because the factory is forced to wait for the unit to finish the first command (that makes it leave the build site). But what if instead of waiting for the unit to leave the build area, we just wait a set amount of time and then just start building the next unit?

In short, do we really want to wait for the unit to leave the build site or should we make it deterministic and just start building after a second or two?

Its buildpad + fact footprint specifically for reference.

While we're here (hopefully this is a one-post answer as I don't want to hijack) why does it sometimes take so long for newly upgraded factories to make their first unit? Like, I just got T3 air, I need that engie...

I think it is related, but I'm not sure.

If you're taking a look at roll-off time and do some changes with it, could you also take code from EQ which turns unit inside the factory towards its current waypoint?

For example: if you had factory send units to the right, you'll have unit get build towards right side. Currently if you change that direction to left, the unit would have to rotate on its spot itself freezing the construction. EQ changed that the way unit gets rotated instantly and can move right away.

Ah, turn them while they are being built? We can look at that too. At the moment it only happens when the unit starts being built.

@jip if i remember it correctly in EQ the unit gets turned right after it got built, not while the process is happening.

ah, so they get turned at the end of the sequence. That works too. I'll make sure to take it into account

Dragun is confused. Don’t they already work that way? Or did I fix something in SCTA that I didn’t even know was broken

Luckily, Jip is not confused

You likely fixed something in SCTA on accident then.

For the FAF-fix, see also: https://github.com/FAForever/fa/pull/4287

This looks nice with small round aeon engineers hovering in a round factory, but I am worried it may look a bit jarring if you have, say percies doing an instant 180 on completion...

Yes, it looks jarring. But it doesn't happen often. Initially it will rotate to the correct roll off point, depending on your rally point. They would only rotate at the end if the rally point switches such that the other roll off point is better.

@jip Ur awesome

Now we can spam less clicks with factories

@pearl12
This has been driving me batshit lately. It didn't use to be a problem, or perhaps I simply haven't noticed it, but recently I've seen factories just idle for a good half minute before they decide to go to work.