Worker Actions

All the stuff we intend to implement.
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DarthAce21
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Worker Actions

Post by DarthAce21 »

Actions can be assigned to Workers by the player.
These actions have different strategic results for the player, and the game.

The Worker Tasks screen would look something like the below screen.
Each task has both a slider and an absolute number next to it, allowing a player to quickly alter the percentage of Workers assigned to the task, or enter specific numbers if so inclined. The total workers available to a player in any one nest are considered 100%. Each slider draws from this 100%. So if there's 5 different tasks implemented in the game, then each slider would draw from this amount so that if Workers were assigned in equal numbers to each task, the sliders for each task would show 20%, and the numbers would be 20% of whatever the total current workers in the nest is.
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BUILD NEW STRUCTURES
The more Workers assigned to this task, the faster structures will be completed in the nest.
Zero workers assigned to this task will stop all construction. 100% on the slider will mean that the structure currently being built (egg chamber for example) would proceed at 100% speed.

FORAGE IN THE FIELD
Workers assigned to this task would venture out randomly throughout the hunting field owned by the nest, collecting food and water, and bringing it back to the nest's warehouses.
Zero workers assigned to this task will stop all income of wood and food at this nest. 100% on the slider will collect food and water at the maximum rate from the field owned by that nest.

PARENTAL DUTY
Workers assigned to this task will take care of both eggs and larvae in their various states of growth.
Zero Workers assigned to this task will mean eggs and larvae hatching will stop growing, meaning no new army or workers will hatch. 100% on the slider will ensure that Workers and Army ants will hatch at the maximum rate, assuming that there is enough Water and Food available, and based on Egg Chambers and Larval Nurseries.

SUNBATHING
Workers assigned to this task bathe in the sun on top of the nest's dome, heating up their own bodies. They then move back down deeply into the nest, and shed the heat to other workers and the walls of the nest itself, before heading back up to the dome again. In this way Workers act as a heat pump, drawing the sun's warmth down into the nest where it is used to keep the queen, the eggs, the larvae and the other workers and army at an optimal warmth level.
Zero Workers assigned to the task mean that no additional warmth is drawn down into the nest, leaving the nest at the ambient minimum temperature for the nest tile (which is based on both nest tile type and time of year). 100% workers assigned to this task will mean that every available worker will be drawing heat down into the nest. This task is a bit different to the others, because sometimes no additional heat is needed, ambient minimum temperature is enough, and so workers assigned to this task are wasted. Additionally, if 100% workers are assigned to drawing heat down into the nest, then no workers are assigned to collecting food, water, tending to eggs, or building new structure, which brings the nest's development to a grinding halt. So the player must take care when assigning workers to this task.

WASTE REMOVAL
More ants in the nest means more waste is produced. Workers assigned to this task will ensure this waste is taken to the Waste Chambers instead of building up throughout the nest.
Zero Workers assigned to this task will mean that waste collects rapidly throughout the nest, increasing the chances of disease and deaths and will ultimately kill the entire population of the nest if left unchecked. 100% workers assigned to this task will mean that waste is very quickly removed from throughout the nest and deposited into the Waste Chambers (up to their size limit). Like Sunbathing, this task needs to be carefully managed by the player to ensure that the workers assigned to it are not too few that Waste builds up, and not so many that other tasks are done less efficiently than they could be.

FLEE WITH BROOD
This is an emergency action, where Workers lift up larvae and eggs and carry them away from the nest in directions considered safe. When a player feels they are about to come under attack, they can command a percentage of their workers to carry brood away from the nest, guaranteeing the brood's safety in the event of an attack so that a successful attack on the nest does not result in the extermination of the brood. 24 hours later when the attack has likely passed, the workers return with the brood and the nest can resume growing. Note that many of the brood and workers carrying the brood in this action do not survive, they are vulnerable to attack by predators and only about half of them make it back to the nest the next day. But better that than being exterminated by a heavy attack from an enemy colony!
Zero workers assigned to this task will mean no brood is being saved and all brood will be vulnerable to being killed and carried off for food by a successful attack by an enemy. 100% workers assigned to this task will mean that every worker in the nest will carry away eggs and larvae from the nest (up to the maximum eggs and larvae currently in the Egg Chambers and Larval Nurseries), and return with them the next day. But this action should be considered carefully by the player, because it means none of these workers will be available to do other tasks. Be sure you're about to be attacked, or this effort will result in both no growth and the loss of about half of your workers and brood fleeing the nest!


Suggestions for other actions to consider to include in the game are welcome!
If you stand for nothing, you fall for anything.

thewalkingdead
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Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2020 5:11 pm

Re: Worker Actions

Post by thewalkingdead »

Hi, I had a question about this and am not sure if this is where I should post it. Since you can have multiple nests, are you able to have like one nest focusing on getting food or heat, and then send those resources to your other nests? Or will all nests need to be collecting?

So basically are you able to send food and heat to other nests? & are you going to be able to send workers or armies between nests too?

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DarthAce21
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Re: Worker Actions

Post by DarthAce21 »

Food and water and army and workers can be relocated from one nest to another in a colony (providing the destination nest has the space to house them), however heat must be gathered at the nest's dome and brought down into the nest by the sunbathing task. Ants cool down too fast to march from one nest to another while warm.

We're trying to make it as realistic as possible.
If you stand for nothing, you fall for anything.

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