Alert user to wasted recycled materials when bulldozing structures

[ldicker83]

With the recent updates to the way player resources are handled, it's now very possible for recycled materials to be wasted if the player's refined resources are close to full.

[belgianguy]

I just read this ticket and I realized it was about something else than I thought initially. I had thought this was some kind of early-game alert to inform a player that the building he just bulldozed did not recover any resources as he has no Recycling Facility. The message would be a subtle nod to the recycling mechanics, which would allow some sort of reimbursement when bulldozing structures. This then should encourage the player to build a Recycling Facility to reap the resource and Morale rewards.

But in fact, this issue seems to describe a situation in which the Recycling Facility is already present, but where the finished resources produced by the Recycling Facility on this turn would not be able to be transferred to Storage Tanks or Warehouses when processing the turn, leading to a loss of resources.

As the player is possibly unaware of the limits of his storage or has no current metrics, the player might want to bulldoze some structure because he misplaced it, or because the structure exploded and he wants to clean it up. Then the only option to interrupt this flow is show the dreaded alert popup as the action is already underway (the user has picked a RoboDozer and clicked on a structure to demolish).

Systems that could "train" a user in keeping an eye on storage space:

• Give a voice/text notification if total Fluid storage/Warehouse storage is over 90%. (Could pehaps be unlocked by Research)
• Maybe there is a case to be made for the popup, as I reckon a user should need to be interrupted when selecting a RoboDozer and clicking on his Command Center/CHAP, perhaps this alert could contain extra info on the availability of a Recycling Facility and the storage space currently available.
• There might be scenarios where a player might want to sacrifice some resources and bulldoze a certain structure (e.g. disaster recovery after a meteor took out the recycling facility and some tubes)

[ldicker83]

Well, initially I thought that the recycling center would be needed but really if the user has an active smelter that's what they would need. The demolished remains of the structure would go through the smelter, separated out and refined again at a rate of (I don't remember if it's 90% return or 75% return). Something to that effect.

I think I have a task for alerting the user to storage filling up? (norpe, it's about diminishing resources). This could work in place of alerting the user that their action will result in wasted resources.

The idea here is less about a pop up dialog and more of a push notification type of deal. I'm actually going to move these to a separate release from 0.8.2 since it requires a the NotificationArea that I started work on.

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All that stated, you do bring up good points. I have the resources HUD numbers flash when they're really low or if storage is running out. These could definitely be push notifications that are only along the side of the screen that the user can ignore if they so choose or open up to get a complete message.

[ldicker83]

Decided that this isn't really that necessary. If a user is bulldozing a structure it's either because it's destroyed, it's not needed anymore or they're in dire need of resources so there will be plenty of available storage left.

Will move to the 1.0.0 milestone as a polishing aspect of the UI and for further discussion.