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Small color status enhancement

Started by IgorEliezer, March 20, 2013, 11:50:37 AM

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IgorEliezer

Quote from: jsharpminor on March 20, 2013, 03:51:31 AM
Well-supplied factories keep going red and orange on me -- that is, they're not working, and I can't seem to find any logical reason why. They have more than enough goods to do their jobs.
(...)
What could be going on?

Quote from: Combuijs on March 20, 2013, 11:06:41 AM
Red is both used for "no consumption at all possible" and "all storages completely filled". This is confusing to say the least... I always check their status in the info-window, the color is not useful at all.

I would propose:

Red: shortage
Magenta: saturation

Tooltips could be displayed when hovering the factory status-bar:

White/Yellow: "Not connected/not demanding"
Orange: "Needs improvement"
Red: "In shortage"
Magenta: "Saturated"

prissi

What about partly in shortage or partly saturated? Your conditions are a little vague.

Combuijs

For me I would want to know two things:

1) Is the factory producing/consuming?
2) Does the factory lack goods?

That would lead to the following different statuses/colors:

1) not connected (currently white?) with a station
2) factory not producing/consuming, lacking one or more goods (currently red)
3) factory not producing/consuming, not lacking any goods (currently orange or red?)
4) factory not producing/consuming, all goods saturated (currently red)
5) factory producing/consuming, not all goods saturated (currently green)
6) factory producing/consuming, all goods saturated (currently red)

(What is yellow doing, not demanding?)

Proposed colors
1) white (unimportant factory)
2) red (serious problem)
3) orange (a problem somewhere further in the chain, but not in this factory)
4) magenta (a problem somewhere further in the chain, might cause problems back in the chain, anyway not this factory)
5) green (no problem)
6) turquoise (green but different) (no problem, but might cause problems back in the chain)
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prissi

Still please, remember a computer cannot know what "further down the chain" is; especially with itnerconnected chains.

Ters

I suggest:

White: For those factories that by design don't consume or produce (except electricity)
Green: Producing
Yellow: Production stopped because all output stores are full
Orange: Production stopped due to lack of supplies, but there are enough supplies in transit to resume production once it arrives
Red: Production stopped due to lack of supplies and whatever is in transit is not enough to resume production ("enough" has more to do with covering all needed supplies rather than quantity alone)

Orange and red could be improved further such that a factory is red even when supplies are in transit, if arrival of supplies are significantly rare. The point is that a factory should not turn red if it's without supplies a small fraction of a time, but stay red even if an insignificant amount is under way. It would briefly go to green when producing, but switch right back to red once that small amount is used up.

Combuijs

Quote from: prissi on March 20, 2013, 10:55:04 PM
Still please, remember a computer cannot know what "further down the chain" is; especially with itnerconnected chains.

That is right, but it knows when all incoming goods are saturated. The numbers 1-6 above are for the computer (e.g. the criteria), the numbers 1-6 down are for the user (e.g. what is going on). It is of course still for the user to find out if there is any problem further down the chain, or if the factory is just over-producing.
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Programmer: No user, no bugs



prissi

#6
Yellow in simutrans terms is actually used for "not connected". But red for connected and full will have a red bar for any factory served by a pax stop, and never a red bar for consumer. They would be either green or yellow.

So far warning (orange) was for output nearly full (75%).

Ters

I don't feel that it's any point in showing warnings for output, unless production has completely stopped, maybe even for an extended time. It is way too common that producers produce more than currently connected, and even currently existing, consumers can consume. (I simply don't pay attention to factory status colors at all.)

Vladki

I don't use colors as well because currently they are not of much help - especially red color. But it could be useful with just little change:

white - not producing, because of no transport connection
green - producing, input and output within limits.
yellow - producing, but oversupplied
orange - not producing, because of full output (or almost full)
red - not producing, because of no supplies

What do you think about this proposal?

Ters

I think it's missing a color for factories that simply are not made to produce. Orange is also a too "dangerous" color for something as normal as full output. When a stop turns orange, I pay attention, not so when a factory has a full output queue. If this is indicative of a problem, I'm informed of it by the consumer that lacks input.

Fabio

What about blue/cyan for full?
Pure consumers should be green or blue/cyan.

Vladki

Quote from: Ters on March 22, 2013, 05:52:54 AM
I think it's missing a color for factories that simply are not made to produce.
Well by producing I meant consuming as well. If the factory is in the middle of the chain, it cannot produce without consuming and vice versa.

Quote
Orange is also a too "dangerous" color for something as normal as full output. When a stop turns orange, I pay attention, not so when a factory has a full output queue. If this is indicative of a problem, I'm informed of it by the consumer that lacks input.
Well the colors can be different. I just wanted to point out what statuses are interesting for me. This orange status means a sort of - improvement possible - either the transport capacity is too low, or the consumer is full.

However I'd like to know what is the current meaning of orange in factory and station status?

Combuijs

Quote from: Vladki on March 22, 2013, 03:12:16 PM

However I'd like to know what is the current meaning of orange in factory and station status?

Quote from: prissi on March 21, 2013, 03:59:49 PM
So far warning (orange) was for output nearly full (75%).
Bob Marley: No woman, no cry

Programmer: No user, no bugs



Ters

Quote from: Vladki on March 22, 2013, 03:12:16 PM
Well by producing I meant consuming as well. If the factory is in the middle of the chain, it cannot produce without consuming and vice versa.

I was referring to factories that neither produce nor consume, like wind tubines and solar power plants. They do produce electicity, but that's a different kind of production.

ӔO

I  would suggest grey for unconnected.
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