Can I ask a question of Uber staff please? Are idle fabbers supposed to be able to assist factories? Because I've had several times where fabbers have been happily repairing and assisting factories and so on, but are selectable as idle when I hit the idle fabber hotkey. It's pretty awesome! Are they supposed to be doing that? Or is it a really strange bug?
In the game logic, a fabber that has not been specifically instructed to build something is considered idle, mainly because that's pretty much their only duty. Fabbers have been able to assist factories - and correct me if I'm wrong - pretty much since day one, so by now I think we can safely assume that it's supposed to happen.
I see. I know they can assist factories, but are they supposed to assist factories when they are idle? Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't. It's pretty irregular.
I wish assisting structures would include helping them to finish build. As I remember this is not the case, or maybe a bug, where I've set all fabbers to assist an unfinished factory with the intent that they help finish the structure and then assist with building, however they simply just idle and refuse to finish the structure in the first place.
That's been in since I started, like...3 weeks ago? Hotkey: F I've never noticed idle fabbers assisting nearby factories but I can't say I've ever looked. For sure, if you order a fabber to assist it will not get selected as idle. (That would be annoying.) * Disclaimer: unless today's patch changed this.
I never notice them assist when not asked to. I usually wish they would. However I understand not telling them to and them doing it would discretely modify your economy. You would have less than you think and would wonder what is eating it, only to find random fabbers near factories assisting and that is why your economy doesn't have your expansion slack. Therefore, idle fabbers probably shouldn't help themselves to unrequested work. That idle fabber button should be polished up to make it where you can always select nearby idle fabbers, all idle fabbers on planet, and all fabbers idle or not, perhaps in escalating order for however many times you click the idle fabber button in a row. But besides making that idle fabber button the player's best friend, no unsolicited work being done by idle fabbers who happen to be standing near something building. Makes me feel they have an unconscious habbit of building crap just because they are programmed to build. Just like bender bending girders in his sleep.
