What causes machine breakdowns?

[DaLagga]

I think it goes without saying that this can get incredibly expensive since it requires a component to fix every broken device and this event often pops up several times a day for me. So what causes it? Do more machines simply result in more breakdowns? Does the building skill of the colonist who constructed/repaired a device contribute to it?

Because it's getting a bit ridiculous and the only way I can maintain a good supply of components is to buy them in bulk from traders which can get quite expensive. I'd say a good ~70% of all the components that I buy (which seems like the only reliable way to get a decent amount of them) end up being spent just repairing stuff that breaks and it's getting rather annoying to say the least.

[BlackSmokeDMax]

Think it is all just weighted RNG. The mechanic was designed as an economy sink/balance.

[Radiosity]

IIRC, wasn't it the case that having a lot of components increases the rate of breakdowns to compensate? I'm sure I remember someone having dug around in the game and found that to be the case. So the more you try and compensate for the issue by buying more components... the more the game will break things you then need to fix using components.

There's a mod (Enhanced Options I think) that lets you turn off breakdowns, might be worth grabbing if they annoy you too much.

[Jhonny G]

@Radiosity Somehow I don't think it's linked to the number of components in store. In my current game I have been hoarding around 100 components for over a year with only a single breakdown. Yet in my old game I would suffer between 1-3 breakdowns a day while still stuggeling to keep at least 10 components at hand. And that was even on a easier difficulty.

Old colony was very rich whereas this one is very poor. Maybe the total value has something to say? Or maybe it's just RNG, dunno..

[BlackSmokeDMax]

You can also use Fluffy Breakdowns instead. It makes a system where things have on-going maintenance. As long as you keep them above a certain level, they will not breakdown. As they get lower on maintenance, they start to have an increasing chance of suffering a breakdown.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=726244033

[Astasia]

From what I read every object capable of breaking down has an independent chance of breaking down at any given point, and that chance is increased or decreased to some extent by the total number of components on the map. I honestly haven't spent too much time dealing with the vanilla mechanics here because after a single game shortly after it was introduced I got very tired of the system. It basically makes things like auto-doors and "luxury" hydroponics completely infeasible because they breakdown so often after you get a lot of them. I remember reaching a point where at any given point in time there were at least two objects in my colony that had broken down and it was just a constant spam of endlessly repairing them. I literally can not play the game without Fluffy Breakdowns.

[Radiosity]

Originally posted by Astasia:

From what I read every object capable of breaking down has an independent chance of breaking down at any given point, and that chance is increased or decreased to some extent by the total number of components on the map. I honestly haven't spent too much time dealing with the vanilla mechanics here because after a single game shortly after it was introduced I got very tired of the system. It basically makes things like auto-doors and "luxury" hydroponics completely infeasible because they breakdown so often after you get a lot of them. I remember reaching a point where at any given point in time there were at least two objects in my colony that had broken down and it was just a constant spam of endlessly repairing them. I literally can not play the game without Fluffy Breakdowns.

Yeah, that's basically been my experience as well. Using auto-doors and various other luxury items (like the toilets etc from Dubs' Hygiene) leads to frequent and annoying breakdowns.

[Daniel]

I am not sure of the thing i will say because i pass more time to make programmation than playing the game, but if i remember well, you can build your component yourself, no need to buy it,

but, such as i have say i have not all discover the technology, so i think they mush have a tecnology they unlock this option in one of the production desk,

i have not again testing it but i have view the data in the game programing file a section for the production for this, and it's say all the thing you need to make it, so they mush have a way to make it yourself because if i remember well they ask only iron to make it, but they have so much file i don't remember in witch one i view this.

but anyway you can change it into the programmation of the game file to be able to find some somewhere, by example on my side, i have changed the programmation for the desk they make you able to destruct weapon, so, when i destruct a weapon i say to the game to give me one component in more than the metal they give in the same time but reducted the amount of metal to be more fair...

Here a picture of a riffle i have just broken down, my avatar have the iron in her hand and the component are on the ground beside the desk,
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1346498034
i find it's give a reason to not keep too much bad weapon in our stock and give a good utility to this desk, because to make a riffle it's cost 2 component and more than 100 metal, and when i broke the weapon they return me 21 metal and 1 component, and i can try to build an another riffle more good with this thing,

i have make the same thing for the metal sheet they appear with the pod when they give ressource, i find it funny to think they can have component in the metal broken left by the pod, so it's force me to run after all the garbage ha ha ha