Unloaded chunks?

[Nailfoot]

I know that the game is supposed to unload chunkc that are not active (Nothing at all happening or only a fish swimming around) but in my unmodded game I am also seeing unloaded chunks with biter nests.

I have radar coverage over several biter nests and the biters are not moving and, indeed, the nests themselves are not "breathing". They will spring into action if I get close so I thiunk its a chunk unloading thing.

I've not seen this behavior before. With this happening, technically I don't even need wal;ls on my mega base now because the biters are on pause and wouldn't expand anyway. Does anyone else have thoughts about this?

I'd show a screenshot, but they're all gonna be static in a shot anyway...

[Nailfoot]

Originally posted by 𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚊𝚐⇅:

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

They will spring into action if I get close so I thiunk its a chunk unloading thing.

I know this and until now i thought it's just a "natural" behavior

In all of my previous mega bases, the walls would be attacked all over the place, even in spots that were (many many miles) a long ways away. That doesn't happen now.

[Ruges]

are they inside your pollution sphere? No polution and they are not going to send waves to attack. but there can be pathing issues that cause them to lock up which is usually caused by water.

[fractalgem]

Unless you have a developer statement to the contrary...this is incorrect. Those chunks are loaded, they just won't update on your map unless you are near or they are checked by a radar.

Factorio is NOT like minecraft. Where in minecraft, redstone machines traversing the entire world are the exception rather than the rule, in factorio, you are expected to have a gigantic factory that covers just about everything. Ergo, once a chunk is loaded, it remains loaded at all times.

[Nailfoot]

Originally posted by fractalgem:

Unless you have a developer statement to the contrary...this is incorrect. Those chunks are loaded, they just won't update on your map unless you are near or they are checked by a radar.

Factorio is NOT like minecraft. Where in minecraft, redstone machines traversing the entire world are the exception rather than the rule, in factorio, you are expected to have a gigantic factory that covers just about everything. Ergo, once a chunk is loaded, it remains loaded at all times.

That's not right. Chunks do unload (only unused chunks are supposed to be unloaded), there is a dev post about it somewhere. I've read it on the official forums but I'm not home right now to do a good search for it.

And the bases with the biters are illuminated by radars. I can zoom right in on them and see them standing there doing nothing and no breathing from the nests.

I can see the nests closer to me actually breathing. When I'm home I'll build some pollution and document the results.

[Ruges]

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

When I'm home I'll build some pollution and document the results.

yep no polution no attack. Bitters only send attacks when pollution reaches them. then they path to attack. otherwise they stand around doing a whole lotta nothing. With the exception of when they go to colonize a new hive or you come withen there agro range, or move around the hive to adjust for a new strucuture being built.

[Nailfoot]

Originally posted by Ruges:

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

When I'm home I'll build some pollution and document the results.

yep no polution no attack. Bitters only send attacks when pollution reaches them. then they path to attack. otherwise they stand around doing a whole lotta nothing. With the exception of when they go to colonize a new hive or you come withen there agro range, or move around the hive to adjust for a new strucuture being built.

But that's not always been the case in my experience. In my 0.14 mega bases the walls would be attacked everywhere even millions of light years away from pollution!

Since radar zoom was only introduced in 0.15 I have no way of knowing if the nests were breathing before 0.15, or if the biters stood around, but I know they attacked everywhere.

[MisterSpock]

Same experience at my vanilla game. I think if pollution doesnt reach them, no need for active loading of the chunk.

[<unknown>]

That's why the best defense against biter attacks is to keep a "No pollution land" around your base.

After that just be proactive and kill any nest that colonize in that area.