Right now pull is limited by having an inconsistent experience. When pull is used in such a way that that the leader creep receives net fatigue, the pull is broken until fatigue is drained solely by the leader creep's move parts.

This is particularly evident with moving over swamps with pull, where the leader creep receives all of the fatigue from the train but the train can't assist with eating the fatigue. Also when creeps of unequal size perform pulls, if the smaller creep is in the lead.

I'd suggest that it's possible to do pull acceptance with fatigue without movement, so that the pulled creep can help eat the fatigue. The assisting pulled creep won't be able to move that tick. This smooths out pull and unlocks more creep cooperation options.

@deft-code Shoutout to https://screeps.com/forum/topic/2646/discussion-more-structures-in-unowned-rooms/1 I definitely feel that more serious investment in unowned rooms would open up a lot of combat options, and make unboosted creeps usable in offense.

I'm a fan of having more structures in neutral rooms, it gives more interest in them.

I think the equivalent of static miners and pipes/transport belts (we factorio now) that remove need for moving could be a good option.

I'd also like to see some reason to bring resources out to mine locations. It's always a one way flow from outer rooms inward, and then between rooms it's purely terminals. If there was a way to use a small amount of K or something in outer mines to increase efficiency it makes a more interesting dynamic of resupplying.

Also, all of these things could leverage items from factories, giving them more of a non-credit purpose.

@semperrabbit Thank you for taking the initiative on this Semp. This is huge. I'd like to recommend adding a FIND_MOVEABLES or something similar so there can be a unified lookup, and probably others I'm not thinking of.

How is pull handled here?

I love that idea @SystemParadox. That unlocks a lot of complexity in behavior with no complexity in code. Now you can temporarily boost, partial boost, etc.

I'd say that the ability to boost on 2 axis, # parts and # ticks, would by itself be awesome.

It's still an extremely niche power. You'd maybe get value from it against a single source sometimes in some rooms. I think it's ok for it to be lower priced given that it doesn't represent the same raw power as the other offensive options.

The only reason I can see for it being so expensive is that it is the easiest to quietly break people's code with vs room assault ones, and they were worried about on-release balance where zombie-ish players have their remotes turned off and they die. But otherwise it's definitely underwhelming in my opinion, but that's without using it due to seeing it as non-viable. Have you been using it effectively or leveled any creeps with it?

@wtfrank Can you explain more about the base layout that encloses sources but is still reachable by DISRUPT_SOURCE? I double checked and it's definitely range 3, which lines up with a RA creep being able to shoot it. Most bases I know that fully enclose sources are room edge design, but maybe there is some other common one I'm missing?

Edit: Something worth mentioning. Every serious room you attack with have a spawn, towers, and terminal. The number of rooms that have sources enclosed with miners out of range but the source within range 3 would be maybe 5%. That leaves an extremely niche power with low effectiveness and one of the highest costs.

@wtfrank Nice doc! That's some great value calculations. Alright lets look at the numbers:

DISRUPT_SPAWN 2 DISRUPT_TOWER 12 DISRUPT_SOURCE 5 DISRUPT_TERMINAL 1.25

Disrupt source is the second most expensive by a large margin. However, the value add of disrupt source is fairly low. Most of these offensive power are about projecting forward, where you're exerting control over something you normally wouldn't be able to affect. Breaking rooms is difficult, but being able to stop spawning, towers, and support all make it a lot easier. And the best part is that they can affect things deep in the enemy defenses.

Now look at disrupt source. What does it offer? If you're in range 3 of the source, you're almost certainly in range of the creep mining it. Killing that creep does the same effect in a more permanent fashion. Disrupt source isn't letting you project power in a room assault situation, and it's impact is negligible at best unless combined with a disrupt terminal.

So that leaves it mostly useful for harassment. In that case, your max level power creep is in an enemy remote mine.

I don't see how disrupt source shuts you off from using the rest of a maxed power creeps' abilities. Could you explain that a bit better?

To clarify this, I'd ask you: Which other powers can you use when not in an owned room? So in the end you have a max level PC that's not using other abilities when it's power in an enemy remote, and it's effect is the same as killing a few miners. It's underwhelming to say the least.

A maxed level operator working solely on remote harass seems like it wouldn't be particularly broken to me.

@wtfrank My comment to that would be that the Operator class is almost entirely room oriented. It has next to no functionality in unowned rooms, especially enemy mined ones. I'd say that the disrupt source represents a significant opportunity cost for both offense and eco, and it's impact is much less significant as an offense tool. So I don't see a strong case for when you'd like to have that power when using it shuts you off from using the rest of a maxed power creeps abilities.

I would say that the right balance point would probably be a dedicated max level operator with level 5 of disrupt and op gen should probably be able to sustain itself. If you're using a max level power creep in enemy outpost rooms you're not getting the benefit of a full operator in your own rooms, so seems reasonable to have a self-sufficient but very limited harass operator