Color blind here. I've always wondered if other people could tell the creeps body parts just by the colors. I also have a tough time telling is a part is boosted unless I mouse over it. That is usually only a problem when the creep is bouncing on an exit tile. Changing the shape of boosted part would help. But this might only be a problem for me.

As for flag colors I try to avoid colors I can't easily tell apart, but even then I struggle the most with the secondary color. A tool tip would be really nice.

How about this?

let reset = false

exports.forceReset() = function() { reset = true }

module.__initGlobals = function() { if (!reset ) return reset = false throw new Error("boom") }

This will throw an exception outside of the regular evalCode wrapper. I think this will make the vm think it threw the exception and reset the global.

I read @o4kapuk's pull request. It looks like the stronghold logic is in the processor. I didn't see any like creep logic in the processor though.

Strongholds question: but very SK rewrite specific.

Is the stronghold code running in a VM or in the processor?\

I'm assuming in a VM.

Now that there is the concept of per sector bot. It might make sense to refactor the invader and SK code to run once per sector instead of once per room. I think that will lessen the burden on the servers (It seems like there is significant CPU and Memory overhead for running a use vm).

My SK rewrite didn't really have that much more efficient logic but it does bypass the vm overhead (compiled code, Memory, intent queueing). Amortizing the vm overhead across an entire sector might be enough to fix the server burden.

It would also let me give up on testing the SK logic. I'd much rather have bots using the player api than than getting my PR accepted.

On a side note I hate manual testing, I'd gladly split the sub token bounty(3 subs) with anyone willing to test the PR for me. Assuming of course the devs still want in processor SK logic.

This so much better than what I though strongholds were going to be!

Is that a container full of Power I see in the screenshot? Will the reward be enough to use as an alternative to raiding power banks?

towers and defenders will coordinate efforts to try various tactics

Will this only be a feature of level 5 strongholds?

I really like the idea of varying tactics. Evolving tactics would be even better. I I think it would be sad if we figure out how to hoodwink the AI. The devs (or community?) could add a new tactic every quarter or so.

I've always thought it would be fun to run a community competition to build the best Invader AI, maybe we still can, but strongholds looks like another opportunity to try this out (later of course, get it working and stable before you let us mess with it).

I remember being intimidated about boosting initially as well. However, my experience was different.

1. get mineral harvesting working
2. get distracted by other pressing needs
3. panic about full terminals
4. quickly hack up some code to sell minerals on the market.
5. Use my new found credits to manually buy tier 3 heal boosts
6. Ruthlessly smash my neighbors with boosted healers.

I think the boosting via the market flow is good enough. A tier 0 boost flow could still enhance the game, but it is not strictly fixing a problem the current flow doesn't already cover.

Other thoughts on tier 0 boosts. To be clear each boost will only apply to a single body part type. It won't be possible to have U boost both attack and harvest.

Either G, OH, ZK, and UL should either all be tier 0 boosts or none of them (None is probably the right choice since they all require reactions anyway).

I like the consistency of using O, H, and X as well as Z, U, L , and K as tier 0 boosts (make sure that minerals in your first few rooms always are able to boost something).

tier 0 boost should be LESS than half as good as tier 1. Again the point of tier 0 is get a player going while still providing a strong incentive to use the regular boosts.

The tier 0 boosts should target noob tasks. Absolutely no TOUGH, HEAL, or dismantle boosts. I don't think upgrade boosts should be available as tier 0 boosts either. Upgrade boosts are the most commonly used boost and keeping them as tier 1-3 provides a good incentive to write reaction or market code.

Probably no MOVE, ATTACK, or RANGED_ATTACK boosts, since new players don't really need to be attacking or defending with more than towers and unboosted defenders.

That leaves: harvest repair build carry

I track the type and xy of all of my base structures (well not containers).

I only run the upkeep if there are less than 3 construction sites. The upkeep checks the structure and site count. If they are different than expected last tick I recalc. The recalc iterates through all the structure types my room has memorized. If the number of actual structures is less than the RCL permits and the number of actual structures is less than the number of tracked structures I iterate over all of the tracked structures and try to create a new constructions site as each position. As soon as one returns OK I exit the structure upkeep.

I do this every tick. In the steady state this consumes minimal CPU. It helps that my code is already tracking the number of structs and sites from last tick for my structure cache.

This technique allows me to rebuild the instant I need to. I have a slightly different flow when there are a hostiles in the room. (Protip: don't build a rampart over the top of an attacking a hostile).

This feature should help me be more efficient with my labs. Currently my two central labs are never in cooldown. It just doesn't see worth the code to shift the compounds around to keep all 10 labs busy.

However, now I can use the two central labs for unboosting since they're never in cooldown otherwise. In theory that should net me 20% created boosts.

Why throw an error instead of a new error code?

One of the overlords used to be very fond of harvest boosts.

I used to use the Harvest boost ALL THE TIME for harvesting minerals, but I stopped using it in favor of being able to blast full production in the labs 24/7. It's indispensable when you only have a few level 6 and 7 rooms, but once you have enough level 8 rooms, it's way less useful.
The other useful T1 boost is the build / repair boost. 50% increase in wall building power for a T1 isn't bad. The problem is when you're using a ton of them 24/7, it gets expensive. Boosts are just too stupid expensive to use. You need freakin' 30 of them PER part. using 2 repair creeps instead of one is far cheaper, and adds 100%.
The core problem with boosts is their usefulness is completely dependent on your inability to make creeps. Once you can make enough creeps that it doesn't matter, you can "just make another creep" to get that 100% boost.