Swann Advanced Construction autocast still bugged after 5 years

Co-op Missions Discussion
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Swann’s Advanced Construction autocast is supposed to make idle SCVs help in construction of a building if they’re nearby. Instead it makes them face that building, but stand still. This bug was there right from the release of LotV in 2015. A few months into release, a patch said it fixed that bug, but it didn’t. The bug still persists.

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oh FFS, just right click the SCV, this isn’t a big deal. TBH it works better with it disabled because otherwise they start rapidly building when I’m trying to shift queue them into multiple buildings.

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Uh… duh. Yeah, I know you can do that, that’s not the point. It’s supposed to be a feature but it’s not due to a bug. That makes it perfectly valid to point out. Also, what you said wouldn’t happen, because the autocast only applies when they’re idle. SCVs moving on to the next command on their queue are not idle.

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Its even worse for Mengsk troopers/laborers , they have the same multi build when idle mechanic but for some reason there is no auto cast option.

So you have to click on each building after its construction has begun to prevent the nearby troopers/laborers from idle watching while their comrades work.

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Minor problem is minor.

I’d rather they remove this feature period. Anyone who can’t select appropriate number of workers to do something is… and have idle workers is just… but yeah not a great feature.

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Not everyone is “blessed” with the amounts of APM others are. Which is why autocast was created in the first place, to help those who don’t have ungodly APM…

And what if the plan calls for “reinforcement” SCVs jumping in after the initial order is given? Two of my favorite tricks:

  1. Start expo CC construction with “on hand idles”, usually ONE, then queue up 5 more at original CC rallypointed to be within range of the expo with the expectation that the autocast will have them “chip in” upon their arrival and accelerate the construction. One can debate whether the time savings of doing this rather than building the 5 SCVs first then starting the construction is worth it, but it’s how I’ve designed “my” build order.

  2. In my Swann hotkey scheme, “SCV 2” is the main “building” builder, “SCV 3” is the defense line builder. SCV 2’s currently building my E-bay, SCV 3’s been assigned the task of creating a defense line. I’ll rally-point (via shift-click) SCV 2 to a point right behind the anticipated line so that he’ll “jump in” to help 3 rush the line shortly after he’s done so that he doesn’t “remain” idle till I can “spare” the action to reassign him (repeatedly after each building is built).

Now in my experiences, the biggest issue seems to be getting the SCVs to “autojump” building the expo CC - and that’s a “spotty” thing - sometimes they do so (and I have my CC when I expect it), other times I have a pile of “idle” SCVs and a half-built CC when I check in - and have to “spend” APM on getting them to do what I (hoped / expected the autocast to cover) wanted…

BTW, when looking into this, is it possible to get Swann to have the same “refinery trick” that Mengsk has - ie, when I get a team of 3 workers building a refinery, all 3 of Mengsk’s workers automatically start mining it, while if I 3-team a Swann refinery, only the one given the initial “build” order starts mining it, the other 2 have to be “selected then right clicked on the refinery” to get them mining. Small QoL thing, but would be nifty if it can be done…

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