Request for a ruling from the Mods

[Googlie]

A ruling is requested re the following scenario:

• A unit is adjacent to a unity pod
• The nearest base has, say, 20 minerals completed from a 30 mineral build unit
• production gets changed to, say, a hybrid forest, with loss of 5 minerals
• the Pod is popped.
• if a facilities completion event happens, no biggie re the loss of minerals
• if another event happens, then the 30 mins unit build is reinstated, and the missing 5 minerals are credited back to the build, restoring the 20 mins accumulation

Is this allowed? It seems to be analagous to a quickie SE change. which is disallowed.

Ruling?

[binTravkin]

I use this and have never heard this is disallowed.

Shawnmmcc whom we all know as a very good player used this too.

It is the same as making the base build a super crawler (max armor, max cost abilities) prior to popping a pod.

[Method]

Remind me again how a quickie SE change could be useful...

[binTravkin]

Remind me again how a quickie SE change could be useful...

If you have produced a crawler at +3IND (say, Hive) for 21 mins and then switch to maximum INDustry penalties like -1IND (-2 from power +1 as faction bonus) you can cash in the crawler at 33 min costs, which is actually 50% more than it's real cost.

After that you switch back to your original SE, refunding the money for the switch and building e.g. a proto which costs 33mins at +3IND or effectively a 33 / 0.7 = 47 / 10 = 5 rows.

Works the same for Secret Projects.

[Method]

Googlie's thing looks fine to me, whereas the quickie SE industry changes looks like a nasty exploit.

[Drogue]

Sorry about the absence, just finished exams. Rather hideous ones

Yes, Method is correct. Googlie's issue is absolutely fine, but the the SE cheat is expressly forbidden. From the rules:

Social Engineering settings may be changed only once per turn. No “quickie” changing.

[buster]

I have never heard anyone object to this either and have myself been doing it pretty much every time I pop a pod for the last many years.

Standard procedure - before popping a pop find out which base is nearest and switch to most expensive useful production item. This is often crawlers with max armor and most expensive accessories - which is why I usually do a pre-constructed "most expensive crawler configuration" as new armor, special abilities and chassis become available.

Nithing more annoying than doing a pop pod and gaining 4 mins to complete a unit when the same pop could have completed a really expensive facility or a loaded crawler worth over a hundred mins.

As a matter of fact of fact I even try to time pop pods to where the completion outcome will produce least waste (by completing something already complete) and avoid doing them if I have nothing usefull to complete (no expensive facilities or crawler configurations available).

Many of my sps will be in large part paid by crawlers from such pops.

If the pod pop (as it mostly does) produces something else than a completion I just switch back. The benefit of maximizing the out come of that every one in six or whatever pop pop that does produce completion is not minor.

A few times I have even produced buster prototypes this way, though by the time they get available usually only scattered sea pods are available.

Racing to pop all pods in your vicinity, without thought will loose you probably thousands of mins in a game. Precision popping may give just the edge you need to pull ahead. Doing the switch to most optimum production item before a pop is a necessary ingredient and as I see perfectly legal. It is after all not an exploit like the SE switch to cash crawlers. You don't gain by switching & then switching back - you just don't loose anything.