impossible repairs

[neilfw]

For large battles with multiple similar classed mechs with significant torso/head damage,  there is some issue with repairs that causes a fraction of those repairs to fail with a required role of impossible.

I thought this might be an issue with the salvage.mul files from MegaMek, or an XML issue with the locations themselves or the techs.  None of these I have been able to prove or identify.

My suspicion at the moment is that this is caused by parts-conflict within the repair module, and that on advance-day only the first processed repair is possible. 

if anyone can shed any light or provide proof, then we can submit a useful bug report.

[Sir Chaos]

If you have several replacement tasks requiring the same part, and have only one such part in your warehouse, then if one task is successful, all subsequent tasks will fail with a target number of "Impossible".

If that is the case, you can use "Purchase Parts" to get a sufficient stockpile of parts.

[neilfw]

Thanks you have indeed identified the bug?  I've submitted this as bug ID: 3536727.

I recommend that parts for repairs taking more than 1 day are reserved in the same way parts for refits are.

Note that for large scenarios it is incredibly difficult to mentally keep track of parts that would need to be purchased to mitigate this bug.

[Xenon54z]

Note that for large scenarios it is incredibly difficult to mentally keep track of parts that would need to be purchased to mitigate this bug.

Can anyone say, "Order in bulk?"

But seriously. That adds a whole new depth to the game if you have to also lug around and equivalent size amount of repair parts as the actual force who will be needing the repairs. Many a war has been lost or won because of logistics. On large scale campaigns, sometimes the lack of parts determines who wins what battle. Get my drift? I think it is awesome how MHQ is bringing that aspect out. Or at least is starting to.

[Sir Chaos]

[quote author=neilfw link=topic=853.msg4895#msg4895 date=1340228847]
Note that for large scenarios it is incredibly difficult to mentally keep track of parts that would need to be purchased to mitigate this bug.

Can anyone say, "Order in bulk?"

But seriously. That adds a whole new depth to the game if you have to also lug around and equivalent size amount of repair parts as the actual force who will be needing the repairs. Many a war has been lost or won because of logistics. On large scale campaigns, sometimes the lack of parts determines who wins what battle. Get my drift? I think it is awesome how MHQ is bringing that aspect out. Or at least is starting to.
[/quote]

That *is* awesome, no question, but the problem is, it is difficult to keep track of how many parts you need, versus how many you have. If you have two Rifleman, an Ostsol, an Ostroc, three Dragon and a Quickdraw, all with one or two missing arms, and you have two right and three left arms for 60 ton mechs in your warehouse, it becomes hard to keep track how many more repairs you can attempt before you risk wasting repair attempt (nor to mention plenty of tech team minutes) for lack of spare parts.

I second neilfw´s recommendation that spare parts are reserved for repairs like they are for refits.

I also think at some point it would be a good idea to add an overview somewhere of the total number of parts to be replaced in all units currently in repair mode, possibly also showing how many parts of each kind are currently in the warehouse. Perhaps the Acquisition tab of the Repair Bay could be folded into that overview eventually.

[neilfw]

I also think at some point it would be a good idea to add an overview somewhere of the total number of parts to be replaced in all units currently in repair mode, possibly also showing how many parts of each kind are currently in the warehouse. Perhaps the Acquisition tab of the Repair Bay could be folded into that overview eventually.

Now that would be a good feature, bring up a page listing Parts Required for all repairs in the first column, number required, number in stock and number outstanding in the next 3 columns..

Posted as feature request 3537000

[Taharqa]

I also think at some point it would be a good idea to add an overview somewhere of the total number of parts to be replaced in all units currently in repair mode, possibly also showing how many parts of each kind are currently in the warehouse. Perhaps the Acquisition tab of the Repair Bay could be folded into that overview eventually.

Yes, this is one of the reports I have envisioned for a reports feature after the stable release. In the meantime, I will implement this as Neil suggested, so that when a task carries over to the next day, the part is reserved and unavailable for other repairs.