Comment 19 for bug 1236538

SirVer: I am for the conscription sites, or caserns or whatever they are called. One of the tribes already has barracks -- I think we should avoid that word here.

About starting and stopping a building. Currently, we have two options:

1) Running -- Site works if there are less-than-requested number of output wares in warehouses, or there are requeted-or-more input wares in the warehouses.
2) Not running -- nothing happens.

Sometimes these are a bit unoptimal. With conscription houses in place, new soldiers would be created always when there are enough level-zero weapons around. On the other hand, basic weapons would be generated whenever there are less-than-requested number of those. The net result is that excess number of level-zero soldiers are generated, which could harm training. Manually stopping caserns and other sites could help, but that does not address the fact that the current choice of running/not lead to construction of unneeded things, causing a shortage elsewhere. I would like to continue the above list with two more working modes:

3) Lazy -- work if output wares are needed, else not working, regardless of input wares. This way I could avoid getting a pile of hunting bows (not needed by atlanteans) or fishing rods/nets (barbarian/empire) among other things. Or excess level-zero soldiers from the brand new caserns.
4) Cautious -- Work only if there is not a shortage of input wares. This way I could avoid a situation where a chacoal burner prevents the construction of buildings. Charcoal burning is beneficial in many cases (spares more food for ore miners..), trunk is often more valuable elsewhere. "Cautious" burner and "Lazy" coal miner would benefit each other.

What do you think? Manually stopping/starting things sounds as much fun as micromanaging individual soldiers.

In short: I think that barracks would help the problem, but a bit more would be needed to remove the root problem entirely.