[Idea] Minim workers construct/deconstruct and upgrade/downgrade refuse tiles

[HofNerd]

It feels like an unavoidable punishment to have my workers poisoned by refuse tiles almost every time I upgrade or build refuse tiles. To me it would seem more logical to have the minim workers do this. (In nature minim workers are the only ant workers to ever get inside a refuse chamber, besides transporting refuse the minims also maintain the refuse chambers.)

 

[The vegetarian ant]

well I managed to avoid that by using refuse chambers with empty tiles in the middle and in the path of ants so that they only get on when upgrading so not long enough to get poisoned

 

[HofNerd]

well I managed to avoid that by using refuse chambers with empty tiles in the middle and in the path of ants so that they only get on when upgrading so not long enough to get poisoned

As you can see (most clearly with the middle tile) the ants are getting poisoned by the refuse tiles when upgrading them.
For what I have seen, ants get poisoned upon being on a refuse tile. (But only when the tile has refuse stored.) And when ants build/upgrade a refuse tile, they enter the target tile. So the only way to avoid refuse poisoning is by waiting for the refuse tiles to get empty. (This is never going to happen with a large economy, plus the upgrade produces refuse.)

 

[The vegetarian ant]

that's true but the poisoning is just slowing down your ant not damaging it in the first time

 

[HofNerd]

that's true but the poisoning is just slowing down your ant not damaging it in the first time

If I look closely to the ant building the right most tile, I can see its health dropping (a tiny bit) before reaching the 2nd tile. So they do take damage from the first poisoning.

 

[The vegetarian ant]

ah you're right I didn't noticed but I think it's because it upgraded two tiles whereas the others only upgraded one and didn't get any damage so maybe the solution would be to upgrade only one tile at a time

 

[HofNerd]

ah you're right I didn't noticed but I think it's because it upgraded two tiles whereas the others only upgraded one and didn't get any damage so maybe the solution would be to upgrade only one tile at a time

If you look closely you can see the worker that upgraded the middle refuse tile taking damage from poisoning too. That worker upgraded only one refuse tile. (14s in, the worker at the top of the view has taken some damage.)

 

[The vegetarian ant]

ah sorrry you're right that's problematic indeed

 

[HofNerd]

ah sorrry you're right that's problematic indeed

It's probably not that problematic. To be honest, I think the slowing is more damaging than the poison itself. Dead ants respawn with almost no time loss where slowed ants stay slowed for some time. (1 ant counts for 0 for a few seconds vs 1 ant counts for around 1/2 for some time.)
The main thing is it feels like something that can be avoided. This makes me do some illogical things just to not have to see my workers get poisoned. (Stop spending food, stop gathering food, etc.)