Title:
Solar Farms Add Pollution Per Level Instead of Reducing It (Confirmed Misbehavior in GC IV vX.XX)
Description:
In Galactic Civilizations IV, Solar Farms—presumed to be pollution-reducing improvements—are currently adding pollution to planets. This occurs per improvement level and contradicts their intended eco-friendly function. I confirmed via repeatable in-game experiments that pollution drops when Solar Farms are destroyed, suggesting they apply a positive pollution modifier rather than a negative one.
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Build up pollution heavy planet.
2. Build Solar Farms
3. Destroy Solar Farms
4. Watch pollution plumet.
OR
- Build multiple Solar Farms on a planet with no manufacturing adjacency bonuses or industrial buildings.
- Observe the increase in planetary pollution despite lack of typical pollution sources.
- Remove one Solar Farm and note the pollution drop (typically ~2% per level).
- Repeat for additional farms to confirm scaling behavior.
Observed Behavior:
- Solar Farms cause a ~2% pollution increase per level.
- Removing a Level 3 Solar Farm drops pollution by ~6%.
- Removing five Solar Farms dropped pollution from 82% to 35%.
Expected Behavior:
- Solar Farms should either not contribute to pollution or actively reduce planetary pollution.
- Pollution modifiers should scale negatively with improvement level if tagged as eco-beneficial.
Suspected Cause:
- Improper tagging of Solar Farms as pollution-generating structures.
- Sign inversion or inheritance from incorrect improvement class.
- Level-scaling logic applying pollution bonus instead of reduction.
Additional Notes:
- Solar Farms require Gigamass to construct, which is not refunded when destroyed—making this bug resource-costly for players who pursued eco-strategy builds.
- Player strategy was significantly disrupted across multiple planets due to misleading pollution mechanic.
Suggested Fix:
- Review pollution tagging on Solar Farm improvements.
- Adjust level-scaling to apply negative pollution modifiers consistent with intended function.
- Consider refunding Gigamass or issuing patch compensations for affected players