Assembly Mechanic
Overview
The Assembly Mechanic was built into Foxhole, early, in part to address greifing by malicious players who'd retrieve and destroy resources from their own Faction. (Commonly referred to as an ALT). The Assembly Time required for each retrieval action is designed to discourage and delay the actions of bad actors in game, while still facilitating the function of players.
Assembly Times
All assets in game have an Assembly Time. The time to retrieve an item depends on the item, count, stockpile location, item destination, and Assembly Penalty.
Retrieval Destinations
Items retrieved on foot (instead of inside from a vehicle) take the longest amount of time to do so. Compared to retrieving items on foot:
- Retrieval while using a Truck, Fuel Tanker, or any type of crane is completed in 1/2 the time.
- Retrieval while using a Small Train Locomotive takes 1/9th the time. (This only applies to facility structures)
Stockpile Location
In addition to how a player retrieves an item (on foot or in a vehicle), the Stockpile from which an item is being withdrawn also impacts the Assembly Time. All Bases use the same standard assembly time multiplier of 1. While the following Stockpile Locations behave with the following multipliers:
- Refinery or Base Ship completes in 1/2 the time
- Storage Ship completes in 1/3rd the time
- Mines completes in 2/3rds the time
- Resource Containers completes in 3 times as long
Base Assembly Times
Each item, regardless of modifier (I.E. Method, location, etc.), have a default time to assemble. Individual and Crated items are grouped into different categories of Assembly Times. (Ex. 5 seconds, 4 seconds, 1.5 seconds, etc.)
The Assembly Time groups for crates are different than items not crated. Each item and crates' placement isn't based on supply value/manufacturing time/production costs/rarity/etc. All operate in the same manner.
Crated Items
The following table displays the time (in seconds) required to retrieve 1 crate of an item from a Seaport or Storage Depot using a Truck or crane, with 0% Assembly Penalty.
Note: Current list doesn't include items from DevBranch 59 onward. Items not listed are unable to be crated or stored in a Seaport or Storage Depot.
Individual Items
The following table displays the time (in seconds) required to retrieve 1 item from a Base while on foot, with 0% Assembly Penalty.
Note: Current list doesn't include items from DevBranch 59 onward. The Moray Torpedo can only be retrieved using a Small Train Engine and a Small Flatbed Car or, a Crane and a Pallet attached to a Special Interaction site. The Assembly Time decrease from use of a Crane is not included in this table, for this specific situation.
Assembly Penalty
For the sake of explanation, this mechanic will be framed from the perspective of players. I.E. "The more I pull, the longer it takes & the slower I go." (Siege Camp's perspective on this portion of the Assembly Mechanic is detailed later.)
The penalty is applied to individual players, universally over all retrieval actions, regardless of method or item. I.E. Retrieving on foot instead of a vehicle. Retrieving 1, 3, or 15 crates at a time.
Player death, redeploying, or relaunching the game does not remove this penalty. The same as attempting these actions doesn't remove a weapons or vehicle restriction.
The Assembly Penalty applies between 0% and up to 100% of a given item's Assembly Time. Example: An item that would normally assemble in 4 seconds with 0% penalty, would assemble in 8 seconds if the player has the maximum, 100%, penalty applied.
Penalty Increase
Time spent "Assembling" items causes the Assembly Penalty to increase at a rate of 2% per second. Meaning, retrieval of items for 50 seconds will cause a player to take twice as long to assemble than normally.
Actual Assembly Time = (Assembly Time + (Assembly Time x Assembly Penalty %))
Example:
- A player, with 0% penalty, retrieving a crate of Listening Kits will take 5 seconds.
- At the end of assembling this crate, the player will have an Assembly Penalty of 10% applied to their next retrieval.
- Another immediate retrieval of a Listening Kit crate will complete in 5.5 seconds.
(5 seconds + (5 seconds x 10% )) = 5.5 seconds
Retrieval of vehicles, Shippables, or any items from a Reserve Stockpile does not increase the Assembly Penalty.
Interrupted or canceled retrievals do not increase the penalty, even if the action was canceled at 99%. The Assembly Penalty is only applied or added at the completion of a successful retrieval.
Note: Retrievals of items or crates start when the Stockpile count decreases by 1, and stops when the inventory of the retrieval body increases by 1. The Assembling _% is not precise to the actual progress of a retrieval, and has no effect on the actual assembly time. (I.E. Assembling 100% can appear 10+ seconds before or after actual completion.)
Penalty Decay
The Assembly Penalty starts to decay the instant a player is no longer assembling. This does include the time between clicks. The penalty decays at a rate of 0.227% per second.
In practical terms:
- A player with the maximum penalty of 100%, needs to not retrieve any item or crate for 7 min 20 seconds to return to 0% Assembly Penalty.
- Spending 5 seconds assembling will take 44 seconds, without retrieving an item, to remove the penalty acquired.
- Assembling items for 25 seconds will result in a 50% penalty. This penalty will be removed in 3 minutes 40 seconds as long as the player doesn't retrieve anything else in that time.
- A player retrieving a No.2 Loughcaster, magazine of 7.62mm, Gas Mask, Gas Mask Filter, Radio, and a Bandage will take 11.75 seconds and result in a final penalty of 23.5%. The player will need to survive for 1 minute and 42.15 seconds for their penalty to return to 0%.
Specialty Case: Shipping Container Retrievals
When retrieving crates using a Shipping Container, and it's ability to pull more than 3 crates at a time, any single retrieval that takes longer than 45 seconds, will halt the penalty increase, mid assembly, and start to decay. The maximum penalty able to be acquired in a single multi-crate retrieval is 90%. After 45 seconds, the penalty starts to decay even though the assembly is still continuing.
Example:
- Retrieving 15 crates of Abisme AT-99 land mines will take 1 min 15 seconds. During the first 45 seconds, the Assembly Penalty increases to 90%. In the remaining 30 seconds the penalty will decay. By the end of retrieval the penalty applied to the player will have reduced from 90% to 81.7%
This specialty case mainly applies to crates from the 5, 4, and 3.5 seconds Assembly Time Groups. (Example of such: 40mm, Mammon, and 12.7mm respectively)
Retrieval Strategies:
The amounts and order in which players retrieve items does have an impact on the total time spent assembling.
Note: All examples under this section were recorded with the user starting at 0% penalty and continuing until finished.
Retrieval Amounts: 1 vs 3 vs ...15
On average, retrieving 3 items at a time is 5% faster than 1; Retrieving 15 items at a time is 10% faster than 3; Retrieving 15 items at a time is 15% faster than 1 at a time. These differences are mainly made up by the time between Client and Server requests/acknowledgement transfers. I.E. Waiting for the 'click' to register.
Note: The 15 retrievals includes the increased time to navigate the 'custom retrieval' options for 15 or fewer retrievals.
Examples:
- Retrieving 60 crates of Blood Plasma, 1 at a time, takes 14.91% more time than 15 crates at a time. (34.1 seconds longer)
- Retrieving 60 crates of Soldier Supplies, 15 at a time is 16.5% faster than 1 at a time. (1 minute 16 seconds shorter)
- Retrieving 1,500 shirts into a Truck, 3 at a time, takes 3 minute 30 seconds less time than the same 1,500 retrieved 1 at a time. But, that entire process takes 1 hour 42 min and 40 seconds or 1 hour 39 minutes and 12.5 seconds. The reduction in time, between these two methods, is only 3.5%.
Retrievals from Reserve
Reserve Stockpiles have a unique aspect in that all crates, Vehicles, and Shippables require 1 second to retrieve. To reduce the total Assembly Time, it's imperative to retrieve the maximum number of crates possible per retrieval. What this looks like in game:
- Retrieving a total of 60 crate 1 at a time takes 60 seconds longer than 15 at a time.
- 60 crates from a Reserve Stockpile retrieved 15 at a time, will finish in 85% less time than 1 at a time.
Retrieval Time Groups: Longer vs Shorter order
Retrieving items with longer assembly times before shorter assembly time items results in a small reduction in total time spent assembling.
Examples:
- Retrieving 30 crates of Soldier Supplies then 30 crates of Bandages, 15 at a time, takes 10 seconds less than retrieving the same amount of Bandages before Soldier Supplies 15 at a time. (3.3% faster)
- 60 total crates, ½ Bandages then ½ Soldier Supplies, 3 at a time is only 1% slower than the same amount, in the opposite order, Soldier Supplies then Bandages (3 seconds)
- Retrieving 30 crates of Soldier Supplies then 30 crates of Bandages, 1 at a time, takes 56 seconds longer than retrieving the same amount of Bandages and then Soldier Supplies 15 at a time. (16.3% slower.) Note: This example combines both the optimal Retrieval Amount and item Time Group order vs the most inefficient.
Siege Camp (Developer) Perspective
Not to confuse players, and contrary to popular belief, the introduction of the Assembly Penalty mechanic, did not increase the Assembly Time of retrievals. Instead the previous Assembly Times are now the current 100% penalty times. All players experience the reduced Assembly Time (0% penalty) first, and then slowly approach the slower 100% penalty time.
This is because, from the perspective of Siege Camp, this mechanic applies a bonus speed to assembly rates, which depletes from use, and restores over time. Much like Stamina while sprinting on foot.
"The goal of this feature is to reduce assembly times across as many different roles as possible while preserving the original functionality of protection against griefing." ~ Siege Camp Update 1.53
This perspective comes from individuals who have a clear memory of how the Assembly Time systems used to be versus how it is now. Only players from before update 1.53, June 12th, 2023 and Siege Camp experienced these comparatively longer/slower assembly times being the default.
Example:
- It used to take 5 seconds to retrieve Basic Materials by players on foot. Now, Basic Material retrievals, while on foot, start at 2.5 seconds and increase to a maximum of 5.
- A Gas Mask takes 2 seconds, and continued retrievals slow down to 4 seconds. This time, 4 seconds is the Assembly Time of Gas Masks prior to the introduction of the Assembly Penalty mechanic.
Trivia
- When Items or Crates are retrieved, the amount selected is immediately removed from the stockpile at the start of the retrieval, and only when assembly is complete do the selections appear in the intended destination. Meaning multiple players can not retrieve the same Items or crates at the same time. Canceling or interrupted retrievals returns the 'invisible' requests back into the stock pile.
- Vehicles and Shippables, on the other hand, aren't 'invisible' when retrieving from a Stockpile. Meaning multiple players can, in fact, retrieve the same item. Though only one retrieval will appear.
