bottleneck-explainer opportunity asserted
Bottleneck explainer for production networks
Explain where and why a production network is starved or blocked by combining sensitivity analysis of the actual simulation with grounded language explanations.
thesis
No technique in the dataset is linked to production chains, yet one of the mechanic's documented failure modes is diagnosis: starvation far upstream is hard to see, so players blame the wrong building. Differentiable or finite-difference sensitivity of output to each machine, buffer, and route identifies the binding constraint exactly; a constrained language layer turns that into a short explanation with links to the machines involved. The same tool supports designers checking recipe balance.
design sketch
A bottleneck lens colors every producer by how much one more unit of it would raise the selected output, and a sentence explains the top constraint ('circuits are limited by copper cable, which is starved because the smelter column shares a belt with iron'). Clicking jumps to the machine.
validation experiment
Implement sensitivity analysis over a factory prototype's production graph and test whether players fix an injected bottleneck faster with the lens. Success: 50 percent faster fixes with no drop in reported satisfaction among experienced players when the lens is optional.
key risks
- Players who enjoy diagnosis lose the puzzle; must be optional or costly.
- Nonlinear buffers make one-step sensitivity misleading.
- Explanations wrong in edge cases erode trust.
falsifiable prediction
A factory or city-building game will ship a feature that names the binding constraint in the player's production network by testing the simulation, not by displaying static ratios.
Feature first shipped after 2026-10-24 in a released title or official mod tool with at least 1,000 Steam user reviews; patch notes or a developer blog state that it perturbs or re-runs the player's network to identify the limiting resource, machine, or link.
checks against the data
1 assertionThe text above states findings about this dataset. The build fails (E032) if any of these stops holding.
derived.production-chain.technique_count == 0
