Strange behaviour after discovering Machine Empire: bug or intentional?

[LeonOfOddecca]

I'm playing a Fanatic Egalitarian + Materialist empire with Shared Burdens and Mechanist. At the start of my game I am able to resettle robots, even though resettlement is prohibited in my empire. This makes sense. Robots are not sentient. Furthermore, even though these robots have migration controls on, my egalitarian faction does not disapprove.

However, once I make contact with a Machine Empire things chance. First, I am no longer able to resettle robots. Second, my Egalitarian faction now has -10 penalty from Free Movement, even though resettlement is still prohibited. Presumably this is because my robots have migration controls on, however, this is not something I have any control over. I can't change migration control of robots.

On the one hand, this change in game behaviour kind of makes sense. Once you meet sentient robots, perhaps attitudes towards my own robots should change, and the 'resettlement prohibited' policy now applies to robots due to this change in attitudes. However, it's not entirely sensible, because as a matter of fact my own robots are not sentient - they're not synths after all, they're not even droids.

However, even if we grant that this change in behaviour makes sense, it's total non-sense that the Egalitarian faction would disapprove of the migration controls that I have no control over. I'd happily give them the right to migrate if I could, a right they have no ability to take advantage of, but a right nonetheless. I shouldn't have to research synths to give them this right.

 

[Chthon]

There is a known bug with both egalitarian and authoritarian ethics involving non-sentient machine pops. Machine pops prevent your empire from being stratified, and prevent all of your people from having free movement.

Hopefully this will be fixed in the future, all we can do now is report it on the bug report forums.

 

[LeonOfOddecca]

There is a known bug with both egalitarian and authoritarian ethics involving non-sentient machine pops. Machine pops prevent your empire from being stratified, and prevent all of your people from having free movement.

Hopefully this will be fixed in the future, all we can do now is report it on the bug report forums.

But this can't entirely be a bug, since the behaviour changes when you encounter a machine empire. That's surely intentional.

 

[TheDeadlyShoe]

demand = {
        title = "PROGRESSIVE_FREE_MOVEMENT"
        unfulfilled_title = "PROGRESSIVE_NO_FREE_MOVEMENT"
        desc = "PROGRESSIVE_FREE_MOVEMENT_DESC"

        fulfilled_effect = 10
        unfulfilled_effect = -10

        potential = {
            exists = owner
            owner = { has_encountered_other_species = yes }
        }

        trigger = {
            owner = {
                NOR = {
                    any_owned_pop = {
                        has_migration_control = yes
                        is_sapient = yes
                        is_enslaved = no
                        is_being_purged = no
                        is_shackled_robot = no
                    }
                    has_policy_flag = resettlement_allowed
                }
            }
        }
    }

I guess encountering machine empire robots make your robots count as shackled or otherwise sapient

 

[Nakkivene]

Isn't this something about a typo of how it checks for artificial goofball servitude and not robot servitude as it should?

 

[Chthon]

But this can't entirely be a bug, since the behaviour changes when you encounter a machine empire. That's surely intentional.

I think the problem is that the game currently doesn't distinguish between a sapient and non-sapient robot. It used to have different robots/droids/synths, but now they are all lumped into the same concept.

 

[LeonOfOddecca]

I've figured out the problem!

When you discover a machine empire you get the policy option for your robots to become citizens, even if you haven't researched Synthetics. However, the game defaults to giving them citizenship, perhaps depending on your ethics. All you have to do is switch them back to servants, and then you can resettle them once again despite "prohibiting resettlement". Furthermore, the egalitarian faction will no longer disapprove of them having migration controls. So far (tested very briefly) the materialist faction doesn't seem to care that they are not citizens, even though they have the option to be.

So in a sense it's a bug - I don't think their rights should change automatically. The only thing that should change is that you now have the option to give them citizenship. But this is a very minor issue.