So now my city built a Guardian of Fire all the way to the point of placement and it sits on it saying "Invalid Prerequisite". I have no idea why it is doing this. Is there a Guardian limit? I already have one placed and another also being built.



Regarding the city, it is not under siege nor was it during the time frame building the guardian. Any help would be great. I can share the zip too if you need it.

Each guardian tech gives you +1 authorized guardian on empire. So if you only have the Fire guardian tech unlocked you can only build one guardian in your empire.

Au2942 wrote:
Each guardian tech gives you +1 authorized guardian on empire. So if you only have the Fire guardian tech unlocked you can only build one guardian in your empire.

OK, that is the problem then. My issue becomes, why did it let me build two more of them? I am now going to lose all of that production because I have to cancel them.

This behaviour is the exact consequence of the Guardian pop limit: until you actually possess the number that meets the limit, you can produce more.

I see it more of an open opportunity than a malus. Since I have full control of my production queue, I can prevent wasting as long as I'm aware of what I'm doing (no offense intended, let's focus on the example). Thanks to that, I can do as witty things such as having many Giants prepared for continuous assaults without direct letting the enemy know that I have amassed and almost-ready-to-deploy Giants. It grants an elements of surprise and a way to conceal my level of power (Roving Clans war-baiting comes to my mind).



You can do the same in defense.



I know the examples of strategies might not be super competitive or pro-optimized, but bear in mind that the same mechanics of number limit apply to all producable things - regular units, improvements, national buildings, unique quest structures... one you get the know-how it grants freedom.



I sympathize with you having lost your production. And at the same time I believe the best lesson is a one learned by meaningful (not always hurtful) consequences.

Let me see if I understand what you are saying. First though, where can I see what my Guardian authorized on Empire" is? Let's say mine is 1. This means I can queue and build as many as I want as long as I have the resources for it. But I can only have the "authorized" limit actually out on the map. Attempts to deploy more give "Invalid Prerequisite" finishing them. I can either move them down in the queue or delete them, both resulting in wasted production. Is this how the mechanic works or am I missing something?

In the example of having one giant allowed to build in the empire, as long as you actually haven't finished producing one, you can queue as much as your resources allow you to. You can move them down in the queue or delete them, that's also correct. If you intended to create only one, that would indeed be a wasted production. In other case, the production invested in getting the second guardian is rather "frozen" than wasted, as soon as the originally created guardian dies, you can deploy the next one rather than having to wait for the full Industry cycle.



Think of it as of money frozen by your bank, available only when you deplete all your funds.



The only way I know of checking how many Giants I can field is counting my Guardian techs researched i the research panel. The amount of guardian techs (Dust/Earth/Fire/Water/Air guardian are the names, I believe) = amount of Guardians allowed to field. This only limits the number of total Guardians, you can have as many of the same kind as you want within the total limit (ex. you researched 3 guardian techs, one of them being Skoros=you are allowed to have either: 3 Skoroi, 1 of each kind from the researched ones, 1 of one kind and 2 identical of another kind)

Grzemek wrote:
In the example of having one giant allowed to build in the empire, as long as you actually haven't finished producing one, you can queue as much as your resources allow you to. You can move them down in the queue or delete them, that's also correct. If you intended to create only one, that would indeed be a wasted production. In other case, the production invested in getting the second guardian is rather "frozen" than wasted, as soon as the originally created guardian dies, you can deploy the next one rather than having to wait for the full Industry cycle.

THat's actually a very clever and sneaky use of units that can not finish. Of course, that could also work with armies if you keep a full garrison.