What happens to togglable buildings when they run out of a required resource?

Question

When togglable buildings that use up resources while active (such as a Mint) have a steady but insufficient income of that resource, the resource will decrease until it almost reaches zero, then fluctuate near but not exactly at zero.

For example, when I activate my Mint, my catpower income goes from positive to negative, and a bonus is applied to fur and ivory. After catpower reaches 0 though, it jumps between 0 and 2, but the Mint stays active and the bonuses appear to stay on as well.

Do I get the full benefit of the bonus in this situation, and if so, is it possible to leave many more Mints running and gain the bonus from all of them while technically suffering no additional penalty?

Answer 1

When you run out of a required resource, mints and smelters simply do nothing that tick. That results in you getting benefits proportional to the resources you do have available (although the sidebar numbers won't reflect this).

Most buildings that consume resources have the same behavior, but there are some exceptions:

• If you run out of uranium, all of your reactors will turn off
• If you run out of oil, one magneto will turn off per tick (1/5 of a second) until your oil supply is positive again