Architect Archive
Thread: Harvester Help Please
Well, when placing the harvester (in that 'overhead view' screen), how is the "footprint" and surrounding area colored?
A yellow barred coloring on the ground means that something nearby is blocking placement. This could be another structure (although the "no build" zone around those are generally pretty small) or a creature lair. You may be able to kill off the lair, and then you'd be able to place your harvester.
If the ground doesn't have the yellow coloration, then the "footprint" area of the harvester can be either red or green. If it's red, that generally means that there's too much of a slope (find a flatter area), or there may be some object blocking it at that point (I think wandering creatures qualify).
If the harvester footprint shows green and you still can't place it, you may be too close to an NPC city. These generally have a "no build" zone of about 1-2 km (I usually do a "/find city" and use the waypoint monitor to check my distance). You could also be in a PC city with zoning restrictions (only the mayor, militia, or citizens with zoning rights may place buildings), but that usually gives a message stating the need for zoning rights.
I don't think that creatures will prevent you from placing a harvester, but creature lairs will. You'll see the large yellow area near a lair when you try to place your harvester. You can take out the lair, then the yellow area will go away.
Sometimes the game barfs when you try to place the harvester in a legitimate spot too - gives that same error message. If you try again, you may have better luck. It seems pretty random sometimes when I try to place a harvester in a spot that I know is good. It doesn't usually happen to me, but when it does, I just try another 2 or 3 times. If it still shows green but won't let you place, then you're probably near a POI, city, or jedi shrine.