Are Districts worth the effort?

[Hydroculator]

I tried setting up a couple districts with the little go-between buildings. I nearly killed everyone in the process. It took so much upkeep to balance the two, keeping each side fed and watered, passing goods, duplicating so many things. It just seemed like all the things I had to worry about with one settlement doubled. Is everyone employed? Good. Now, check again for the other. Everyone have a place to sleep? Good. Now check again. Got food and water? Good. Now again. And again.
I destroyed the districting buildings, built one town hall, and suddenly everything worked wonderfully again. The only downside I could see was that the paths were red pretty much most of the time.
I've read guides about setting these up, but I just can't see how they make things 'better' or worth the effort. Am I missing something?

[steventirey]

Originally posted by Hydroculator:

I've read guides about setting these up, but I just can't see how they make things 'better' or worth the effort. Am I missing something?

They make things better in that your beavers don't have to travel half a working day to get to a distant job site (and so only working half the day), then spend all night walking back home (and so will have no time to keep their wellbeing stats high).

The more time a beaver spends walking, the less it will get done in a day. Districts keep beavers in a smaller, confined area so walking times aren't as bad.

[Hydroculator]

Originally posted by steventirey:

The more time a beaver spends walking, the less it will get done in a day. Districts keep beavers in a smaller, confined area so walking times aren't as bad.

I guess the question is if it's "better" to have longer travel times or to duplicate everything they need in multiple locations, plus the overhead of tying up workers to exchange goods between districts... Or is the goal to completely duplicate everything so no exchanges are necessary?

[KhalunQalli]

I don't always use districts as I tend to play on smaller maps. However, on larger maps, I'll use several smaller districts and have each of them producing several different goods, which are then shared to storage in each district. About the only thing I produce across all districts is water because it's so essential.

[Wolfman]

I don't play with districts at all. For me, district management is a chore and kills the fun. Therefore, I only play middle-sized maps where I can run a single district.

[BedlamBetty]

Simple answer: yes.
It does depend on what you consider "worthwhile" though.
It is not required, but it can greatly increase the efficiency of your beavers to create districts.
For my part, I tend to terraform a space into a self sufficient district that exports the goods to serve as bonuses to needs to the central district, which dispatches goods out to the other districts.
While it is possible to have districts incapable of producing food or water, I do not enjoy doing so. I want the district to at least produce blueberries or carrots to feed it's pop, and water to hydrate it's pop, and import everything else it doesn't specialise in.

[Lion Llew]

Originally posted by BedlamBetty:

While it is possible to have districts incapable of producing food or water, I do not enjoy doing so. I want the district to at least produce blueberries or carrots to feed it's pop, and water to hydrate it's pop, and import everything else it doesn't specialise in.

This is how I do it also; set up the basics and import what I can't produce, each district has a speciality based on it's location or resources (metal, food, lumber/ Industry)

I am just about to experiment with IT bots as remote workers: Set up district 2 bot infrastructure with beavers; engine, optional grav batt, bot charger or two. Send over minimum 2 bots, one to work hauling and one to work building/flag for clearing, then build storage for wood near engine. As these are temporary outposts for things like building dams or setting up an actual district they won't have the grease or towers, just a district crossing importing via haulers (100% carry bonus) which will speed up getting large chunks of resources to their required destination at least 100% vs carrying every log half way across the map. I'm only on waterfalls and I feel this is needed,if you wanted to spread across helix mountain or terraces properly you'll likely need districts.

[oyssoyss]

they should double the district crossing worker's carrying capacity. now is too inefficient to passing goods between districts. and you need a lot beavers to work in one crossing. even both side 10 beavers still not enough sometimes.

[Wolfman]

There must be a way to do that passively. Some time ago, there was a mod that could put beaver's residence next to their workplace. That could be a good starting point. In a perfect scenario, districts and district management would work automatically.

[Hydroculator]

Originally posted by oyssoyss:

they should double the district crossing worker's carrying capacity. now is too inefficient to passing goods between districts. and you need a lot beavers to work in one crossing. even both side 10 beavers still not enough sometimes.

This is what I can't really wrap my head around. Multiple districts cut down the travel time for some beavers, but you have to tie up a huge group just to create one additional district. With three or more, you could have a small army just devoted to making districts exist, plus the overhead of duplicating a number of service buildings, storages, etc...
I just can't see how the numbers work out for that to be preferable.

[LordChaos]

Theyre only worth it once when you unlock the trade post, but even though you'd need to connect each district. Once you build a trade post you'd no longer need to worry about that districts food and water, which always seem to be a problem for me when I try to setup a new district.

[Inanimate]

Districts are worth it for bigger maps, but the caveat is that you must figure out the import/export rules. Keep in mind, you do not build Districts just to have an extra settlement, you build it to CUT TRAVEL TIME, if your District does not serve that goal, then it is a detriment to your empire.

The two biggest failures of Districts are directly related to goods transport: 1) Lack of throughput, and 2) Ineffective goods rules

-=THROUGHPUT=-
Transport in this game does NOT scale with the size of buildings (we need beaver-baskets/carts!), this means BUILDING and SUPPLYING a new District is incredibly taxing on labor, so ideally, you want to SKIP as much as possible. This means you need to lean on Haulers as much as possible.

BUILDING - Build storage for construction supplies CLOSE to where you want the new district, but do not build the district, fill them up first with your existing HAULERS, and THEN if it is efficient, BUILD the necessities, like housing, water/food storage, and additional Hauler/Builder buildings.
BUILDERS do not have the carrying capacity of HAULERS, once the basics are done, it may be better to plop down the District gates and have the new District's LOCAL builders finish up rather than have builders travel long distance - even worse if they grabbed a log near your main city and travel at encumbered speed until they reach the NEW District.

SUPPLYING - DISTRICT HAULERS can ONLY pull supplies INTO the Crossing based on the rules. This is why you need to build storage on both sides of the Crossing, you do not want a District Hauler to be running cross country to pull in building supplies...while you do not have enough food or water. This also means it may be optimal to have a Hauling Post built in the NEW district zone BEFORE actually connecting it up, since the District Haulers in the NEW district would only grab goods that the MAIN colony demands, rather than taking goods INSIDE the Crossing and supplying the buildings in the NEW district.

-=EFFECTIVE GOODS RULES=-
You do not need to balance everything, the game does a good job of "balancing" but that is closer to setting up two small Settlements VS a Main City and a Resource Satellite/Colony, and until you have BOTS and a HUGE population, the "Resource Satellite" is the right way to run it - much easier to control trading 3~5 goods rather than 10!

Remember the low throughput? Having storage DEMAND goods closer to the District Crossing means District Haulers only need to make short trips to pull in supplies that the opposite end needs.
The District Crossing is a multi-good storage, but it is NOT a "storage"! Storage rules do NOT apply to it, it is closer to a berry-gathering spot rather than goods storage! This means you need Idle Beavers/Haulers on the OPPOSITE side of a Crossing to efficiently pull resources out, ideally into a nearby storage (set to DISTRIBUTE) which then feeds other storage/buildings elsewhere in the new District.
Most importantly, you probably do NOT need to balance as if you are running a new settlement!
Start the Satellite District exporting ONLY the new resource you built it for. If it is a new District which exists ONLY for construction, make sure it exports NOTHING back, then you only need local Haulers to distribute resources FROM the Crossing (deposited there by the District Haulers on the opposite side) INTO the new District's storage.

Try to limit the goods being transferred, if you have BOTS, only bring in FUEL (or power-shaft anywhere, power is universal) and export out whatever resource is being harvested. IE: If you have local wood or water, keep it local, and only consider sending it if the main city has an emergency.
If sending Beavers, try to bring in only ONE type of food first, and if the Haulers are not completely taxed, slowly open up more food options. This could be as easy as building a new storage and designating a food type, and then turning "balance" back on.
That said, if the Satellite district is bringing in a CRITICAL good, try to limit FOOD and WATER going ONLY INTO the new district and DISABLE balancing until your transport routes are stable. Default makes the District Crossing attempt to balance based on % storage, which means your dinky colony with 160/200 (80%) stored water may attempt to refill your main city which could have 4000/10,000 (40%) stored water.
If you rely on the colony to supply a critical good, like metal scraps or if it is somehow the ONLY source of wood, it is going to hurt every time your colony wastes time sending a bucket of 7 water instead.

[stevej018]

it was simpler the old way with the distribution center and the drop off points. Now I have to make a town every xyz distance instead of across the map

[sank]

Originally posted by Inanimate:

The District Crossing is a multi-good storage, but it is NOT a "storage"! Storage rules do NOT apply to it, it is closer to a berry-gathering spot rather than goods storage! This means you need Idle Beavers/Haulers on the OPPOSITE side of a Crossing to efficiently pull resources out, ideally into a nearby storage (set to DISTRIBUTE) which then feeds other storage/buildings elsewhere in the new District.
Most importantly, you probably do NOT need to balance as if you are running a new settlement!.

so for example if my district 1 need books import from district 2.
i build a storage for district 1 near the crossing, and set it to "supply", let the crossing worker put pull books to there and subsequently carry by hauler.

or is it more efficient to put a book storage with "obtain" at district 2 side? and let district 1 hauler to carry books from crossing to district 1 settlement

(its a large map, and the district is far from each other, crossing is further than 100 from both district centre which is where the housing locate.)

[ChanceGateau]

In regards to food/water/wood, ALL of my district; whether they are for industry, metals, or whatever, are self-sufficient. I generally set up the infrastructure prior to placing the crossing, or the new district hub. I use the following strategy:

1. Build the housing and turn them off just after they are completed, so they won't increase the population.
2. Build the water infrastructure, have beavers employed so they fill the tanks.
3. Build the storage; this way, the present population will fill them with food/materials; especially if you are generating extra.
4. Build a farm or farms; have beavers working there until the crops are planted; then turn them off.
5. Build the wood farm. Same as the regular farm, employ the beavers just long enough to plant all of the trees/berry bushes etc, then turn it off.
6. Build a hauling post/worker's post. Turn them off.
7. Build the needed industry buildings (for metal, specialty wood, etc.) Turn them off.
8. Build the crossing; I generally go for 1 crossing for each district-to-district (like if you have several districts.
9. Finally, place the hub, and move 10-12 beavers over to it. Turn on all of the necesary buildings for them to work, continue the infrastructure, and perhaps even the industry buildings.

[H. Guderian]

The tradehouse operates better than an equivalent Hauler, once you get beyond 2 districts. If your roads are well into the Red, and you place a Hauling Post sure you can get 10 beavers with double carrying capacity, but they do still consider that entire district as under their care.

Imagine a city shaped like a + with a center district and 4 spokes. If you placed a Hauler at each one, those Haulers would consider the very ends of each of the 4 + spokes as under their care. Someone will haul from the very top spoke to the bottom one.

A trading post cordons off the hauling. Plus a trading post might not operate in all goods, while a Hauler does operate in all goods.

Then imagine a city dividing like -|-|-|-. A hauler would operate in all 4 districts at once!

As for my playstyle, I don't make Self-sufficient districts as a whole. But I do prepare for disaster. Each district will have minimal food/water production and storage. I do build up the "new" district as part of an existing district until it could survive on its then. Then I drop the new center, transfer over the beavers, and either side could build the tradepost.