Will the production system ever be made more user friendly?

[madmaxx]

Currently, there are two different conflicting ideas in the game that are at odds with each other, like two gears that are fine on their own but don't mesh properly, two different concepts on how to implement a game mechanic that don't work together.

On one hand, the game has a system that basically says "you need to have x items in storage". For example if you have a woodshed, you always want to have at least one axe in storage for when the current one breaks. For every villager you might want to have x potage, etc.

On the other hand, the production system is "use x amount of time on this item", resulting in the production of 0.87 axes a day. How many decimal axes do I need in a day? The game does not tell you. It is not a property of the woodshed. It is a mechanic completely isolated from everything else. Your only way to figure it out is trial-and-error.

These two systems are completely at odds with each other. On one hand you want to keep certain amounts in storage, on the other you create percents of items a day.

My question, will the dev team ever revisit this and decide on ONE system to use? Either

a) have ex. a woodshed require an axe, then have production say "produce axes until x axes are in storage, then move to the next item in the list"
b) have every building specifically tell you "I need 0.5 axes a day" and keep production the way it is.

Right now it is an incredibly annoying amount of trial-and-error until you produce the right number of axes, bowls, whatever in a day. This is a solved problem that other games do a way better job at.

Switching to idea "a" would also cut down on the longer and longer lists of possible items to produce. Instead you just add a bill to a building, a much simpler UX.

[richardmgoldsmith]

Not everyone wants it to be much simpler. You need a purpose in life, even in a virtual one.

[hubbemattsson]

This one must be the most user friendly I have ever seen. And no. I dident think so in the beginning, but after you learnet it. Its both really easy, and works perfectly.

[Owlchemist]

The production system is indeed terrible and basically why I couldn't stand playing this game any longer. Nowadays I just check in every now and then to check the patch notes and see if they fixed it.

[Ghazgh]

I guess a smith would stop working and leave the axe unfinished if it´s to late. That´s quite close to rl, sure, i guess he wouldn´t start 5 different tools at once, maybe only prepairing the handles. If you want x completed tools a day, you need x smiths to get it done. That´s how i understand it and it makes sense to me. The axe in your woodshed isn´t gone after one use, every use makes it loose durability until it´s broken, which also makes sense thinking about the way the item is produced.
If i think about gathering, you can get x berries a day and you wouldn´t bother gathering 1/4 berry and you can´t start chopping trees unless you have a complete axe (or Chuck Norris).
I´m not saying that there is no room for improvements, nor that everything makes 100% sense (including my post itself), but it doesn´t feel out of place for me.

[Ghazgh]

I´m more happy about their approach on these things, like the fact that your efficiency is depending on the knowledge of your workers. You could even implement a possibility to loose materials or getting a wound, because your worker isn´t a pro at his job.

[richardmgoldsmith]

I enjoy tuning inter-related software models to achieve equilibrium. This game makes that fun.

[Lailantie]

I actually like try and error. It's much more interesting than planning and making spreadsheets.

[richardmgoldsmith]

That's how I get it balanced too. never wrote anything down or used a spreadsheet. Start from intuition and refine after a period of evaluation.

[🎮AliveSince1961🎮]

It's a system like any other, I'm not a fan of it but I play with what I have. One thing is for sure, the use of % is not what I would call micro-management, but more of an estimation.

I've been working in a factory for over 40 years and the daily production quota is based on numbers, not percentages.

[Kwalyz]

I can't currently quote the OP. However he is incorrect that the game does not allow you to calculate how much of a tool will be used by your workers per day so you can figure out how frequently another one needs to be supplied.
Each task that requires a tool will tell you in brackets next to the task how much durability the tool needs to have for a single instance of that action to occur. Eg Your Lumberjack(s) collecting one log will use 2 points of an axe.
The number collected per day that you set by the % sliders will give you the multiplier to find out how many points of the tool will be used per day. Eg 66 logs will be 132 points of an axe used by your lumberjack per day.
Each axe has a maximum durability points and also the current amounts of points depending upon % quality remaining. Eg Bronze axe at 100% will state 450/450. The building which uses the tool will tell you how many points are left on the tool it currently is using eg Axe 250/450.
Therefore you can calculate how many days it will take before the tool will be used up completely and they will need to have get another one from the resource storage.
Worked example from my current game:
Woodshed with two workers.
Log (2 durability per item) - set at 66 logs per day = 132 points of an axe
Sticks = no tool required
Firewood (1 durability per item) - set at 25.08 = 25.08 points of an axe
Plank (1 durability per item) - set at 17.16 = 17.16 points of an axe
Therefore my Woodshed per day will use 174.24 points of an axe.
I'm supplying them with bronze axes. A bronze axe has maximum of 450 points.
Therefore 450 / 174.24 = 2.5826 days. So my Woodshed will need a new axe every 2.5826 days.
In my smithy that means I need to produce a bronze axe at the rate of 0.3872 per day (100%durability / 2.5826 days = 38.72% of an axe per day minimum.)
To ensure that the axe is produced when needed I would conservatively set the % slider for making bronze axes so the game makes 0.39 of an axe per day.

[Ghazgh]

[Kraf]

Idea A would be so nice to have a priority system per Building, instead of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ 1-100% system. That way you could actually manage the Herbalist Hut seasonal.

Cause right now i set every option only to 2% and let it run that way over the whole Year is an absolutely inefficent system.

And i am not willing to Look in there every 3 other days to change the Sliders only because some Mushrooms are out of season now.

A system like in the game Clanfolk would be really nice for a set maximum amount in Storage and priority of Items when under set amount.

[Prown]

It's been 1211 days spent waiting for the obvious place holder production system to be replaced by it's full fleshed out system.

Seriously though, it's a horrid system, just rip off banished if you can't think of a better one.

[larrysteele]

Originally posted by Kwalyz:

I can't currently quote the OP. However he is incorrect that the game does not allow you to calculate how much of a tool will be used by your workers per day so you can figure out how frequently another one needs to be supplied.
Each task that requires a tool will tell you in brackets next to the task how much durability the tool needs to have for a single instance of that action to occur. Eg Your Lumberjack(s) collecting one log will use 2 points of an axe.
The number collected per day that you set by the % sliders will give you the multiplier to find out how many points of the tool will be used per day. Eg 66 logs will be 132 points of an axe used by your lumberjack per day.
Each axe has a maximum durability points and also the current amounts of points depending upon % quality remaining. Eg Bronze axe at 100% will state 450/450. The building which uses the tool will tell you how many points are left on the tool it currently is using eg Axe 250/450.
Therefore you can calculate how many days it will take before the tool will be used up completely and they will need to have get another one from the resource storage.
Worked example from my current game:
Woodshed with two workers.
Log (2 durability per item) - set at 66 logs per day = 132 points of an axe
Sticks = no tool required
Firewood (1 durability per item) - set at 25.08 = 25.08 points of an axe
Plank (1 durability per item) - set at 17.16 = 17.16 points of an axe
Therefore my Woodshed per day will use 174.24 points of an axe.
I'm supplying them with bronze axes. A bronze axe has maximum of 450 points.
Therefore 450 / 174.24 = 2.5826 days. So my Woodshed will need a new axe every 2.5826 days.
In my smithy that means I need to produce a bronze axe at the rate of 0.3872 per day (100%durability / 2.5826 days = 38.72% of an axe per day minimum.)
To ensure that the axe is produced when needed I would conservatively set the % slider for making bronze axes so the game makes 0.39 of an axe per day.

Add to this mix that the numbers change whenever your NPCs' skills increase until they hit 10.

It's no wonder that some people resort to spreadsheets when fiddling with the numbers. lol Seriously, I admire anyone who has the patience to work the numbers like that, especially sans spreadsheet since it's a lot of numbers to jumble across all work buildings. Alas, I am not one, so I resort to the "well that didn't work" method.

[Foxglovez]

Nice necro.