Storage Depot question

[Exto]

I've built a lot of storage depot thinking it'd be useful, but even when i build it right next to let's say a quarry, the resources don't always go there. I thought that's what the "hauler" I've hired for storage depot is for?

I found regular storage or warehouses much more useful, and just build Hauling service which I unlocked later on to be much more useful to stop getting those Output Full messages.

So I guess my question is, what exactly is Storage Depot for, and how it works. Is it possibly bugged I wonder.

[JamFalcon]

I have actually wondered this myself. I will build the Depots to try and consolidate bulk resources like stone, iron, coal, wood, etc. But even with a hauler it doesn't really work and i usually just end up demolishing them soon as i unlock warehouses.

[Monocause]

Storage depots are great fe. next to mines in provinces that are far away from your production centers. Build a depot next to a mine and set a delivery target to another depot (or other storage) next to production centers. You're creating a chain that means your resources are constantly hauled where you actually need them. Keep in mind that there's a range limit for deliveries that's not specified in a tooltip - I think it might be 150 tiles? So if you define a target as a faraway depot and yet no deliveries happen, you might need an interim depot as a delivery target before you deliver to your final depot.

Also keep in mind that to use a storage depot efficiently you might need to disallow a resource you're "depoting" in other nearby storages where you don't want them stored - otherwise your haulers might pick a closer storage spot.

In my towns I find depots very useful to manage storing specialised resources that are further used in production chains - ores, certain crops, leather and wool etc. Depots are situationally useful for building materials or food but overall that's not what they're good at

[Jambie Lionheart]

Storage Depot's don't work as intended. The game counts the hauler the same as a labourer so they're constantly getting distracted by other general labour duties.

They can still be useful though. As an example, you can plonk a storage depot near a forester or two and allow it to accept wood. The hauler will do nothing but general labourers will still use the building as a drop off point.
You can then add a delivery man and have the wood mail delivered to a desired storage facility. One that is, perhaps close to a grouping of charcoal huts, furniture makers, ect.
The delivery man position is much more consistant, though not perfect, so they can provide a reasonable flow of raw resources/materials to your producers.

It's great for if your goods producers are a bit of a distance away from your raw materials production sites asnd can help you expand further out from your centre then you'd otherwise be able to. Because of the hauler issue though, they're absolutely useless for any other role, except maybe as plain storage.

[Exto]

Thank you for the feedback. Hmm what I instead did was create mines in several strategic locations and have them "send" the output to a centralized storage locations. Seemed to work out fine, but this only worked because i picked an ideal starting point where I had multiple sources of say coal, iron and stone. So in situations where I don't have this advantage I could see their use, but even then I think that perhaps using a trade depot might be more efficient no? Assigning one/two labor to each one of these seem wasteful, even if they are working properly.

[Jambie Lionheart]

Originally posted by Exto:

Thank you for the feedback. Hmm what I instead did was create mines in several strategic locations and have them "send" the output to a centralized storage locations. Seemed to work out fine, but this only worked because i picked an ideal starting point where I had multiple sources of say coal, iron and stone. So in situations where I don't have this advantage I could see their use, but even then I think that perhaps using a trade depot might be more efficient no? Assigning one/two labor to each one of these seem wasteful, even if they are working properly.

Using Trading companies is what I normally do now myself. It's a little more micro. BUT using storage depots, despite their bugs, allows a much cheaper alternative to buying everything, since it's usually cheaper the produce the stuff yourself than to buy it, even with the extra cost added in for storage and transport ('specially if you efficiate production).

There is a labour benefit to using storage depots though. If you use the storage depot as a raw resource warehouse, you can then use the delivery man to deliver higher volumes of raw resources close to production buildings. You end up using way less labourers because the delivery men can carry so much (same at the market workers). This allows a player to set up camp a good 2-5(ish) provinces away from a mountain and still be able to collect raw materials, if they wanted). Technically, you can even use storage depots to chain transport resources if you really want though I wouldn't recommend that.

Buying is only really worth it so long as you intend to produce extra that you can sell to balance the costs out. Using hauler buildings along with trading companies negates the point of storage depots too because it just makes everything run that much smoother. Though you'll still incur the trading cost. If you go the trade route then make sure you pick up the trading companies act card. It's a must.

[Exto]

thank you, this helps a lot actually :)

[BIGWORM94]

to use storage depots, create a chain, link them to other storage depots of the same type, and create a circle. then build what I call "feeding" storage depots, next to mines, and production makers you want on the chain. these will be one-way feed by producers. you can do this without a depot if it is close to the loop. remember the workers in production buildings will produce, then walk to wherever to tell them to. taking the away from producing till the return. and the citizens/market workers will take from the depot. requires a lot of people, but everything everywhere will have that resource close without traveling across the world to get it.