Company and Supply Chain Questions

[Able Archer]

A couple of quick questions about a company, and supply chain.
1. NPCs can only be assigned to routes, correct? So, they make useless Taxi drivers, it would seem (unless you micromanage those routes--which I'm not even sure works).

2. I'm not entirely understanding supply/demand. I thought I found a place that wanted pallets, and I thought I'd found a place that supplies them. When I manually go, I don't see a way to simply buy pallets to take to the place I want them to go. Thus, I'm not sure if I'm missing something here. Or, can you only do that with an NPC and a truck route?

3. Assuming I figure out how to deliver a raw material (like pallets), how do I know what, if anything, will get produced? I'm guessing like any decent tycoon game, you have to supply all the demands for production to start. Is that correct?


Many thanks!

[Pheex]

At this time your NPC drivers can drive bus routes and haul goods. Taxi's they can't do (yet?).

To see how the production works, go to a factory, warehouse or whatever, and use the pickup and delivery icon. In the top left you will see what is required to produce something.

Some goods will produce new goods (i.e. limestone deliveries at the cement factory will start making cement), and some goods will simply boost the production of goods being made.

[EL-Xatrix]

1. currently it only works for bus routes and transport of goods, need to plan a route and assign a vehicle to it, but you can only select bis stops or cargo locations for those. cant realy plan a route for taxi as the persone you pick up at one spot might want to go some other place the next time.
2. deppends how you want to start looking at it, people want stuff from the market, check one out and see what is needed, some items get produced over time others need some input, its shown top left in the factory what is needed to produce what or how to boost it.
3. if you go to a place that has stuff to be delivered you can pick out the destination you need to deliver, you cant load a truck full of pumpkins and try to sell it at a logging camp.
you are delivery driver and load up for a destination. immagine it kinda like an UPS or something, you drive the van and can pick out wich town or village you deliver the stuff to today, works also with the prices if you deliver alot of the same things to the same place you get payed less.

[Able Archer]

I'm still not sure I understand how to get something to produce. I went to the grocery. It wants supply from several places, including rice farm. Rice farm will produce rice, but wants pallets. The Overseas Shipping Co (I think that's the name) produces pallets, and wants containers. I found some containers that needed shipping there, and saw the Pallet line count down. But, I don't understand how I get the pallets to go toward the Rice farm.

Any pointers?

[啵嘴的梁非凡]

Originally posted by Able Archer:

I'm still not sure I understand how to get something to produce. I went to the grocery. It wants supply from several places, including rice farm. Rice farm will produce rice, but wants pallets. The Overseas Shipping Co (I think that's the name) produces pallets, and wants containers. I found some containers that needed shipping there, and saw the Pallet line count down. But, I don't understand how I get the pallets to go toward the Rice farm.

Any pointers?

Pallets can be produced by farms and factories, and also needed by them. So if you link the points above with truck routes(with a truck of course), they can supply each other. Some factories need Containers, just design routes that goes trough the container points and those factories. Fuel is needed too, you just do the same...

[Able Archer]

Originally posted by 啵嘴的梁非凡:

Originally posted by Able Archer:

I'm still not sure I understand how to get something to produce. I went to the grocery. It wants supply from several places, including rice farm. Rice farm will produce rice, but wants pallets. The Overseas Shipping Co (I think that's the name) produces pallets, and wants containers. I found some containers that needed shipping there, and saw the Pallet line count down. But, I don't understand how I get the pallets to go toward the Rice farm.

Any pointers?

Pallets can be produced by farms and factories, and also needed by them. So if you link the points above with truck routes(with a truck of course), they can supply each other. Some factories need Containers, just design routes that goes trough the container points and those factories. Fuel is needed too, you just do the same...

Does any particular supplier need to include destinations for the place I want to take the pallets (for example) to, or does it just figure it out with an ad hoc order? When I'm setting up the route, I'm not actually at the location, so I'm assuming that must be the case.

Any simple examples of "Set a truck route for "Boxy" from <here> to <here> and it'll work" that I might be able to try?

Again, thanks. I'm not trying to be intentionally thick here. :)

[Neo-Gambit]

Originally posted by Able Archer:

I'm still not sure I understand how to get something to produce. I went to the grocery. It wants supply from several places, including rice farm. Rice farm will produce rice, but wants pallets. The Overseas Shipping Co (I think that's the name) produces pallets, and wants containers. I found some containers that needed shipping there, and saw the Pallet line count down. But, I don't understand how I get the pallets to go toward the Rice farm.

Any pointers?

Grocery stores are for building up your town bonus, they don't output anything.
Assigning a company AI truck route to pick up pallets from The Overseas Shipping Co, then drop them at the Rice Farm will work if there are no jobs available on the right side of the job offers screen (remember to scroll to see where goods need to be delivered in some places).

[Able Archer]

Originally posted by Neo-Gambit:

Originally posted by Able Archer:

I'm still not sure I understand how to get something to produce. I went to the grocery. It wants supply from several places, including rice farm. Rice farm will produce rice, but wants pallets. The Overseas Shipping Co (I think that's the name) produces pallets, and wants containers. I found some containers that needed shipping there, and saw the Pallet line count down. But, I don't understand how I get the pallets to go toward the Rice farm.

Any pointers?

Grocery stores are for building up your town bonus, they don't output anything.
Assigning a company AI truck route to pick up pallets from The Overseas Shipping Co, then drop them at the Rice Farm will work if there are no jobs available on the right side of the job offers screen (remember to scroll to see where goods need to be delivered in some places).

I appreciate the responses. I've been looking at some other posts, too, but there seems to be a lot of confusing info on this topic.

Here's what I'm not understanding:
I'm at the rice farm. It says it needs pallets, and it has no pending outbound deliveries. OK, so I need to supply pallets.

I go to the nearest supplier of pallets. It has deliveries available, but none of them are the rice farm. So.....??? First--do I just go looking for another source of pallets? The other one I found didn't have any available, and no deliveries listed. Second--what if I'd gone ahead and set up a route, and assigned a truck and NPC to that route (supplier to rice farm) anyway? Would anything ever happen?

What is the appropriate way to identify a route that is repeatable with a route? I saw one person say, "you should drive the routes yourself to figure out which is profitable." That'd be great, if I understood what I'm really looking for.

Most transport games have this loop: raw materials to a refiner; refiner to producer; producer to retailer.

This doesn't quite feel like that, and I'm not really sure why.

[啵嘴的梁非凡]

Originally posted by Able Archer:

Originally posted by 啵嘴的梁非凡:

Pallets can be produced by farms and factories, and also needed by them. So if you link the points above with truck routes(with a truck of course), they can supply each other. Some factories need Containers, just design routes that goes trough the container points and those factories. Fuel is needed too, you just do the same...

Does any particular supplier need to include destinations for the place I want to take the pallets (for example) to, or does it just figure it out with an ad hoc order? When I'm setting up the route, I'm not actually at the location, so I'm assuming that must be the case.

Any simple examples of "Set a truck route for "Boxy" from <here> to <here> and it'll work" that I might be able to try?

Again, thanks. I'm not trying to be intentionally thick here. :)

Try water/milk/meat/bread factories and make your route a ring. Since you have 20 stops available, you can add supermarkets nearby to your route, so that the rice can be delivered to them. If there are still empty stops, you can also choose to add the farms nearby, or burger/pizza joints. The farms can supply each other and the joints will consume the milk/meat/bread products.

[Mango_Dewbie]

Originally posted by Able Archer:

Originally posted by Neo-Gambit:

Grocery stores are for building up your town bonus, they don't output anything.
Assigning a company AI truck route to pick up pallets from The Overseas Shipping Co, then drop them at the Rice Farm will work if there are no jobs available on the right side of the job offers screen (remember to scroll to see where goods need to be delivered in some places).

I appreciate the responses. I've been looking at some other posts, too, but there seems to be a lot of confusing info on this topic.

Here's what I'm not understanding:
I'm at the rice farm. It says it needs pallets, and it has no pending outbound deliveries. OK, so I need to supply pallets.

I go to the nearest supplier of pallets. It has deliveries available, but none of them are the rice farm. So.....??? First--do I just go looking for another source of pallets? The other one I found didn't have any available, and no deliveries listed. Second--what if I'd gone ahead and set up a route, and assigned a truck and NPC to that route (supplier to rice farm) anyway? Would anything ever happen?

What is the appropriate way to identify a route that is repeatable with a route? I saw one person say, "you should drive the routes yourself to figure out which is profitable." That'd be great, if I understood what I'm really looking for.

Most transport games have this loop: raw materials to a refiner; refiner to producer; producer to retailer.

This doesn't quite feel like that, and I'm not really sure why.

I've understood what you've been asking from the gecko, and i'm having the same problem. I agree with what your saying about the logistics loop with other games. it seems this game has pre-determined routes that populate when you go to delivery pickup locations. and at this point, at least to my knowledge, you CANNOT just load up some pallets or other cargo and bring them to wherever they might be needed (as much as i want to do that). The analogy of the "UPS driver" style to jobs is accurate. your more so an employee than business owner being told where to bring the cargo as opposed to deciding yourself where to bring it and what i notice is if you don't have multiple locations setup in your truck route you'll end up having empty loads from time to time, eating up funds.

[Chaezaa]

Originally posted by Mango_Dewbie:

Originally posted by Able Archer:

I appreciate the responses. I've been looking at some other posts, too, but there seems to be a lot of confusing info on this topic.

Here's what I'm not understanding:
I'm at the rice farm. It says it needs pallets, and it has no pending outbound deliveries. OK, so I need to supply pallets.

I go to the nearest supplier of pallets. It has deliveries available, but none of them are the rice farm. So.....??? First--do I just go looking for another source of pallets? The other one I found didn't have any available, and no deliveries listed. Second--what if I'd gone ahead and set up a route, and assigned a truck and NPC to that route (supplier to rice farm) anyway? Would anything ever happen?

What is the appropriate way to identify a route that is repeatable with a route? I saw one person say, "you should drive the routes yourself to figure out which is profitable." That'd be great, if I understood what I'm really looking for.

Most transport games have this loop: raw materials to a refiner; refiner to producer; producer to retailer.

This doesn't quite feel like that, and I'm not really sure why.

I've understood what you've been asking from the gecko, and i'm having the same problem. I agree with what your saying about the logistics loop with other games. it seems this game has pre-determined routes that populate when you go to delivery pickup locations. and at this point, at least to my knowledge, you CANNOT just load up some pallets or other cargo and bring them to wherever they might be needed (as much as i want to do that). The analogy of the "UPS driver" style to jobs is accurate. your more so an employee than business owner being told where to bring the cargo as opposed to deciding yourself where to bring it and what i notice is if you don't have multiple locations setup in your truck route you'll end up having empty loads from time to time, eating up funds.

The game works similar to real life. In real life you have a load board that shows what needs to be transported and its destination. A trucking company can than take the load. The game works the same way. A producer is showing you the product and its destination. The farms will always produce even without supplies. The supplies are there to produce faster. If there is no demand/customer the producer won't show possible deliveries. Some places need supplies for production.

You can load a truck with different goods and bring it to the customers. I have AI drivers bringing all the produce from farmers to my main warehouse. The AI will than fill their trucks at the warehouse with everything thats in demand and drive to the supermarkets. I have almost all supermarkets at 100% and the whole chain is completely run by AI drivers.