Job Assignment Board Suggestion

[ThePoetZiggy]

The Job Assignment Board could implement a command system, similar to our Monitoring Station, where could maybe assign versatile pals specific tasks, beds as well. Maybe even feed boxes if we want to get really silly, but I think an item we can build that adds that into the game may bypass some of the issues with task prioritization, and also possibly untangle issues many may be assuming is due to only pathing, versus task prioritization.

I was going to look through the discussion board to see if this was already suggested, but it was pretty silly reading some of the posts, so I'm dropping my own and y'all can just flame me or delete it or whatever.

[admos]

Originally posted by ThePoetZiggy:

where could maybe assign versatile pals specific tasks

You can already assign pals to do specific tasks by picking them up and throwing them where they "can be assigned". It'll show you those exact words if they're able to do that task. It's annoying to do so, however, if you have pals that like to get stuck outside your walls or unreachable areas in your base, which is too often..

Originally posted by ThePoetZiggy:

Maybe even feed boxes if we want to get really silly

This can be alleviated just by putting feeders near where they work. So it's best to do the above and this in tandem.

Originally posted by ThePoetZiggy:

but I think an item we can build that adds that into the game may bypass some of the issues with task prioritization, and also possibly untangle issues many may be assuming is due to only pathing, versus task prioritization.

For pals getting stuck, it's honestly just best to have an 'idle' timer. If a pal hasn't moved from its spot for at least 10 seconds, while not working, teleport it back to the Palbox. I already see this feature occur when pals are stuck on hills or crevices within bounds but not when they're stuck outside the walls or on top of the Logging Site.

Overall, good suggestions, I would add a building called a Task Board. This Task Board would edit up to 3 things: priorities, exclusions, or specific work assignments.

Priorities: We would be able to give a tier list in which Pals should do in a certain order where they won't stop the first task until there are no more of that task and then move on to the next task.

Exclusions: We would be able to exclude certain tasks, so if they're able to gather, handiwork, and kindle, we could disable handiwork and maybe even prioritize kindling over gathering.

Specific work assignments: It's just the same thing we described above.

[rajirrah]

I agree with the task board suggestion. As for your post Admos, the problem is trying to get pals to do the assigned task by just tossing them onto the workstation doesn't work a lot of the time. I get so sick of picking them up, tossing them, picking them up again, tossing them, running after them because they think I want them to go to the breeding yard which is halfway across the camp... This is a problem that needs fixing and having a job board is a good way to work this out.

It could still be an option to still throw them around if you like doing that.

[Crater]

Originally posted by admos:

Originally posted by ThePoetZiggy:

where could maybe assign versatile pals specific tasks

You can already assign pals to do specific tasks by picking them up and throwing them where they "can be assigned". It'll show you those exact words if they're able to do that task. It's annoying to do so, however, if you have pals that like to get stuck outside your walls or unreachable areas in your base, which is too often..

Originally posted by ThePoetZiggy:

Maybe even feed boxes if we want to get really silly

This can be alleviated just by putting feeders near where they work. So it's best to do the above and this in tandem.

Originally posted by ThePoetZiggy:

but I think an item we can build that adds that into the game may bypass some of the issues with task prioritization, and also possibly untangle issues many may be assuming is due to only pathing, versus task prioritization.

For pals getting stuck, it's honestly just best to have an 'idle' timer. If a pal hasn't moved from its spot for at least 10 seconds, while not working, teleport it back to the Palbox. I already see this feature occur when pals are stuck on hills or crevices within bounds but not when they're stuck outside the walls or on top of the Logging Site.

Overall, good suggestions, I would add a building called a Task Board. This Task Board would edit up to 3 things: priorities, exclusions, or specific work assignments.

Priorities: We would be able to give a tier list in which Pals should do in a certain order where they won't stop the first task until there are no more of that task and then move on to the next task.

Exclusions: We would be able to exclude certain tasks, so if they're able to gather, handiwork, and kindle, we could disable handiwork and maybe even prioritize kindling over gathering.

Specific work assignments: It's just the same thing we described above.

You shouldn't need to throw them. OP's suggestions are eminently reasonable and you come off as an apologist for the game.

[Shazza]

A Job Assignment Board would be a perfect addition, especially if they plan to do any updates to the current Work Stand (which is completely optional as the higher work outputs aren't that great of a buff over just letting your Pals work on autopilot with good conditions - you literally penalise yourself for being a bad Pal owner by its mechanics).

Having to run around and manually throw pals who will forget the job they're assigned to is not fun, all it does is encourage you to pigeonhole on specific Pals that ONLY have a single job type to circumvent that frustration.

For example, Jolthog Cryst. It's the best Cooling Pal simply because every other Cooling-applicable Pal has other jobs. Vanwyrm Cryst and Penking will literally run back and forth to do other random tasks regardless of if you deliberately throw them at the cooling box.

Same dig for Jormuntide and Jormuntide Ignis - sole jobs being Watering and Kindling.

[Ohnoes]

my pals are always running away from their assigned stations. bloody kills me when you need wheat and the water pal just decides they cbf with it
maybe an assignment station would be a good idea. pick primary and secondary jobs for pals

[Lux™]

+1

[Djentleman]

This is much needed, there isn't enough stability and consistency in keeping pals on their jobs; having to manually pick them up and move them is annoying and I've spent too much time doing that

[Ancient]

We need a way to assign priorities to each pal's potential tasks one way or another. Also, a way to set power thresholds for when electric pals will start to charge up the batteries and when they will stop charging them.

My two Anubises (Anubii ?) will spend all day mining stone instead of working my assembly lines. I need ammo and spheres made, not more stone. My reptyro cryst is an insufferable jerk who, no matter how many times I pick him up and throw him at a fridge, I will inevitably come back and find him mining alongside my two idiot Anubii.

Just even something as simple as a menu in the palbox that lets you assign priorities for each pal would be good. The Workforce Menu. It could just be a table of up to 20 pals and would have boxes for their 10 possible job icons that we can click on and have it cycle through 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on priority levels. Everything can default to 1, but if you click on handiwork for an Anubis and change it to 2, he will then ignore all mining and transporting jobs if there is handiwork to be done, but resume mining or transporting once all the assembly line jobs are finished.

The current system of throwing them to assign them could still exist too, it would just set max priority for that one job, set all others to 1 and then also lock that pal to that specific station instead of just a general priority system to do that job anywhere, else do this job anywhere, etc. The current way is really not granular enough and assigned pals don't unassign themselves and go do something else that needs done when their task is finished, they just sit at that station like morons and do nothing except waste some food every so often until you come and manually assign them elsewhere or just throw them on the ground to unassign them. I barely use manual assignment because of that (except for ice pals).

For electric pals, they will do nothing but burn themselves out and go to bed early because they will just sit at a generator that is at 99/100% and never take a break or do any of their other abilities. Power thresholds could be a menu of the power generators. And just needs a min and max box for us to type in that takes a % integer. I would like to have them start charging them at 33% and stop when they are full and for the pals to go transport or mine or whatever until a generator drains down to 33% again. With something like that, you might only need one Oserk to service two generators as he would fill one, move on to another, maybe do some handiwork in his downtime instead of me having to have two of them that just sit shackled to my two already full power generators all day long.

[ThePoetZiggy]

Originally posted by Tabasco:

Originally posted by admos:

You can already assign pals to do specific tasks by picking them up and throwing them where they "can be assigned". It'll show you those exact words if they're able to do that task. It's annoying to do so, however, if you have pals that like to get stuck outside your walls or unreachable areas in your base, which is too often..



This can be alleviated just by putting feeders near where they work. So it's best to do the above and this in tandem.



For pals getting stuck, it's honestly just best to have an 'idle' timer. If a pal hasn't moved from its spot for at least 10 seconds, while not working, teleport it back to the Palbox. I already see this feature occur when pals are stuck on hills or crevices within bounds but not when they're stuck outside the walls or on top of the Logging Site.

Overall, good suggestions, I would add a building called a Task Board. This Task Board would edit up to 3 things: priorities, exclusions, or specific work assignments.

Priorities: We would be able to give a tier list in which Pals should do in a certain order where they won't stop the first task until there are no more of that task and then move on to the next task.

Exclusions: We would be able to exclude certain tasks, so if they're able to gather, handiwork, and kindle, we could disable handiwork and maybe even prioritize kindling over gathering.

Specific work assignments: It's just the same thing we described above.

You shouldn't need to throw them. OP's suggestions are eminently reasonable and you come off as an apologist for the game.

I can see that being reasonable with smaller pals, but once you've gained some max star combines on say, a Jormuntide / Jormuntide Ignis, to get watering / kindling level 5, you are going to get really frustrated trying to throw them at things. **Note: for anyone reading who may not know yet, if you max your Pal combines, the job tasks skill level of a Pal's task types all go up one level, so if you're maxing efficiency of Pal's on bases, you will eventually want to have some larger Pals in there for the best completion rates of certain tasks, especially baking cakes and making paldium fragments in crushers / flour in mills with water types.

I have some footage I've submitted as well of a Broncherry Aqua after my base was raided. I lifted him and threw him at a bed that was burning, and he went about 30 feet away to plant, instead, then I tried tossing a Pengullet, who saw a piece of stray lumber even further away from the bed, and ran to it, ignoring the flaming bed as well. I ultimately had to dismantle the bed and rebuild it. I've also had plenty of instances on totally flat bases where I toss a Pal at a lone area with an object they can interact with, only to see the red text informing me they can't be assigned to another area quite far away. It gets much more complicated when elevation is mixed into the situation, as well.

I have not had the same luck with pals auto-resetting, and have often noticed Astegons and even Tombats, which are fairly smaller, stuck hovering above areas I've already walled off and secured to help the AI / pathing. I don't even want to talk about the Suzaku / Suzaku Aqua madness I've witnessed, lol. I have 249 or so hours in the game, so I think I'm pretty savvy at micro-managing my Pals as well.

If I have to monitor the idle farming of my Pals and manually reset them, it just isn't idle enough for me. I am PC and my GF is XBOX. I watch her struggle with some pretty similar things as well, and she has about 70 hours or so. We still love the game, but I'm all for being constructive and us collectively brainstorming about this / sharing fixes we've found with creative building band aids and etc, too.

Now that I have Jetragon and am flying her (in my case) around, I've also noticed that some of the issues with things like assigned breeding Pals bugging or pathing glitching may have more to do with utilizing fast travel than I initially thought, as well. I fly Jetragon around to my boss rush circuit on the map to level my GMO Pals, and many of the breeding issues with pathing / vanishing have stopped, as far as breeding interruptions go, but not the issues with Pals doing other tasks. I am presently assuming this is because I am using fast travel much less, since I have so much flight speed, but there is still the issue of entering caves and towers, which appear to have the same impact on work flow as fast travel. I will test this more and try to submit the feedback in an appropriate spot, when I have a bit more time. For now the fast travel / instanced area bit is a loose theory, but maybe others can confirm similar observations.

Hopefully this added context and examples help us continue a constructive discourse. I think a job board is a pretty reasonable and most likely possible thing to program in / add, since the monitoring station functions in a similar way already, setting precedent that the coding needed is most likely possible.