unhappy working hours

[phylumt]

I have an issue that seems to have been since last patch of everyone being really unhappy. My living area has walls, and cottages but everyone is complaining about working hours. One of my nighttime guys who is complaining about work hours is set to work 8 hours over night, he wakes up at 2100 with 1 hour of leisure, then works 8 hours, then has 1 hour of leisure and is in bed by 0700. He id down to 32 happiness and still slowly declining. Either more information needs to be provided to solve this, or some adjustment. I have one guy who works only 7 hours and he isn't happy either.

He is now only working 6 hours with 3 hours of leisure and is now down to 28 happiness.

[The Sad Snail]

Hey there, this doesn't seem like a bug (yet), rather a question of gameplay and possibly balance. I'm moving this to the main thread, maybe there are players with more experience who can share some tips.

What I can say is that beyond the schedule itself, villagers have perks that affect their happiness beyond work hours themselves.

Villagers will lose happiness while they work anyway, they recover it from leisure. So you'll always see "working hours" during, well, working hours.

[phylumt]

Originally posted by The Sad Snail:

Hey there, this doesn't seem like a bug (yet), rather a question of gameplay and possibly balance. I'm moving this to the main thread, maybe there are players with more experience who can share some tips.

What I can say is that beyond the schedule itself, villagers have perks that affect their happiness beyond work hours themselves.

Villagers will lose happiness while they work anyway, they recover it from leisure. So you'll always see "working hours" during, well, working hours.

I've had two leave due to happiness, I have full walls around working and living spaces, totems, one that left was only working 6 hours, 3 hours leisure... which anything less is the need for government paying him welfare. I did not have this problem until the patch on the 24th, you may not consider it a bug but there was a change that impacted happiness. There needs to be better explanation of how to solve situations with NPCs, and should have more options of things that change and improve moods.

[Aurelius]

Maybe related, maybe not - I have people who are at or near 100 happiness who still show the "unhappy" icon and indicate a small happiness decrease when they're "on shift," in the middle of their working hours. I believe it's a temporary decrease indicating they're less happy when they're running around working. But usually the decrease is made up for by positive movement during leisure and rest hours, so they're back to 100 in the morning.
I would posit that you're always going to get a little flux downward during a working shift; and this needs to be made up for by ensuring the rest of their needs are satisfied so that they always get back to higher levels of happiness after a sleep period.
For reference, my average happiness for 74 villagers is probably 85 at a given moment. I run three shifts with 8 hours sleep, 12 hours work, 4 hours leisure. The leisure hours are set to have 1 hour when they wake up, 2 hours between two 6 hour work blocks, and finally another hour before they sleep.

[Mearlin]

Make sure all housing has positive points, otherwise they loose points while sleeping. Having too many in the house will make the housing go into the red. Add plants and trees and stuff around the houses, this can increase the housing points and move all industry away from housing.

[The Sad Snail]

So just to clarify, the basic rule is that work hours make villagers unhappy and leisure makes them happy. In between they grow tired and also need to rest, and on top we plopped the perk system which throws in various conditions that make them extra happy or unhappy based on weather, work, time of day etc.

[phylumt]

Originally posted by Mearlin:

Make sure all housing has positive points, otherwise they loose points while sleeping. Having too many in the house will make the housing go into the red. Add plants and trees and stuff around the houses, this can increase the housing points and move all industry away from housing.

Everyone has a cottage, also a fence and a tower. I've got two worship areas, a healers tent (was a streamer said it adds to happiness) and a fire. I'll add decorations throughout home and work areas which are currently separate areas. Though, it feels more like the SIMS game at that point, which I can't stand... but I love ASKA.

[phylumt]

Originally posted by The Sad Snail:

So just to clarify, the basic rule is that work hours make villagers unhappy and leisure makes them happy. In between they grow tired and also need to rest, and on top we plopped the perk system which throws in various conditions that make them extra happy or unhappy based on weather, work, time of day etc.

Changes in happiness is fine, but it sometimes just seems to crash. I've had two villagers leave and a few others who are just really angry at me. Others are just busy little beavers happy as can be. Perhaps if the individual reasons other than "-work" or such. One of my guys has been dropping, he is currently sleeping and is still not happy about his work hours, and doesn't seem to be going up. It seems that the "-work" shouldn't be present unless they are actually working. One of the ones that left had 3 hours of Leisure and only worked 6 hours. After them being unhappy with work hours and putting them down to 6 I saw only decline so added a 3rd leisure hour... they still left.

[Zarubine]

My workers all get a 1h leisure time in the middle of their shift as a lunch break. Otherwise they can't eat or warm themselves during the (work) day. They are all happy.

[phylumt]

Originally posted by Zarubine:

My workers all get a 1h leisure time in the middle of their shift as a lunch break. Otherwise they can't eat or warm themselves during the (work) day. They are all happy.

I will give it a try, however as to my point earlier, it doesn't make sense that work negatives would exist when they are sleeping.

[phylumt]

Originally posted by Zarubine:

My workers all get a 1h leisure time in the middle of their shift as a lunch break. Otherwise they can't eat or warm themselves during the (work) day. They are all happy.

I added a Yule Tree to my main living encampment, and added Lupini small gardens through the living and work areas along the roadways and near some of the buildings.

[phylumt]

I am building a new living section, it will feature upgraded plank walls, a center area with a fire and two larger decorations, upgraded 3rd tier housing, random decorations through out, a path and a defensive tower.

[phylumt]

Originally posted by The Sad Snail:

So just to clarify, the basic rule is that work hours make villagers unhappy and leisure makes them happy. In between they grow tired and also need to rest, and on top we plopped the perk system which throws in various conditions that make them extra happy or unhappy based on weather, work, time of day etc.

btw just so you know, I really appreciate that you participate in the forums, this game is really good for stage of development and I hope to have content to play for a long time to come.

[Jebbalon]

Here is how my work schedules look..
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3455813840
Just the Day starting at 6am and Night starting at 6pm. 2 six hour work periods, with 3 two hour leisure times and rest is sleep.

The -Work red debuff is the best it will ever be. Meaning it's good that it is only one negative sign. - - Work would be overworking them and thus bad. There is no + or ++ Work green buff. Make sense? You just want to balance that with the leisure times.

So, that single -Work is not what is making them leave! You have some other food, water, cold, bad weather, safety issue that is making them miserable.

[Bobman]

Give them more then two hours of leisure time, I do 10 hr work days 8hrs sleep and the rest leisure (3 before work 3 after work), and they are all 90 and up.

I tried 8 hr day but wasn't very productive since it takes about an hour for them to get to work site.

I also have a 12 hr schedule but only use that for guards and military.