Resource Magnets, Cranes, Greenhouses, general automation

[MAKAIROSI]

Resource magnets and cranes... I was expecting something else. See, the way I see it, the point of those buildings is pretty much automation. A crane transfers a resource from one side to the other (automated) and a magnet, well, it drags a resource under it. Again, automation.

However, the magnet seemingly has a range, and it cannot magnetize anything from chests. It also cannot put anything in chests, as AFAIK you cannot put a chest under it (same as messhalls).

Cranes, on the other hand, cannot be set to look for a specific resource *only*. They will grab (as far as I've seen) whatever goes to their one side.

But, one would say, you can put a magnet next to it, then a crane from the magnet to the building, and glue them? I suppose.

However, let's think of the following scenario, I simply want to melt iron, but I want to automate it. So I have iron mines, a smelter, and lumber buildings. I need one magnet to get the iron, and one magnet to get the wood, then two cranes to put them in the smelter, then a chest to store the output. You also need glues, each of which costs 1 magic and 1 charcoal - and the magic is really hard to come by.

I'm pretty sure that this will result in disaster, and not only that, but in the end-game you need 3 smelters (iron, sand, gold) so 6 magnets, 6 cranes, 3 chests, but the goldmine also outputs coins and stones, so you need 2 more magnets, and a total of 6+6+3+2 = 17 glues!!

And that's not all, but you also require the *space* to put all that in. So it seems to me that the most useful way to use those buildings is to use them for food production. BUT, I just tried that.

Chickens produce eggs -> egg magnet -> crane puts eggs in stove -> produce omelletes.
Sounds cool doesn't it?
Well it doesn't work. The crane only works if it's pointing to the end of the pile, so if the stove fills up, the crane will start just spewing the cards wherever. Also, from what I saw, those cards that end up flying aren't even picked by the magnet xD

The automatic way of depositing items under same-items is the *only* viable way to automate things that I have found out. Place chickens next to stove, stove next to messhall, ensure that the messhall has at least 1 omellette and the stove at least 1 egg, and it will happen automatically. However, if the resources get depleted, the eggs don't know where to go, nor do the omelletes.

In general, there's so much wrong with automating things in this game, that I don't know why they put the crane in, it will only end up in disaster if you attempt to use it for what it's meant for (i.e, automating things).

Greenhouses on the other hand, they state that they replant the crops. They don't.
They replant *specific* crops. For example, they do not replant sugarcanes or bananas or cotton, but they do replant limes and seaweed. There's 0 way to know what is going to be replanted or not, unless you test it.

So in general, I can't find a good way to automate anything in the game, in such a way that it will stay like that.

[CrimsonSolace]

Originally posted by MAKAIROSI:

However, the magnet seemingly has a range

Magnets have had infinite range for almost 2 years.

Originally posted by MAKAIROSI:

It also cannot put anything in chests, as AFAIK you cannot put a chest under it (same as messhalls).

correct. you need a crane in order to deposit items

Originally posted by MAKAIROSI:

You also need glues, each of which costs 1 magic and 1 charcoal - and the magic is really hard to come by.

two things. 1: you dont need glues if you have magnets, their whole point is to keep things orderly, which they do well. 2: i have zero idea why you find magic dust hard to come by. usually by the time im implementing magnets, im overflowing with dust.

Originally posted by MAKAIROSI:

And that's not all, but you also require the *space* to put all that in.

yeah, space is a resource in this game. the trade off for automating your production is needing to make space. i also don't really understand how you find space to be very limited. lighthouses have been in the game for as long as magnets and cranes.

Originally posted by MAKAIROSI:

Well it doesn't work. The crane only works if it's pointing to the end of the pile, so if the stove fills up, the crane will start just spewing the cards wherever

the problem here is not the crane. your input is too high. you are producing too many eggs, and the solution is not to change how cranes work, it's to either reduce your input (get rid of some chickens) or increase your output (split the system into more stoves).

Originally posted by MAKAIROSI:

there's so much wrong with automating things in this game, that I don't know why they put the crane in, it will only end up in disaster if you attempt to use it for what it's meant for

i think this game actually has some of the best automation i've seen. also, what do you mean end in disaster? could you share some examples of a disaster?

Originally posted by MAKAIROSI:

Greenhouses on the other hand, they state that they replant the crops. They don't.
They replant *specific* crops. For example, they do not replant sugarcanes or bananas or cotton, but they do replant limes and seaweed. There's 0 way to know what is going to be replanted or not, unless you test it.

I agree entirely. I think they should implement a 2 part solution to this

• Change the greenhouse description to say it only replants certain crops.
  
• Change the description of crops to note which ones work in the greenhouse.

Have a great day!