Why are resources distributed *so* badly?

[WhamyKaBlamy]

My citizens literally move things away from where they're needed. I don't get it. I don't understand the mechanics that are going on to cause it to happen. Why is this a thing?

Here is an example: I have a couple of trading docks set up in the bottom left hand corner of my town centre. I have coal and iron to be auto-bought so I always have steel tools being built. Next to the docks I have 3 blacksmiths, all producing steel tools. This is the only place in my entire build where iron is regularly needed. I don't have an iron mine, I get it all through trading. I have more than enough fire wood that I have stockpiles of coal far beyond what I need. But.. my citizens move the iron and coal away to other stockpiles, to the point of choking them up and depriving my smiths of easy access. This even gets to the point where there is no iron sitting in the stockpiles next to the blacksmiths/traders. But what is constantly stocked up there is wood. Like.. half my wood supply. Even though it's not the closest place for any of the foresters.

Guess where all my iron gets sent? You guessed it, to the stockpiles near my foresters that I set up so my woodcutters would have easy access.

Guess what stockpiles get clogged up with so much iron that they barely function at times? You guessed it again; The woodcutter / forester stockpiles.

I don't understand what is going on here:
- There's no need for iron there
- There's no iron being mined there
- There's no resources being cleared there that would be iron

Why is it all being pushed there? It's so frustrating man.

Don't get me wrong, my town is working fine because I've built redundancy into it, but this is really stupid and adds problems that don't need to be there.

If anyone has an answer that'd be great.

It's not only the stockpiles. The markets go off and grab things that aren't needed. Why is a market that is nowhere near a tailor pulling a ton of leather and wool instead of food and stopping the tailors working properly? Why isn't the one next to the tailors pulling a ton of leather and wool?

[28rommel]

I (we) hear you.
Not sure if you are playing pure vanilla (no mods), maybe to reach achievements, but there is a mod that allows you to build stockpiles to specifically store only a certain kind of resource.
So for example you build a Coal-specific Stockpile, and only coal can be stored here. Or you build a Log-specific Stockpile, so only Logs can be stored here. Etc.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by WhamyKaBlamy:

...
Why is it all being pushed there? It's so frustrating man.

Don't get me wrong, my town is working fine because I've built redundancy into it, but this is really stupid and adds problems that don't need to be there.

If anyone has an answer that'd be great.

It's not only the stockpiles. The markets go off and grab things that aren't needed. Why is a market that is nowhere near a tailor pulling a ton of leather and wool instead of food and stopping the tailors working properly? Why isn't the one next to the tailors pulling a ton of leather and wool?

First, are you using any mods? :)

Next: The very basic inventory mechanics tend to work very well for the base game up to a certain point where a town gets to be... pretty big. At that point, it's worth considering playing "modded" for some extra logistics/convenience tools.

Not that I think you're doing anything wrong, but you're sort of playing "backwards" in terms of getting iron ore/raw materials from Trade. Sure, it works, but having a "constant stream" of incoming raw material supply, even if it may not be as much as one trade, tends to work better. In that way, rather than a bunch of workers all moving to grab and move the new materials, you have a few working all the time often carrying less than their full capacity. Distribution gets a bit more even in that situation, I expect.

Move a marketplace/barn near where the goods are needed, even if it's redundant. Reduce the storage capacity, if you can, in areas where those raw materials aren't needed as much.

Since I started playing with the Colonial Charter mod, I haven't looked back. And, I won't likely ever return to "vanilla" play.. It's not because CC solves some problem with the base game or that there's anything at all wrong with the base game. It's just that it adds a lot of nice conveniences and some fun/interesting fiddly bits. :) In your example, CC has several options for you including specialized Market Carts that can store a select class of items for nearby workshops/uses. Even so, however, the player has to place such specialized things... tactically, always with travel distance in mind and the like.

To solve in vanilla, either move the workshops to where the stuff is or move the stuff to where they are... Reduce the storage chances in areas they're not used, increase them where they are.

I'd also recommend getting an ongoing source of supply so you have constant stocking efforts rather than one huge delivery effort. You'd likely get a more even distribution that way, though it's never truly "assured" as you can't control inventory levels "by item" very well in vanilla for each storage area/building.

Note: Colonial Charter is pretty darn neato... It's got a lot of things I never use, but there are some buildings/things in there that are very nice and really enable the functioning of much larger colonies with more complex/convoluted logistical needs. :)

[maiden4meldin]

Marketplace will stock everything except Stones. I set my townships up, With a Blacksmith, A Tailor and a Woodcutter, typically right beside the Market. I place farms inside the Marketplace radius, and give One Barn per Two Farms. I place One Barn between the Blacksmith, and Tailor, and I place a 6x6 Stockpile beside the Woodcutter. I usually place the woodcutter on the side of the Marketplace, and on the side of a forester hub.

For Houses, I build three directly in contact with the Marketplace, Then One or two for the Farms, And a few more on the other side of the Blacksmith and Tailor, and Woodcutter.

The Marketplace, will send out the Vendor's to resupply their shelves, with Logs for the Woodcutter, With Iron and Coal for the Blacksmith, and Hides, and Wool for the Tailor.

By building these in Every Market zone, I decrease the number of Vendors required by the Marketplace. Because a Vendor will Travel the Entire Map to restock the Market. Workers like the Blacksmith, will travel to the Market for Resupply, Not necessarily the stockpile placed right beside the store, They will typically check Markets first.

By providing a Barn for the Blacksmith/Tailor they will deposit the tools, and coats into the nearest Barn, the Vendor will come to that Barn, and stock tools and coats in the Market. If I have a Marketplace clear across the map, and do not have any blacksmiths or tailors in that area, then That Vendor will have to spend a whole day walking across the map to get the tools, or coats for the Market, it can cause many delays.

[Crai-Crai]

I've been playing Colonial Charter so long I forgot it wasn't vanilla.

+1 to the suggestions for item specific stockpiles and storage buildings (in CC). One problem I have with those, though, is that laborers tend to carry lots of different items, and when they go to set their stuff down, they always look for a stockpile or a building that takes all of it. So if they are bringing 10 logs and a mushroom in from the field, they will walk past the log stockpile and put everything in the nearest general stockpile they can find. So I was finding my general stockpiles were maxing out and my specific stockpiles were sitting empty while laborers walked around.

I also think that laborers are not intentionally trying to move the iron away from the blacksmiths, so much as they are trying to spread it evenly around the map, so the blacksmiths always go through the little bit that is near them, and the iron builds up in places where it is not used. Same effect in the end, though, which is that resources are not being concentrated where they need to be.

[dixiechow]

Originally posted by Crai-Crai:

I've been playing Colonial Charter so long I forgot it wasn't vanilla.

+1 to the suggestions for item specific stockpiles and storage buildings (in CC). One problem I have with those, though, is that laborers tend to carry lots of different items, and when they go to set their stuff down, they always look for a stockpile or a building that takes all of it. So if they are bringing 10 logs and a mushroom in from the field, they will walk past the log stockpile and put everything in the nearest general stockpile they can find. So I was finding my general stockpiles were maxing out and my specific stockpiles were sitting empty while laborers walked around.

I also think that laborers are not intentionally trying to move the iron away from the blacksmiths, so much as they are trying to spread it evenly around the map, so the blacksmiths always go through the little bit that is near them, and the iron builds up in places where it is not used. Same effect in the end, though, which is that resources are not being concentrated where they need to be.

I agree with your experience with item specific stockpiles. I tried them awhile back when they became available with a mod. I did not like them. The only specific storage facility I have has much luck with is a grain silo. I like to plant wheat and make flour for baking. If I put a silo net to my windmill it fills up with grain and the workers have the grain right next to the mill.

As for blacksmiths and woodcutters, if I start having a problem with lack of iron ore and logs in the nearby stockpile I build a wood cart and iron cart near them and let the workers run around bringing them the raw materials they need.