Restrict area NEEDS TO CHANGE

[muzzy]

Restrict area -feature is not fit for any single purpose. It tries to combine multiple goals, satisfying none of them correctly.

Current behavior of restrict area:
1. Only perform jobs with target inside the area
2. Prefer to move within the area, but move outside if you have to

Expected sane behavior:
1. Get inside if you're outside
2. Don't go out no matter what

The current functionality is not a good fit for job filtering due to the pathing restriction, and it's also not good for keeping people away from harm because that's not being enforced.

This becomes especially ugly when trying to deal with manhunter packs when you have a large number of buildings. Specifically, more than 5.

Yes, I can setup areas for each building separately, but there's a limit to the number of areas which means I will have to constantly remove and recreate them all the time. That's way too tedious, not the slightest bit fun.

Drafting is NOT a solution because you cannot rearm traps or repair doors while drafted.

Forbidding doors is NOT a solution because I want to kite the boars into traps by running between buildings at precise times.

The restrict area feature must be changed so that its functionality makes sense for at least some specific purpose.

[MAD]

enough of the capitals please

[grimm77]

I don't think I fully understand what you're saying here, but I get the impression that the problem isn't with zones and restrictions, but with the way that you're using them. Build walls around your colony and create a single zone that includes the area within the walls. Build a killbox with all of your traps, turrets and other nasty surprises just outside of your gate, and do not include it in the zone.

When raiders and other nasties come, restrict your colonists to the safe zone while the baddies run through your killbox.

Done and done... unless something changed in A14 that I don't know about.

[Steelwind]

When I restrict someone they stay there. I use it to exile people in harsh environments and they will stay there until they starve/freeze or break.

[DEETS]

There's a nifty mod out on the workshop that removes the limit on the number of areas you can have -- I'd suggest grabbing it. There's also a cleaning area mod (limits the area that gets cleaned) that you may want to look into as well, I'm unsure if it has been updated to A14. Sure, it isn't base game, but you can modify it to meet your preferences.

Pretty much if there's something in the game that you don't like, the modding community is the goto. Chances are, if you don't like something, several other people probably don't like it, so one of them has programmed a fix for that something.

[muzzy]

The problem is that if a zone has disconnected sections, the colonists WILL NOT STAY IN ZONE. They will walk outside to move between the different sections. So you can't have multiple separate buildings in a same zone and expect people to stay indoors.

[Phoenix C64]

Originally posted by muzzy:

Expected sane behavior:
1. Get inside if you're outside
2. Don't go out no matter what

that's exactly how it's working. maybe you need to L2P and how to make zones properly?

EDIT: and BTW, you already had a post about this, there was no reason whatsoever to make another one.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/359543951703193966/

[KatherineOfSky]

Originally posted by muzzy:

The problem is that if a zone has disconnected sections, the colonists WILL NOT STAY IN ZONE. They will walk outside to move between the different sections. So you can't have multiple separate buildings in a same zone and expect people to stay indoors.

This is perfectly logical behavior. You are allowing them to be in building X, Y, and Z, and so they must travel between them.

The way you are using zones makes no sense...

As Grimm said, build a wall around your base, and zone the inside to be the "Safe Zone".

If you want people to say in one specific building, make a single zone for that building. Make a separate zone for each building, and your colonists will not stray.

I have found zones to be extremely useful in my 300+ hours of playtime (pre-steam) -- they are great for creating Safe zones, animal grazing areas, directed construction areas, trapping Thrumbos, assigning colonists to specific workstations, etc.

They don't "fixing"... however, you may need to learn better how to use them :-)

[grimm77]

Originally posted by muzzy:

The problem is that if a zone has disconnected sections, the colonists WILL NOT STAY IN ZONE. They will walk outside to move between the different sections. So you can't have multiple separate buildings in a same zone and expect people to stay indoors.

Okay, I get it now. If that's the way you want to build your colony, then you'll need a mod to remove the cap.

Personally, I wall off my colony. I've never been able to get far with a colony where baddies could just wander into it.

[muzzy]

The current functionality is absolutely not logical behavior, the design of the feature isn't suitable for ANY SINGLE PURPOSE unless you intentionally limit the use of the feature so that you don't accidentally trigger its designed behavior.

You guys are using workarounds to navigate around broken design. Just because you can work around it doesn't mean it isn't broken.

Originally posted by Phoenix C64:

EDIT: and BTW, you already had a post about this, there was no reason whatsoever to make another one.

That one started on the wrong foot because I didn't quite understand WTF was going on exactly. Now I know the exact mechanics and I have presented them in the opening message. But it looks like even now plenty of people are more interested in insulting me and telling me I don't know how to play the game.

[Steelwind]

I think you are just approaching it wrong. I use split zones quite a bit. They run between the zones and do whatever needs to be done. One example is a home area and a mine or farm. They'll happily go mine then return to the home area with their ore and chill or do other work there. For defense or precise lockdown you need just one zone.

[KatherineOfSky]

@Muzzy -- you aren't even reading anyone's responses. We've already advised you how to use the system.

The system IS logical, and DOES work.

YOU need to learn how to use it.

Continuing to expound on your own ignorance is not going to help you learn how to play the game better. Listen to veterans' advice.

[muzzy]

Originally posted by Steelwind:

I think you are just approaching it wrong. I use split zones quite a bit. They run between the zones and do whatever needs to be done. One example is a home area and a mine or farm. They'll happily go mine then return to the home area with their ore and chill or do other work there. For defense or precise lockdown you need just one zone.

When you limit job areas, you don't want to restrict pathing. You just want your guys to take the shortest possible paths while doing their jobs and staying inside the zone isn't important.

When you do a lockdown, you want pathing to remain inside the area and you don't really care about job filtering as long as people don't move outside the area. The job filtering happens as an implicit side effect.

Both of these restrictions are useful, but curiously they are two completely different things. It never makes sense to have both of these behaviors apply to the same area at the same time.

Lockdown doesn't keep colonists inside because the feature tries to satisfy logic that's useful only for job filtering, and job filtering becomes inefficient because the feature tries to satisfy the lockdown pathing restrictions... Thus, the design of area restriction feature doesn't succesfully accomplish either of the two goals it tries to deal with, it only provides half-assed approach to both of them with massive caveats that cause newbies to lose their colonies.

The two features should be split and the restrict areas should only do one thing at a time, either filter jobs or restrict movement.

[Phoenix C64]

what are you talking about lockdown? this isn't Prison Architect, in case you didn't notice.

[muzzy]

Originally posted by Phoenix C64:

Originally posted by muzzy:

Expected sane behavior:
1. Get inside if you're outside
2. Don't go out no matter what

that's exactly how it's working. maybe you need to L2P and how to make zones properly?

Incorrect, that's not how it works. Proof:

1. Start a new game and find a wall.
2. Set your home zone on one side of the wall and wait for everyone to go there.
3. Expand the home zone so the zone reaches the other side of the wall, but does not go around the wall. Make sure there's no path inside the zone that colonists can use to walk to the other side
4. Order colonists to cut grass on the other side, in the unreachable area.

You will see your colonists leaving the restricted zone. They WILL go outside the zone to reach the other side.

Thus, using zones for lockdowns DOES NOT WORK and the behavior is unexpected.

[Phoenix C64]

Originally posted by muzzy:

Thus, using zones for lockdowns DOES NOT WORK and the behavior is unexpected.

then don't set your "lockdown" zones to where they shouldn't be: outside the wall? DUH!

edit: i have over 1000h. into this game, NEVER had problems as stupid are you are describing them. NEVER lost a colony or even a single colonist due pathing and zoning problems... not with toxic fallout, not ever.