Ground-penetrating scanner

[Captain Keen]

Um .. so I finally got this thing built, and now my head research guy feels he's too precious to do this type of work. If I force him to prioritise it, he'll work for like 10 seconds, then run off to do pretty much any other job.

I'd fire him, but he has skill 20, and I made him vicepresident too.

I really should have a word with the people in HR. Where do they find these guys? You'd almost imagine they ... fell out of the sky, and HR just gave them whatever job. Jeez.

[Premu]

Your researcher has probably some research to do. They'll priorize that before doing groundscanning.

So either wait for that to be finished and don't start the next research directly afterwards, or assign a second pawn to do research. So one will use the scanner.

[Captain Keen]

I have several assigned to research. No one uses the scanner. Not even when specifically ordered to (except for 10 seconds at a time).

♥♥♥♥ it. I'm having them all put in front of a firing squad!

[Captain Keen]

Oh - it works the other way around. Have someone else do research (which I can't order them to do, so I have to trick it) and then my research guy works the scanner.

Well, I guess that means no one get's shot today.

[Captain Keen]

Well - maybe. There's this guy called black. He's concerned with the appearance of his 'tattered apparel'. But the most worn item of clothing on him is his bluefur shirt, and it's at 69 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ %.

So ♥♥♥♥ that guy. He's getting shot!

[gussmed]

There’s a hidden priority order to tasks within a type. Harvesting before sowing, even though both are “grow” tasks, for example.

With research, the order is Research Table -> Long Range Scanner -> Ground penetrating scanner. The ground penetrating scanner has to be the only research object available before a colonist will use it.

What’s worse, you can’t fix it with “prioritize task.” You can’t prioritize research benches, they’re long term tasks. If you prioritize either kind of scanner, the “task” is over in about 10 seconds, and they re-evaluate what to do next then.

The answer is Fluffy’s Work Tab. It exposes the sub-tasks. You can set a colonist’s priorities to Research 3, Long Range 2, Ground Scanner 1, and he’ll use those in the order you want. In fact, the thing that pushed me into installing the Work Tab was this precise issue.

The Work Tab is what I consider a “quality of life” mod that doesn’t alter game balance in any way. It’s “vanilla enhanced” because all it does is give you finer control of priorities.

Now I can’t live without it, because there are a number of tasks that are lumped together that shouldn’t be. Drug synthesis, for example, is under the “Crafting” priority, even though it’s based on the Intellectual skill and not crafting. I can tell my general haulers to feed patients, instead of only my doctors being allowed to feed them.

The main drawback is that with the sub-tasks exposed, the Work priority menu has a million numbers, and it can get overwhelming. Fortunately you can collapse it to regular view whenever you don’t need the fine detail.

[For_Science!]

gussmed gives some good suggestions. Another option, if you don't want to install or use Fluffy's work tab, is to make a zone where there is nothing interesting to do EXCEPT work the ground scanner, and restrict your researcher to that zone. (Just remember to let him free afterward. Or, if you want this to be more of a permanent assignment, have the zone also include the rec room, dining room, and his sleeping quarters.)

[gussmed]

Zoning would work. To make it permanent, let the researcher travel everywhere EXCEPT the research bench. No need for his personal zone to be all that restrictive otherwise.

[Captain Keen]

What I do is, I just draft my main researcher until someone else mans the research bench.

[gussmed]

Obviously that works, but it’s a pain. Zoning will do exactly the same thing for you with no daily overhead if you don’t want to use Fluffy’s Work Tab.

Though it does mean another zone. I’ve got way too many myself.

[Captain Keen]

But zoning would mean dedicating my main research guy to scanning - or putting someone less capable on the scanner.

Also, it would mean confining one of my 9 colonists to this particular job. Or at least to that particular zone. I simply don't have the manpower. Not even really interested in getting more guys.

[Captain Keen]

Oh - another thing.

The drill. It requires power. So now I have to put power cables criss-cross all over my map?

Really?

The game needs a portable generator.

[Punyrock]

Originally posted by Captain Keen:

Oh - another thing.

The drill. It requires power. So now I have to put power cables criss-cross all over my map?

Really?

The game needs a portable generator.

Build a battery and move it around, or just use a wood generator if you have a lot of trees.

[believor in Prawn]

Originally posted by Captain Keen:

Oh - another thing.

The drill. It requires power. So now I have to put power cables criss-cross all over my map?

Really?

The game needs a portable generator.

i dont think you understand downsides.

[Captain Keen]

Originally posted by believer in prawn:

i dont think you understand downsides.

Look, even if that was any sort of argument, my counter would be 'I don't think you understand upsides'. Whoopti-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-doo. See how I did that? Marvel at my brilliance.

[Punyrock]

You both are being jerks.