Hauling is completely whack

[Clifford, Destroyer of Worlds]

I'm new to the game and one mechanic that is really doing my head in is the way that colonists will only pick up a single item at a time. This wouldn't be so bad if it behaved consistently, but it doesn't. For example, a pawn when loading a caravan, will pick up dozens of items at one, filling their inventory to load up a camel, but when unloading the same, they will make a dozen trips taking one thing at a time. Same with picking up anything from the ground, one at a time. It's completely mental and does my head in.
I know there are mods for this but I don't really like gameplay mods as they change the balance, and this would free up A LOT of pawns hauling time, but sheesh, it's hard not too when this mechanic is so dumb.

[LookToWindward]

Get the Pick up and Haul mod, this by and large fixes it!

[brian_va]

Originally posted by Clifford_Destroyer_of_Worlds:

I don't really like gameplay mods as they change the balance, and this would free up A LOT of pawns hauling time, but sheesh, it's hard not too when this mechanic is so dumb.

like you said, its about balance. if the caravan loading took that long, they wouldn't be used, and there would be no end of the complaints. if you want to incorporate something of the caravan loading without mods but better time usage, look up a video on the caravan trick.

[Païtiti]

Pick up and Haul makes the game much too easy. Planning your base in such a way that pawns don't have to walk too much is at least for me an important aspect of the game. Using the mod makes that more or less irrlevant.

I usually employ a dedicated hauler or two that basicially do nothing else but hauling. That saves up time for the other pawns to do their work. If a lot of items have to be hauled I put everybody on priortiy 1 and designate an area so everything gets done immediatly and I can have an eye on the pawns while doing so. It's a bit of work but more realistic imo. Like, your loggers go out and cut the wood and when they are done the colony helps pulling in the harvest. Like in a real life scenario.

[Dr.Acula]

The hauling mechanic was one of the aspects that basically pushed me to use mods.

Rimworld as game is very interesting, challenging and fun. However there are various mechanics where I'm constantly just asking "WHY?". And yes I know the basic answer => "Balance".

But some weird attempts to make a game somehow balanced can also create a lot of frustration. In the end you may always want to consider that if you would have more fun with Rimworld if certain annoying things were easier to deal with.

Do you really want to do carry work for the next two weeks after a raid happened? I doubt that. Do you want to sort through what items you actually need while they are outside rotting away? I doubt that.

So mods allow you to solve these questions. Also always consider that Rimworld is a single player game. You're not causing harm to anyone by changing certain aspects of the game. You're just adjusting it to better suit your playstyle.

Also you may think "that just makes the game to easy". There are also mods that introduce new challenges which makes the game harder again. You think the mechs are to easily defeated? Install combat extended and then feel free to cry about centipedes...

You want to have more challenging humanoid raids? You can add pirate factions that have pretty good equipment. How do you feel about fighting the "V.O.I.D"?

You can install Vanilla Factions Expanded: Mechanoids which adds a "Total War" mechanic that constantly has mech ships landing on the world map which you want to attack and destroy because if you don't the mech raids will become bigger and stronger and at some point when you encounter big raids of advanced centipedes and other nasty mechs you will likely lose even if you have the best gear available.

[cainboy]

Super new to the game, may be wrong.
But from what I can tell, they are not picking up 'one', they are picking up 1 'stack'. *(ofc can be wrong)
I thought they were doing that too and it seemed inconsistent until i zoomed in and saw the quantities that were in each sprite, like, rice stacks to 75, if a single sprite has 75, they take it. if its less than, they rush around grabbing more rice until they have 75.

I think i'll try out the mod after i get more..... accustomed to the game.
I am doing tribal, nearly onto my 2nd winter, and i've lost 3 pawns >.>; I am not a good leader apparently.


how much does the mod jack it up by?

[Dr.Acula]

The mod doesn't simply "jack it up". Your pawns will have weight and bulk limitations. All items have certain bulk and weight values. Something like hay for example would have very low bulk and weight values per piece. Therefore you can carry a lot of it (depending on the abilities and equipment of the pawn).

However weapons and armor will weigh a lot more and therefore you can carry less of them.

In some situations your pawn will only carry one item because for example a marine armor will weigh 50Kg and it might the max your pawn can carry.

if you have several clothing items weighing less than a kg then you will be able to carry more. Still as the items have certain sizes the bulk value will be maxed out at some point.

In the end, yes your pawns can carry more but it will be a lot more dynamic than the simple 75 piece stack of basic things like plants and one armor or weapon per run.

[Païtiti]

The difference between modded and unmodded in that regard is seen when harvesting. While taking in the harvest, especially on large fields, might take days and/or the whole colony with pick up and haul one colonist is enough. They will zoom over the field picking up everything in one or two hauls. Ofc there is heavier stuff or better said "bulkiers" stuff but even that can be hauler in much higher quantities than in vanilla.

Same is true for example while building. Some stuff you can build near your stockpile and then just minimize it at and put it where you want it. But that's not possible when building for example a wall. Vanilla your builder/haulers can bring 1 stack of stones to the walls and your builders can then build them. Modded your one builder can basicially solo the wall and has not to walk back to the stockpile. While this is ofc nice as it saves heaps of times it completely screws over the balance of the game. While it usually takes 3 colonists (for example) and two days to build that wall, modded you can have it done with 1 colonist in 1 day.

[boytype]

Pick Up and Haul + While Your Up + Share the Load = fixed Hauling
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1279012058
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2034960453
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1356838246

[psychotron666]

Typical rule of thumb is that you can only pick up and haul one item at a time, unless they stack, then you can do up to a full stack.

Caravan loading skirts the rules, because otherwise caravans would take days to load. It's purely a balance thing and gameplay reason why they can carry more stuff while making a caravan.

[Makeithappen]

Originally posted by LookToWindward:

Get the Pick up and Haul mod, this by and large fixes it!

This is what I use. Although sometimes they will grab a piece of wood in the next room that needs to merge with another stack. Slowing them down a bit because of weight. They go half across the base to drop the first thing they picked up then walk all the way back to place the wood.

Then sometimes they grab 10 things, 5 items that belong in stockpile 1 and the other half in stock pile 2 on the other side of the base. They then proceed to drop 1 item at a time walking back and forth between stockpiles. Its a great mod but in a lot of cases it is inefficient.

[cainboy]

Will def try these mods out after i get more of my feet wet.
only got vanilla, and no where near used to the games mechanics >.>;

[Vermillion Cardinal]

Ever since I read about the caravan loading trick I use it for getting harvests in; create a caravan, draft the pawn, then go around vacuuming up crops and dropping them in storage. Works for other stuff as well and is improved by increasing carrying capacity with VE backpacks and the like. Takes a lot of micromanaging, but great for those who don't want to install hauling mods and don't mind the clicking.

[Clifford, Destroyer of Worlds]

I'm really torn between staying vanilla and installing PUAH. While it's completely dumb that pawns can only carry one t-shirt at a time, being able to mop up an entire field or build miles of wall in one go is game breaking also.

[Clifford, Destroyer of Worlds]

Originally posted by Païtiti:

Pick up and Haul makes the game much too easy. Planning your base in such a way that pawns don't have to walk too much is at least for me an important aspect of the game. Using the mod makes that more or less irrlevant.

That's why I haven't installed PUAH yet, as building the base around efficiency is part of it. But I keep coming back to the caravan example, they will unload up one berry and walk hours to the base, it makes no logical sense and I usually end up having to keep forcing them to unload otherwise valuable stuff stays on the muffalo for days. Stranded Alien Dawn handles it a bit better, they tend to pick up as much as they can up to their capacity limit, but that still seems only for stackable items, I think weapons and apparel they also haul one at a time.

[Kazouie]

Originally posted by Clifford_Destroyer_of_Worlds:

I'm really torn between staying vanilla and installing PUAH. While it's completely dumb that pawns can only carry one t-shirt at a time, being able to mop up an entire field or build miles of wall in one go is game breaking also.

A good vanilla way to make hauling less painful is to outsource it from your pawns to hauling animals or robots.
A dozen dogs or haulers make it a breeze.