Stock manager

[White Rose!]

Basically just a real life stock manager, they order more supplies when a place is low on it. They wouldnt be able to order drug supplies like seeds or psuedo but they could order ingredients and dirt. you could use it to set minimum stock of stuff, and when it gets too low they order more of it

[El Profe]

GOOD ONE. I think everyone have thought about this.

[Munkey]

The worker automation needs to be changed to a supply/demand system first, but yes, managers are needed.
You should be able to fully automate the entire process from ordering supplies to delivering product to dealers, but obviously you have to gate it behind progression to extend the challenge.

Ultimately the player should have little to do with the day to day operations of a property once it is set up; focusing instead on the larger business management, fighting rivals, expanding into multiple cities, and manipulating police/politicians.

[Genpredator]

I think it'd be better if shelves could be designated for specific items, then handlers unload deliveries to the shelves. Then have the chemists & botanists pull items from the shelves for the task they're performing. That would fix the meth lab for example, because handlers don't check to see what the cooking station needs, they just pull a random item from the shelf if the slots at the workstation is empty. It's very unintuitive currently. Since the worker cap is so restricted, adding another necessary worker would fix one problem but cause another I think.

[White Rose!]

Originally posted by Munkey:

The worker automation needs to be changed to a supply/demand system first, but yes, managers are needed.
You should be able to fully automate the entire process from ordering supplies to delivering product to dealers, but obviously you have to gate it behind progression to extend the challenge.

Yeah gating it behind progression makes sense, Maybe the player could unlock it later on after reaching some sort of expansion milestone, maybe having enough employees causes it an event chain to trigger that allows you to hire stock managers

[Spy]

Originally posted by White Rose!:

Basically just a real life stock manager, they order more supplies when a place is low on it. They wouldnt be able to order drug supplies like seeds or psuedo but they could order ingredients and dirt. you could use it to set minimum stock of stuff, and when it gets too low they order more of it

Had a similar idea but I also imagined adding employee/overall facility management to it. As in making sure everyone follows their work without slacking off, gets paid (no more walking to each bed when you have 10+ employees), and perhaps taking produce as an additional payment requirement just so that they can handle all the stress that the MC normally has to deal with.

[The Hermit]

You could call it a manager of sorts, they could keep up employee efficiency and they could message you when you’re low on your stock the messaging system is a sort of nerfed version of it though, but another thing is the manager could message you when an employee is not working due to lack of money in briefcase. And here’s another idea: you could arrange a deal with suppliers (only once you have reached loyal relationship status with them) that they would come, personally, to your property and put the seeds or pseudo or whatever essential ingredient to a designated rack.

[Wolfwood]

Originally posted by Genpredator:

Then have the chemists & botanists pull items from the shelves for the task they're performing.

Botanists can already pull supplies from a storage shelf/location.

Chemists would be a bad idea to have this because they can operate several different types of stations. If they had a source to pull from like the Botanists, they would pull that same source for ALL the stations they are assigned to because all the chemists are doing, is adding the items that are legal for the spaces on the machine they are operating. Since they can operate 4 machines, you wouldnt be able to, for example, operate a line of mixers to produce a 4-step product. You'd need a chemist for each step, each pulling from a different source so you dont screw up the mix.

The only way I see this working for the Chemist, is if you were able to go into the station (generally the mixing station) or, perhaps there would be a lvl 3 mixing station. That lvl 3 station would be the only one that has the ability to have a locked in ingredients AND able to have a storage source assigned to it. That way you could set it to *only* produce a specific mixture. Locking in the drug may seem unnecessary, but it would also allow for the first mixer in a line to limit what drug it gets, just as an extra safeguard. (you'd be locking one item down, might as well lock them both down for simplicity).

example, Tell it to only mix "<insert mixed drug name here>" and Cuke and not even allow other ingredients to be put into the machine until you change or clear the setting. It would then receive the drug from the previous mixer, and pull the Cuke from the indicated storage.

I will admit, im not 100% sure if you can assign another machine as the destination for the grow pots or drying racks. I think you can though. If so, that would take care of the first mixer in the line.


As for the Op's suggestion of an NPC ordering supplies. I wouldnt do this. Id honestly rather have something in the phone's Devilry app that you could enable like "Subscriptions" that you can just set it at an interval and time to reorder specific supplies that you set (one subscription per store).

As far as "shelves could be designated for specific items". Perhaps two more shelf types named like "Steel Storage rack" and "Large Steel Storage rack". Both would take up 2x4 floor space. The Steel would be 4-tier and have 12 storage slots, while the Large steel would be 5-tier and have 16 (one vans worth). Both the steel variants you'd be able to 'lock' a specific item in to it. You'd have to place the item into a specific spot (say a spot above the main storage spots) and you wouldn't be able to use that item.

Those are my thoughts anyway.

[Genpredator]

Botanists can pull from a singular shelf, but handlers have to restock it, but in no particular way. The automation is bogged down with the constant juggling of the items on shelves and stations, and it takes so many handlers to restock shelves that it barely leaves room for other types of employees.

Each mix has a progression system which the chemists can follow from start to finish, so long as the ingredients are available. The way the pots are designated what type of seed gets planted and additives gets used, the mixers could work the same way, but let the chemists grab the supplies so there's no need to have 5 handlers to juggle resupplying shelves.