How does Gathering Posts work?

[Blubb340]

Many Streamers and Youtubers seem to be confused about this building. Are the people, who work at the gathering post, collecting ressources or are they just there you deliver the ressources (collected by other people) to the storage near the core?

How does this building work?^^

Regards

[Pure Hostility]

Well... as the name says, they are Gathering (collecting) the nearby resources.
They also provide small warmth to workers, thus decrease the chance of getting ill by working in outdoors

To burst your immersion bubble, I will post this, if you don't want to read it, don't.
It describes (from my obeservations) how the game handles resource collection from the mechanical standpoint.

The visuals of the game are mostly cosmetic, you have to remember this.
Game works mostly as a spreadhseet simulator, as soon as you assign workers to something, the collection begins, even though no one is on the site yet. As soon as an resource is collected it is automatically transfered to your resource stockpile, there is no need to haul anything. People walking on the screen are just for the immersive purposes (it looks really good).
This surely will reduce the game load in higher pop cities, as the game doesn't have to calculate EACH individual and what they are carrying at the exact moment. Still, you can see how many people are working at each zone by seeing their visual representations.

[Aryvian]

So, is it better to have a gathering post than to assign people to specific resource sites? If I have 15 workers assigned to a gathering post covering 3 different resources, do they spread the collection evenly among those 3? Do 15 worker assigned to said gathering post gather resources slower than 15 assigned to one specific resource site? And do my workers keep warmer if assigned to a gathering post, rather than to a resource site itself? This is all very confusing..

[The Phantom Raspberry Blower]

^ also what is the difference between assigning workers or engineers to resources?

[Mac]

Originally posted by The Phantom Raspberry Blower:

^ also what is the difference between assigning workers or engineers to resources?

I believe engineers are more efficient.

[Fire.Ant]

I am doing a series of experiments to check out how good Gathering Posts are. So far, it seems they are way superior to the regular gathering method of simply putting people to a pile.

1 Gathering Posts, 3 piles (2 Wood, 1 Steel) - 10 Workers
OUTPUT: 4.2 Wood /h, 2 Steel/h

10 Workers sent to a pile of Wooden Crates
OUTPUT: 4 Wood /h

This clearly shows that Gathering Post have a clear cut upper hand with the same amount of workforce. Of course Gathering Post need resources, but the speed of recovery of the cost will cover it's cost within the first 5 hours of operating.

Distance to the pile is insignificant. As long as the Pile is within radius, the output will be the same in all gathering posts (with same workforce and effeciency) - how close or far the Post is from the pile, pays no difference.

Gathering Posts gather faster with less workforce and in better conditions (as they can be heated up), so they also reduce the numbers of ill people.

[Belegost]

Gathering outposts let you save on manpower. They take 10 people and you can place them so they cover several resource piles at once and they will gather them simultaneously. From what I observed there is no difference in gathering speed between workers and engineers.
Also they provide heating, so your people don't get sick and you can have them run on extended or 24h shifts if needed.

There is no reson not to use gathering posts, especially in second scenario, where you are VERY tight on manpower, since you can put a tomaton in one and it'll gather stuff 24/7 untill the resources run out.

[xfor]

Yes, gathering posts are more efficient. This also true when you assign an automaton to a gathering post, compared to letting it pick up a pile directly.

[Belegost]

Originally posted by Fire.Ant:

Of course Gathering Post need resources, but the speed of recovery of the cost will cover it's cost within the first 5 hours of operating.

This. Basically you are trading an upfront investment for less manpower and more even resource flow in the long run. In early game your manpower is your most precious and scarce resource, so it's good to use it wisely.

[gabgab01]

you cna also, in addition to putting people in gathering posts, also put people o nthe pile itself. so you can have one wood pile, have 15 people working on it, AND have 10 people in a gatherign post in radius, so that a total of 25 people work on one pile.

i use this tactic iwth automatons on thumpers ot get teh maximum amount of coal with the minimum amount of buildings, thus cramming in even more thumpers and gathering posts aorund one steam hub.

[Kotli]

Also dont forget you can supply heat to gathering posts via heaters = less frost bite etc.

[Waper-34]

Originally posted by The Phantom Raspberry Blower:

^ also what is the difference between assigning workers or engineers to resources?

There are actually no differences at all whether we allocate engineers or workers to buildings that allow BOTH types of workforce. (or even children if you choose Child Labour, lol. )

The key thing is certain production buildings or facilties only allow certain SPECIFIC type of workforce in them. There are some buildings that employ only workers or engineers.

Now, in addition to what others said about gather posts being more efficient + provide shelters for workforce against cold during work hour not to make them get sick... Gathering posts also work in conjunction with Coal Thumpers where people collect coals that are dump on the ground by these buildings.

[Crackjack]

Originally posted by Pure Hostility:

The visuals of the game are mostly cosmetic, you have to remember this.
Game works mostly as a spreadhseet simulator, as soon as you assign workers to something, the collection begins, even though no one is on the site yet.

I've seen this with automatons, they collect from the site even though they are walking towards the recharge station, it kinda annoying to watch

[Solitus]

Does the Faster Gathering Research apply to Automotons as well? I can't tell from the description of faster gathering; since it specifically mentions people.

[Arc]

Automatons have their own efficiency research so no.

[Kotli]

Originally posted by Waper-34:

Originally posted by The Phantom Raspberry Blower:

^ also what is the difference between assigning workers or engineers to resources?

There are actually no differences at all whether we allocate engineers or workers to buildings that allow BOTH types of workforce. (or even children if you choose Child Labour, lol. )

The key thing is certain production buildings or facilties only allow certain SPECIFIC type of workforce in them. There are some buildings that employ only workers or engineers.

Now, in addition to what others said about gather posts being more efficient + provide shelters for workforce against cold during work hour not to make them get sick... Gathering posts also work in conjunction with Coal Thumpers where people collect coals that are dump on the ground by these buildings.

I am sure than engineers do give a bonus to some production buildings like the wall drill when I last tested it.