+ Labor is good for?

[Chris P. Nutts]

Hi folks, I own the game now for round about 2 weeks and can't find any further information which did exactly explain what the + Labor bonuses are good for. I often got these traits coming with mechanics (of course) having Factory Worker: https://state-of-decay-2.fandom.com/wiki/Traits

But... what does Labor +X do? Is there some kind of Lab i have to unlock anyways like the CLOE Relay? I don't get it xD

[Protectron]

Labor means that instead of working for just one person (+1) which everyone does unless they have a negative trait, that survivor works for three (+1 +2). When you are setting up a base (building and upgrading facilities) or activating facility actions like creating Beer in the Still, these actions require labor.

The more labor you have available, the quicker you can set up your base and the more facility actions you can perform at the same time.

This means that you can have a small community, like 5-7 survivors and still get to perform many actions.

It is not the best Hero Bonus, but it's useful if you play like I do and move from map to map setting up a new base quite often. I also often perform actions with the Still, Command Center, Kitchen and so on at the same time as having reduced a lot of my labor performing Lounge 3 actions to improve morale - while still constructing and upgrading the base.

I think with 12 survivors I have 15 labor when not doing anything right now.

[Svader]

If I understood your question right, you're asking about +X Labor in survivor tab?

If yes, then the answer is simple: it's more free hands to work. On your base when you build something or chose a specific action in your facility menus, you can see how many Labor it's gonna take to comlete.
For example: Barracks will cost you materials (depends on your difficulty level), time and 3 Labor. That means that to build Barracks, you need 3 free survivors. They will be busy for the time of construction, but you still will be able to choose them as playable survivors. If you gonna do so, then amount of people (meaning Labor) working on Barracks will decrease by 1, leading to Overwork (3-1 Labor = 2, Barracks needs 3 Labor), wich grants you a Moral debuff.
But if one of your survivors got a trait, that increase amount of Labor from them (for example Factory Worker will get you +2 Labor as Hero Bonus) , you can spare some to do other stuff.
As I said, it's not only building stuff, but facility actions also take Labor to complete.

[Chris P. Nutts]

Originally posted by Protectron:

Labor means that instead of working for just one person (+1) which everyone does unless they have a negative trait, that survivor works for three (+1 +2). When you are setting up a base (building and upgrading facilities) or activating facility actions like creating Beer in the Still, these actions require labor.

The more labor you have available, the quicker you can set up your base and the more facility actions you can perform at the same time.

This means that you can have a small community, like 5-7 survivors and still get to perform many actions.

It is not the best Hero Bonus, but it's useful if you play like I do and move from map to map setting up a new base quite often. I also often perform actions with the Still, Command Center, Kitchen and so on at the same time as having reduced a lot of my labor performing Lounge 3 actions to improve morale - while still constructing and upgrading the base.

I think with 12 survivors I have 15 labor when not doing anything right now.

Originally posted by Svader:

If I understood your question right, you're asking about +X Labor in survivor tab?

If yes, then the answer is simple: it's more free hands to work. On your base when you build something or chose a specific action in your facility menus, you can see how many Labor it's gonna take to comlete.
For example: Barracks will cost you materials (depends on your difficulty level), time and 3 Labor. That means that to build Barracks, you need 3 free survivors. They will be busy for the time of construction, but you still will be able to choose them as playable survivors. If you gonna do so, then amount of people (meaning Labor) working on Barracks will decrease by 1, leading to Overwork (3-1 Labor = 2, Barracks needs 3 Labor), wich grants you a Moral debuff.
But if one of your survivors got a trait, that increase amount of Labor from them (for example Factory Worker will get you +2 Labor as Hero Bonus) , you can spare some to do other stuff.
As I said, it's not only building stuff, but facility actions also take Labor to complete.

For real, I've watched so many guides and read so many other topics the last days... but nobody did really explain how Labor works. Thanks^^