Workers stand around doing nothing despite tasks needing to be done.

[Juxtavarious]

I sat there clicking "repair" for about five minutes trying to get one of the five people just standing around doing NOTHING to do that one task. None of them would.

On top of that, the mapping seems to be really busted and I can't have both a material area and a billboard attached to the same machine. Not that the billboards DO anything, all of the tasks just get dumped into one of the workstations it's linked to and the others are ignored until or unless I go in and manually divide up the work and resort it. I noped out when I have five workers just standing around doing nothing despite work needing to be done, decorations cancelling out the noise, and nothing being obstructed AND THEN the game starts spamming problems like mold that I have no room in the work area that was affected to place the 5X5 machine that it apparently needs to do anything.

I like factory games, but this one is just irritating. The inability to give direct orders is lacking, which is a feature I find in most factory games with workers. Even when I "specialize" workers, they ignore their station and just stand in the break room doing nothing. The hauler is the least useful so far because he won't move things from one place to another, all of the crafters have to do it for him because apparently he can't be bothered.

[Icouldntbeoriginal]

Mold is an interesting one, I have several rooms I hate getting mild in since the machine doesn't fit, but you can always just move a thing or two out of that room and then move it back when the mold is gone. All of the bonus "minigames" can be shut off in the options as well, and they do give money as a reward.

As for Billboards not working i'm not entirely sure how efficient they are but I know they work. I was having the hardest time completing quick contracts, like coffins but adding more saws and such I saw an efficiency improvement. I wouldn't be surprised if there's more to it than just assigning to billboards and forgetting about it but I think it depends on the project. how many processes and batches etc.

[liq3]

Are your billboards being given extremely small orders? If it's less than 5 then maybe that's why it dumps it all on one work station. My orders of 20+ have no trouble being split up by billboards.

Also, you can order the material zone to send to the billboard, and it'll work for all the machines.

[Juxtavarious]

Unless I go through and manually reset EVERYTHING every single time, they will just stop working. They lock up work station by fighting over parts and spreading them across multiple assembly work stations and because the priorities conflict with what they were screwing up they all just stop working. And there is NO WAY to clear a work station and just have them put the crap back on the shelf so they can clear it for the right thing. They keep failing orders because they just won't do what they're told. The billboards and priorities just don't do anything. Unless I go in and tell it point for point exactly what to do, it just backs up. Every time. I have the rooms arranged so that they should just be able to move everything down the line for most projects but that is still too complicated for them.

Most obnoxious of all, they can only perform ONE TASK and then they need another break. WTAF? Most of their day is spent in the break room. They move or finish ONE ITEM and then run immediately back to the break room. How is this an entire factory of people with chronic lethargy?

[mikeydsc]

I wrote a decent enough detailed guide on this problem along with a few other observations.

Look under the billboards section.

Messing with your BB's is an integral part of the game. You can fix and move anything, anywhere, at anytime.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2199711182

[<™[-=> Cookiez <=-]™>]

Same issue man.

This game is badly coded.

The AI's only work on 1 workstation.

Tutorial doesn't explain Link.

And you have to manually shift work projects around

[Juxtavarious]

There needs to be a way to forcibly clear a work station. They keep jamming up because they fight over items in the same project and then just don't construct a damn thing because all the piece for one item are split between three separate stations locking ALL of them down.

The jobs should also be able to be auto sorted to so that base materials cycle above their follow up step. MULTIPLE TIMES they keep getting dumped out of order so that the stations are trying to start from the end. At the very least, if the list could detect that one of the steps below is the one that the current step needs and just SWAP them.

But seriously, why is their energy permanently at ONE!? They can do ONE TASK and then immediately go to the break room. I see it happen every time. They go to a station, make one thing, their energy immediately plummets, and they run back to the break room. I have to have a MASSIVE break room because everyone is always in there. And that's when they're not just standing around on the shop floor doing absolutely nothing because their jobs keep getting automated out of order.

[Juxtavarious]

Originally posted by mikeydsc:

I wrote a decent enough detailed guide on this problem along with a few other observations.

Look under the billboards section.

Messing with your BB's is an integral part of the game. You can fix and move anything, anywhere, at anytime.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2199711182

The game needs a single menu to control everything. Having to pop in and out of a hundred separate menus is irritating. Only the worst factory games don't have a command console you can work from to control everything at once and plan out the entire setup.

[liq3]

Originally posted by Juxtavarious:

But seriously, why is their energy permanently at ONE!? They can do ONE TASK and then immediately go to the break room. I see it happen every time. They go to a station, make one thing, their energy immediately plummets, and they run back to the break room. I have to have a MASSIVE break room because everyone is always in there. And that's when they're not just standing around on the shop floor doing absolutely nothing because their jobs keep getting automated out of order.

This isn't my experience at all. I'll have a single worker doing 5+ jobs before going for a break. Are you placing decorations to improve room happiness (or w/e it's called)?

[mikeydsc]

That was my experience for a couple hours until I learned how to make them work.

If they are standing around, it could be a few reasons.

1 - Not enough contracts.
2 - Not enough machines
3 - Bottlenecks in the process.
4 - Low decorations or room in the red mood rating.
5 - Have specialist machines with no specialists.

This is the way stuff is assigned.
From my observations, the system works something like this.
The top project is on some stage of its build order. Depending on how many jobs compared to how many stations, the AI will fill all the current work tasks of the first project until there are either no workers or machines left to carry on. Once there are no machines left, but you still have workers standing around, the AI then looks to project 2 and assigns jobs just like above, until either workers or stations run out that can work on project 2. If there are still workers left over, then AI looks to project 3 and repeats this process until there are no workers standing around.

[Juxtavarious]

Originally posted by liq3:

Originally posted by Juxtavarious:

But seriously, why is their energy permanently at ONE!? They can do ONE TASK and then immediately go to the break room. I see it happen every time. They go to a station, make one thing, their energy immediately plummets, and they run back to the break room. I have to have a MASSIVE break room because everyone is always in there. And that's when they're not just standing around on the shop floor doing absolutely nothing because their jobs keep getting automated out of order.

This isn't my experience at all. I'll have a single worker doing 5+ jobs before going for a break. Are you placing decorations to improve room happiness (or w/e it's called)?

I keep all of my rooms in the green, that still do one random job and then run immediately back tot he break room.

[Juxtavarious]

Originally posted by mikeydsc:

That was my experience for a couple hours until I learned how to make them work.

If they are standing around, it could be a few reasons.

1 - Not enough contracts.
2 - Not enough machines
3 - Bottlenecks in the process.
4 - Low decorations or room in the red mood rating.
5 - Have specialist machines with no specialists.

This is the way stuff is assigned.
From my observations, the system works something like this.
The top project is on some stage of its build order. Depending on how many jobs compared to how many stations, the AI will fill all the current work tasks of the first project until there are either no workers or machines left to carry on. Once there are no machines left, but you still have workers standing around, the AI then looks to project 2 and assigns jobs just like above, until either workers or stations run out that can work on project 2. If there are still workers left over, then AI looks to project 3 and repeats this process until there are no workers standing around.

I was keeping two to three contracts going and balancing them between the available machines. I was generally able to produce all of them fairly easily and my setup SHOULD have allowed them to just carry straight from one station to the next. Assembly stations being kept at the center so that everything else flows into it before funneling out to the shipping area. for easy pickup. I've worked with project/operations management and I've played factory games before, I know plenty about how that SHOULD play out in reality. The problem would come in when one of the contracts would get several partials broken up across several assembly stations instead of them filling ONE and THEN the next one which would then result in them all fighting over parts, slowing/stopping production entirely. There is no way to have them clear the current project from the station and put the parts back on the shelf. Once they've moved them to a station, THAT'S IT. The entire department is locked out because they're too stupid to do anything in order.

I'm just glad that I'm not the only one having these same problems. The mapping apparently needs a TON of work. Considering that it's a core mechanic in the game, I really hope they patch the hell out of it soon. The game isn't horrible, it's just busted AF. There needs to be WAY better mapping, auto prioritizing that moves first steps to the top of the list BEFORE the steps that come AFTER them, and some center console for everything that would allow you realign any problems manually without having to jump in and out of a dozen separate and clunky menus.

And for the love of Thoth, leave the damn prompts on the screen long enough to actually read them or have a prompt history the player can EASILY access to read past events. And let players skip the tutorial! Why in the hell should we have to go through it EVERY SINGLE TIME we start a new game? Black and White pulled that ♥♥♥♥ and patched it out after fans complained. Seriously, these are simple gaming mechanics that have been staples for at least the last decade.

[Juxtavarious]

To be clear, I WANT to like this game, but multiple really poor choices make that task difficult.

[mikeydsc]

You use the batch option I assume?

If you have a ton of benches assigned to the same billboard, this might happen. I have had up to 12 benches on a BB and yes jobs still get assigned from top to bottom. It just means that a manufacture process like same metal forging is still trying to catch up if assembly benches are waiting for work with partial parts sitting on them.

Have you tried using the small icon thing that looks like a text note when you hoover over a contract? (Its the little icon at the top left corner). This will show where your bottleneck is.

In the very beginning I had these issues but once I figured out the flow of this game, it all came together in my head and all that stuff didnt matter any more as I know how to fix it. If you play in the queue, its very possible you moved something above an order that needs to be done first.

[Juxtavarious]

Originally posted by mikeydsc:

You use the batch option I assume?

If you have a ton of benches assigned to the same billboard, this might happen. I have had up to 12 benches on a BB and yes jobs still get assigned from top to bottom. It just means that a manufacture process like same metal forging is still trying to catch up if assembly benches are waiting for work with partial parts sitting on them.

Have you tried using the small icon thing that looks like a text note when you hoover over a contract? (Its the little icon at the top left corner). This will show where your bottleneck is.

In the very beginning I had these issues but once I figured out the flow of this game, it all came together in my head and all that stuff didnt matter any more as I know how to fix it. If you play in the queue, its very possible you moved something above an order that needs to be done first.

That's just it, the game defaults to putting them in an obtuse order and then I have to go in and manually sort everything to keep it from doing that. And yes, I use batches. I can't really imagine a scenario where that wouldn't be better than the alternative. I've tried digging through all of the menus and there doesn't appear to be any setting to change to get it to behave properly. I shouldn't have to fight the game's design to play it. Especially on elements that aren't explained. Having to go find something in a menu SOMEWHERE without being told a damn thing about it in game is poor design.

I've tried with and without billboards and it pulls the same stupid stunts regardless. Characters will all do ONE random task and ♥♥♥♥ off back to the break room. They cannot just pick up an item, put it on the bench, work on it, then move it to the next station. They do one random task, take a break, do another completely unrelated task, take another break, and then another random task. They waste SO MUCH TIME running in every direction and there is no way to just lock the little bastards in one department. You can't assign people to specific projects, rooms, or machines, so they just go ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I cannot imagine ANY business doing that in real life. It would simply NEVER happen. I shouldn't have to fight the game on every single mechanic to make it playable. That's just terrible design.

[mikeydsc]

If your rooms are less than 100 mood rating ....