[Bug Report][Unplayable Game] Staff are not assigned tasks/tasks never completed

[Aphelion]

I was playing on level two of the campaign when I noticed something odd. The moray eel requires mussels to be fed, but of the four members of staff I had none were picking up the task and it starved to death after a number of days.

I tried the following to resolve but it persisted and my eels keep dying:

- Hired all max staff and assigned one to it's tank zone specuifically.
- Moved the mussles box all directions while making sure it was accessable.
- Put it in the 3x3 tank and moved it between three tanks, still same issue.

I also checked that:
- I Met all other care requirements.
- Mussles box remained full.

It would be nice to be able to manually assign staff to a task if it isn't being auto-qued or completed on it's own like in this case.

Edit: After restarting the game and hoping maybe that would solve it, I decided to get a coral grouper. Unfortunately, that fish also requires mussles for food and then starved to death because of the same issues as the eel.

Edit: After day 7 my staff were also no longer fixing any broken equipment and the tasks were again labeled with 'assigned to nobody'. I've completely started a new game on the same level and switched from easy mode back to normal to see if it's game difficulty related.

Edit: That only made it worse. Now no tasks are being picked up by staff at all. When it breaks, it doesn't get fixed. When a fish needs to be fed, it doesn't happen. My staff just wander around to look pretty and there is nothiing I can do.

[Wizzardy]

Can they actually do the task? They need at least 1 in the task to do it. So Feeding needs to be at least 1 etc. Also, up the priority of said task byt going to the staff member, and clicking the 3 bars on the left until they go purple. This may or may not help as it seems your game may be broken.

[Aphelion]

They cant. I've tried increasing the priority of tasks as well but they just wander around my aquarium not doing anything. Even just walk by tasks needing to be done and then walk away again.

[Twice Circled]

I'm very sorry for the experience you've had, it is certainly not my intention to cause you any frustration!

I have not seen anything like this in my testing. Just to make sure, I hopped into level 2 myself just now and tested out the beginning of the level. I can't see anything going wrong. :/

I would definitely start with no zones at all, just to make sure it's not an issue with improper zoning. If no zone is assigned to your staff, by default they will do tasks everywhere, so it's a safer bet to start with.

The next thing is perhaps you are blocking access to the tanks with filters? There needs to be at least one clear spot. For a wall tank (like you have in level 2, the clear spot needs to be at the back).

The other more subtle thing is perhaps you are blocking access to the mussels box with a filter. Staff can't move through squares with filters in.

Perhaps post a screenshot of your setup so we can see if we can spot anything wrong. Everyone around here is really helpful!

EDIT: You can use F12 to create a screenshot in Steam.

[Aphelion]

I'll post a screenshot, as my setup shouldn't be causing any of the issues and causes you've just listed. I also started a brand new fresh game with a single staff member and no zoning which resulted in my whole aquairum spammed full with uncompleted tasks. But thank you for responding none the less!

I also joined the discord, and it seems other people are having the same issues as well. Give me a bit and I'll have my set up displayed.

[Aphelion]

As requested, here's a screenshot. Again this is a restarted game, with a fresh new game, one staff member, no zones, and the issue is reoccuring no matter how many times i restart. It's even day 4 now in my game and nothing has changed at all from the screenshot - all tasks have continued to be ignored and uncompleted.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1515540844

[zytukin]

I had problems with AI as well, but only with tanks that needed platforms and stairs and it seems to always be resolved by deleting and rebuilding the stairs and platforms. Never an issue when I place the platforms first then the stairs up to them from the ground. Every problem I've had was when I placed the stairs first or built the stairs down from the platform.

Doesn't sound like this is causing all your issues though.

[aaron*****z]

I just experienced this also - about 2/3 of the way through level 6 of the campaign! (So staff have been feeding and fixing a dozen or more tanks successfully for 31 days...). Suddenly the temperatures start dropping and and fish start dying because nothing is getting repaired - no repair tasks are getting assigned to anyone. I added tool stations near the broken heaters, and dropped staff with the Fixing skill near them to no avail. I then noticed that no Feeding is being done either - ALL staff are simply wandering from square to square without doing anything, no tasks are being assigned.

I will go back to an earlier save and see if I can figure out how the problem starts, or if the game is bound to become corrupted beyond a certain staff size, day, or fish introduction...

[HighFives]

It's the same for me in mission 5. Unfortunately it's not just the tanks needing platforms it also appears on the simple ones.
The staff just stops working, they don't feed the fish, repair machines or clean up either although they've got the ability to do so and nothing's in their way.

[SkimBeeble]

I'm having the same issue on level 5, the workers just suddenly stopped doing anything! Any idea when this bug will be fixed?

[aaron*****z]

Happened again on my Map 6 campaign. Day 31-33 or so proceed smoothly. Around Day 35 (I did different fish research, tank building, and aquarium layout choices just to see if i could avoid some weird bug trigger), staff just stop completing jobs. Most staff are carrying items though, as if they started to attempt an assignment.

I noticed that one job, feeding Supplements to a tank with several different food needs, still had an arrow and an employee assigned to it. On further inspection, he would complete that job over and over again, doing laps from the Supplement bin to that tank and nothing else. When I fired that employee the job bubble said it was still assigned to him.

Firing employees, hiring others, and adjusting job priority levels all seem to have no effect on shaking off the bug.

[yoshirules]

Same problem here at level 5 right after I have build the podium. All my fish died.
Staff doesnt do anything, they just walk around :(

[tekky07]

Same problem for me on level 3.

[mrjvoorhees]

Same for me on level 7 - have created my own thread. Like others, it only happened after eight game days or so. Everything had been running perfectly with 15+ staff, then suddenly everyone stopped performing any tasks and just wandered around aimlessly.

They all had stuff in their inventory, such as feed, but interestingly the "holding feed" animation wasn't active - it didn't look like they were carrying anything.

This only seems to have started happening following the latest update. Could there be a link?

[Xavius]

This killed both of my Sandbox games - million dollar aquariums with 9+ rating levels, both gone. it was really hard after putting so many hours into it.

[Twice Circled]

I'm really sorry guys, could somebody post a save file with this issue so I can see what is going on. I think it must be to do with the latest update, but I didn't find any issues in my testing.

Save files are here:

C:\Users\<insert username>\Documents\My Games\Megaquarium\Saves

If the problem persists much longer, I'll roll back the version to 1.0.7, but I'd like to see if I can fix it first.