Relocating villagers between houses?

[sheesh1991]

Stupid question; is there a way to move villagers between houses? I'm finding that some of my villagers are plopping their houses far away from their workplace. I'm hoping there is a way to move said villagers between different houses so that they're closer to their workplace. If there is not, I really hope that we do get such an option in an update!

[TwistedSun]

Hey there! I don't think there is a way to manually assign villagers to houses, not yet at the very least. However, you should be able to evict them from their currently assigned home by pressing the X button near their icon in the house UI, similarly to how you would fire a villager from a job. With a small amount of effort you should be able to move people closer to their workplace.

[Maehlice]

If you can afford the disruption, pause the game & kick everyone out of every home. They'll eventually all settle back down and typically very close to their work. This works best once you have a solid layout that you don't think will be changing much (if at all).

[PhoenixAlphaAlex]

Or the other solution is to see in the opposite direction by assigning the villagers whose houses are close to jobs, instead of wanting to change the villagers whose jobs are already assigned from homes.

[sheesh1991]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

If you can afford the disruption, pause the game & kick everyone out of every home. They'll eventually all settle back down and typically very close to their work. This works best once you have a solid layout that you don't think will be changing much (if at all).

And how do you kick everyone out of their homes? There's no option for that, at least none that I can see

[sheesh1991]

Originally posted by PhoenixAlphaAlex:

Or the other solution is to see in the opposite direction by assigning the villagers whose houses are close to jobs, instead of wanting to change the villagers whose jobs are already assigned from homes.

There...is no option to assign villagers to specific houses though, that's the main issue here. They just...build a house anywhere where the residential area is painted. They don't seem to choose whether it's close to their workplace or not.

[sheesh1991]

Originally posted by TwistedSun:

Hey there! I don't think there is a way to manually assign villagers to houses, not yet at the very least. However, you should be able to evict them from their currently assigned home by pressing the X button near their icon in the house UI, similarly to how you would fire a villager from a job. With a small amount of effort you should be able to move people closer to their workplace.

So, I see the dismiss option on their icon, but's for their workplace, not their house. Last time I did this, they stayed in their house. Of course...I can do this, but I would need to rehire different villagers to the closest workplaces.

[Doc_Hotpants]

Click on the house. The inhabitants have a small red X on them in the house's detail window. It says "release from workplace" but it's actually just kicking them out of the house. Once you do that, they should find a house closer to their workplace.

[sheesh1991]

Originally posted by Doc_Hotpants:

Click on the house. The inhabitants have a small red X on them in the house's detail window. It says "release from workplace" but it's actually just kicking them out of the house. Once you do that, they should find a house closer to their workplace.

Thanks! That helped a ton!

[PhoenixAlphaAlex]

Originally posted by sheesh1991:

Originally posted by PhoenixAlphaAlex:

Or the other solution is to see in the opposite direction by assigning the villagers whose houses are close to jobs, instead of wanting to change the villagers whose jobs are already assigned from homes.

There...is no option to assign villagers to specific houses though, that's the main issue here. They just...build a house anywhere where the residential area is painted. They don't seem to choose whether it's close to their workplace or not.

That’s not what I’m saying
You have to do the opposite, you have to assign jobs to villagers according to where they live, first wait until they settle down, and then assign their work where it is best because on that side there, we can choose who we assign.

[Doc_Hotpants]

Originally posted by PhoenixAlphaAlex:

Originally posted by sheesh1991:

There...is no option to assign villagers to specific houses though, that's the main issue here. They just...build a house anywhere where the residential area is painted. They don't seem to choose whether it's close to their workplace or not.

That’s not what I’m saying
You have to do the opposite, you have to assign jobs to villagers according to where they live, first wait until they settle down, and then assign their work where it is best because on that side there, we can choose who we assign.

I've never done it that way. I expect the villagers to settle close to their workplaces. And in 99% of cases, they do that. If once in a while, they don't, I kick them out of their house, and they always find a place closer to their workplace.

[Doc_Hotpants]

Originally posted by sheesh1991:

Originally posted by Doc_Hotpants:

Click on the house. The inhabitants have a small red X on them in the house's detail window. It says "release from workplace" but it's actually just kicking them out of the house. Once you do that, they should find a house closer to their workplace.

Thanks! That helped a ton!

Glad to hear it!

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by PhoenixAlphaAlex:

That’s not what I’m saying
You have to do the opposite, you have to assign jobs to villagers according to where they live, first wait until they settle down, and then assign their work where it is best because on that side there, we can choose who we assign.

I'm just playing devil's advocate: sometimes, that isn't plausible because of relocations. Workplaces move and get deleted sometimes (more often than not eventually for me). So I end up in situations where the villagers were living right across the street before but are now all the way across town because of some civil engineering I needed to do.

What you said gives me a thought: maybe instead of kicking everyone out of their homes (creating unhappiness and potential housing up/down-grades), what if I fired and rehired everyone.?. The system automatically chooses the closest available villager, so as long as I rehire starting with the most important businesses, it should accomplish the same thing with less disruption.

[Bored Peon]

What I do is I find the villager complaining about housing.
Then I check the work location and then I go to the nearest houses and look for anyone in them I can kick out.

Another thing you can do is build a small watchtower somewhere nearby. Set 3-4 guard on patrol and put down enough to build 4-5 houses and they will quickly upgrade to holding 6 people each. As for needs they can walk back on their free time to do that.

If it is a remote mining quarry then chances are you need an outpost as above because most likely there is almost a dozen others who will complain as well.

[Wantoomany]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

Originally posted by PhoenixAlphaAlex:

That’s not what I’m saying
You have to do the opposite, you have to assign jobs to villagers according to where they live, first wait until they settle down, and then assign their work where it is best because on that side there, we can choose who we assign.

What you said gives me a thought: maybe instead of kicking everyone out of their homes (creating unhappiness and potential housing up/down-grades), what if I fired and rehired everyone.?. The system automatically chooses the closest available villager, so as long as I rehire starting with the most important businesses, it should accomplish the same thing with less disruption.

The only complication I can see with that plan, is you need to be careful around jobs with upgraded villagers. You really don't want your commoner butcher suddenly wanting change careers into a farmer, and keeping his commoner benefits.

Edited to add.

Thinking on it, I'm also curious if skill level has any effect on job relocation. Would an unemployed level 5 miner, be first on the list to fill any newly open mining jobs?

[Maehlice]

Hmm, that's a good point. At least for now, it doesn't appear that villager level has anything to do with anything. All the posts I've seen asking about it can't nail down any appreciable difference.

I haven't tested this and aren't at my computer to test it right now, but I'm pretty sure I've seen that clicking the plus sign to add a villager worker the system favors choosing the closest villager of the correct station versus a serf living right next door.