Worker priority needed

[NobleFox]

At this moment this game isn't very playable in the current state. I find it very frustrating that you cannot prioritise which jobs need to be filled first. It seems completely random and inevitably they fill jobs that aren't needed. Seasonal labourers never appear either

[Claybot]

What do you mean that seasonal labourers never appear?
You should have lots of them in the beginning as there isn't that many jobs that you need people at full time.

[Bjørn]

You decide which job positions are open in the various buildings, so you control it that way. You don't have to use all workers slots.

Also, you can adjust the salaries individually for the various buildings, so that free workers will be more likely to take those jobs first.

Keep building houses so you have a surplus of workers. The free ones will take labourer jobs, which includes transporting goods between the various buildings. However you have to set that up manually when first constructing a building, since delivery by labourer is disabled / unchecked by default (just check all delivery options for simplicity).

The game doesn't have seasonal labourers, if you mean someone will come to town only for certain periods of the year. People will move into a free house or apartment permanently, then become either workers or labourers.

The game has a pretty steep learning curve, and can be a bit overwhelming at first, especially since all buildings are available from the start, but once you get the hang of things it's very much playable.

The help text for the buildings contains a lot of helpful info.

Have a look in the guides section for more tips, and feel free to ask for more specific help if needed

[kiska87]

You do know that you have full control over which jobs should be filled by workers by opening the worker slots at those buildings and don't open up the slots on other buildings where workers aren't necessary yet?

If you have a lot of vacant jobs that are not being filled, it means that you have not enough people and too many job openings.

Note, that certain jobs can only be filled by men (e.g. smithy, forestry, fishing dock, trading post, etc.)

If a building has enabled seasonal hiring, those people, who are fired from their 'worker' jobs during off-season will become potential laborers and will work on laborer tasks on other buildings, where you have enabled laborers.

People will prefer worker jobs, as they are the better-paid jobs (laborers will only get paid when they work, but not when they go home to take a rest). It also depends on the wage that you have set in the town hall. Laborers have a lower wage by default than workers.

If there are other vacant job positions for workers, those 'potential laborers' as mentioned above will then prefer to take another position as a worker, than a laborer.
This also results from not enough people and too many job openings.

Besides that, each building has their own 'hire options' menu, where you can set the % wage pay, to make other jobs more attractive than others.

Edit: Bjorn was faster than me :)

[snake_5]

Originally posted by Bjørn:

The game has a pretty steep learning curve, and can be a bit overwhelming at first, especially since all buildings are available from the start, but once you get the hang of things it's very much playable.

This is a key point to keep in mind.

Though I am wondering at this point if maybe some buildings should be hidden or at least unclickable until after the first year. It may help with some of the confusion at the start of the game at least.

Though the hints are everywhere, it's easy to ignore and want to try out various ways of starting, Just like trying to figure out where it is best to place the camp on the map. If you are too far away from any forest area that alone can mean less houses in the first year.

[Claybot]

Starting with less houses isn't a big deal, I used to think it was, you just build them the second year. As long as Migration is kept turned on the people who left in the first year due to a lack of housing will be replaced by someone else later on.

[Dragonbane]

It's 100% playable and actually better set up than basically every other game of the genre i play.
utilise the population information tab at the top, it tells you how many people are available to work.
use the workers tab in each building to select who can work their (men, women or both). Only set one staff member to begin with at the basic first buildings- there are always enough people in the first year, but you may need to remove a builder or two to begin with for the carpenter and smithy.
the seasonal hiring is selected through the city hall later in game. Labourers wages can be set there or individually in each building.
again, as someone who has played 1500+ hours and probably 200+ saves, there is ALWAYS enough people to staff everything before migration starts.

[jukiev]

I adjust salaries if I need labourers to keep in the building.

[Lunar Eclipse]

雇用枠をすべて解放すると人手不足になるので、最初は必要最低限にしておきましょう。labourを沢山雇えるように無職の村人もある程度確保しておきましょう。

[Geauxboy]

I find that if I build whatever production building I need first. Then build the necessary amount of housing near by. After the houses are occupied, I then open all worker slots and then zoom out so I can see the majority of the map so I can see where someone is coming from. If it's close (mainly from the new housing), I keep them. If it's too far, then I fire them.

This usually takes care of much of the "downtime" of citizens commuting from home to work. I know laborers are different and will go clear across the map to do a task, but at least having the building workers close by helps alleviate these issues.

[kiska87]

Originally posted by Geauxboy:

I find that if I build whatever production building I need first. Then build the necessary amount of housing near by. After the houses are occupied, I then open all worker slots and then zoom out so I can see the majority of the map so I can see where someone is coming from. If it's close (mainly from the new housing), I keep them. If it's too far, then I fire them.

This usually takes care of much of the "downtime" of citizens commuting from home to work. I know laborers are different and will go clear across the map to do a task, but at least having the building workers close by helps alleviate these issues.

I used to do that as well, hire & fire until I get workers living close by.
But since illnesses and injuries were introduced, this no longer works.

When people get sick or injured, they quit their job and someone else will take their place.
As your city grows, the more people can get sick and the more businesses you have to take care of. At some point, it can be a tedious task, so I stopped doing this.

[Geauxboy]

Interesting observation on sickness cause I never pay attention to the causes of that. I am about to start a new game and want to make small tree farms (sorry, forget the actual term) in between dirty factories and neighborhoods to see if that decreases sickness. I read somewhere else here that it works.

[Metalllik]

Originally posted by NobleFox:

At this moment this game isn't very playable in the current state. I find it very frustrating that you cannot prioritise which jobs need to be filled first. It seems completely random and inevitably they fill jobs that aren't needed. Seasonal labourers never appear either

The game is very playable. I built at least 30 villages with more than 100 population.

[maxter]

Originally posted by NobleFox:

At this moment this game isn't very playable in the current state.

Quite the opposite as my 2730 hours in game attests. I am probably on my 12th village to date, most of which I end up with 1000 to 2000 villagers.

For me the critical issues are as follows...

1. Ensure a good balance between village houses with gardens and those without.
2. Get the cost of buying vegetables from local producers well below the price at market...
...Use taxation to your benefit.
3. Ensure there is adequate transport via carts and horse carriages.
4. Ensure that there are adequate numbers of builders/construction personnel.
5. Use your trade/export system to buy adequate supplies extensively when you are unable to produce adequate quantities for your needs. Remember, initially charcoal is your friend.

Looking forward to the next Alpha.

[NobleFox]

Other city builders let you allocate people to jobs, I would much prefer that than wasting hours staring at the screen waiting for my workers to fulfil a vital role

[labasrytaskurva]

Originally posted by NobleFox:

Other city builders let you allocate people to jobs, I would much prefer that than wasting hours staring at the screen waiting for my workers to fulfil a vital role

I've been playing this gave for years now and never faced anything like this. If you can't find people for open jobs you're doing something very wrong and just ignoring some game mechanics that people here tried to explain to you.