no workers inside power plants. why?

[Teschmacher]

I have a problem with powerplants (coal or gas) being inconsistent at producing power because sometimes there are no workers inside.

And why it is like that?

I have properly set up train passenger service running to the powerplant and from nearby city with enough of room to transport hundreds of workers , the train station is properly connected to the powerplant with walk ways and i have also set it in the proprieties tab where the workers should go. After some time, there are zero workers inside the powerplant untill next train arrives. This is weird, because i have a lot of workers without job in many buildings in the nearby city and there is only 15 workers needed to operate a powerplant!

A powerplant should operate at all time 24/7 and only cease to function in case of a major failure/fire or running out of needed fuel resources to run!

If the game wants to be realistic, this should be changed.. the powerplant workers must manage their timeshifts and the powerplant must be always manned in order to operate permanently as long as the powerplant is supplied with proper fuel!

is there any powerplant mod that can do this? TIA

[tripodalt]

if all is like you describe their is no reason than worker not work at the powerplant
if their is a single unemployed he will travel 4h by bus or train and/or walk 350m for get the last job
having only 50 unemployed in my 1000people city all plant are fully manned

being realistic mean your worker dont have a clue of the global priority of the city
so you want a cheaty robotic management

you can disable the power requierment of you map

or as i guess you want playing max difficulty without chalenge than you can request a modded version of the powerplant without workers in workshop discussions

but i guess it will not fit your taste more and no modder will spend any time in such noob request

so the last option is you build an apartement of 45workers in walk range or assign an apartement to a dedicated bus stop than the bus stop to the powerplant

their is many diferent viable option all suboptimal excepted having enought unemployed for those decide to go at the frest destination

get in mind than unemplyed during last day not mean someone is unemployed this day and not more than someone can walk at a bus stop find a free place in the bus and walk from the bus destination to the powerplant in less than 5h
the total travel time must be less than 5h
the single trrnasport not exced 4h
any walk distance canot be more than 350m
is all the apartement are in range?

[BobthenotsoGreat]

Your problem is one of frequency. In your scenario you need a train arriving every 8 hours as workers only work for 8.

When it comes to critical infrastructure it is far better to bus people directly to the plant as you can decide the frequency. You just add more minibuses to the line to bring it under 8 hours and you should always have workers in there.

This is not always practical though as your town could be a long way away. In that situation you can add a bustop near the plant and redirect from the train station to the plant AND the bus stop. At the bus stop direct them from the bus stop to the plant and back to the train station. You don't need a bus. This will mean when they arrive on the train and there is no available work, they will go to the bustop and wait for an hour. If a slot becomes available they will take it or return to the train station and wait another hour - repeat.

[bajecznie nawdychany]

I am supplying one factory with workers via cable way. One cable car has 4 peoples inside and they are moving very frequently. Then I am having power plant nearby. Thanks to very stable and not so fragmented workers input my power plant is always supplied by workers.

[sergetechone]

If I was having this situation that I need a building that need a 24/7 operation, I will simply build a small apartment within walking distance and have setup the 24/7 building has dedicated that will forced workers to go to that particular building. Pollution ? Dont care. It is only a little residential building anyway. What about services ? They can take the train / buses going into the city. If workers from the city want to work in the 24/7 building .... Let them be, at least I will have a residential building dedicated to the 24/7 building even if it have a little unemployment in the building. As a result, the 24/7 building will always be workers there at all times ... from the city ...or the little building or both.

[polcorp]

Originally posted by Teschmacher:

I have a problem with powerplants (coal or gas) being inconsistent at producing power because sometimes there are no workers inside.

And why it is like that?

I have properly set up train passenger service running to the powerplant and from nearby city with enough of room to transport hundreds of workers , the train station is properly connected to the powerplant with walk ways and i have also set it in the proprieties tab where the workers should go. After some time, there are zero workers inside the powerplant untill next train arrives. This is weird, because i have a lot of workers without job in many buildings in the nearby city and there is only 15 workers needed to operate a powerplant!

A powerplant should operate at all time 24/7 and only cease to function in case of a major failure/fire or running out of needed fuel resources to run!

If the game wants to be realistic, this should be changed.. the powerplant workers must manage their timeshifts and the powerplant must be always manned in order to operate permanently as long as the powerplant is supplied with proper fuel!

is there any powerplant mod that can do this? TIA

Why ?

Because you have to see the power plant as a nerve center, which means that you have to treat it differently from your associated production centers in the same area.

If your workers arrive by train, they will start +/- the working day (8h) at the same time ... and end it at the same time.

To ensure a constant flow of workers, an idea was proposed above: cable cars. They ensure a constant flow of workers.
But building a cable car is not necessarily what you are looking for.

I said that you have to consider the power plant as a “separate” production center, separate from the rest of your mines.
Minibuses (3 to 5 depending on the distance from the city) will be sufficient to ensure a constant flow of workers in your power plant.
Minibus means snow removal in winter because it is essential that your power plant produce.
You can also imagine helicopters that will permanently provide the manpower necessary for your electricity production in your power plant.

[ryantheskinny]

Minibuses are definitely the way to go for powerplants, as well as having more than one. If you use a train or larger bus i recommend rather settig the percentage dropped off at that spot low, to prevent too many workers loading up the Powerplant at one time.

[tripodalt]

cableway seem the worst option since it relly on electrical power
it a sin loop

not remind if helicopad also need power but its super expensive and super eficient yes
powerplant is not a start option than it can be the best

dedicated apartement can have shortage of inhabitants due to polution
if the concern is to never check and micromanage its not ok

personal car can work for cheap but the remote dedicated aprtement must have permanant car owners this is possible with a dealer in walkrange but you again need another remote worker system for avoiding than all the city buy cars

[Dave]

As others have said your problem is the infrequency of trains. Best to use several minibusses unless the powerplant is part of a big complex where you can justify trains arriving frequently.

[Pharaonkheops]

I had the same problem.
Vanilla Coal Power Plant running at a mean 15 workers instead of 20. Settle a minibus line directly to the plant at start, then tried with a dedicated bus stop just in front of the plant entrance. Minibus are set to embark 60% of people, workers only. Bus stops are all "workers only" too. The main bus hub in tonw has a permanent 150-200 waiting crowd (a mine complex is in a slow building process).
What I see is peoples getting on the bus, riding to the plant and.... remaining on the bus!!!
Strange fact is that this doesn't take place at my mine/processors hub, for exemple. At thoose places, workers filled buses empty to zero before going back to town...

[Thomas]

Just build small residential building next to power plant and small kindergarten from mod section. Pollution won't be a problem .
Bring some extra workers with personal car directly to power plant. You can use personal car as bus. Get some people from any bus station and unload at power plant.

[Pharaonkheops]

Originally posted by Thomas:

Just build small residential building next to power plant and small kindergarten from mod section. Pollution won't be a problem .
Bring some extra workers with personal car directly to power plant. You can use personal car as bus. Get some people from any bus station and unload at power plant.

Well, that doesn't explain why buses don't unload at power plants..... ^^

[zytukin]

Have this lots of times, usually have to resort to assigning a house to work at the power (and heat) plants. Otherwise they will be mostly empty even with far more workers than jobs available. Winter comes, things start getting cold, power/heat can't keep up, other buildings stop operating, needs can't get fulfilled hurting power/heat production more, city ends up dieing due to lack of heat.

Try assigning the work location for a house to be the train station to force the workers to go there. House has to be big enough to have 3x the workers the power plant needs to cover all 3 8 hour shifts. Set the train station to ONLY accept workers so it wont get filled with students etc, workers can't use it if the platform or trains are filled to capacity with other people (could build workers a dedicated train station if possible to avoid doing this) and (as you've already done) set the train station work location at the power plant to the power plant to force workers arriving by train to go there.

Make sure the citizens have all their needs satisfied. Think it was a post by one of the dev's in a different thread that if they can't satisfy a need (like culture, food, etc) for too long than they may refuse to work until that need can be satisfied.

Make sure they are educated enough to work at the power plant.

I think commuting time counts towards the work time, and I know commuting citizens take an employment slot so if the commute takes a while than it can cause down time so get more vehicles on the line. 10 employees in the power plant leave and 10 more start commuting to the power plant, if it takes them an hour to arrive than that's an hour with no employees. More vehicles can provide flexibility so they don't all arrive/depart at the same time to cause hiccups in production

[Thomas]

Originally posted by Pharaonkheops:

Originally posted by Thomas:

Just build small residential building next to power plant and small kindergarten from mod section. Pollution won't be a problem .
Bring some extra workers with personal car directly to power plant. You can use personal car as bus. Get some people from any bus station and unload at power plant.

Well, that doesn't explain why buses don't unload at power plants..... ^^

Check education of workers in that bus.
Check if your bus set for unloading workers at power plant.
Check if your power plant set to accept workers 100 %.May be you reduced workers count there month ago and forgot.

[Pharaonkheops]

Originally posted by Thomas:

Originally posted by Pharaonkheops:

Well, that doesn't explain why buses don't unload at power plants..... ^^

Check education of workers in that bus.
Check if your bus set for unloading workers at power plant.
Check if your power plant set to accept workers 100 %.May be you reduced workers count there month ago and forgot.

All that is ok....

[bballjo]

There was a lot of text here...but your best solution for constant worker flow are cableways, once they get going they will supply a constant flow of up to 300 workers per shift. They are my preferred solution for critical infrastructure like heat and power because of the high frequency compared to any of the other solutions.

To your other point of power plants not stopping...you're not wrong, but that gets into how realistic the game needs to be. There are a lot of unrealistic parts of the game, but in the end it's a rather challenging game, and making it more realistic may create more issues than it solves....