Distribution Office Priorities

[SonofDworkin]

I think it would be great for a future update to be able to assign priorities to the distribution offices for both loading and unloading. I know with road distributions, it isn't too hard to build a couple of smaller DOs and then adjust the percentages so that one office's tasks end up higher priority than the other but this isn't as practical with the rail distribution office.

For example, I have a rail DO that loads from my steel mill and based on my choices has the option of unloading that steel at the customs house, my construction storage yards, or the mechanical components factory. But the mech component factory uses steel so quickly that even with its storage yard set to "unload when storage gets below 10%", the DO is always prioritizing that yard over unloading steel at my construction yards. I would love to be able to tell it to prioritize unloading at the construction yards 1st, the component factory 2nd, and then if there is excess, to sell at the customs house.

[ZILonaut]

In your case, using a DO is the wrong way. You should use a line.
Pick up steel, unload at mech. factory, go to CO, unload what is still on the train, go to customs and unload what is left over for export. This is the classic basic way to do.
If your mech. factory uses that much steel, set up a separate line just to feed them with steel.
The basic gameplay before DO was introduced still works great and is reliable.

[GeeBee]

Hi. I would agree with the OP. The problem with lines is that you end up making journeys you don't need. So in the example given if all the steel is taken by the first stop, the remaining deliveries are a waste of time. DO get round this problem but their issue is that you end up with multiple single trips being triggered. Some sort of hybrid between the two would be best so that multiple delivery stops can be scheduled but they are only completed if there is enough resources left after each stage is completed or resources available and a demand at the stop to take the resources.

[Karma]

Note that DOs *do* have priority, as far as I can tell. The higher-up on the DO's task list a destination or source is, the first it will be checked. I've never seen an exception to this in my game experience.

For this exact situation (steel distribution), I always build a large open storage factory-linked to the steel mill. Then have one rail DO that keeps the construction-supply storage topped up *and* keeps the components factory storage supplied.

The tricky part is that it's better to have a second DO for handling exporting excess goods. Set your first DO (the distribution to construction and components factory) to pick up from the steel-mill storage at a lower percentage than the export DO, and then you'll never have an issue with steel being shipped to where it's needed.

[SYSHACK]

I would prioritize construction offices and be able to assign priority to specific buildings.

[^1[CH3CH2OH]^9 Jean_Noir]

Idea is good.

We need priority for:
- Construction
- Delivery
- Transport (Road - Partially done / Rails ) eg. Cargo Rail only etc. (We can use waypoints... but it's tricky)

(We need also define eg. 10-20 lvls of priority to have good tools which allow us to improve prosperity for our nation)

[bballjo]

So...there are hidden priorities right now...top of the list highest priority, bottom of the list lowest... customs house gets a special priority that is always the lowest on the list...

Anyways this works ok if you know all priorities when setting up the DO, but later when things change it's hard to reorganize them...so having a dynamic priority system in DOs sounds nice.

[4X-Fan]

Originally posted by bballjo:

So...there are hidden priorities right now...top of the list highest priority, bottom of the list lowest... customs house gets a special priority that is always the lowest on the list...

Anyways this works ok if you know all priorities when setting up the DO, but later when things change it's hard to reorganize them...so having a dynamic priority system in DOs sounds nice.

Ouch...but pretty good to know. Thank you for mentioning it!

BTW, you are helpful as always - greetings from a silent watcher of your great vids!

[aantono]

Also an FYI, for explicit routes with one pickup and the rest being drop offs, the game is already smart enough to not go through the entire route if the truck is empty. In that case it just shortcuts to the first pickup stop on the list.

[^1[CH3CH2OH]^9 Jean_Noir]

Originally posted by bballjo:

Anyways this works ok if you know all priorities when setting up the DO, but later when things change it's hard to reorganize them...so having a dynamic priority system in DOs sounds nice.

I agree...
It's took a lot of time... to reschedule 20 entries for every DO.

+ Known issue (We can't make load & unload in one entry...)

Dynamic could change our life + ability to copy entries to another DO

[thibaulthc]

they made great progress in this domain !

BUT... I think the current order list (priorities) is kind of bugged. Or at least, missleading:
In my eperience, it will load in the right order regarding the list, but, the unload priorities START after the loading number. Okay, that's not clear.

If they load in building let's say number 14, they will unload in building 15 first before unloading in building number 1