Tractors go right past fuel station to fuel?

[Randy Lahey]

I recently set up a farm identical to bballjo in the below video. I had to put fuel stations on either side as the mod I'm using for the farm (Agro farm V2) doesn't allow fuel storage. Each fuel station has power and road access, they have both been fully stocked by the distribution office. When the tractors/harvesters on the left side are done and need fuel, they go way over to the right side to get it, right past the left station. The ones on the right go to the right-side station as they should. Is there some weird farmer-logic in-game I'm missing here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9GXbQ9JgXk&t=158s

[MG83]

this is one of the setups i have which i find pretty efficient. Note : the silos are not for main storage but as buffer.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2379520773

about assigning i also use manual assignment for proper taxi between fields.

[Randy Lahey]

Originally posted by MG83:

this is one of the setups i have which i find pretty efficient. Note : the silos are not for main storage but as buffer.

about assigning i also use manual assignment for proper taxi between fields.

This is similar to the bballjo setup, but with one farm instead of four of them. The fields are manually assigned already. 3 tractors go in each direction, but only fuel from one side, as discussed. Any idea why that is?

[Pfirsich1966]

First of all: What I miss in most tutorials is that no version information is given!

On the subject: since 0.8.5.13, the farms have been replaced, and that was one of the best updates for farms, as they were more individual in size (6,12,30) and allowed multiple traffic within them.
This made it largely obsolete to use DO's.
Unfortunately, the pathfinding for extra tank possibilities has still not been improved.
They still do not take the shortest possible route to the nearest petrol station.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[Silent_Shadow]

I think I have heard that they prefer whichever fuel station is closest to their farm building if it (the farm building) has no fuel.

[Ciroth]

Originally posted by Pfirsich1966:

First of all: What I miss in most tutorials is that no version information is given!

On the subject: since 0.8.5.13, the farms have been replaced, and that was one of the best updates for farms, as they were more individual in size (6,12,30) and allowed multiple traffic within them.
This made it largely obsolete to use DO's.
Unfortunately, the pathfinding for extra tank possibilities has still not been improved.
They still do not take the shortest possible route to the nearest petrol station.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

I disagree with not using the DO's. Using the DO's is still the best practice, as more farm equipment means more farms.

[Silent_Shadow]

Originally posted by Ciroth:

I disagree with not using the DO's. Using the DO's is still the best practice, as more farm equipment means more farms.

I disagree with your disagreement for a few reasons.

1) Construction Costs

Distribution Offices (DO):
-Small:       16,245 Rubles     5 spots      3,249 R/spot
-Medium:      38,377 Rubles    12 spots      3,198 R/spot

Farm buildings:
-Small:       20,914 Rubles      6 spots     3,486 R/spot
-Medium:      33,189 Rubles     12 spots     2,766 R/spot
-Large:       65,076 Rubles     30 spots     2,169 R/spot

As you can see, farm buildings add parking spots at cheaper rates than DOs do, so for large scale farming it is cheaper to simply build more farm buildings than a combination of both farm buildings and DOs. You also do not need to care about the 20 assignment number limit for the trucks of farm buildings.

Also note that building a medium farm building costs only 12,275 Rubles more than a small farm building, yet adds six more spots. Building a DO instead costs about 4k Rubles more and gives one less spot than simply upgrading the farm building to medium. The upgrade from a medium to large farm building is similar when compared to 2 small DOs or one medium DO.

2) Logistics

Eliminating DOs reduces the number of buildings which offers some benefits:

• More efficient construction since your COs can focus on fewer sites, which also need fewer road connections (if you care about gravel roads for the trucks).
  
• Fewer buildings where fires can start.
  
• Fewer buildings needing a power connection/windmill.
  
• More efficient use of land for farming (more fields per building involved).
  
• Less design time (less complex).
  
• No 20 assignment limit for trucks; if a field is assigned to the trucks' farm building, it can haul crops from it.

There is also the question of fuel, which must be expended between fields and buildings. I suspect it is more fuel efficient to have more small, dispersed farms than fewer big ones, as this would cut down on the distances farm equipment has to travel between their farm building (and/or fuel station) and its fields. Dispersed, smaller farms also mean you can do away with building cargo stations and just attach granaries directly to the farm buildings.

Also with farm buildings and DOs, you also have to either build a gas station to supply them all with fuel or make individual deliveries to each farm building and DO. Having farm equipment and trucks in one building allows for a single assignment instead of two or three for fuel deliveries; arguably a gas station would also let you do this, but you have to pay for it and since farm equipment only utilizes one fuel source anyway, there is not much reason to build one just for farm buildings.

TL;DR: DOs are inferior to building more/bigger farm buildings as they are more expensive per parking spot, and add a lot of unneeded liability/complexity.

[Randy Lahey]

Interesting discussion, and I'll try out just using the farms instead of DO's and farms. I don't really understand what you mean by using less buildings when eliminating the DO's? Right now I have one farm and two DO's. Could I plant the same number of fields with only two farms and no DO's? Also, how do you collect all the grain for train delivery without a cargo station?

From the posts I assume that the tractors ignoring the fuel stations is a game limitation. It's a baffling one as all the other vehicles in the game seem to use the closest station, although the tractors seem able to do a crazy number of fields with empty fuel tanks, which makes up for it I guess.

[ArminiusdeCherusk]

From the posts I assume that the tractors ignoring the fuel stations is a game limitation

.Yes, that is a minor problem, especially with huge farm lands(Problem is still there). Cause of new farms and better collecting algo ( more than 1 truck per field allowed) DO's aren't necessary anymore(for collecting). Getting the crops from farm to factory is another point. A rail connection to farm building ( at least the biggest one) would be nice. A workaround would be a cargo station near farm and one truck filling a silo directly connected to cargo station... .

[ZILonaut]

Originally posted by Pfirsich1966:

First of all: What I miss in most tutorials is that no version information is given!

On the subject: since 0.8.5.13, the farms have been replaced, and that was one of the best updates for farms, as they were more individual in size (6,12,30) and allowed multiple traffic within them.
This made it largely obsolete to use DO's.

DOs are not obsolete at all.
The main difference between trucks by farm vs. trucks by DO is the frequency.
Trucks by farm: the truck moves out to the field, is loading crops and is delivering to the farm. After this task is done another truck is moving out to the field.
Trucks by DO: the truck moves out to the field, is loading crops and the moment it leaves the field another truck moves out to replace him.

With DO you don't have to have the silo attached to the farm, but you can have it attached to a food facility, the chemical plant or the fabric industrie 1 km away.
2 or 3 trucks will serve your field (depends on the distance). A farm will only ever send out 1 truck to serve a field.

For bigger agricultural infrastructure it is better to use 2 or 3 small farms instead of 1 big one. The advantage is shorter ways for the machinery. With 1 or 2 DOs you can bring in the crops of many small farms into 1 big silo.

As it it known that the ratio for most field sizes and machinery is 1 tractor to 2 harvesters i often use the little polish farms for 3 farming vehicles. I place 3-4 of them so there are short ways to the fields and tractors don't drive 1-2 days to reach a field.
Collecting the crops is done by DO. Works pretty good.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2226534541

[ArminiusdeCherusk]

DOs are not obsolete at all.
The main difference between trucks by farm vs. trucks by DO is the frequency.
Trucks by farm: the truck moves out to the field, is loading crops and is delivering to the farm. After this task is done another truck is moving out to the field.
Trucks by DO: the truck moves out to the field, is loading crops and the moment it leaves the field another truck moves out to replace him.

Good news for you, they changed this behaviour. Farm sends now another truck ( if free) right after it realises, that one won't be enough. Only 1 per field is a thing from past. At least for new farm buildings.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/784150/discussions/6/3186865924588456084/

[ZILonaut]

Originally posted by ArminiusdeCherusk:

DOs are not obsolete at all.
The main difference between trucks by farm vs. trucks by DO is the frequency.
Trucks by farm: the truck moves out to the field, is loading crops and is delivering to the farm. After this task is done another truck is moving out to the field.
Trucks by DO: the truck moves out to the field, is loading crops and the moment it leaves the field another truck moves out to replace him.

Good news for you, they changed this behaviour. Farm sends now another truck ( if free) right after it realises, that one won't be enough. Only 1 per field is a thing from past. At least for new farm buildings.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/784150/discussions/6/3186865924588456084/

Good to know. I missed this information 👍🏻

Please reread my post, i added more arguments for DOs.

[Pfirsich1966]

To clarify, I wrote 'largely obsolete'!
Which makes a difference to me.
I use DO's myself for support because it's just more efficient, but I could do without.
At the end of the day, it's about getting the harvest in by winter, and getting it into the right stores.
How this is done varies from case to case and everyone has to face the logistics if it is to be efficient.

And another "small plus" for farm trucks:
I have seen a farm truck, after emptying a field and not yet being full, drive to another field and load it as well.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[ArminiusdeCherusk]

You don't need Do's anymore ( cause of link 3 posts above), but you still can use them. In this game there is no right or wrong, just having fun and "At the end of the day, it's about getting the harvest in by winter," ;) .

That those tractors and harvester drive home for refueling instead of using nearer stations is somethimes kinda annoying, but only a minor bug/feature. Perhaps it would be nice to have a small fuel truck driving fuel to the harvesters and refueling them on the fly, but that would be only something for 1.1 or so :D.

[ZILonaut]

If the farm is equipped with fuel thy drive home to fill up.
Same with DOs, COs. There where complaines of this behaviour before.

[ZILonaut]

@Pfirsich1966: As long as you bring in the crops before winter all logistics are fine.
To me, the position of the silo is mostly a different than the position of the farm.
Silo should have easy rail access while farm should be positioned to have short ways to the fields.
Either way have fun with your style of playing.