How to deal with involving people in the harvest?

[dimndroll]

It is known that people can be involved in harvesting - and quite a lot of them. This helps to harvest much faster, and sovhozs and the entire agricultural complex work more efficiently. However, with the advent of seasons, it became unclear what to do with this crowd of people in winter and while the harvest is growing.

Before the introduction of seasons, I did this: fields were sown at different times, so that people worked alternately on one or the other. But now that scheme doesn't work.

How do you deal with this problem?

[johntarmac]

I read at some point that manual workers in fields reduced the yield so I stopped using them, preferring to have them working somewhere not counterproductive.

I've never tested if this is actually how the system works though.

[dimndroll]

It's strange, this is the first time I've heard about it and I've never noticed it before. On the contrary, when harvesting with vehicles, there is a message in the field window that workers are needed.

[bajecznie nawdychany]

For sure using workers on fields is not a good idea. One Agro farm is fair enough to work on 10 big fields with seasons on. One thing: use DO to gather crops from field instead of using Agro farm itself.
If You want to really support fields with workers then I think You need to prepare for a lot of micromanagement.

[bballjo]

Citizens as a workforce are a lot more valuable producing other products than grain...but if you have enough workers and it speeds up the harvest I would so it and plan for it by adding more fields.

[MrKrabs]

I make sure to have my fields far enough away from the housings.

[joeball123]

If you want to employ citizens in the fields but do not want them to go unemployed over the summer and the winter, then why not build some industries that you don't really need to be operating and provide buses to them from the areas where your fields are? Workers will generally go to workplaces within walking distance before they go to bus stops, and once they get on a bus they'll get off at the first stop that has an available workplace, so if you have for example a route that goes:

[town bus station] > [bus stop amidst fields] > [bus stop for low-priority industry]

then your workers should work at in-town workplaces and any fields within walking distance of the town, then fields within walking distance of the first out-of-town bus stop, and last the low-priority industry during the sowing and reaping periods, and in-town workplaces then the low-priority industry outside of the sowing and reaping periods.

Another alternative to combine the bus stop for the fields with the bus stop for the low-priority industry; workers delivered to that bus stop will try to work everything in the area, so during the sowing and reaping periods some of the workers will go to the low-priority industry while others work in the fields while for the rest of the year everyone works the low-priority industry.

[TheAmishStig]

This was several versions ago, but at the time of my deep dive the price you paid for the extra speed is about a 40% drop in output. Maximum workers vs a 30-speed vehicle came out to be a wash...but if you can't keep the field full, the time efficiency dropped off a cliff.

[dimndroll]

ok, I understand, that noone use people for harvesting.
but why do we have such an opportunity then?

[dimndroll]

@joeball123
yes, thats the only solution, that come to my mind.
thanks, I'l try to experiment with that

[Staines]

Originally posted by TheAmishStig:

This was several versions ago, but at the time of my deep dive the price you paid for the extra speed is about a 40% drop in output. Maximum workers vs a 30-speed vehicle came out to be a wash...but if you can't keep the field full, the time efficiency dropped off a cliff.

I think manual harvesting could do with a bit of a balancing pass - requiring lower numbers of workers for the same output. We'd almost need distribution offices with busses to make it worth it though, similar to CO workers.

[KJ]

why does it need to be balanced though? Harvesting crops with people is super inefficient. They dont even have horses... Thats why in the olden days the majority of people living where farmers. And they didnt live in cities, because thats logistically silly. They lived right besides their fields.

[johntarmac]

Quick and dirty test...

180.21 tons - Workers only
216.46 tons - 60 workers + machine
300.34 tons - Machine only

120 workers was very fast, finishing in about a 10th of the time taken by machine.

[dimndroll]

@KJ
I meant to add workers to the vehicles

[dimndroll]

@johntarmac
thank you a lot, comrade!
thats the real deal, I got it.
much appreciated.

[TheAmishStig]

Originally posted by johntarmac:

Quick and dirty test...

180.21 tons - Workers only
216.46 tons - 60 workers + machine
300.34 tons - Machine only

120 workers was very fast, finishing in about a 10th of the time taken by machine.

Was that a single big field? If so, that's one hell of a buff, back when I did my study it was ~72 on workers, and ~120 on machines. Nice way to offset Seasons and the limited farming window each year.