1.0 "Create Modules" mode for workbench.

It would be really nice if there was a "Create Modules" mode for workbenches that will attempt to automatically build any modules you have placed, cycling through until it finds one that can be built with the current materials. It would just be a good quality of life thing so I don't have to remember exactly how many of module X I just placed down for larger colonies.

 

Heres hoping! If this could be done, it would go a long way to appease players with one of the biggest complaints about the game, the perceived micromanagement.

 

1. I often do because I like planning out large sections of my colony at a time, and unless I have ten assembly workbenches in my carpentry workshop I can't have everything built at once. I must wait for one thing to be built, then start the next, then the next, which can be tiresome. It's a lot to keep track of, and oftentimes I have to check to make see what I have already built versus what's already placed, etc.

2. Yes, it solves the following problems:

• You don't have to keep track of the exact number of an item. I just built a pub and a barbershop, how many chairs did I order? I feel like I shouldn't have to count them.
• When you built a large number of disparate items, you can have one workbench handle the production without any micromanagement. I just built a pub, it needs X chairs, X vats, X Chair and table sets, etc. Instead of waiting for the Chair to finish, then build the vats and wait for that to finish, then build the chair and table sets and wait for that to finish, you can simply set a "Create Planned Modules" order and let it build them all for you.

3. I actually don't know what you mean by this point.

TL;DR:

I am terrible at keeping track of how many modules I have placed, it would be nice if the game could remember for me.

 

ad 1. when i build a colony i have a planned ahead colony, so i have buildings jobs queuing 15 simple cabinets, 15 practical cabinets, 10 cots, 10 practical beds, 2 - n practical chair and table etc. You can also multiply by n because usually i layout several buildings + modules in advance with full recognization of the fact that they will take eternally to complete, mostly because that i am unable to expand a building later on, so mostly i already define a mine with a steam distributor although the actual research/build of a steam distributor is far away.
Since i have limited manpower at this point i usually operate with a workforce of 1-2 labourers + overseer for carpentry and ceramics. Therefore i can only handle 2 workbenches providing planks, one decor workbench and one assembly workbench. It is quite a headache to switch between these work modules to produce the boxed modules i need.
ad 2. It would solve the amount of switching workbenches to other productions all the time. Work Shops (especially in the beginning of the game) are limited in size by available resources...i tend to build 4x12 or x15 now with some experience on the game but this amounts to 5-6 workbenches in total with the needed decor to ensure a good building quality.
ad 3.) probably because i (maybe we) understand queuing as the possibility to have one module produce multiple items depending on resource availability.

 

I usually build 2 to 4. But for the carpentry workshop, it gets ridiculous with all the different jobs you can have. Lets say you are expanding, and you build a laborer house, a overseer house, and a pub, fully furnished.

You would need the following orders:

Cots
Chairs
Chair and table sets
Practical beds
Practical chair and table sets
Vats

That's 6 items. I could build a carpentry workshop with 6 assembly workbenches, but the game punishes me for it by having the quality of the workshop plummet.

That's a very important point:

By creating more workbenches to make the UI easier to manage, the game punishes you by making the quality of the workshop go down.

 

I don't have much time to go into depth here, but what I think these new players want is... less clicks.

If you put down a blueprint for a module, you go through a list of modules, place it, and have the expectation it will eventually be made. After that (or before) you have you go through another list to create that module. If that manual creation step could be eliminated, folks would be ecstatic. That is, the workgroup auto-builds all modules for available blueprints if the conditions are correct. This kind of eliminates the need for cueing altogether. Maybe hovering over the module blueprint might show you why the workgroup hasn't built it yet (lack of materials, needs the right bench, etc).

The horror in making this all work from a dev/game design perspective is another matter entirely.

 

That's basically it, yeah. No other objections from me, honestly the system is pretty good but it just needs a bit of tweaking.

 

I still miss a kind of priority system...if you know gnomoria, the workbenches showed an editable list (up, down, top, bottom) of the current orders. This way you could micromanage (the auto generated) tasks of a work module. The work orders would be executed in the order of the list and available resources so if a steam distributor is at the top of the list it is not blocking the processing of a smithing forge in terms of CE

 

As an example
Here i have placed somewhere 10 cot blueprints. They created a job at the carpentry, increasing by 1 for each module i place.


Now i have done a overseer building with 5 practical beds. They also created a job entry at the carpentry at the bottom of the list. If i wish i can move the practical beds to the top.


But i see that this is somewhat hard to implement with the current system of fixed multipliers for producing entities with tier 1 and tier 2 modules, but from the user interface point of view it would probably be easy to understand

 

Expanding on point 1:
I have no idea how much space I'm going to need in a workshop when I first place one. Demolishing one later leaves all the materials on the ground permanently, and I can't add on to one that's already completed (anymore? this was in once a long time ago wasn't it? did it mess up the building renderer?).

It's not JUST with carpentry, but that's the biggest offender. Other stuff like science materials and iron cogs and ammunition can't be "simply solved."

Late game you can go through a lot of ammo, but there's no way to tell a barracks to just stock 100+ rounds, even with multiple weapon lockers. It turns into a regular polling chore... check all barracks to see if they're down to <20 bullets, check the stockpile to see if I have iron and gunpowder. Check to see if I have sulphur, coal, and iron. smelt hematite. make gunpowder. make bullets in surplus so my soldiers will only fire pistols for half the next fight (coz no one's gonna restock them in the middle). The game's full of little chore-chains like that that drag your attention away from the larger picture that I'd rather be managing at that stage.

 

One other problem with big workshops as the intended solution is that timber is horribly scarce on most maps, so you are heavily rewarded for making buildings as small as you can. Clay and stone, before you build a mine, also have this problem. Finally, there is rarely enough flat land to build big buildings right off the bat.

In earlier versions of this game, before flat-packed boxed furniture, this sort of problem was solved rather elegantly by there only being a few different kinds of things workshops actually have to produce in a colony. Based on the blog posts, I assume that the kind of automation that was originally supposed to happen involved the use of mechanics like conveyor belts, but that never actually got done for release.

Perhaps flat packing could be optional, with the reward being that laborers only have to fetch one thing at a time and that it can be purchased or sold at the trade depot. You would still have an incentive to build big workshops late game, but early game is more forgiving.

Another thing that might allow this sort of ramp-up is allowing planks to substitute for logs and bricks to substitute for stone at a certain point in the game, when making building foundations. This would encourage people to demolish their older workshops and build new ones using these cheaper materials.

 

I don't mind how the production aspects of this game works, but I would sincerely appreciate if I could type in the number of items I would like to be made (or perhaps choose between fixed sums, like 10, 15, 30, 60, 90, ...).

Right now, if I want my kitchen to produce 60 items of sausages, I have to click the counter 59 times, if I'm not using an iron oven. I realise I can set the oven to maintain an minimum number of 10 sausages, but then I might not be able to make pies, or something else. The way the game is designed you get penalised for having too many workstations in a building, and I don't want to fill my kitchens with ovens, 3 is quite sufficient most of the time.

The advantage of the iron oven should be principally that it makes food more efficiently, not that it makes my finger hurt less.

This is even more of a bother with planks. I don't want my workbenches to maintain a minimum number of planks, because on difficult maps with few trees I can't afford to make planks from all the logs I harvest, I also need logs for houses.

 

Thanks! I didn't know that. I don't remember seeing it mentioned in the game, in the tutorial or as a tooltip, and I've played your game for nearly 150 hours, according to Steam.