Improving District Transporation (Distribution post trade routes Interface and efficiency)
A few ideas:
* Add information to Distribution Posts per route if they are stalled due to lack of capacity at the other end etc. It is not uncommon to have Distribution Posts sitting idle with no clear reason why. Occasionally it is a congested drop off point or full warehouse in the destination but most of the time it is a complete mystery.
* Add information to Distribution Posts per route showing how many units/time will be moved based on current staffing. Right now it is very hard to gauge throughput. I have a "Bakery" district with two fully staffed Distribution Posts and the flow of materials is incredibly random.
* Add a checkbox to the Distribution Posts for "Assist with incoming routes when idle". If there are no outbound routes for a Distribution Post or if all routes are stalled, this option would allow the workers to go to a Distribution Post that is assigned to send to that district to pickup and help transport goods back to their home district.
Comments: 69
-
17 Sep, '21
James Yang MergedDistribution Post is a crucially needed building in transporting goods between districts, especially with specializations applied to each of them. However the current version of this building has two major problems:
1) The size of the building is too large, while only 8 beavers can be hired, all together make the building's function inefficient;
2) The existing trade routes cannot be edited. The only way to change them is to delete the selected route, then create a new one.
Suggestions:
For problem 1): Either resize the building to a smaller scale (let's say, 2x3 or 3x3) while keeping everything else the same, or increase the number of beavers available to be hired; (I strongly recommend the first one since the number of trade routes DOES matter)
For problem 2): Add an "Edit" function to the existing trade route that enables modifying the destination and/or the type of goods.
In addition, I also recommend adding emergency hierarchy to each trade route (e.g. water > planks > b -
19 Sep, '21
Michael MergedCould you add a tutorial or additional directions or refine the interface for distributing resources between districts?
-
21 Sep, '21
Benjamin Crehore MergedThe current method is clunky, and difficult to understand. A better description of what High and Low mean would help. Example: I have 2 districts. I am harvesting berries in District (D) 1, I want to send some to D2. I want to maintain a minimum of 100 berries in D1, and maintain a supply in D2 of 25 berries. In the Distribution Center, I want to maintain an inventory of 15 berries. How should that be set up?
Suggestion: Between two districts, there should only be a need for one Distribution Center and the two associated drop off points (which should be located within a certain distance from the Distribution Center). I think the door to the Distribution Center should act as the gate/border between two districts. In that particular Distribution Center, there should be worker slots for beavers from both districts. Example: In the Distribution Center, D1 has 4 workers who supply water and berries to D2. D2 has 2 workers who supply logs to D1
Thank you for listening -
25 Sep, '21
A MergedIn the mid to late game, when there are multiple districts, resource flow between districts becomes tedious and requires a lot of micro. It would be great if there was an option where we maintain the multiple districts but the distribution centres operate automatically, without the need to micro.
-
28 Sep, '21
KevinR MergedI really enjoy the game but the distribution post controls are a bit clunky. It would be nice if when adding a route you could select from a drop down list similar to when migrating the population. Especially later in the game it is annoying to have to move to the distribution post, select it to add route, and then move back to the drop off to select it.
-
29 Sep, '21
UndeadFrog MergedI just want to preface this with the fact that I may be misunderstanding something about districts, so If i am I'm sorry.
Based on my current experience I like the concept of districts and get their importance for pathing and expansion.
My problem stems from how they interact with each other from a resource perspective. Distributing resources between them currently feels clunky and slow to the point that you basically have to make each district it's own self sufficient area, which makes expansion annoying and avoided as much as possible. My suggestion would be a slight rework to this system:
Allow distribution of resources based on percentage, for example i want District 1 to have 50% of my overall carrots, District 2 to have 10% and District 3 to have 40%. (essentially load balancing your resources as needed)
Distribution points would need to be buffed a bit, perhaps have carts they pull?? But also allow other workers in range of the drop off points to move resources while idl -
29 Sep, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin"[Suggestion] Distribution Post Capacity and Function" (suggested by James Yang on 2021-09-17), including upvotes (3) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
-
29 Sep, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin"Distribution Centers" (suggested by Benjamin Crehore on 2021-09-21), including upvotes (4) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
-
29 Sep, '21
Gin Fuyou AdminThere are many reports and suggestions regarding distribution, I'll be merging a number of them here now depending on how specific and detailed they are
* Specific related topics:
Pause routes https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/217018/
Remove drop-off points https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/215354/
Better transport https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/216701/
Two-way distribution https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/216541/ -
29 Sep, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin"Distribution Post Controls" (suggested by KevinR on 2021-09-28), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
-
29 Sep, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin"Managing Districts" (suggested by A on 2021-09-25), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
-
29 Sep, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin"Distribute Resources" (suggested by Michael on 2021-09-19), including upvotes (2) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
-
29 Sep, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin"District trading improvement" (suggested by UndeadFrog on 2021-09-29), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
-
03 Oct, '21
Alex MI like UndeadFrog's suggestion. Being able to split resource distribution globally would be way less tedious than what we have now. I would also suggest replacing the Distribution/Drop Off buildings with a single Trading Post, which performs both jobs.
-
04 Oct, '21
Nathaniel MossI, too, am finding the Distro centers to be unwieldy. I am having to use 3 full centers to feed my main center of 150... and they're not that far away. The beavers make one lazy trip with 1-5 food (not the max), seemingly splitting the minimum between the full 8 beavers. When I changed this to a single drop off point with a min of 200 of, say, carrots, they never quite fill it. Distro centers seem to need a buff to help out other districts. (And these beavers are rank 10 happiness.)
-
07 Oct, '21
KaiserPhoenix MergedHello,
The game is based on district functionality. But currently the transportation between different districts is very limited.
Distribution stations are expensive, large to place, can only employ 10 beavers. Moreover, almost all the trips of a beaver between two districts will be never made at full capacity !
To test this theory, I tried to place two districts with 4000 wheat to be moved from one district to the other with a distribution station. This took exactly 3 cycles and 20 days. Now, 1 wheat weighs 1kg, let's imagine that a beaver makes 1 trip per day, so I have 8 beavers that can transport 23kg per day : 23 x 8 = 184 kg of wheat transported per day. So to move 4000 wheat, it should have taken me about 4000/184=21 days, and not almost 4 cycles!
The district functionality is very interesting to separate the productions, but because of the transport limitations, it limits the possibilities of extension. -
08 Oct, '21
MaxI would like to see one time transfers of a specified quantity of items to be added to this list. I never need a district to have a constant supply of metal, gears or dynamite on hand, to be replenished when used. I just need to send them enough to do the job. Any more and it becomes a pain to get all my resources together and available for the next job. This would also be handy as an emergency override so your district doesn't die of thirst while the next one over has 1000 water banked up that for whatever reason the haulers are too busy to move. Just like: STOP WHAT YOU"RE DOING. 400 BUCKETS OF WATER. HERE. NOW.
-
08 Oct, '21
MaxAlso, district gates should can be build on top of paths, and be replaced with a path when deleted.
-
08 Oct, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin MergedDon't measure time in cycles, please, even for given preset difficulty (assume normal) they vary in length.
But I get the point, I tag it with [bug] too, since there might be something off in distribution logic too. -
08 Oct, '21
HN MergedHi, the inter district transport is very interesting but I struggle to understand the limits mechanics.
Sometimes the beavers do nothing while the resources limits seem fine on each side.
I often end up removing all limits (by unticking the "max" checkbox, I guess ?) which results (logically) in my beavers transporting either nothing or everything.
I think the District Limits screen could be more intuitive.
True that the building has a huge size but hey, look at amazon warehouses... ;-)
By the way, it is maybe not the place but your game is great guys.
First time I play an early access game and I am not disapointed at all.
Thanks ! -
12 Oct, '21
TheExceed MergedCurrently the Distribution Post system isn't very intuitive and be hard to wrap your head around especially for new players when you can get to your second district relatively quickly in easy/normal modes. So I have a few suggestions: (some of which don't work with others)
1) (From waltermundt) Rename "low" and "high" in district distribution limits and allow the "low" value to be above the "high" value. shorturl.at/fiksL
2) Rework the distribution post to handle only that districts inventory. Low = minimum amount prior to requesting from another district and high = being the minimum amount need two accept a request from another district.
3) Have each route have their own individual amount upon creation. So when you create the route when you're selecting the resource, you would also set the low and high. In this case, low would be minimum amount in the district you're sending too and high would be the minimum amount prior to send. Also allow editing post route creation. -
12 Oct, '21
Thaina Yu MergedI think it more helpful to have it as desired/stock
-
12 Oct, '21
TheExceed MergedIssue with that is the current desired/stock with storage is a misconception.
-
14 Oct, '21
FalconAt'High' and 'low' are pretty terms, but they are misleading and need to be changed.
The dichotomy between 'high' and 'low' imply they are working with the same metric. It implies that a distribution post will export at least and at most a certain quantity, while the drop off point will import at least and at most a certain quantity. However, to my knowledge, this is not the case.
Actually, 'low' looks at the sender's storage and turns off exports when a minimum is reached. And 'high' is a measure of all recipient's storage, and turns off exports when the recipient has enough.
The terms currently used are misleading.
I think it would be better for the distribution post to be able to say "this is the cut off for exports" (currently 'low') and the drop-off to say "this is the cut off for imports" (currently 'high.') by splitting the terms to different UI boxes, it would help educate the player as to their use. -
22 Oct, '21
AfterCrowNot to self-promote, but to ease the pain of District management I have created the following tutorial:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2633338576 -
24 Oct, '21
wiedmaxthanx to AfterCrow for exceptionally thorought guide but I need to add one missing point and explain it :
first of all the Distribution center have 10 routes at best - which someone will see too many, someone else - too limited
as I figured out - 10 is ENOUGH - game will force you to look for "golden pinnacle" - say : if you need to set up more then 10 routes in ONE different district - You make it WRONG ! for example - why do you send potatoes both raw and grilled in a same district ?
here we comes to a decision of what to carry out and what - not
everything i may needed to mention here - already did AfterCrow , but one important point - he doesn't covered :
CHAINED distributions !! [fanfares here !]
when you need to send ONE given goodie to several districts you bump in necessity to make as much routes as you have districts-receivers and that DOESN'T EFFECTED how you will actually spread that cargo amongst !
<to be continued>... -
24 Oct, '21
wiedmax<continue>
make one and only route for that cargo in each district upto the last one AND : INSURE that in all of them this given cargo have the positive gap between "low " and "high" limits - if there is no gap - low=high - the cargo STOPS HERE and won't go further down the chain !
Now if we enlarge this idea - you can spread 10 goods throughout your entire colony (maybe - whole map) - and that is essentially enough to supply all that districts with nutrition (all 3 + water - takes 4 routes per Distribution Center) and building materials ( logs+planks+gears+paper\explosives = another 4) and you still have spare 2 routes for whatever you may like beside those already travelling down the chain and if you link it to the start - you'll get a perfect loop and a spare 2 routes at each district for their personal use. -
31 Oct, '21
mjevans MergedZisteau experienced this very same issue, and I didn't even realize how bad things were until he hovered over the ? because who would do that when Low (Keep at least) and High (Request More) are so BADLY misnamed!
https://clips.twitch.tv/AthleticCautiousArtichokeOSsloth-5QeRiJSCaJtLFUpN -
03 Dec, '21
WhiteRoo MergedA distribution post can only hold 10 routes, but there are just nine kinds of food items now. Ten slots will probably not be enough.
There are too many items for a scroll menu in the distribution interface. Please add categories and a filter. I would suggest hiding goods the player haven't manufactured yet.
I have noticed that you can add the exact same route (same good, same destination) into a single distribution post multiple times, however the game doesn't provides any information about what does that even mean, or how much material is being moved in a single day per route.
I'd suggest to remove the District Distribution Limit dialog from the Drop-Off points and replace them with a global one, that shows limits on all districts. Maybe have the default be 100, and only show entries that are managed in any district.
A similar unified interface would be nice for routes as well.
Limit drop-off points to one per district. Have the player build warehouses instead. -
04 Dec, '21
anton MergedThis suggestion complitely removes the routs limitation
https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/232357/merge-dropoff-point-with-distribution-post-to-make-market -
07 Dec, '21
Cubic_daredevil Mergedcurrently resource distribution is hard to manage especially when trying to distribute just enough for a build project or trying to balance food levels. This is exemplified when having multiple distribution posts. To fix this I'd suggest a single menu in which to manage distribution between districts where it's possible to see and manage all distribution routes and district limits and also allow for more precise control such as transfer of exact amounts of resources or automated distribution of food to districts that are lacking based on beaver count.
-
08 Dec, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin Merged"Resource distribution menu" (suggested by Cubic_daredevil on 2021-12-07), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
-
16 Dec, '21
JoesphDrop off points currently need to have a “return to sender” button so that any unwanted materials can be send back to where it come from as Distribution Posts currently are two big and expensive to build in most districts.
Also we need small Distribution Post that can say move only type of material that we chose that we can use in our specialised district (such as a district that is set up solely for scrap metal).
Also the district distribution limits system is confusing and does not make sense especially for new players. -
21 Dec, '21
Pulli MergedI don´t understand how the distribution between districts work. It is hard to guess what will be transported to the other district. Sometimes too much ends up in the other district. I would be nice to have an easier way to distribute especially food and water evenly so all beavers survive.
-
21 Dec, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin Merged> It is hard to guess what will be transported to the other district
Guess? But you explicitly select *what* to transport.
Amounts are controlled with district distribution limits window. UI is indeed lacking and not intuitive, it's noted. -
05 Jan, '22
Wolfman MergedThe micromanagement between districts seems unclear and confusing. Why not introduce a building that can manage at least the basic ressources automatically; water, food and wood? It could be placed instead of the district gate, but doesn't have to replace the gate completly, you should be able to use either construction.
-
07 Jan, '22
palidine40 MergedOP, can you elaborate how it would replace it? I'm curious.
-
15 Jan, '22
Sidewinder MergedI have the limits set and routes laid out in my game but the beavers just sit and do not transport anything
-
16 Jan, '22
Hayden MergedI want to add my voice to this issue. I would suggest that their is something missing in the AI calculation.
I sacrificed multiple days of (in-game) productivity, just to watch the distribution beavers under a few different conditions. I wanted to learn how it worked.
I current have 2800 units of water stored in district A. I wish to transport water to district B and C. My lower limit is set to 200, my upper limit is unticked (so infinite). The distance from A to B and A to C is close enough to be identical. I have A->B set as a single route. I have A->C set as the full 10 routes (all of water) to the same receiving post. Both distribution posts have all 8 beavers working, and are prioritized by haulers (so they are always stocked).
It takes my distributing beavers about a quarter of a working day (4 ingame hrs ish?) to make a single trip and return to district A. For the remainder of the day they then sit idle, never making a second trip. Could the beavers repeat trips when idle? -
16 Jan, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin MergedHayden
> Could the beavers repeat trips when idle?
They do. Maybe mail your save file to devs in case there is some specific calculation bug in your case? https://mechanistry.com/bug -
23 Jan, '22
Wolfman MergedIt'd be something like a special warehouse that can be used from both sides. It can still be used as 'gate' in a sense that it seperates districts.
With more hours on the clock, I'd say the entire district management system has to be improved, a building like this could be a good idea. However, it'd be part of an improvement of the storage management system in general. -
28 Jan, '22
Nick Thomas MergedAs far as reworking goes - I was think you could request resources from your new district, (like 50 logs, 20 planks, 100 berries, 100 water ) from another district and the sending district could set that as a distribution queue to be fulfilled by their workers.
That way I wouldn't have to micromanage the hell outa my distribution routes - there's some times where I want just 1 gear for a project, but then I come back 30 minutes later and I have 97 =S -
19 Apr, '22
Vaaluin MergedI don't mind the idea of Districts. They can be great for micromanaging resources in other games. However, in this game, they need some serious work. Your beavers can have resources one tile out of their district and just ignore it completely. Starving, dehydrating. It's absurd. Let us build districts to micromanage labor and resources, but also let us have shared resources between the districts.
I'm personally a big fan of the system in Surviving Mars. You can set up resource drops to specific domes based on proximity. It works nicely. You can have shared goods or exclusive goods. Something along those lines. Shared depots. -
21 Apr, '22
Lawlessfighter MergedAgreed, I got to the point where I had to make a new district to feasibly continue to grow, and didn't realize they were basically they're own isolated towns. I watched a dozen beavers starve to death while my original district had literal storehouses full to bursting with food. I looked for a "trucker" job that would ferry resources between districts and found nothing, no help, and setting up an entire new ecosystem each time I wanted to move to a new space?
That alone made me quit playing. -
22 Apr, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin Merged> I looked for a "trucker" job that would ferry resources between districts and found nothin
Distribution center and drop-off point is what you need in labour tab (one with a hammer icon) -
24 Apr, '22
neeedles MergedI think it would be cool to link Distribution Centers and Drop Off Points with routes that automatically transport goods without beavers. It could look like a ski lift with ropes connecting towers. It should be expensive and require power.
-
25 Apr, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin Merged"Suggestion: Automated Distribution" (suggested by neeedles on 2022-04-24), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
-
27 Apr, '22
Deluge MergedThe game Banished made districts work very fluidly with marketplaces. You build a central marketplace in every district and you employ "traders" to ferry goods between marketplaces. The main difference here is the automation. You simply set a desired amount of every type of item and your traders will travel between all marketplaces and try to maintain the desired amounts between all districts. Banished has no district "zones", the distance is simply how far your workers can travel before dying.
It's a chore to set up drop-off points and ordering the transfer of each item between districts. This is something I'd expect in a game like Railroad Tycoon and other transport game, not from a game like Timberborn.
The inclusion of a marketplace of course leads to a load of inefficiencies when your trader's AI are doing dumb things, but I do feel that the game needs some self induced inefficiencies, and not end up with endless resources as players currently are, trivializing the game play. -
30 Apr, '22
Sangoman MergedInstead of setting route from a specific loading point to a specific unloading point, we should setup what kind of ressource a district can export and what kind of ressources a district want to receive.
For example, in district 1 i may setup "send X ressource to other district if i have more than Y left"
and in district 2 i may setup "accept X ressource from other district if i have less than Y left"
And the game automaticaly set a route from district 1 to district 2.
The improvment in this system is that a district can send his ressouces to several other with one setup and its easier to manage what each district send and receive. -
30 Apr, '22
Ivanisovich MergedHi, I'm on my first playthrough. Got to districts and was so disappointed in the mechanics. I like the option to micromanage, but hate the requirement to micro if I don't want to. As proposed, there need to be shared resources.
After quitting the game earlier today, I loaded again to see if I could figure out an easy-ish way to micro the resource distribution. I just got frustrated again and disappointed since I love the gameplay in Timberborn. It would make sense to set up specialized districts...industrial zones, farming zones, etc. Additionally, the science requirements surprised me. Didn't feel necessary, and didn't feel like the other items that are researched....just felt forced.