I have been noticing since the patch that my townies are taking a lot longer to gather water for their homes.
I don’t know what changed but it was sugegsted on discord that maybe there was some pathing changes that affected things.
Either way I have some thoughts on the water map and wells.
I think wells need a bigger radius. It is my opinion that people wouldn’t expect a water source to be on their doorstep as much as they would a source of food. They might expect a bit of a walk.
The below image is my current town of Wafflesocket (great name, eh? It’s inspirational). The top well is the one I built early game. Below is me checking the range of a well. Surely the non-highlighted house bottom left would not think that too far?
I understand the game needs to take into account speed of walking etc, and I am sure there are other issues. I just think that is close.
I also feel there should be little benefit tp building a well in an area with low water access, ie light blues. The wells I built are in areas of about 77% water and I wouldn’t think much lower than that was efficient.
Perhaps what the game needs is water workers or more distribution workers. Maybe water could be taken to the market and can be collected. As opposed, of course, to home owners collecting themselves.
I agree.
Moreover, I think the wells can be improved. When I have an ordinary well, everything is fine. When I have an upgraded well, it keeps showing up that there is not enough water in it. I think a better well should be more productive than the basic one.
The area the well affects is desirability. It is more desirable to be close to the well, because it means less time to get to the water source but not that farther houses can’t draw water there. To view this change in desirability press G while you have the well building selected to build, and move it to the houses that aren’t in the current well’s radius to see how it affects them (the current houses can only benefit in desirability by having a well closer to them, as proximity impacts desirability slightly).
Low water tables can be boosted by planting trees directly around the well, which turns less beneficial water areas into veritable oases.
This is a town where I’ve already built up some and had ground water accumulate around my wells. The current bonus from the ground on this spot is 76%. Previously it was coloured to match the areas outside of the trees which is about 50-55%.
Additionally there are seasonal boosts that you don’t see when placing the well, only environmental. Depending on your area the seasonal benefit could be enough to make it beneficial. Screenshot from my very own Wafflesocket.
Water can, and is by default, stored in Storehouses IIRC. There is at least one storage building that will accept water, and villagers can take water from there. Maybe that will help you.
