Really enjoying the game so far, and find the new combat additions a lot of fun. But one area where I would love to see improvements made is in the ability to better control and micro manage the transport and logistics of goods. I good example of what I mean is something that happened in my game yesterday.
I had an iron mine with eleven ore in it. As a wagon was on it’s way out to get it, seven labourers trotted along in front of the wagon, each getting to the mine and picking up one ore. Then the wagon arrived, with only four ore remaining, and it also picked up one ore, leaving three at the mine. At the same time, a grocer decided to go half way across the map to the soap maker to stock the market, passing a nearby store house which also had soap. I assume this is why two of the labourers suddenly dropped their iron along the road to go shelter stock. And as all this was going on, five foundry workers sat idle while a sixth ran to the mine to get ore.
By streamlining how we are able to manage the logistics, this could all have been avoided. If I could set a mine, or any other production or resource manufacturer, to only be able to be collected by a wagon, no labourer or worker would ever waste the time running all over getting one turnip here and one coal there. Wagons, preferably at full or near to full capacity, would do it all. (And I know they can make multiple stops, because in the same game I watched a single wagon stop at four different foundries picking up gold before making it’s way to the vault to deposit it all.) Having wagons making fewer trips, but with much larger capacity, would free up laboureres for other jobs or smaller runs.
Also, as I’ve suggested before, if we could have a second sub-set of labourers, like the builders, and only those would handle transporting of goods, it ensures there are always actual labourers to do the general labour, like clearing construction sites, or hauling the dead to graveyards.
It would also be great if we could set for manufacturers where they would get their supplies from. I had a bakery yesterday where three of four bakers were idle while a fourth ran to the windmill to get flour. No sooner did the baker leave, than a group of labourers transported flour to the granary next door to the bakery. And the other three bakers still sat idle, because the one assigned to restock was still on his way to the mill. If we could set it so they would only take from that granary, sure, they would still sit idle while the granary is empty, but that would have been for a shorter time than was wasted running across the city to the mill. Also, if the labourers weren’t trying to beat the wagons to the far away mines and lumber camps, they would have been in town to keep the flow of flour to the granary consistent.
I make no claims to being a game developer or programmer, so I can’t say if what I’m suggesting is even possible, or if so, what it would entail from a design side. I also can’t say if this is the direction Crate wants to go with the game. But while the additions made in V0.9.2 add an element of RTS to the game, this is at its heart and core a city builder and management sim game. And what separates mediocre or good city builders from the really great ones (in my humble opinion) is the degree to which your choices around logistics impact the overall play and outcome of the game. So hopefully in future updates we’ll see some deeper additions in the area of logistics and resource management.
Thanks for reading, and have a great game.
Cheers