I originally posted this in the Steam discussions, but reposting it here (with an extra point) since I’ve just found this forum.
- Wagon shop.
The current wagon shop can have up to 2 workers, who will first build a wagon, then drive it around.
I was a bit surprised when I realized that, since I assumed they would only build them for someone else to drive around.
My suggestion would be to make the Wagons similar to the barrels, where the wagon shop makes the wagons and other workers from other buildings would use them. (see suggestion 2).
- Stockyards and storehouse
These could have a slot to fit a worker.
I imagine a “keep in stock” system similar to the trading post, where the worker in that stockyard/storehouse would be the one running around town to get items from other locations and keep things organized.
You could have a worker in a stockyard near the Firewood Splitter and the Saw Pit keep wood in stock, while another stockyard near the Potter Building and the Brickyard keeps clay in stock.
For balance purposes, I’m thinking the stockyard would have an open slot for a wagon, but the storehouse wouldn’t, since it can store more things.
For example: Let’s say the only sand pit on your map is miles away from your village.
You don’t want your sandpit workers to have to carry the sand all the way to the village, but you also don’t want your Glassmaker workers to have to make the long trip to the sand pit to get the sand.
In this scenario, you would make a stockyard near both buildings and only have the worker in the stockyard handle the back & forth to keep the sand in stock in the village.
- A ferryman.
(for maps with rivers and water generally making travel difficult)
This building would be a quay on 2 separate shores. (placement could follow similar rules to placing roads, where a path needs to be possible between the start and end)
The ferryman would travel back and forth and get other people across.
Maybe the upgraded version could allow wagons through.
- Limits.
I would suggest having the option of setting stop limits and restart limits.
For example, in the Fletcher Building, I would like the option to set the stop limit to 1000 arrows and the restart limit to 500 arrows.
This way, the worker would stop making arrows when they reach 1000 and they would then become a normal laborer, until there is less than 500 arrows in storage, where they would then come back to make more, until they reach 1000 again.
This could be tied to the building slots instead of the worker AI. (the building’ s slot gets disabled when the limit is reached, so the worker gets kicked out of it)
These limits could also be applied to other buildings like the Saw Pit to avoid decimating your wood storage after the need for plank goes down.
Same thing for bricks, you need a ton of them, until you don’t. If you then forget to remove workers, you end up with 600 Bricks and no clay left.
(Edit) 5. Forcing actions
I would find it interesting to be able to force villagers to perform a single action.
For example, if there is a house that I really want to be built ASAP, instead of prioritizing it and waiting for the AI to get to it, I would like the ability to select a few villagers and make them work on the house right-away. Once the house is built, they would all go back to whatever else they do.
Another example would be wanting to flatten a piece of land.
The laborer are far away, but there are a few hunters, gatherers and a work camp nearby? Congratulations, you guys are temporarily laborers!