I played before guild halls were a thing but now back again. Maybe I’m dumb or just can’t find it but I was trying to look at what exactly guild halls offered and couldn’t until I built one. Checked a wiki, the game guide and in game tutorial. Now that I have one I see that it offers 7 different types of efficiency but what is efficiency? Does this help the speed in which things are produced or reduce the amount of resources or increase the amount of items made per mine/build/gather?
Based on my own observation and the info provided on the guild building, the guild increases production of the selected resource/product by 30% when fully staffed and provided with paper.
It does not say how this added 30% is achieved. I’m assuming it increases the speed by 30% since some selections increase gathering and some increases production, but it could also be accomplished by increasing the yield.
With increased production there will also be an increase in how much raw materials are used.
For gathering professions such as wood there will obviously not be an increase in raw material usage.
I’m pretty sure it’s an increase of speed when turning A into B. So when workers are inside their buildings, or when loggers are chopping/planting, their work speed is increased
Adjacent to this my upgraded foresters are fully occupied in planting, and when I need more lumber I select Harvest and highlight a region of mature trees. 50 or more labourers will harvest lumber much faster than 6 forestry camps. Even with the Guild, so I change that to stone or mining, sometimes onto stuff I can then sell.
I’ve found that four fully upgraded and staffed forestry sites provide more than enough wood. I have gathering set to 1 and planting set to 2. Eventually I can usually even set the planting to 1 and still have plenty. Sometimes I have so much I reduce a worker or two to not overload storage.
Personally, I like the fact that forestry workers are no longer pulled from laborers and are a constant, instead of having a fluctuating laborer supply when I need wood.
Once it’s set up and running I never have to do anything for wood supply.