Example 1:
If you set ratios for produced items in lets say fletcher workshop to following:
0 for arrows
1 for bow
10 for crossbow
and you do not have any iron available to make a crossbow the fletcher will craft bows without a break until iron is available and this is good, however there should be an exception made for recipes that require same ingredients with just different amounts.
Example 2:
If you set ratios in blacksmith workshop to following:
1 for tools (needing 4 iron)
10 for heavy tools (needing 15 iron)
0 for rest
My iron production is quite slow, meaning everytime I get at least 4 iron, the blacksmith starts to make tools as it doesnt have enough for heavy tools, meaning it will never make any heavy tools unless I force-stop basic tool production or improve my iron production.
I know this isnt really a bug and the easy solution is to make more iron but i still see it as something that could use an exception in the logic.
The only way I’ve found to solve the blacksmith problem is to eventually have one workshop for each item:
You need to buy at least 2 heavy tools, one for the first foundry and one for the first workshop. First workshop produces only heavy tools until I have 5. Then I add tools to start making those.
When I build workshop #2, #1 is set for tools only. #2 makes heavy tools to make sure there’s always some in stock when needed and also Weapons. It will prefer to make weapons so keep watch on your heavy tools supply and shut off weapons if heavy tools get low. You don’t want to run out because they are expensive to buy.
When workshop #3 is built, #1 keeps making tools, #2 makes heavy tools, #3 makes weapons.
Workshop #4 makes heavy weapons when needed.
Eventually, you’ll probably need workshop #5 producing just tools to keep up with the demand.
That’s how I manage my workshops to insure everything gets made. Yes, much of the time one or more will be idle due to maximum quotas, but those people get released into the labor pool.
Yes, it’s not actually a production ratio, but a production queue. And the alternative, blocking production until there are enough resources, is no better than skipping production of an item.
The player must ensure there are enough resources to avoid problems. Also you can reduce the number of workers in the production building according to the actual resource income or even halt the production until you stockpile resources.