At day 31 and have yet to get them to:
Build a wood wall (yes, I have an electric sawmill with a "make 10" bill)
Build a bed
Build a wooden door
Build a butcher table
Build a stonemason's table (yes, researched)
So what conclusion are you leading to? The game is bugged? Too hard? Unclear? Too slow-paced?
Sorry...
Bugged. Been playing since Alpha 1. Or perhaps the rules have changed? But I didn't see anything I would need to research to build wooden walls or beds.
Of course, this prevents me from rescuing the random crash victim, or arresting wounded attackers.
If its relevant, I'm playing on the largest board creatable at the best graphic level. No mods.
Save file: http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1245501
Saw some logs into planks.
We've had usability issues with this; I'd hoped that the red text on the mouse when you build things for which you have no materials would have helped.... :( Sorry.
Quote from: Tynan on June 01, 2014, 09:04:42 PM
Saw some logs into planks.
We've had usability issues with this; I'd hoped that the red text on the mouse when you build things for which you have no materials would have helped.... :( Sorry.
Hmmm, have had sawmills for some time, with waybills. Doesn't explain the bed issue or lack of them building butcher tables or stone mason tables. Although having crafting somewhat low could explain the lack of wood boards...
Be nice... I've been with you since your original kickstart drive and ever since.
Update: Setting crafting to priority 1 solved the wood issue.
Update 2: And they need wood to make beds? I didn't see that coming... I saw the red, just presumed it was because I was low on metal, as in previous releases.
Update 3: Ah, the butcher table is wood as well. OK, all is well now - just needed to know what to look for.
Hi.
I have had troubles getting them to build stuff at the beginning too. Mostly it was due to missing resources. It would be nice if a warning could be implemented that tells you when there are constructions halted do to missing resources, just like the ones were it says that you have an idle colonist, or you need beds for them.
Quote from: Dielos on June 02, 2014, 02:38:54 AM
It would be nice if a warning could be implemented that tells you when there are constructions halted do to missing resources, just like the ones were it says that you have an idle colonist, or you need beds for them.
That's actually a good idea. I was trying to think of other ways to solve this but this is a really good one I hadn't thought of.
Tynan, you could maybe add how many resources are currently missing to the list in the top left corner with a minus and big, red font? That would help with mining metal, too. If you see -70 metal you know you need to mine 2 segments of ore to get all your queued stuff finished.
for the longest time i was wondering why i couldn't build the butcher's table (bug: I couldn't right click->priority build it either?).
then I realized I didn't have the planks - I needed to manually ask them to chop the tree down to get it - then the planks appeared, and the table got built.
Another possible solution would be to add to the Blueprints and Frames the information about what is needed to the info box.
The Frames has already the info what is already inside, but what's needed is missing, so you have to look into the build menu to find out what is needed..
IMO, the some of usuability issues come from multiple workbenches all doing the same thing. The difference between the hand saw and the electric saw is speed and the need for power - why not just be able to upgrade the hand saw into an electric saw by right clicking on it and telling it to upgrade? I know the whole upgrading idea has been squashed before (modular turret thread), but I feel like it would greatly cut down on the number of items in the build menu and increase the usability of each structure while decreasing player misinformation.
Quote from: Col_Jessep on June 02, 2014, 08:42:27 AM
Tynan, you could maybe add how many resources are currently missing to the list in the top left corner with a minus and big, red font?
Items are only counted when in stockpiles, but can be used by colonists. There would be a lot of negative numbers in the UI.
Quote from: Blitzkriegsler on June 02, 2014, 09:29:35 AM
IMO, the some of usuability issues come from multiple workbenches all doing the same thing. The difference between the hand saw and the electric saw is speed and the need for power - why not just be able to upgrade the hand saw into an electric saw by right clicking on it and telling it to upgrade? I know the whole upgrading idea has been squashed before (modular turret thread), but I feel like it would greatly cut down on the number of items in the build menu and increase the usability of each structure while decreasing player misinformation.
Quote from: Col_Jessep on June 02, 2014, 08:42:27 AM
Tynan, you could maybe add how many resources are currently missing to the list in the top left corner with a minus and big, red font?
Items are only counted when in stockpiles, but can be used by colonists. There would be a lot of negative numbers in the UI.
Actually there are more differences with the electric saw, you must have a hand saw to eventually build the electric as that actually requires more planks than you start with.
I recommend players set the hand saw to infinite build as many of the items that require planks require more than ten. plus the wood flooring is fantastic.
It took me a few minutes to realize I was missing some wood planks when i was feverishly trying to get a colonist to prioritize building a wooden door and couldn't figure out why the menu wouldn't even pop up. Much like when you try try to prioritize an action and get the error text "Cannot prioritize: Joe is not a hauler", it might be nice to also have "Cannot prioritize: No wood planks available".
Quote from: Youraputz on June 02, 2014, 10:41:15 AM
It took me a few minutes to realize I was missing some wood planks when i was feverishly trying to get a colonist to prioritize building a wooden door and couldn't figure out why the menu wouldn't even pop up. Much like when you try try to prioritize an action and get the error text "Cannot prioritize: Joe is not a hauler", it might be nice to also have "Cannot prioritize: No wood planks available".
Great idea.
Well... I don't feel nearly as stupid now as I did a few hours ago when I finally got a bit of sleep. Thanks all!
BTW - I love the organization of the new menus - having things like grow lights under production and bedroom lights under furniture - great move.
I think the whole "prioritize task" thing needs some advertisement as well. Its almost a surprise to me when I see that menu, and honestly have never tried it (bad habit I suspect).
Cassandra seems a whole lot less aggressive now.
I like the wood lots, though they take a comparative eternity.
Quote from: dd0029 on June 02, 2014, 07:36:40 PM
Cassandra seems a whole lot less aggressive now.
I like the wood lots, though they take a comparative eternity.
Thanks for this comment. I made me re-review the storyteller balance code and I actually found an issue that would flatten out enemy growth rates. Solved now and hotifxed. Prepare to die.
Quote from: Haplo on June 02, 2014, 08:48:23 AM
Another possible solution would be to add to the Blueprints and Frames the information about what is needed to the info box.
The Frames has already the info what is already inside, but what's needed is missing, so you have to look into the build menu to find out what is needed..
A rather wierd workaroud to this would be to provide blueprint textures with painted resources on it. Will check it out when i end sawing my colonist in half :D
I quit the game several times because I couldn't figure out why the colonists weren't building beds or doors. I knew I was lacking a certain resource but I couldn't tell what the icon represented. It would be really nice to see something like "Requires 20[icon] wood planks" rather than "Requires 20[icon]".
On that note, I honestly can't tell what most of the icons mean. The metal one looks like corn or something, and as I said I just couldn't tell what the wood planks one was supposed to be.
Quote from: xu on June 03, 2014, 01:02:53 AM
I quit the game several times because I couldn't figure out why the colonists weren't building beds or doors. I knew I was lacking a certain resource but I couldn't tell what the icon represented. It would be really nice to see something like "Requires 20[icon] wood planks" rather than "Requires 20[icon]".
On that note, I honestly can't tell what most of the icons mean. The metal one looks like corn or something, and as I said I just couldn't tell what the wood planks one was supposed to be.
I just would like to add that I have zero problem in recognizing icons. They are rather intuitive so there is no problem adapting to Alpha 4. However, I do think texts are necessary addition to maximize clarity as I prefer both texts and icons over either icon or text. And isn't it about time to add some guns info to the menu system so I don't have to wait for combat suppliers to come by and find out the gun status?
Quote from: xu on June 03, 2014, 01:02:53 AM
I knew I was lacking a certain resource but I couldn't tell what the icon represented. It would be really nice to see something like "Requires 20[icon] wood planks" rather than "Requires 20[icon]".
On that note, I honestly can't tell what most of the icons mean. The metal one looks like corn or something, and as I said I just couldn't tell what the wood planks one was supposed to be.
I agree. I just recently got around to playing the game and while I don't have any problem with the icon images, what some of them represented was not immediately clear to me in-game. I was able to figure it out, but text identification would have made the initial UI experience easier.
Quote from: Tynan on June 01, 2014, 09:04:42 PM
Saw some logs into planks.
We've had usability issues with this; I'd hoped that the red text on the mouse when you build things for which you have no materials would have helped.... :( Sorry.
I would just like to echo other users and add that the wood logs, wood planks, and stone block icons look to similar to me to discern which is which without further context clues.
What's the deal with the survival meals being prioritized over simple meals?
Also, things don't seem to get repaired if they aren't in a home region. I don't remember that.
Quote from: dd0029 on June 04, 2014, 02:58:09 PM
What's the deal with the survival meals being prioritized over simple meals?
Also, things don't seem to get repaired if they aren't in a home region. I don't remember that.
Survival meals are of Fine quality, so they give a little mood boost. Your colonists prefer them.
The home zone repair thing is new because some players wanted to abandon parts of their base, and there was no way to stop dumb colonists going to repair them.
Good to know. Thanks.