Compulsive hopper-filling

[RemingtonRyder]

So, I reported a bug on Mantis a while back. Well, not really a bug, so much as an example of something which keeps haulers really busy for very little gain.

What I'm talking about is the hauling of food to hoppers. Now, if you have colonists with the Cook job, they will fill hoppers when the stock falls below about a third or something like that. However, colonists with the Haul job will still come along and fill the hopper up by the few units of food that have been used up when someone took a meal from the nutrient paste dispenser.

Basically, if a colonist can Haul food to a hopper, they should follow the same criteria as the Cook and only fill it when it really needs filling.

Thanks in advance for considering this addition.

[porcupine]

Wouldn't the same idea apply to material stockpiles?

Not to fill up the 1/xxx units of steel on the ground, etc. that just got used in a crafting recipe/etc?  Last I played, haulers compulsively topped up every pile I had in sight, burning precious daylight.

[Bruxy]

Maybe some slider bars against priority? A way to dynamically change priority based on current levels. If you have two stockpiles (paste hoppers and storage freezer) you could have the freezer at Preferred from 0-80% full, normal above that, but your hoppers at Critical below 20% and normal above. That way your haulers would generally ignore the hoppers until they started emptying and by the time they needed attention you'd be bringing a worthwhile load in, rather than just a couple of units.