Colonists Wasting Construction Time

[Trylobyte]

This is a hard topic to sum up in the title!  Anyway.  I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to make sure my colonists stop wasting time while building large constructions.

Here's the specifics.  I like geothermal power and I play on large maps.  In order to keep my power cables safe I put floors over and around them so they can't burn in the many, many brushfires that dominate forest maps.  There's just one problem - Trees.  Trees will grind the construction project to a halt because of the painfully stupid way colonists deal with them.  Here's what I see:

1)  Colonists build everything except the blueprints underneath trees first without problem.
2)  Colonist A brings up enough bricks for one tile, places it, then goes to a single nearby tree, cuts it down, and leaves.
3)  Colonist B is now summoned to build the one tile Colonist A placed.
4)  Colonist C sees the wood from the tree Colonist A cut down and goes to haul it.
5)  Colonist D sees there is a tile he can build where Colonist A cut the tree down, so he grabs materials for that one tile and heads up to build it.
6)  Colonist D repeats Colonist A's actions and the cycle begins anew.

So now we have anywhere from 4 to 6+ colonists (distance depending) tied up with building this thing per tile because no one colonist will cut down the trees all at once unless manually ordered to over and over (and even then, the builders will still screw that up by reserving trees from across the map).  It would be nice if there were a way around this without having to manually designate the whole area for plant-cutting before putting down the construction (and watching as saplings sprout up while building is underway, causing the same problem).

Any suggestions or tips?

[carbon]

I suppose if you had to do it, you could put down a series of 1x1 stone pillars along the path you want cleared, use them to extend a section of roof over the area to be built, then toss down some molatovs and watch it all burn.

[Canute]

I bet that wouldn't help him, because it seems he play on a very large map. In the time he build the road/floor on the burned stones trail, trees might regrow again like they did before.

There is no real solution for him.
He can made construction camps, move some beds,table,stools near the construction area, together with meals and needed constr. materials. Don't forget to assign the pawns to the beds.
So the pawns don't run the long way back to the base, sure they are unprotected on a raid, and maybe unhappy to sleep outside.

Or try to aquire some better technology (mods) that prevent that you need to build steamgenerators at any geysire.

[Listy]

This is a hard topic to sum up in the title!  Anyway.  I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to make sure my colonists stop wasting time while building large constructions.

Here's the specifics.  I like geothermal power and I play on large maps.  In order to keep my power cables safe I put floors over and around them so they can't burn in the many, many brushfires that dominate forest maps.  There's just one problem - Trees.  Trees will grind the construction project to a halt because of the painfully stupid way colonists deal with them.  Here's what I see:

1)  Colonists build everything except the blueprints underneath trees first without problem.
2)  Colonist A brings up enough bricks for one tile, places it, then goes to a single nearby tree, cuts it down, and leaves.
3)  Colonist B is now summoned to build the one tile Colonist A placed.
4)  Colonist C sees the wood from the tree Colonist A cut down and goes to haul it.
5)  Colonist D sees there is a tile he can build where Colonist A cut the tree down, so he grabs materials for that one tile and heads up to build it.
6)  Colonist D repeats Colonist A's actions and the cycle begins anew.

So now we have anywhere from 4 to 6+ colonists (distance depending) tied up with building this thing per tile because no one colonist will cut down the trees all at once unless manually ordered to over and over (and even then, the builders will still screw that up by reserving trees from across the map).  It would be nice if there were a way around this without having to manually designate the whole area for plant-cutting before putting down the construction (and watching as saplings sprout up while building is underway, causing the same problem).

Any suggestions or tips?

I used to use concrete for securing power lines, now, I use wood floors, as when they chop a tree more wood, so the flooring resource is already in place without hauling.

[zandadoum]

If you want colonists to be more efficient , you, as supervisor, should lead by example.

Have you ever seen a construction IRL where they would build a house or wall and remove trees as they encountered? No, right?

So why are you doing that in rimworld?

Long story short: FIRST set the area for tree chopping and THEN, after they are done, start construction.

[carbon]

I bet that wouldn't help him, because it seems he play on a very large map. In the time he build the road/floor on the burned stones trail, trees might regrow again like they did before.

I'm pretty sure my 'build a roof then burn' approach will prevent the regrowth of trees. Which was the whole point of it.

[Trylobyte]

Listy:  The problem with using wood floors to secure external power lines is the fact I'm generally securing them from fire...  and wood, well, wood and fire have a very special relationship that no amount of architecturally-pleasing board placement will come between.

Zandadoum:  I've been doing that, but it's a sub-ideal way to manage construction pathfinding.  It also nearly doubles the length of time needed to build the thing.  Growers already cut down trees without running off to do something else immediately after, why can't builders?

[carbon]

Wood flooring (like all flooring) cannot and does not burn.

I suspect there's some improvements that could be made to your jobs prioritization, but it's a tricky puzzle to unravel without seeing it directly. If you want to post a screenshot of your current (or typical) prioritizations, someone here could help troubleshoot it.

[Trylobyte]

Wood flooring (like all flooring) cannot and does not burn.

I suspect there's some improvements that could be made to your jobs prioritization, but it's a tricky puzzle to unravel without seeing it directly. If you want to post a screenshot of your current (or typical) prioritizations, someone here could help troubleshoot it.

That makes absolutely no logical sense, which is probably why I never tried it.  Perhaps I've underestimated the colonists' mastery of feng shui.  If I can use wood for that over anything else I gladly will because if there's one thing my present colony has in overabundant, Caligulan, Fall-of-Rome excess it's wood.  Thanks for the clarification - Now I have a better use for wood than trying to build a bridge to the Moon.

As for the prioritization, it's pretty simple because I'm not yet that great with them.  Right now when I have the job set up I'll have my builders prioritize plant-cutting, so they go out and clear the path, then switch their priority to construction so they build it.

[Thyme]

If you want colonists to be more efficient , you, as supervisor, should lead by example.
[...]
Long story short: FIRST set the area for tree chopping and THEN, after they are done, start construction.

The way you write that is hilarious. *hands cookie

By the time my colony can build steam geysir plants I usually have a surplus of dumb labor people, or at least I'm able to expend them for a bit, while I usually have only 1-2 constructors for the entirety of my colony. Cutting all plants ahead of time and moving in with my constructor later is how I do it. Everthing else would be weird, see quote above.
You can also set up a stockpile to fill with the neccessary materials right next to your project (helps a lot with walls and geysir plants). Or put it to the next level and have a (possibly unskilled) "constructor" that fills the blueprints and another one that actually builds it.
You can either micromanagment it, or use the mod "Hand me that Brick". It does exactly what I described as "next level".

[makkenhoff]

Well, with regards to constructing with trees in the way.. often I end up with one person who is assigned plant cutter at 2, and builder at 3. So, I designate the area I want to clear of trees and brush before I actual start building. Admittedly, this would be easier with a plan function. I just build the corners and then forbid them from working on them when the game is paused.