Priority and needs in Game

[GameInformerNL_2]

What do you think of the priority? Do you prefer choosing it by yourself? Or leave it by default. I think it should be updated.... Colonists aren't doing there jobs that well and doing stuff with a lower priority first... Maybe you should just assign jobs to people and start with like 4 -5 people... assign a miner, constructor, cook, guard? What do you think of it? And with that assignments there is now priority, so if you are a miner you mine, that's it. On the other hand if you are a cook, you will hunt and grow crops? So that colonist is responsible for the Food, later on with more colonists you can assign more cooks? Should they be able to change jobs? Will there be people that only haul things? That only guard your base? I think its a plausible idea to have a look at? Maybe a constructor also repairs? combine some things? Art and craft together with research? Firefighter and Guard? Also the needs and complaints of the colonists, like they complain about a hideous place when everything is just clean and some flowers around the base? Also they complain about the lack of space? Hall way 4 tiles wide... Rooms 4x4... Large enough I would say... So its just the little things that have gotten my attention after playing with 5 - 6 colony's for over 30 -40 hours. But if they fix the problem or upgrade the priority system the building/growing/defending part will be much smoother and you won't have to wait days (in game ) before they finally dug op the iron and brought it back to their base....

Let me know what you think

[ItchyFlea]

It sounds like you're describing this system:

[kdfsjljklgjfg]

I would like to see priorities go up to level 5 or 6 though.

[Coenmcj]

at the moment It's something like 0-4 right? I don't use it that much, so disregard this comment if it's invalid.

what if the numbers went up with population? so say you had 7 colonists, therefore 7 priority levels, it would work as a preference system, therefore a job is handled by the colonist with the lowest (1) preference available, if said person/s are disabled in someway then it is handled by (2) and so on and so forth?

[ITypedThis]

Personally, I think the number of priority levels should be equal to the level of different tasks in total.
This way players would be able to completely disregard the default priority system if they wished.

For example, say I have a colonist named Jack. I want Jack to repair before he constructs, but repair and construct before he mines, mine before he grows, grows before hunts, and hunts before he acts as a doctor. With only a small amount of priority levels, I will not be able to dictate every aspect of his life, as he would be free to choose the order automatically assigned. I.e. not the specific and complicated order that I demand of him.

[Damien Hart]

A preference system where the number of priorities available depends on the number of colonists would be kind of redundant, because the only time it would come into effect is when there are multiple colonists with a specific job enabled sitting idle; not to mention that it could end up drawing colonist from the opposite side of your base to do a job - when the person next to it could have already finished it and moved on to the next job by the time the other colonist arrives - simply because the distant colonist has a higher priority in that job.

If the number of priorities is equal to the total number of jobs, it still gives the player the option to micromanage an individual's tasks, but confers more control than the current system of 1-4.

[SSS]

The priority system defines what order a colonist will take up a given task. However, it keeps the default priorities in mind at the same time. The default priorities are as follows:

Firefighting -> Doctoring -> Warden -> Cooking -> Hunting -> Constructing -> Repairing -> Growing -> Mining -> Plant Cutting -> Crafting -> Art -> Hauling -> Cleaning -> Researching

So, given equal numbers, the earlier jobs will take precedence over the later jobs. If I set firefighting to "1", it will take precedence over every other job, even other jobs with a "1". However, if Firefighting is set to "2" and Repairing is set to "1", the colonist will prioritize the repairing over firefighting and any other "1" priority after it. In this way it is quite possible to micromanage individual colonists to an extent, though it's a tad awkward.

For example, say I have a colonist named Jack. I want Jack to repair before he constructs, but repair and construct before he mines, mine before he grows, grows before hunts, and hunts before he acts as a doctor. With only a small amount of priority levels, I will not be able to dictate every aspect of his life, as he would be free to choose the order automatically assigned. I.e. not the specific and complicated order that I demand of him.

However, as this points out, you can only take it so far when you're reversing the given orders with a small number of priority levels. To achieve the example affect, you could set repairing to "1", constructing to "2", mining to "2", growing to "3", hunting to "4"... and then you run out of levels. There is no "5" to set doctoring to, and leaving it blank will mean the colonist will never attempt the job, even if there are no other available jobs for them.

Keep in mind this still won't fix situations where someone with a low priority could take a job before someone with a high priority. For example, if Colonist A runs out of high-priority jobs, they'll start working on low-priority ones, potentially preventing Colonist B (who is better at said job) from working on it, even if Colonist B has a higher priority for that job.

More levels would help.

[Coenmcj]

Fair point, disregard my comment then.
The per job one though sounds a little more sensible.

[Cpt.Fupa]

at the moment It's something like 0-4 right? I don't use it that much, so disregard thiits comment if it's invalid.

what if the numbers went up with population? so say you had 7 colonists, therefore 7 priority levels, it would work as a preference system, therefore a job is handled by the colonist with the lowest (1) preference available, if said person/s are disabled in someway then it is handled by (2) and so on and so forth?

well that would be to much for me I have like 30 people in my colony

[Coenmcj]

Same here, I just tend to use the Highest-lowest priority system since I have _That_ many colonists, but that other method suggested seems much more reasonable, as it then doesn't get really complicated really quickly.