Option to disable food auto-load by default?

[Mr_Fission]

The new food auto-load feature isn't performing well for me, and I'd like to request the ability to disable it by default please.  The patch notes mentioned how the new caravan changes would ultimately result in caravans being launched with fewer clicks.  That's actually not the case in reality.

As it stands, after I select my destination (also an annoyance because sometimes I want to check the caravan screen just to see what my base's overall inventory looks like, but whatever), I usually start by adding colonists and animals.  It's at this time that I realize the auto-fooder has loaded up all of my caravan space with food that my colonists can't eat.  Stuff like raw rice and corn, in massive quantities too.

Then, frustrated, I have to uncheck the auto-load button, and clean up the mess.  I have to go down the list, reseting every raw food item back to zero, which adds another few to a dozen clicks depending on how large the colony is.

The new system is both unhelpful, and also burdensome.  However if I had the ability to disable it by default - or at least if my choice to disable it persisted through every subsequent caravan, I'd have no problem with the feature at all.

Everything else the in the patch is great though!  Jetpacks baby!

[PicaMula]

I think showing food and medicine separately is still a good idea because I forgot one or the other in the caravans waay too often.
So you might consider keeping it (the separate tab), but don't automatically select the amount of food and medicine and let the player decide.

[steviebuk]

The tab is good but the auto load isn't working that great. Surely survival meals for travel would be picked first but it never does.

[Mr_Fission]

Oh yeah the separate tab for food and medicine is wonderful.  I wish they had more tabs that would separate out other items, such as human/animal/mech corpses or clothing and weapons. 

I've got no beef with the new tab, just the auto-load feature itself, which is always on by default and always loads tons of raw food for no reason.

[RicRider]

I'm baffled by this too. What's the point of packing survival meals, all the simple and fine meals, raw potatoes and even HAY for a caravan that has one human and a donkey. The donkey can graze so the hay is unnecessary. The food should be packed if it's necessary in the following order: survival meals > kibble > simple meals > fine meals.

But yes a way to disable the autopacking would be nice... not necessarily the whole new caravanning which is good. Just FYI I will never use the autopacking and I never wanted this feature. I was one of those morons who thought that staying silent about things you like will mean that they will never get touched. Next time I'll be sure to be battling on the 'front lines' of the neckbeard war about whether caravans are tedious or not. ::eyeroll::

[Canute]

More clever would be
Meals from current food policy for 3 days > survival meal.
Together with a special caravan food policy.

[RicRider]

Canute, I find your posts insufferable sometimes. This isn't a pissing contest, but thanks anyway for the insult, I'll take that into account every time I interact with you now, which I will do with great displeasure.

[Mr_Fission]

I'm baffled by this too. What's the point of packing survival meals, all the simple and fine meals, raw potatoes and even HAY for a caravan that has one human and a donkey. The donkey can graze so the hay is unnecessary.

Bingo, I agree 100%.  This is why this feature frustrates me so greatly.  It doesn't make human decisionmaking faster or easier, it replaces human decisionmaking entirely with someone else's arbitrary logic being imposed upon you.  And it's turned on by default.  Every time.

[avancouw]

Canute, I find your posts insufferable sometimes. This isn't a pissing contest, but thanks anyway for the insult, I'll take that into account every time I interact with you now, which I will do with great displeasure.

I don't get it.

More clever would be
Meals from current food policy for 3 days > survival meal.
Together with a special caravan food policy.

This is a good idea. Pack 3 days of standard food then pemican+survival meals.

[rinin]

More clever would be
Meals from current food policy for 3 days > survival meal.

I'm baffled by this too. What's the point of packing survival meals, all the simple and fine meals, raw potatoes and even HAY for a caravan that has one human and a donkey. The donkey can graze so the hay is unnecessary. The food should be packed if it's necessary in the following order: survival meals > kibble > simple meals > fine meals.

Why 3 days? Why no hay? I live on the ice sheet, I could travel with fine meals all the time, and I need the hay for my donkey. Game is played different ways, don't try to replace one forced unflexible logic with another one.

Separate policy for food clothes drugs and medicine for caravans would be nice though. As well as the ability to disable this feature.

[RicRider]

Why 3 days? Why no hay? I live on the ice sheet, I could travel with fine meals all the time, and I need the hay for my donkey. Game is played different ways, don't try to replace one forced unflexible logic with another one.

Having nothing checked is not 'forced unflexible logic'. It's giving freedom to the player to choose what they want. If I start on a random temperate forest tile and ice sheet logic is applied to the game then that's definitely 'forced unflexible logic'.

Separate policy for food clothes drugs and medicine for caravans would be nice though. As well as the ability to disable this feature.

So having nothing checked for food is not 'forced unflexible logic' but the ability to disable your suggestion (which is a good one) is not 'forced unflexible logic'? You lost me.

[Mr_Fission]

I think Rinin is saying he'd rather not replace the current autoload system (the forced unflexible logic he's referring to) with another one (Canute's suggestion).

I don't think any reasonable human being, player, developer, or otherwise, could argue against making the choice to disable auto-load persist across multiple caravans.

That's all I'm asking for here.  Just let my decision to disable it persist across caravans.  I don't mind disabling that horrible feature once per game.

[RicRider]

OK, got it. So you were disagreeing with me just to agree with me in the next post afterwards and your disagreement was contrary to your initial suggestion, which was in agreement with mine.

In case you haven't figured it out, I also think they should not check food by default. Stop playing devil's advocate with me or whatever you're doing; it's tiresome.

[Dargaron]

OK, got it. So you were disagreeing with me just to agree with me in the next post afterwards and your disagreement was contrary to your initial suggestion, which was in agreement with mine.

In case you haven't figured it out, I also think they should not check food by default. Stop playing devil's advocate with me or whatever you're doing; it's tiresome.

I think you're conflating Mr_Fission (who has consistently agreed with your position that the player should be able to disable the auto-load feature) with rinin (who disagreed with Canute, but otherwise also held the position that there shouldn't be one overarching algorithm automatically assigning food to caravans, because each player and colony has different needs for their caravans).

Both of them seem to have held the same general position you do: that the player should be able to set the auto-loading of food to default to off. rinin gave his own specific set of rules as an example of why a set of rules designed for Temperate Forest wouldn't be applicable to an Ice Sheet colony, not as a prescription of what the "proper" set of rules should be. Mr_Fission was clarifying rinin's position based on his reading of the post that you seemed to think was disagreeing with you, but was actually agreeing with your general position.

[Mr_Fission]

Dargaron, you words good.

Yeah, so far everyone in this thread has been on the same page.  Or at least nobody is disagreeing with the basic premise of returning control over this aspect of the game back to players.  Canute was just offering a suggestion to improve the system based on his own preferred logic.  In the end though, Canute's suggestion suffers the exact same problem - the feature is still operating under another person's arbitrary logic.

Really, I think the A+ solution is to both allow the player to disable the feature entirely, as well as allow the player to specify their own rules for auto-loading food and medicine.

Ultimately, the core problem is that the auto-load feature operates based on someone else's arbitrary logic.  If I could specify my own rules, I'd actually probably get a lot of mileage out of it.  But since that's unlikely (because its harder to code), all I'm asking for is the ability to either disable it by default, or have its disabling persist across all future caravans.