cammcken
Prince
There's no good way to write that title. Let me explain.
Let's say I have three settlements directly in a line:
A ---- B ---- C
Let's say A and C are major cigar manufacturers. Other settlements feed them tobacco and they produce some tobacco on their own. If I want to make sure both A and C always have tobacco and avoid excessive surplus, I could set up a trade route to balance it out. You guys know how this works: In the settlement menus, I turn on both import and export, set a minimum to keep, and set a maximum if I want. Then, on my transport's automate menu, I select 1) "Tobacco from A to C" and 2) "Tobacco from C to A". Simple. That transport should be running back and forth between A and C with tobacco in its cargo hold.
But let's say B also produces tobacco, but doesn't consume it. Because my first transport is going through B all the time, I would like it to also pick up B's tobacco as it passes. What's the best way to do that?
Thus far, I've been extra cautious, explicitly telling my transports to stop at B every time. In B's menu, I turn on both import and export, but I set no minimum. For the trade routes, I select:
1) "Tobacco from A to B"
2) "Tobacco from B to C"
3) "Tobacco from C to B"
4) "Tobacco from B to A"
This way, the transport will pick up excess at A, dump its entire cargo at B, then in the same turn pick it all up with the addition of B's inventory and continue toward C. I purposely did not select "Tobacco from A to C" because I didn't want the transport to skip over B and then waste time scheduling a separate shipment from B to C.
What if I did turn on those extra to routes? So my automate transport menu now looks like:
1) "Tobacco from A to C"
2) "Tobacco from C to A"
3) "Tobacco from A to B"
4) "Tobacco from B to C"
5) "Tobacco from C to B"
6) "Tobacco from B to A"
If the transport sees an excess in A of, say for example, 123 units, it will go to A, pick it up and continue to C. Will it recognize that it can also pick up 77 units from B as it passes? Or is it programmed to perform only one shipment at a time: being in the middle of carrying "Tobacco from A to C", must it complete that shipment before being allowed to perform "Tobacco from B to C"?
I have the same questions for a similar situation. What happens if I turn off imports to B, and instead only use:
1) "Tobacco from A to C"
2) "Tobacco from C to A"
3) "Tobacco from B to A"
4) "Tobacco from B to C"
In other words, how smart is the transport AI? Is it allowed to multi-task?
Does it matter if there are free slots in the cargo hold? In the situation above, if the excess was exactly 100 units instead of 123, will the transport use its free slot to begin another shipment where otherwise it wouldn't?
Does it matter if different types of goods are involved? Let's change the entire scenario. Let's say C is the main port city exporting to Europe, and A and B are inland cities. I want to move salable goods into C.
A ---- B ---- C
I set up A to export silver, B to export coats, and C to import both. If I select my trade routes like so —
1) "Silver from A to C"
2) "Coats from B to C"
— will the transport, carrying silver, pick up coats on its way to C? Or do I need to be explicit about it?
1) "Silver from A to B"
2) "Silver from B to C"
3) "Coats from B to C"
Let's say I have three settlements directly in a line:
A ---- B ---- C
Let's say A and C are major cigar manufacturers. Other settlements feed them tobacco and they produce some tobacco on their own. If I want to make sure both A and C always have tobacco and avoid excessive surplus, I could set up a trade route to balance it out. You guys know how this works: In the settlement menus, I turn on both import and export, set a minimum to keep, and set a maximum if I want. Then, on my transport's automate menu, I select 1) "Tobacco from A to C" and 2) "Tobacco from C to A". Simple. That transport should be running back and forth between A and C with tobacco in its cargo hold.
But let's say B also produces tobacco, but doesn't consume it. Because my first transport is going through B all the time, I would like it to also pick up B's tobacco as it passes. What's the best way to do that?
Thus far, I've been extra cautious, explicitly telling my transports to stop at B every time. In B's menu, I turn on both import and export, but I set no minimum. For the trade routes, I select:
1) "Tobacco from A to B"
2) "Tobacco from B to C"
3) "Tobacco from C to B"
4) "Tobacco from B to A"
This way, the transport will pick up excess at A, dump its entire cargo at B, then in the same turn pick it all up with the addition of B's inventory and continue toward C. I purposely did not select "Tobacco from A to C" because I didn't want the transport to skip over B and then waste time scheduling a separate shipment from B to C.
What if I did turn on those extra to routes? So my automate transport menu now looks like:
1) "Tobacco from A to C"
2) "Tobacco from C to A"
3) "Tobacco from A to B"
4) "Tobacco from B to C"
5) "Tobacco from C to B"
6) "Tobacco from B to A"
If the transport sees an excess in A of, say for example, 123 units, it will go to A, pick it up and continue to C. Will it recognize that it can also pick up 77 units from B as it passes? Or is it programmed to perform only one shipment at a time: being in the middle of carrying "Tobacco from A to C", must it complete that shipment before being allowed to perform "Tobacco from B to C"?
I have the same questions for a similar situation. What happens if I turn off imports to B, and instead only use:
1) "Tobacco from A to C"
2) "Tobacco from C to A"
3) "Tobacco from B to A"
4) "Tobacco from B to C"
In other words, how smart is the transport AI? Is it allowed to multi-task?
Does it matter if there are free slots in the cargo hold? In the situation above, if the excess was exactly 100 units instead of 123, will the transport use its free slot to begin another shipment where otherwise it wouldn't?
Does it matter if different types of goods are involved? Let's change the entire scenario. Let's say C is the main port city exporting to Europe, and A and B are inland cities. I want to move salable goods into C.
A ---- B ---- C
I set up A to export silver, B to export coats, and C to import both. If I select my trade routes like so —
1) "Silver from A to C"
2) "Coats from B to C"
— will the transport, carrying silver, pick up coats on its way to C? Or do I need to be explicit about it?
1) "Silver from A to B"
2) "Silver from B to C"
3) "Coats from B to C"
