Strange market storage

[Pangaea]

Have you ever seen anything like this? In the first screenshot there is 0 food. In the second there is only 400 apples, which is probably there because I just bought a big load from TP. Markets are supposed to have almost 70% food 

[Bobbi]

Was there food available in the barns but for some reason the vendors weren't collecting it? Or are you low on food and the peeps are taking it as fast as the vendors collect it?

[Paeng]

Have you ever seen anything like this?

Sure, I often see this - specially after hitting the 'neuralgic' population spots (300, 500, 800 and so on) or after consecutive bad harvests... I think Bobbi nailed it right here - "... the peeps are taking it as fast as the vendors collect it".

If it's just one of your markets there is probably a gap (even temporary) in your distribution chain... if all your markets and barns look like this - well, you might be in trouble 

[salamander]

Have to agree with the above.  What happens if you increase the number of vendors in the market?  With more, the market might be able to keep up with demand.

[slink]

@Pangaea already has 25 workers at that market.

[irrelevant]

Another thing is the stacked up firewood. I was having this happen in Gnaw Bone, I had my choppers on my markets and they were filling the place up with fuel.

Stop chopping for a bit, and pull some more firewood into your TPs and see if that helps any.

[slink]

The wool coats could go to trader-storage, too.

[irrelevant]

But logs and iron! Never seen some much in a market! What mods are you using?? Do you have no other storage? Stockpiles?

[Paeng]

But logs and iron! Never seen some much in a market!

It's rather typical for a market where the vendors can not draw in any food stuff... needs a big harvest or some hefty shipments of fruit, veggies and grain 

[irrelevant]

I guess I have just gotten used to swimming in food from 300 farms...

[Pangaea]

It's from my main town, so it's more or less swimming in food already. Haven't noticed any such problems before. Below you see the catchment area, and there are many houses, so maybe that is why. The last picture (above) was from early winter, however, so shortly after harvest. Some of the nearby barns are relatively full of tools, however, so that can be an aggravating factor too. The closest save I found was from early autumn, and the market looks better then, so it's an odd one really, that there is so much firewood and especially logs.

Can't recall exact details, and I may have done this later, but at some point I cleared out maybe 300 logs from one of the 3 nearby TPs. Maybe if the nearby stockpiles are full, people are more likely to drop it in the market? But tbh, I think I removed those 300 logs later on, when the merchants arrived and I noticed the TPs were too full for my liking (2000 ale, 500 tools, 500 coats, 2000 firewood, plus thousands of venison/mutton/beef). So it's not like I can haul loads more firewood or tools into them either. They're fairly packed as it is, and I need some breathing room when buying goods.

Will keep an eye on it, but it's odd, and I've never seen this before. Usually it would be great to have more logs in the market as the woodcutters are more efficient then, but not this much!

Re: tools, I only have two blacksmiths in this area, and both are producing steel tools, and with so many people nearby (this is the main residential area really, including outside this market radius) they're using plenty of tools.

Also, I have 332 farms and orchards on this map, so we're certainly producing plenty (almost 300,000 a year), although right now we're losing some savings each year due to high population, so I need to expand the farming area yet again.

[salamander]

@Pangaea already has 25 workers at that market.

Ah ... missed that part. 

[rkelly17]

Given the number of houses that market serves it is possible that everybody just showed up at once and cleaned it out of food. Maybe it's time for @RedKetchup's warehouse to draw off some of the non-food items. If you are running a food deficit and nearby barns are full of non-food items that could also explain what is happening. Maybe do a temporary "deconstruct" on a couple of barns to empty them out and then reclaim them when they get enough space for food and see what happens. With a food deficit you might consider buying food from merchants to make it up and see if that helps.

[Pangaea]

I have kept checking that marketplace later, but nothing of the sort has happened again, so it must have been a unique situation. Perhaps it was as you say, that lots of people happened to grab food at the same time. The amount of logs was weird, but perhaps I didn't recall correctly, and the 300 logs were emptied from the nearby TP right around this time, and the labourers happened to dump it in the market.

Thanks for reminding me about the trick to faux delete barns, though. In another area I was too loose with the market overlap, and there are loads of crop fields, so I have a row of barns that are routinely on 100%, so the farmers need to walk far. In fairness they usually manage to harvest it all before frost, but I'll try that trick and see if it goes better for a while.

Really thought all those barns (4 in a row, then 3 more in the same area) was enough, but clearly not. Am not playing with the new storage buildings from @RedKetchup in this save, but it sure would have been useful, and I'll definitely play with them next game.

[Bobbi]

I think @RedKetchup ware house is OK to add to a game in progress. Save a copy of your save before you try it.