Workers, Resources and paths

[ertira]

  Hi,
     Sometimes when I wish to clean up Stone, Iron or some Forest trees from a distant area  to prepare for an eventual expansion I tend to have to wait till my laborers get off their lazy chairs.
So I found this to help.
   1. select the resources of course to be removed and make some stockpiles in the vicinity
   2. make a dirt path to the area.
   3. Since the little peeps seems to love making/removing paths I make all kinds of dirt paths in the area.
   4. Peeps create the paths, and also remove my resources storing most in the stockpiles
   5. Of course they never quite complete the resource clearing usually so I just tell them to remove all those little paths they made.
   6. Rinse and repeat until satisfied.
       
    They must really like those paths because sometimes with enough laborers it looks like an anthill letting loose.
    This also works well for me when building in a remote area.
    Hope it helps.
Ertira

[rkelly17]

@ertira, I'm assuming that it is your builders, not laborers, making the dirt roads. Correct?

[ertira]

 @rkelly17 , Yes but the laborers tend to also head up to the area also for the removal not only of the resources but the paths also.
      In fact I tend to remember that builders = 0 and laborers = large number and still have had this done. Maybe some of the laborers were once builders. Not sure. Will play with it tonite some and see

[mariesalias]

Only builders can build roads, but laborers will destroy them.

If the resource you want to collect is pretty far out, building a road out to it does tend to make your laborers go out there more quickly. As will setting up a stockpile at the same time (prioritize it if it needs to be cleared). If they can go out there to create/remove roads, they can go out there to collect resources. It does take a bit longer now with the patch though.

[Kaldir]

Has anyone ever tested if gathering remote resources is faster if you build a farm/stockpile there instead of giving a clear resource order? Since building those doesn't cost any resources, you would not waste anything. It's easier to monitor as well. Ofcourse it will only work if you want all resources (logs, stone and iron) and not just one.

Sometimes I have a feeling those laborers like clearing a building area more than just plain resource gathering, but it might just be my imagination. I recently thought of this way of gathering-by-building, but haven't had time to test it yet.

[slink]

Creating a stockpile reduces the time required to get the material recorded in the system because it automatically stacks itself, but you still have to demolish the stockpile to get it closer to the central building area.  I often clear an area by creating an orchard there.  I don't create farms where I don't want farms, because I sometimes couldn't remember whether I was clearing or planning on farming in that spot.   

[ertira]

  @mariesalias  & @rkelly17
             Yes I did have builders included. It was an area that was fairly remote, just beyond a Forester hub.

  @slink 
              I have also used large 15x15 field sizes along with stockpiles to clear these type of areas. I tend to use the dirt paths combined with removal though more often.
          I think I should of had an ant farm as a kid  The workers do fly around like crazy when there is a bunch of them.
          Unless clearing the area because I really need the resources (as in an emergency) the area is to be set up as a hub so my stockpiles are handy for the next construction jobs.

      I do tend to make stone paths from population/market hubs to just beyond the forester, gatherer hubs I create knowing that these outlying hubs will eventually become new population hubs and markets.  I tend to be rather frugal with my stone usage until I have a very good supply.

  @Kaldir
     For me I do like having the stockpiles existing prior to removal of Stone/Iron/Trees in my opinion it is faster. As for testing plain resource removal speed against clearing a building area, I do agree they seem to like the clearing better than just removing. Why I enjoy doing the odd ball dirt paths approach.

[rkelly17]

@Kaldir,

I don't think that there is a significant difference between building and clearing, but I could be wrong, As @slink says, building even a temporary storage yard close by speeds things up. I find that I sometimes forget what I've ordered my minions to do, so I quick swipe of the priority tool brings them quickly--well, as quickly as they ever do anything.

[Kaldir]

Thanks for the answers. I've now adopted gathering by building 10x10 stock piles any way, for better monitoring the progress. After they created it, I just demolish it to get the materials closed to home (unless I want to develop right there.

[salamander]

@Kaldir -- That's a good idea, both for monitoring, and at least for me, to keep me from panicking and trying to clear too much at once.  When I have a building that I need additional resources for, or suddenly I'm running low on resources, I have a tendency to send laborers out to clear way too large an area, and then I'm stuck waiting for them to finish before other things can be done (or risk having to use the priority tool, which I don't fully trust).

[irrelevant]

@Kaldir -- [...] I have a tendency to send laborers out to clear way too large an area, and then I'm stuck waiting for them to finish before other things can be done (or risk having to use the priority tool, which I don't fully trust).

You aren't stuck with this, there is a tool to undo the remove resources command for a defined area, the last button on the right of the removal menu.