My settlers don't work!!! (Image of ENTIRE settlement)

[SoSilencer]

I need help! There is something about the way I play or the layout of my settlements that makes my settlers not want to work! I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong and it's very frustrating because it happens every game.

The last game was the worst so far. I had tons of everything but barely any work was being done. I had 13 coal mines and 500-800 free settlers but for almost the entire game nearly all the coal mines had 8 ore out front and the smiths almost all had 0 coal while 500-800 settlers stand around doing nothing! Why don't they move the coal!?!? I had it at top priority and 300 dedicated carriers!!!

Making soldiers was bad too. I had hundreds of bows right next to the barracks and 500-800 free settlers nearby, many of them right next to the barracks! I set it to make infinite level 1 and level 2 archers but they just stand there! Only a few guys from across the map come and move bows and it takes a long time so my guys come out very slow. The enemy makes soldiers much faster than me and I can't keep up so I lose with hundreds of weapons, soldiers and materials waiting!

Here is my entire settlement right as/after I lost. You can see I have lots of everything but none of my smiths have any supplies and all those guys just stand next to the barracks while so many weapons wait just behind it. What am I doing wrong!?

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/7385/settlement6ar.th.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=settlement6ar.jpg)

[megg]

Interesting settlement - do you only have the 2 goldsmiths and 1 barracks. With all the mines that you have there could be many more. You can have up to 40 coal using buildings before the "coal bug" strikes - where the coal stops being moved to the buildings.

With lots more goldsmiths you will be able to build eyecatchers to build up your offensive strength, as well as make level 3 soldiers. They require 2 gold bars each.

Hopefully some more experienced players than me will look at your picture and give you some other advice.

btw what map is it please, I would like to play it. It looks interesting. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

These are really good walkthroughs to study. http://www.settlersgang.com/tips_17a.htm and http://pops.warpzone.org/tutorial/metzel.php?lang=eng

[marhleet1]

we discussed it some.
I couldn't figure it, apart from the distances travelled.
nice layout, - hundstage he said

can't find it.

[megg]

Just a thought - did you have more than 40 coal using buildings. (Ironsmelters, toolsmiths and weaponsmiths). If so, this could well be your problem, commonly known as the "coal bug".

I played the map tonight, and found that the flat mountain down the bottom of the map has lots of ore, making it easier to build the heavy industry buildings nearby. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[pennyuk]

Cant believe I looked at that settlement and couldnt decide what half those buildings were,been away too long I guesshttp://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

If your weapons arent being recruited then you need to make lots more barracks too,as Megg has said at around 42 coal users the coal bug kicks in for some not all,and that stops coal from been sent to certain smiths,you can change the priority to where its carried but its a bit touch and go,sometimes it just messes it up completely.The distance they have to carry to could be a problem as well,could you not build your smiths (add lots more goldsmiths)closer to the mountain.Its a known fact that the closer you build to where you need something the better ie always try to build your barracks near your gold smelters and weaponsmiths,residences close to barracks for recruiting.

You could try storing the coal and once the storage areas are full,blow them up (dont do this if any of the allocated storage for coal has space in it,they will just move it from the blown storage to the new one)this can sometimes make the carriers start to move it,and sadly the carriers dont have alot of common sense where carrying items is concerned they dont ever take the shortage route,thats why its important that you place important buildings close to each other and build ressies there.
You look to have the resources to build lots more residences,try building lots more,the more settlers the better,medium are best they are lots quicker to build,with the large residences it takes forever for them to carry the last 8 stones to complete the building,and carrying is your problem http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

Hope some of this helps

[megg]

Thanks Penny - pity though that we can't see what buildings were there before the ai destroyed so many of them when it took the two large towers.

[SoSilencer]

Thanks for the replies. Here are further details to clarify a few things. For those who many not have noticed, after clicking the thumbnail to open the big image you can click it again to make it even bigger depending on your computers settings. It is around 2 screens wide and 3-4 screens tall depending on your monitor size and resolution.

I had 2 goldsmiths, 5 ironsmiths, 6 weaponsmiths and 1 toolsmith. That adds up to 14 buildings that use coal. I never had more than this HOWEVER I do have a tendency to 'test fit' buildings by ordering and pausing construction on multiple buildings and then destroying them if they don't fit how I want. Do these count towards the coal bug limit?

More goldsmiths would not have helped me because even the two I had sat idle almost the entire game. My settlers simply would not deliver the ore to them so they had no materials to work with even though I had plenty of ore mined and a huge mining capacity. I may be wrong but I felt the same about the barracks, it did not seem like more would help when they were only barely using the one I already had.

The distances travelled was the only thing I could find too, but these problems (especially the recruitment issues) also happen on maps where my smiths and barracks are right next to the mountain and only a few steps away. This implies that the problem is something else. It just seems like once I get my settlement running and start recruiting guys in mass that everything just stops working. I get that initial batch of soldiers but then that's pretty much it. My production drops to almost nothing and if my first wave fails I'm totally unable to build a second wave or mount a defense, even if I had ample supplies and settlers to do so.

The flat mountains in the bottom did have lots of material and I had it all prospected and the spaces laid out in preparation of building but I never got around to it. There didn't seem to be much point because my problem wasn't a lack of mines but the refusal of my settlers to move the ore they produced. It was also fairly clear that he could defeat me at his leisure so rather than continue building up my settlement or trying to survive I spent the latter part of the game simply trying to figure out why my guys were not working.

As far as residences go I simply didn't need anymore. I had hundreds of idle settlers the entire game and had no use for more. However, building large houses was not a problem. All my construction supplies were right there and I had hundreds of free settlers in the immediate area so building a large house only took a few seconds. My settlers were very quick and effecient in building and food moving food but they simply would not move ore or weapons.

This was a game against my friend via multiplayer->LAN not against the AI. When he took my two towers the only buildings I lost were a couple stone storage yards and a few houses. No production buildings or anything important was in the radius of the towers (this is intentional and for the obvious reasons, it's also why I had no towers to the north or anywhere else in my settlement, they are simply a liability).

I really don't understand this. The only thing I can think of right now is that ordering and cancelling construction on buildings adds to the coal bug even if I'm not actually finishing construction on these buildings. I don't remember cancelling this many buildings but I wasn't paying attention either so it's very possible that I did this dozens of times but don't realize it. Do unfinished buildings add to the coal bug or only buildings you finish and/or occupy and/or have active?

[pennyuk]

The coal bug is only associated with the amount of coal using buildings you have,nothing else,it stops coal being delivered to usually all but 1 type of smith.
You said you didnt need more ressies,on MP maps online anyway its not unusual to have 100 residences at the end and anything up to 1500+ settlers.

You mentioned changing priorities,was this for construction of buildings or for the coal to be delivered to different smiths.

There are also 2 opinions on the amount of settlers to allocate on the carriers screen,I personally never touch mine,its set at default,which I think is 5,on the other hand some players raise it and get no problems.I have always found if I mess with anything I totally upset the running of the game,Im beginning to think thats whats happened in your case.Something has obviously set the rot in maybe the storage,when I played very few if any players actually stored anything,other than gold and weapons,as soon as barracks were built after 15-20 mins then the storage got blown up and they then carried to the barracks,we found the settlers were more intent to carry and store the required items than carry to weaponsmiths etc.Im assuming you have the game saved to post the screenie,maybe worth reloading it and throwing up 10 med ressies blowing up gold and weapon storage increasing barracks (difficult to tell you how many to build not knowing how many weaps you have stored) and seeing if that gets things moving again.

Let us know the outcome either wayhttp://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[megg]

Penny, SoSilencer can't continue with the game as it shows his two large towers taken and the You Lost. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

With 342 wood, 210 stone, 369 spare settlers and almost 500 food that you already had, I feel that you could have made more gold mines and approx 20 goldsmiths, 9 ironsmiths and 10 weaponsmith plus 1 toolmaker. Gold is needed for both making level 3 soldiers and building sets of eyecatchers to build up your offensive strength. Finally approx 6 barracks and keep building resis all the game.

I do change the priority of the gold ore and gold bars during the game, especially when I am recruiting.

[pennyuk]

Thanks Megg the picture is really small to me,says to click on it which I do but nothing happens.I dont see the Win/Lose message or anything like that,so I assumed it was saved part way through the game.

[Dec30000]

they might be actually working be it's just the game picks random settlers to move so they could be all the way over the other side

[JohnSA]

Very nice layout Intresting enough he mentioned having up to 300 carriers that could be where the problem lies I found that if you mess with the carrier settings do not go above 10% of the free settler Population so 300 free settlers = 30 carriers then all runs well as soon as you use more than 10% the Free settlers gets lazy and just stand around the carriers will stand and wait for the priority items to be available to carry thus grinding the whole settlement to a halt. I always check my.My free settlers and if they start getting close to the minimum is chage some carriers back to to free settlers NEVER WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE UNDER THE 10 % MARGIN THEN ALL HECK BREAKS LOOSE AND YOU GAVE A MAJOR GO SLOW STRIKE ON YOUR HANDS (Just like the workforce here in SA)

The other option is to train some thieves forcing the settlers to work move the thieves away to a safe position and untrain as needed.