Dealing with idle dupes

[Gurgel]

Having dupes idle around is at the very least aesthetically unpleasing. This is a worker's paradise after all (with one inivisible overlord).

What do you use to keep them busy? And what attribute do you train by that? Options I have considered:

1. Endless pitcher-pump and bottle-emptier loop (Athletics): Pro: no heating, Cons: needs a liquid you do not use otherwise or things get tricky.

2. Hamster wheels (Athletics): Pro: simple. Cons: What to do with the energy? Some endless pumping? And it does produce some heat.

3. Conveyor and delivery task by prio (Athletics): Pro: also pretty simple. Cons: Needs energy (combine with 2. ?) and produces some heat.

4. Endless mop-tasks (Strength): Pro: trains something else than Athletics. No heating. Cons: Same as 1, but also tricky to get right. And hard to scale to more than one dupe.

 

 

 

[SharraShimada]

Simple solution: I dont have idle dupes. All of my ~20 Dupes are employed permanently and work is piling up.

[mathmanican]

 

[0xFADE]

If you needed to make some extra polluted water you could make one of those automation delivery rooms with a sink in the middle.

[mathmanican]

8 minutes ago, nakomaru said:

I use hamster wheels that are toggled by automation every 10 to 20 seconds or so

I decided on the exact same approach.  Funnily enough for me, when I play on x3 speed they actually stop and check for new tasks. If I play on AltZ speed, then they stop, but don't get off the wheel, don't start running again (so no heat is generated), but they still level up both athletics and tinkering, but with zero heat generation.  When I want a dupe to do something, I disable Alt+Z speed and then reenable it after I get a dupe moving. I assume this is an artifact of my slow computer. 

[goatt]

You can force them to wash hands for converting clean water to polluted water infinitely

[Gurgel]

9 hours ago, nakomaru said:

I use hamster wheels that are toggled by automation every 10 to 20 seconds or so, so they don't stay there for the entire day after I assign a task. In the end they keep running up and down a ladder as they try to put away their suits, which I'm trying to prevent.

I'd like to get strength training down, but they are supernatural at mopping so it's a little tricky.

Good idea. I noticed the problem but was still thinking about a solution.

[mathmanican]

9 hours ago, nakomaru said:

Do you mean they check at 3x when there's no automation?

I use a 10 or 20 second loop, created with a not gate followed by a buffer which then connects to manual gens - same setup as a tricked tepidzer.

• On x3 speed, they check for new work every time automation kicks them off. If they find no work, then the jump back on, start running again, and the lights connected to my wheels start glowing.
• On Alt+z speed, the first time automation turns off the wheel, the wheel stops.  The dupes stay on the wheel, but stop running. They never start running again, but their stats still climb. The picture you see below is basically what my dupes look like in this situation, until someone hits break time, or I swap to x3 speed. 

And to top it all off, I like to make them breathe slime air, just to help teach them to stop being idle. Doesn't work. They keep coming back. 

@goatt, I love the new icon.  Though I feel like you're staring at me now.... constantly.... like my dupes trapped on their wheel....

[Soulwind]

There's usually more than enough work to keep my 16 dupes busy at all times.  However I also use a centralized storage warehouse,  so worst case they can always go pick up some debris for storage. 

[goatt]

@mathmanican Thanks. It’s good to know that someone’s noticed it ; )