Suggestion to improve Task Management

[blash365]

The point was raised in another topic and has multiple facets. I will list some example cases:

• constructing a vertical ladder in free space allows duplicants to supply and construct up to 4 ladders at a time
  • new tasks become available as soon as ladders are built
• constructing a vertical ladder in solid tiles allows duplicants to dig, supply and construct up to 1 ladder at a time
  • new tasks become available as soon as tiles are dug out and ladders are built
• constructing horizontal tiles in free space allows duplicants to supply and construct up to 2 tiles at a time
  • new tasks become available once tiles are built
• constructing horizontal tiles in solid tiles allows duplicants to dig 3 tiles (1 for the floor to be built and 2 above it) and supply and construct up to 1 tile at a time
  • new tasks become available once tiles are dug out and tiles are built
• digging out tiles are storing them
  • only when digging out tiles, the storage tasks become available (this is very noticable when digging out oxylite tiles, e.g. after meteor showers)

There are more examples (e.g. dig -> drywall). The issues they have in common is that only a subset of the planned tasks is available for dupes during planning their tasks.

e.g. a dupe will plan to supply 4 ladders, after supplying he will build 4 ladders, rinse repeat.

For one dupe this might be fine, but as soon as multiple dupes are in play, it does not work smoothly anymore.

Dupe A will plan to supply 4 ladders, 

Dupe B will do nothing on the other side of the map.

After Dupe A has supplied the first ladder, Dupe B can start travelling across the map to build the first ladder. Ideally he will even continue building the other 3.

Meanwhile Dupe A has evaluated the possible list of tasks and decided that there is another task on the other side of the map, where he will be travelling. He couldnt pick any tasks on their ladder project, because all built tasks are taken by Dupe B and the rest in not accessable yet.

As soon as Dupe B has built the first ladder, Dupe A can pick up the next supply task, but he is already on his way to the other side of the map, will complete his task over there first and then - possibly travel back. 

Once Dupe B has finished all his build tasks, Dupe A will usually have already scheduled the supply tasks, so there is no ladder-project task for him and he will start moving to the other side of the map.

Rinse, repeat.

 

This pattern will result in exorbitant long construction times for bigger projects where not all tiles are accessable. Players will usually observe the pattern and be irritated because a human would decide to wait just a few seconds on-site to be able to pick the next task, instead of traveling across half the map.

On the other side, it is understandable why dupes have to decide on basis what tasks are available at the time.

 

This gets further complicated by supply of building materials being located on another location on the map, leading to dupes zig-zaging or running in triangles between construction site, main-base-routine-tasks and building-material-storage.

 

 

When digging out tiles it is similar. One dupe, who prefers digging out will dig out a lot of tiles (lets use oxylite meteors, where it is most noticable). When only 1 dupe is available, he will either:

• dig out all tiles, then start picking everything up -> here a lot of debri will evaporate
• dig out one tile, then start picking it up -> here the dupe will waste a lot of his storage capacity while storing 1-tile-worth of debri

When using 2 dupes, 1 for digging, 1 for storage:

• dupe A will dig out all tiles, while dupe B will do tasks on the other side of the map until the first tile is dug out -> here it would be better if dupe B could somehow predict that storage tasks of high priority are due soon

 

 

Suggestion:

To address this issue i have 3 slightly different suggestions.

 

Suggestion 1:

Task-Rally-Point/Break Room. New building that allows to set a certain number of dupes and task types (e.g. 2 dig, 1 supply, 1 build, 1 storage) as well as an adjustable  radial distance (e.g. 25 tiles radius). The effect of this building will be to park the set amount of dupes who are able to work on each task type next to the building. The dupes will not pick tasks from outside of the radius. (schedules, emergencies and biological needs apply of course)

There needs to be a warning if no tasks are available in the area or when dupes are idle in the zone for a certain time.

This will result in dupes waiting within the area and prevents them from traveling to the other side of the map.

Downsides:

It is a very abstract building concept.

It requires micro management and the distribution of task types might be non-trivial (e.g. for which category counts Dupe A who can dig, build and supply?)

It requires deconstruction after usage.

It does not prevent unnecessary travels for pick-up supply tasks.

It does prevent dupes from performing tasks in the rest of the base.

 

 

Suggestion 2:

The game will include "follow-up" tasks in scheduling tasks for dupes.

A "follow-up" task is debris from digging, building after supplying, building after digging (drywall), accessing the next tile after digging/building.

The benefit of this would be a more seamless collaboration between dupes. The builder could already stand ready (assuming priorities are set accordingly) to build a tile directly after it is supplied by another dupe. Supply tasks could already take tiles that are not accessable at the time, but should be once the dupe arrives on location, reducing the travel time overall.

It could be rolled out for specific, simple task-chains first and gradually expanded if suitable.

It does not require any micromanagement and it could be an experimental opt-in toggle similar to "proximity" on the priority screen.

Downsides:

The logic of "follow-up" tasks might be hard to implement within the current game.

Times when "follow-up" tasks become available can not easily be predicted, resulting in dupes waiting for longer times (might still balance out with more efficient travel times, but its not an easy answer)

Sometimes dupes might cancel their active task resulting in "follow-up" tasks to be invalided. This might result to a lot of back and forth between the construction side and the "normal" base tasks. This might be more prominent with starvation, low oxygen, coughing, etc.

It does only mitigate unnecessary travels for pick-up supply tasks, but doesnt prevent them.

 

 

Suggestion 3:

Construction Storage Container. Create a new building similar to storage containers. The building will include a radial range setting (e.g. 25 tiles around the container). The container will set requests for all building materials within the set range.

E.g. the radial area includes 10 sandstone tiles and 5 gold pipes, then the storage container will request 10x100kg sandstone and 5x 50kg gold.

Once a building blueprint is being supplied, is supplied or built, the container will no longer request the materials.

This building does not directly address the task-scheduling dynamic, but instead reduces the travel times for the entire construction site, making its materials readily available on location. 

It has two positive effects. For one it reduces the travel time for supply tasks, because it stores the materials close to their destination. Secondly, it allows dupe to efficiency store the construction material, because they can fetch as much as they can carry on every leg (as compared to 1-x supply-task amounts).

After a construction site is finished, it could be possible to convert it back to an ordinary storage container via toggle. This would still require a bit of micro-management, but if you forget about it, it would also not be harmful.

It is doing something that players are already able to do manually at the time by setting up multiple storage containers with calculated values of the estimated construction materials. This is a very tedious and error prone task, which also does not reduce the requests once the construction site is finished. I am assuming almost no player does this manually right now, making this a true Quality of Life feature for larger construction sites. Build storage container, set toggle to mark as construction buffer, adjust radius, done.

 

Downsides:

Container needs to be constructed and configured.

Does not address the blocked-task-dynamic, but might work well in unison with Suggestion #2.

Only addresses construction sites (mix of (dig,) supply and build tasks). But those should be the most common problem cases.

Edited December 28, 2025 by blash365