priority system My take on a priority system

[Hanro50]

<Before we continue>

I know I'm not the first to suggest this, but I had some ideas that I would like to share

<The current system (9-1 and 5-1/5*-1*)>

->(9-1)
The main shortcomings of this system seem to involve overall control to a degree. It doesn't really mesh well with the new job system that was introduce. Maybe I want my whole colony to rush over and complete a digging job in the first 20 cycles, but maybe by cycle 30 I have enought miners and I would like my farming dupe to not suddenly stop harvesting meal-lice. There is no way to tell a dupe a set priority should only be followed by the dupes practicing that profession or by the colony as a whole.

I'm aware that the way around this is by basically telling your dupes to not run errands outside the ones allowed by there profession, but what happens if you have to quickly construct a wall when your base is flooding. 

->(5-1/5*-1*)

The problem this system suffers from is complexity and lack of depth. Its not emediatly obvious how the system worked. Heck most of the information I've obtained about it conflicts to a degree. It also doesn't allow the same level of micromanagement the old system provided which is upsetting to some veteran players while being confusing for a newer player.

<My suggestion>

The (9-1) system works good in the early game when you don't have enought dupes for every profession and the 5-1/5*-1* worked a bit better here near the mid-game as you would at least have a few dupes by this point on each profession. Maybe we can add that to the system.

-Basic version

I think we should keep the 9-1 bar, but each dupe's profession always gets priority unless no dupe has the required profession that makes them more suitable to do a set job. a 9 dig job will get done after a 1 cook job by a dupe that's a chef if you've assigned dupes to be miners. Similarly a Dupe that is a miner will finish all his mining jobs before he'll stop to go do research if you've already assigned researchers, but if you set your farms to level 9 and you've not assigned any farmers then dupes from other professions who have other tasks set to a lower priority level will run over to do the farming errand until you assign a farmer. 

I would also like to mention that I would also bring back the strict setting, but I would try to make it more clear what it does and how it works. maybe instead make it a hot key like middle mouse button instead of its own bar or make it just upgrade pre-existing priorities with a "urgent" tag. Something that's easy to understand at first glance. 

-Advance version

In the end of the day the best option would be just to make the player decide how the priority system should work. Maybe even a settings dialog in the job's menu detailing the following:

Should jobs be given preference? 
Should you be able to assign "strict" priority 
1-5 or 1-9  

and so forth 

 

 

 

[The Arcanian]

People complaining about a lack of depth in the 1*-5* system were people that did not understand it. Yes, it was more complex and could have used better explanation, but that complexity was added depth.

1*-5* priority system, from Highest priority to lowest:
Anything set to 5 that was part of a dupes job and anything set to 5*
Anything set to 4 that was part of a dupes job and anything set to 4*
Anything set to 5 that was part of a dupes job and anything set to 5*
Anything set to 3 that was part of a dupes job and anything set to 3*
Anything set to 2 that was part of a dupes job and anything set to 2*
Anything set to 1 that was part of a dupes job and anything set to 1*
Anything set to 5 that was not part of a dupes job
Anything set to 4 that was not part of a dupes job
Anything set to 3 that was not part of a dupes job
Anything set to 2 that was not part of a dupes job
Anything set to 1 that was not part of a dupes job

With the 1*-5* system, instead of 9 priorities, you have 10 priorities per job tree.