tasks Soft Assignment to Operate/Perform Errand - within context

[The Plum Gate]

I'll make the gist of the suggestion bold - all other details or examples are in between.

To be able to assign a duplicant to do a task directly - An interrupt where you directly tell a duplicant to do something ( ie, errands that [meep] can perform here), right now, the same way we can tell them to move to a location would be handy. This would be a soft assignment to a machine or to deliver ( or anything they can perform here ).

My angle here is twofold however: this would 'soft' assign an errand or task even when a machine doesn't have a triggered need, ie, topping off the coal generator, or refilling a sink, or terrarium despite its settings or request triggers. The discerning aspect of this is that it targets a specific duplicant ( capable and can do the task - traits withstanding ) and targets an object which has errands or tasks associated with it.

Such a direct request would temporarily override the allowed tasks for that duplicant while still respect the job requirements.

A soft assignment action would be to tell a duplicant to go do a specific thing like operate a machine or sweep an object - ignoring any other priorities.

The idea of how this would pan out in the user interface is a bit of a mystery to me though I can attempt to elaborate a little on use cases and gotchas:

For example, I have a duplicant standing in the bathroom and the sink has just spit out a hulking bottle of dirty water that needs to be swept up. I can either set a high priority on the bottle emptier ( and watch someone come from who knows how many tiles away to sweep it ) or I can click on that bottle, hit the sweep button, and set a high priority on that... That's the current case.  Alternatively - using a soft assignment, click that duplicant in the bathroom ( and using the errands that [meep] can perform here context given in the tool tips ) - ping [meep] that errand right then and there using the line in the tool tip while hovering over the bottle of water.

This might pan out differently in the context of UI. The idea is in the context of 'errands that [a duplicant] can perform here'. In other words: I could Select [meep], hover over (the coal generator), and ping [a duplicant] with something from the errands that [meep] can perform here. In this example - that line from the tool tip that says 'deliver'.

Implementation: select duplicant, then maybe something as simple as a hot key [ shift button ] could freeze the tool tip or, a context menu [ on hover ] and list available actions that duplicant can perform in the context of the item being hovered over - ie, deliver, or sweep. And they do that right then and there.

(Gotchas with benefits)

Tasks that have no end until nightfall, or the end of stamina - the normal resets for errands. Freeing them from soft assignment task with 'move', or 'stop errand' would free them from the errand. This could be applied as an interrupt to dupes already operating machines - free's whoever is operating it while the "chosen one" takes over on account of the soft assignment.

Telling them to move and stay there could be a thing - 'move'+[the magic hotkey] = yeild, until 'move' or 'stop errand', or some duplicant existential ( bathroom, eat, bed ) occurs. Hover text would indicate this soft priority as their current errand, per se, yeilding, or 'operating/delivering on interrupt'.

A soft assignment would resolve when the task is finished.

This is micro managing, yes, I know - but it's also a general purpose tool as well. Not everyone plays in 3x mode.

[Keyimin]

I'm kinda stuck between "Ooooh, I like this" and "Hmmm, that could be problematic."

I like the idea of having some kind of "interrupt" function and had made the suggestion of a "pause your job" feature during the stage of the preview when dupes preferred their jobs over other tasks.

I'm concerned with the degree of micromanagement this system would introduce, particularly if it's applied as a band-aid fix to a flawed system. I suddenly envisioned a world where we're all constantly "interrupting" our dupes to hand them soft assignments to get things done (you know this would happen lol), and once that happens, you may as well just have a "go do this; go do that" system, which wouldn't be the ONI the devs intended anymore.

I'll have to ponder this some more.

[The Arcanian]

I agree with @Keyimin This feels a little too much like a band-aid and dissolves into the answers always bringing "just micro your dupes" and "why fix the priority system, everyone just micros anyway".

Please note that I do not use 3x most of the time.

[The Plum Gate]

I can agree with you both on this one - it's an opportunity for problems, but I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to tell a dupe to move to a machine and have them operate it - I'm learning to just get over it though. The idea generally revolves around a temporary assignment, and really falls under a catch-all category of having a specific duplicant do a specific thing rather than fooling with the base priority on the machine and potentially causing other dupes to get distracted.

There could be a catch to this though. If you follow a duplicant - they get the center of attention stress relief bonus. Perhaps if they get told to go do something in this manner they get a stressor affect - like.. Domo Arigato!   [ +5% stress per cycle ( until the errand is done )].