How to increase work duration while in the exosuit?

[Tobruk]

It is quite irritating when dupes equip their exosuit, go for a long journey across the map (what is more - exosuits decrease athletics) and do one small task.

I'd love to encourage dupes to stay in exosuits and work for longer, which would greatly decrease the amount of time I need for my outside-of-base projects.

 

Any suggestions?

[WanderingKid]

I typically have this problem when trying to drill into a long stairway or the like. 

Try to use local materials for construction so you don't have to ferry back sandstone in an igneous area.

Put in a compactor with say 5000kg of materials for the locals to use, and let your supply dupes fill the box near the work area.  Repeat as necessary.

Keep priority high enough that they won't try to swap back as often.

[Yucie]

The best solution is to set the door permissions to prohibit returning to the colony so that they work constantly until it's time for them to eat and sleep.

Even if they use local materials, there's always that one dupe which wants to run back just to harvest one plant before running back to the build/dig and wasting precious travel time.

[Enno]

You could also lock the door (or the duplicant gate thing in automation) for a specific time (enough so they don't run out of air). 

But you should still do what @WanderingKid said, otherwise they don't have material and are idle.

Also put some sort of security switch in place and I'd recommend a timer too so they can go to bed on time. 

[Oozinator]

27 minutes ago, Tobruk said:

Any suggestions?

In EU use the scheduler..

[Coolthulhu]

Have dedicated digger/hauler/builder dupes.

Use high priority jobs far away and only there, to prevent dupes from switching jobs.

[Tobruk]

17 minutes ago, Oozinator said:

In EU use the scheduler..

I'm waiting for the release though.

[WanderingKid]

6 minutes ago, Coolthulhu said:

Have dedicated digger/hauler/builder dupes.

Use high priority jobs far away and only there, to prevent dupes from switching jobs.

I've been playing with a digger/builder dupe priority and it seems to be helping with ladder building.

[mickaux]

Few updates ago I would build a device like this. With SR latches implemented it is even easier to build now.

On 20.11.2017 at 11:15 AM, mickaux said:

Here's a simple device based on latches from this thread. It allows you to easily manage your miners work time: before the latest update I would wait for them to go outside the base to mine and then lock the door behind them, so they won't waste their time to sweep things, put on or take off their exosuits and so on. Now it's done automatically.

The clock sensor allows me to set a proper time to stay outside the base. Pressure plate is set at above 89 kg (for 3 miners), if this condition is met dupes go to the left and the door gets lock after the set time. When clock sensor turns on, doors open till the night and then it's OK with me if the dupes go back to mining on their own. In the morning the system is reset.

I tried many different settings, but this one seems to be the simpliest one. What's most important in those settings is to keep the door open before the dupes go to work - locked door seem to prevent them from even planning to go out there.

 

[Nativel]

22 hours ago, Tobruk said:

Any suggestions?

Yes... the answer is here, will take 5 minutes of your time:

 

[maloki]

2 things I do.

Priority 6 on all work within the exosuit area, so they don't want to run away to do something else.

And secondly, as by this attached image, don't let them leave, it requires a bit of minmaxing, but they can work in there for an entire day unless they are a mouthbreather, or haven't been fed properly.

This micro-management is easier with fewer suits, like 1-2.

So you'd let in the supplier for a few hours to prepare all the things, before you let in the builder who will then build all the things.

[Edit: Yes I realize the exosuit checkpoint is turned off right now, but you get the idea]