AI.... issues....

[Iriswaters]

So...  the manner in which the AI handles priorities is really opaque and frustrating in this game.   There are all manner of tasks for which the type of errand is deeply counter-intuitive, it is often a rage-inducing game of whack-a-mole to figure out how to convince a dupe, any dupe, to do a task, and some of the manners in which they choose to do things is so mind-bogglingly backward as to bring one to tears.

For instance:   I have a coal plant.   It has a box of coal next to it.   But it is a bit out of the way.  It runs out of coal.  It is at priority 9, and set to be refilled if batteries are below 50%.  For some reason, dupes wait until it is empty, despite it being one of the only P9 errands in the base.  But ok, that's fine, at least they go.... and bring it a 70kg chunk they found lying around some hatch pooped out, ignoring the full box of coal next to the plant, and.... leave.   Leave the coal plant with only 70kg in it and the batteries at near dead to go do something else entirely on the other side of the base before bringing it ANOTHER 70 kg a minute or 2 later.  AARGH!

But worse is fossil fetching.   Dupes that can potentially carry 1000kgs will travel all the way down into the oil biome, putting on a suit, and all, to pick up 100kgs to bring back and process, ignoring all the rest.   Despite there being a box demanding fossils(if it is p8, it will never see any fossils, if it is p9, the rock crusher will never see any fossils). and the rock crusher being set to infinite.

Grrrrr.....

I realize that part of the !FUN! is the dupes being a bit derpy, but this wanders into the realm of just frustrating.  

[avc15]

Sometimes issues you describe can be just because of your base design and tapping out dupe labor. I mean, there might be too many errands for the number of dupes you have.

Look at things that you're absurdly far ahead on and don't need as much of. For instance, if you have 1million kcal worth of cooked food in storage, you could reduce dupe workload by uprooting a few plants. Kill off some of your ranches. Etc.

Sometimes, it's just time to start over and see what you can do better next time around. If you make your base more efficient, all the things will be done and more than half your dupes will be cycling on idle.

[beowulf2010]

Also, Storage is the last thing a Dupe will do assuming they do all tasks at equal priority. 

If you truly need someone to constantly fill storage containers, you need to set them with the 2 up triangle in the Job screen. 

The priorities you set in the job screen are way more important than the 1-9 sub-priority settings. 

[Lilalaunekuh]

The most annoying priority problem for me is to "tune" my generators.

My dupes like to run their hamster wheels (manual generators) over applying the tune up buff to my generators, but they find time to produce the microchips (if I raise the priority of my the power control station) ...

[This starts a devilish cycle that could kill an unsupervised base easily.]

[Iriswaters]

None of these responses actually address anything I said.   :/  Like, at all.  That's somewhat disappointing.

[Nickerooni]

Can I see a screenshot of your priorities? Maybe I can spot the issue.

[Iriswaters]

Missing the point.   It's not a single issue.  I have spent hours adjusting both types to all manner of levels.   This is not an issue of some small concern.  This is really the AIs having some MAJOR flaws in how priorities work and getting them to behave in efficient manners.  From dupes walking back and forth across huge areas carrying tiny loads, to MASSIVELY counter-intuitive and inconsistent errand types(some production buildings require supply, some storage, some just their own type), to issues with setting up supply runs failing utterly due to the fact that giving a dupe double priority 'storage' means they will immediately prioritize running tiny loads of dirt to your farm tiles because That Is Storage Somehow?!?!  and due to this will never go pick up a load of fossils.  Or if they do, they will pick up 100kgs to supply the rock crusher because somehow THAT is storage too.  But micro mushers are supply.  And metal refineries seem to be supplied using the operate errand.  And really the whole thing is a mess.

It is possible that these issues simply don't end up much of a concern unless you are playing on the higher difficulties and therefor have to cut things a little finer in terms of number of dupes and rate at which you are trying to get things done, and the massive inefficiencies and backward behavior will therefor only be a teeth grinding frustration for new players(not great for making a first impression) and for those who play on harder settings.

[tzionut]

My friends. The issue is dupe prioritize to pick up things on the ground instead of stored items. So for your coal generator problem the solution is increase supply priorities for some dupes in this way the selected dupe will do only supply chores. For the fossil problem build next to the rock crusher a storage, and put there only fossil. Instead of automating the fossil crusher go there from time to time to crush 6 fossil = 30 lime or put one eggshell and 5 fossil so when the dupe finish to gather 5kg of eggshell they will start whit fossil.

[chasinji]

because Meep want a Job hat. and try anything that end up messing everything.

[Craigjw]

I solved this issue by having a box of coal outside the generator room with a sweeper/loader to pickup the coal and transport it to the coal room, where another sweeper loads the coal into the generator.  I set the coal box to high priority and have at least one dupe on high storage priority.

I still sometimes see a dupe travel all the way to the surface or oil biome to pickup a 70kg chunk in an attempt to fill up the generator, but before the dupe gets there, they drop the coal because they are now starving despite there being 1.5m calories at hand in edible food.

I wouldn't necessarily call it AI, but rather Artificial Stupidity...

[Skrivener]

The priority system has always been unintuitive and inconsistent, and became more obfuscated (to new players especially) when priorities was split with subpriorities such that the more active task (assigning subpriorities 1-9) has a subordinate effect to the more passive task (the priorities window settings) - it just feels wrong because that's not how human minds think, and it's inconsistent with other active actions such as Move To which supersedes any other task. Other examples include manual generators being prioritized as operate but their operation actually being based on the athletics skill, and compost being a farming task when it would be most convenient as a tidy task. And the problems are also related to the jobs system, for example mechatronics engineers auto-prioritizing operate when the reason you want them in that job is to build shipping systems not operate anything. Hopefully this will be tackled in one of the QOL updates, but I imagine it's such a herculean task that it's being put off as long as possible..It would be nice if we could set our own colony-wide priorities, then overrides by role (job) instead of by duplicant, or in addition to a final per-duplicant override. (That reminds me: I would really like role-based access permissions instead of individual-based ones, it's a PITA to switch a duplicant from one job to another and then have to rework all their priorities and also the access settings on several doors to avoid problems.)

[Sasza22]

14 hours ago, Iriswaters said:

For some reason, dupes wait until it is empty, despite it being one of the only P9 errands in the base.

They refill the generator based on the battery charge so it`s entirely possible for the generator to use up all the fuel if the batteries are above 50%. It`s best to set it to 100% and use smart batteries to disable them when they are full. Should save some dupe trouble. Also there`s an "enable proximity" checkbox that should force dupes to do the closest task instead of running around the base.

13 hours ago, Lilalaunekuh said:

The most annoying priority problem for me is to "tune" my generators.

The problem with those is the generators that don`t have priority settings. They tune up coal gens just fine when i set them to prio 7. But nat gas gets ignored as it doesn`t have a priority.