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Some ideas for the problem of resources clogging up

C

cbrgamer2

Well-Known Member
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I've read a few threads on here about resources clogging up the storage, which makes it so that the resources you need can't be placed in storage. The threads are from last month, but from what I have seen in the update patches, the issue has not been addressed yet.

I have a few suggestions on this in case they haven't been thought of.
1. have an option to auto-balance resources. I'm guessing at the numbers here. Building Materials can only take up 50% of storage, Organic Material 20%, Machine Parts 15% and Rare Materials 15%. Each category can then also have it's own percentage limiters. Only takes affect if storage is above a certain amount.
2. have an option to prioritise materials. In the daily update, remove materials from storage to pay upkeep first, then add materials from production in order of priority.
3. after each daily update, record how much production of each material would be lost because there is not enough space to store it. Give an option to throw out materials from your virtual storage. This amount is then replaced with materials from the "lost" production, preferably using the order of priority from option 2. That way, if you find your storage is full and you need components that you know you make an excess of, you can toss out materials you don't need and immediately get the ones you do without having to wait until the next daily update. Alternatively, just give the option to throw out the storage and make players wait until the next daily update (or even better, give them the option to have to wait or get it immediately).

Ideally, all of these options could be implemented, but at the least 2 and 3 would really help and don't seem too hard to set up (I'm guessing - I have a software engineering background, but I'm not familiar with the SS2 code).
 
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The suggestions are very reasonable. However, I think the Conversion plots were added to essentially 'balance' resource output by taking materials that are in high numbers and changing them to other low quantity materials. Implementing the suggestions would sort of kill the need for the conversion plots. Of course, that doesn't help if you haven't unlocked those plot types yet.
 
Far from killing the need for conversion plots, I think my ideas are very compatible with them. They take a material you produce a lot of and change it to a material you don't produce much of. That will still be very necessary if you can't produce much of certain materials you need.
The problem is how those materials are added to the virtual storage after they are converted. I don't think the code removes material A and replaces it with material B in one hit. I think it removes the right amount of material A from what you are producing and adds the right amount of material B to what you are producing.
Here's the problem : if you have no storage space, there is still nowhere for material B to go, so you still don't get it even with the conversion plots.
Also, even if you do have storage space, or you are converting more of material A than you produce, that space that is freed up can still be filled with material C before material B, so you still don't get material B (man I wish I could find a way to write all that more clearly).
I think my suggestions 2 and 3 above actually compliment conversion plots and makes them more useful, because if I build a converter from A to B, I know I will then be able to get B into my storage, which is not currently guaranteed.
 
That could very well be. I haven't had a long enough playthrough where the conversion plots really come into their own. Maybe one of the Rockstars can chime in regarding the process. If there is an underlying problem with the way resources should flow through the conversion plots, that might be a bug that needs to be addressed.
 
I'm also assuming conversion plots should really only be for if you are lacking the means of producing a certain material. If you have a way of producing a material directly, you shouldn't have to build a conversion plot just because your settlers keep tossing out your production of materials you need in favour of ones your don't!
A simple option of setting priorities would fix that.
 
I had an almost similar idea but it was indeed slightly different.
Right now virtual storage and virtual caps are only used within SS2 itself.
What about integrating it a little into the world economy, like selling scrap components where you have too much for virtual caps and buying components you miss for virtual caps.
With a pricing like you have from Carla when you have 1 charisma (something like 10:1 buy sell ratio for building mats or organics and even higher ratios for machine parts and rare stuff)
This will prevent overflow and production stops without negating conversion plots (they are much more effective).
It could be set as an automatic feature or manual through the desk as the player wishes.

Additionally i would strongly recommend a tool for recalculation / repair of all the sums from the scrap component values. Either for one (your current location) or for all settlements (because of this: Why go scrap category values through the roof)
Right now i visit all settlements every second day and recalculate it by myself, put the sums into a batch file and run the said batch file to repair the sums... time consumption without raider elimination, not cool
 
I currently have close to 27,000 plastic in storage, it doesn't seem to get used up (unlike steel, screws, springs and lead; can't keep up with those) and I haven't seen a conversion plot that will do anything with plastic. Which is reasonable, what could you turn it into? Plastic to steel? Oooo, that would Alchemy!! LOL. Oh wait, I just thought of something. A Production plot that consumes plastic and makes furniture for the furniture store. Hmmm, maybe it's time for me to start learning how to make plots.
 
Rigel said:
I currently have close to 27,000 plastic in storage, it doesn't seem to get used up (unlike steel, screws, springs and lead; can't keep up with those) and I haven't seen a conversion plot that will do anything with plastic. Which is reasonable, what could you turn it into? Plastic to steel? Oooo, that would Alchemy!! LOL. Oh wait, I just thought of something. A Production plot that consumes plastic and makes furniture for the furniture store. Hmmm, maybe it's time for me to start learning how to make plots.
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Join the club. Jump in. The water is warm.

Now, I know for a fact Kinggath never thought his first pass would be perfectly balanced and wouldn't need to be tweaked at all and that work will be done on this at some point. Since he doens't share much that's as much as I can say. I also know from experience that many times people have their ideas of change that are needed but are "ignored" because the team is already working on something that would adress the issue in some other way but since everything is a work in project and fixing bugs is never as easy as we think, hope or want it could be in the works for quite some time before we hear about the solution.

That being said if I can chime in regarding the industrial chain, it's not like there is a hard line and we are only allowed to do conversion plots in one specific way. The philosophy as explained in the Industrial philosophy (https://wiki.simsettlements2.com/CreateAddons/Industrial-Resources)
  • Scrap components: This is designed to be an extreme management challenge for players who are looking to add layers and layers of depth to their game
  • Conversion plots only really matters to this group.
  • So when we get to Conversion, the goal is to allow the player to convert their excess resources of one type into another.

Now I'm not going tocopy paste the entire thing, you can go read for yourselves, it's an interesting read. Kinggath honestly doesn't get enough credit for how well written his work is. Making tutorials explaining hard concepts to people with no technical background is not an easy task and he does it flawlessly.But I'm way off course here.

Conversion plots in their minds is intended to be a way to produce a lot of a specific thing rather than what the previous levels were doing, which was giving you certain numbers of various different (but all from the same type) components. But conversion plots take components and turn them into other components.And yes those could serve to use plastic and create something else. Random idea, plastic+acid=adhesive. Or antiseptic. Whatever, the person making the plot can do what they want and we'll get back to that in a second but first, the other industrial type. The production industrial buildings also take components but create a finished product to be sold in stores. Random easy idea, plastic+water=water bottles.

Now it's all fine and dandy that this is what SS2 wants but as a creator, here is my reality. When I look at industrial I personally see a chain that I can use. Others may not see it the same way. Actually, I have worked with enough creators to know not many think the same way. Everyone had their vision and it's what will drive them. Same as for everything else really. Some think the buildings should look exactly as scrappy and worn as the rest of the world and others think their buildings should stand out. And some who shall not be named think it needs more blood.

Point is that some will make plots that will aim at taking advantage of a situation or to work against a problem (ex: making a plot that would use all the ressources people have too much to convert them in all the things people complain they don't have... come on you can do it). While I'm looking at it as "I want to have newspapers sold to bookstores, what do I need? Paper? Conversion would be wood, chemicals and water to cloth (because it replaces paper that is not a component). Hell, maybe I could also have a strip tease club to gather more wood. And then maybe even make a conversion plot that creates oil that I'll use for ink. None of my ideas really take into consideration player need or surplus, I'm always thinking on a storytelling level more than on an optimization level.

So in terms of getting rid of plastic, there are really two ways to do it. I know it doesn't solve the problem of space, that's something I wish was resolved too but for now I trust that they will come up with a clever solution.

Otherwise I'll be the first to make a steel and a wood conversion plot followed by a pitchfork production plot.

Who wanna make the torches production line?
 
Irealys said:
<stuff>

Otherwise I'll be the first to make a steel and a wood conversion plot followed by a pitchfork production plot.

Who wanna make the torches production line?
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Wood and oil for some long-burning torches? Or since we're hating on plastic here, maybe we could do them dollar-store tiki style and use plastic for the faux-wood handle and then some oil for the flammable bit on top.
 
Something like this is really needed. I was gonna make a suggestion to limit specific resource gathering and storage to 500 or 1000 or whatever (everything on top of that either goes to "pay operating costs fund" or burns away forever). That seems like the easy fix that saves the creators the headache of going through all the data and the players the need to keep track of every resource.

Conversion plots are really cool but I'd say unreliable to balance out the resources. Not to mention there isn't a conversion plot for anything, and it would be really time consuming for someone to attempt to change that.

(While I'm on a roll, I've had this idea of a "FEV tank" plot that produces acid - not really FEV but actually concentrated Vim! Hubert can splash in it too, safely)
(And maybe a bottle recycling plant to produce glass and cork, only problem is it needs to consume actual bottles which aren't a resource)
("baseball salvagers" would be another fun thing to get cork from... )
(just throwing all that out here until I actually learn how to make things, unless someone else wants to)
 
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Antoine Soverie said:
Something like this is really needed. I was gonna make a suggestion to limit specific resource gathering and storage to 500 or 1000 or whatever (everything on top of that either goes to "pay operating costs fund" or burns away forever). That seems like the easy fix that saves the creators the headache of going through all the data and the players the need to keep track of every resource.
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Have you downloaded the latest SS2 version? KG made some changes to address this type of issue.
Antoine Soverie said:
Conversion plots are really cool but I'd say unreliable to balance out the resources. Not to mention there isn't a conversion plot for anything, and it would be really time consuming for someone to attempt to change that.

(While I'm on a roll, I've had this idea of a "FEV tank" plot that produces acid - not really FEV but actually concentrated Vim! Hubert can splash in it too, safely)
(And maybe a bottle recycling plant to produce glass and cork, only problem is it needs to consume actual bottles which aren't a resource)
("baseball salvagers" would be another fun thing to get cork from... )
(just throwing all that out here until I actually learn how to make things, unless someone else wants to)
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Those are some really good ideas. You should totally make those yourself.
I am just going to leave this here for you so you can get started making them.

Create Addons: Guides and Tutorials

List of guides and tutorials for creating SS2 addon content.
wiki.simsettlements2.com wiki.simsettlements2.com
 
Freddrick said:
Have you downloaded the latest SS2 version?
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I'm on the xbox equivalent of 1.1.0a (I think). Figured 1.1.0b only fixes Jake's gun so I can live without it. Unless there's more?
Freddrick said:
Those are some really good ideas. You should totally make those yourself.
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Thanks. I don't expect everyone to make stuff just for me, I'm a freeloader and not entitled to anything. Only if someone else wants to. I'm more like Old Paul: decent idea now and again, technophobe and a face for the radio. That said, eventually I'll try it and see how it goes.
 
If you have 1.1.0 then you should have access the resource storage changes.
I recommend watching the announcement videos because I don't think I can explain it well enough here.
 
I did, started a whole new game just for that. It's been a fun ride this far, definately the most engaging way to play SS2 (not counting the non-plot costs, that's just nuts). But the issue of resources clogging up still persists. And it probably will unless there's a use for every single resource (would need a red rocket employee manual just to make sense of all of it, though). Storage is still topped up for everything except the stuff I'd actually need. Though the rainy day operation costs fund is an amazing add. Was going to send a screenie of my current resources tab but one of caravan workers decided to wander off and break everything.

So anyway, I think the "easy fix" as I called it would solve this problem once and for all. No more thousands of plastic or whatever lying around if we could just cap it (and everything else) at a specific value.
 
Antoine Soverie said:
So anyway, I think the "easy fix" as I called it would solve this problem once and for all.
Click to expand...
Its really not an easy fix. First, you would need the ratios between the 4 material types. Then some math would be needed. Each component's max amount for each category would need to be calculated. Then using the calculated max value, you would have to cycle through each component and if it exceeds X%, the amount would have to be reduced to X%. At least there is an S2 Function to handle the value change. This whole thing would either need to be incorporated into SS2's Daily Update or a stand alone mod would have to do it. (which is more work)

And, if you wanted the X% max to be adjustable, there is even more work setting up terminals...
 
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