Horrible performance even though my machine exceeds recommended hardware?

It still happens but less. (It’s again topology)

After doing a search for what topology was, because it was staying steady at a 90%+ I found this thread. It lags lightly or stutters, and I just don’t get it because my computer is powerful.

When I removed even a 16x4 mining zone, it did stop, but it comes back almost anytime I try to mine.

As far as path finding goes, do they need to be on the SAME LEVEL, or able to PHYSICALLY GET TO ME? In order to slow down the stuttering lag?

Any time there’s a pathfinding task being processed (whether it’s a hearthling trying to get somewhere, an enemy trying to get into your town, any any other such case), if there’s no path to physically get to the destination then the pathfinding task will be cancelled and a new one will be created. This can stack up into a LOT of processing for your computer to handle. With enemies, they’re supposed to stop trying after a certain number of attempts in order to save your processor from getting stuck with un-solve-able tasks building up; I’m not sure but I think the same applies to non-critical hearthling jobs (e.g. if you mark something for hauling when there’s no path to it, eventually the game should stop trying to find a path to it – at least until the game detects a terrain change, in which case it checks again in case the changed terrain has opened up a path.)

So, if you have stuttering or lag and you know that some entity is stuck somewhere unable to complete their pathing, letting them finish it OR removing that entity/removing the reason it’s try to path there* should fix the problem.

*for enemies, you can either remove them using commands/debug tools, or send soldiers to fight them; for hearthlings the easiest thing is often to cancel the task they’re stuck on or teleport them where they need to go.

Thank you very much for explaining that. So maybe my play style is abnormal then from what others do?

I typically either wall up with no door yet, or go to a corner of the map using rivers and mountains to block me in, until I feel prepared.

Am I supposed to go through our the map and build ladders or stairs so that all areas of the map are able to be reached at all times and NOT wall myself in, to make the game run smooth consistently?

yes.
though -some- levels is usually plenty. as long as enemies can spawn somewhere, and -technicly- reach your town(storage/flag) somehow.

technicly being defined as “you are allowed to have a tunnel entrace to the wide world, with 12 heavy doors in a row blocking the entrance” is a good hybrid between NO OUTSIDERS EVER and COME ONE COME ALL

personally im still surprised nothing is done with world generation to have “natural” staircases exist to most levels. (rock formations that act as stairs)

Actually I generally do the same thing; keeping myself in a small area which is easily defended or too small for enemies to spawn into until I have a military to deal with them.

The key difference, I think, is that I’ve learned not to let too many enemies “stack up” outside the walls, and get that military up and running ASAP so that you can deal with any of the enemies coming your way so you don’t have to block access. For random monster camps in the wilderness (e.g. giant zombie guarding a chest, the wild wolf packs with no leader, or the Black Cord crypts) there shouldn’t be any pathfinding queries to worry about; it’s only the “aggressive” encounters such as goblin camps which will actively send enemies to attack your town. As long as they have a path – even if it’s really long – there shouldn’t be any lag generated; in fact I’ve tried intentionally creating a really long and maze-like path through the mountains which took attacking goblins several days to cross and I found that as long as there weren’t, like, 100 enemies all trying to follow that path then it didn’t slow my game down.

If you have a defensible “main gate” which you can turn into a chokepoint then you should be ok. If you’re worried about raids harming your hearthlings, a Cleric does a great job of both boosting your soldiers’ courage (keeping the civilians safe behind them) and AoE healing and buffing your hearthlings near the combat. Sometimes the Cleric will run off to do silly things like healing a starving sheep in the middle of a siege; but judicious use of the town bell can dramatically reduce instances where the cleric leaves the front lines to go heal random hearthlings.

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One thing too: By dealing with the easy enemies early on, your troops gain experience. I actively seek out those mini gob camps that pop up and beat on them for a bit until I can easily take on foggy day zombies. After that I’ve probably got my cleric up and running so we can take on bigger things. I always build with a chokepoint in mind. Easiest one is to dig a moat and it adds very little to your town worth if you’re worried about biting off more than you can chew. You can always make cute bridges over the moat to expand your town.

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The other nice thing about a moat is that it can easily become a canal later on :merry: I actually have to try that in my next town now!

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We pushed a patch last night, could any of you check if it helped with the performance issue?

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I’ll check it if did as soon as I can.

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It’s been going pretty well for the past few days! My issues are all pretty haphazard, so it’s probably mainly because of my old dusty hardware. I have definitely noticed that my hearthlings aren’t getting lost and starving for no reason anymore, and they are more responsive to urgent commands like ladder raising/removing.