[New Class] Work Foreman

I have an idea for a new class that came about from musings over the new footman squad system, and the current plight of my green-shirted proletariat Hearthlings. A big problem I have with my workers when I play is when my workers run about doing oddjobs unorganized. So I thought why not make a class that helps with this? Essentially, the foreman is a normal worker who is promoted and acts as the squad leader for a group of workers assigned to him, and he can be delegated to specific tasks, with a number of jobs that can be placed in a queue similarly to a crafter (Carpenter’s build orders for instance). After delegating to the foreman, In turn all workers underneath him will do the same job that he is doing until it is finished. If not given a specific job, the workers will just do random jobs as they normally do. While this could be done easily through the squad system without a class, I think it would fit nicely with the current crafter UI and the game’s style of in-direct micromanagement. It also has the potential to make your workers more efficient and benefit from a class leveling system on a grand scale,similar to the other classes. I could see the foreman making them move faster or build/mine quicker, maybe based off of his Mind attribute and level benefits. There should also be some method of nerfing to keep a player from just having one foreman at level 6 managing 30 or so workers and giving them all the benefits, maybe having a 7-8 max workers per squad/a percentage based off of your total worker population. Here are some ideas for a level up benefit list.

Level 1: +10 HP

Level 2: +10% Movement Speed

Level 3: +10% Movement Speed to Workers in Squad

Level 4: +10 HP

Level 5: Increased Backpack Space for Workers in Squad (similar to how the trapper has extra space for items)

Level 6: Increased Efficiency for Workers Building/Mining in Squad

I was thinking his item could be a clipboard, or maybe a record book of some kind. I don’t know if he should benefit from being able to wear Improved Worker’s clothing that the weaver can make, but it would make sense.
An alternative way of making foremen handle jobs could be done by having a set zone that you can place where their squad will do all the work that is signaled to be started within it’s borders, similar to how the trapper has his set area to place traps. I dunno if that would work though. So far I am really enjoying the game (except for the more-than-occassional crashes that happen around day 16 for me but I am sure that will be fixed in time :blush: ) and I hope this suggestion is to your liking!

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The foreman is a great idea, but I don’t see the need for having a UI like the crafters’ ones to delegate tasks to him; essentially all it will do is force the player to order some jobs twice, and take the autonomy out of others.

Instead, the foreman should take on jobs like a regular worker, and then his personal retinue of worker minions follow and assist him with whatever task he’s working on; that way, he maintains his autonomy, and sticks to the game’s theme of minimal player input.

What he should have is something similar to the stockpile UI, where different job types can be checked on or off.

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I believe this concept has been discussed in other threads as well. Just type in “foreman”, and you can see some of the other cases people on the Discourse have brought the idea up.

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