Hi everyone.
I keep trying to use crates, and it never ends well. I think it is because I want to create crates for specific items (one crate for wood, one for stone, one for ore) and I run into issues.
- The default setting is set to allow all items – before I can turn
this off, other items get placed inside. It doesn’t matter how fast
you click because the AI is faster. - I end up with items strewn all over the map – I never seem to be able
to keep up with all of the containers I need, and I don’t realize the
ones I have are full. - Visibility – you can’t see how full/empty a container is without
clicking on it. - Bugs – I’m not sure that containers work right yet, as they are a
new feature. Things just get stuck in them for now.
One thing that I think would help make containers much more useful is to add a ‘sorting’ stockpile option, or a stockpile that is only used for items that do not have any other stockpile/container available. Think of it as low-priority stockpile – things get taken here until a designated place is found.
So if I keep a crate for wood by my Carpenter, all wood goes into it until it is full. If I fill the crate up completely, wood starts to show up in my sorting stockpile, giving me a visual indicator that it’s time to place more wood storage. If I start making copper bars and I’ve not created crates to store them in, the ore gets delivered to my sorting stockpile. I see them there and go create a crate for metal bars – and the items get moved.
To make this work in the UI, I think the stockpile settings would only need an extra checkbox to designate this desired behavior.
What do you think? Would this help you manage the inventory items?
