District System Feedback

[Eric.B]

So what do you think? What do you like? What do you hate?

[Shepherd]

I am trying it out now, but it will take some playing to really test it out. Need to build a global company from scratch again.

Bug: The competition screen (where you can see your own and the competitions sales) is now broken. It just shows nothing.

[Frankschtaldt]

Not sure about the change in button style.
I know that's not really the kind of feedback you're chasing yet but that's as far as I've gotten.
Are you planning on making all buttons look like the new ones?
It'd be less jarring if they were all the same I guess.

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Also, the "Competition" button in the city information window in the atlas no longer shows any information.

[Shepherd]

What I do like is the new visual clue for build quality. It seems my earlier hunch about how much it was ok to move the slider towards quantity was, just about spot on.

[Eric.B]

Use the Competition view on Branch Distribution / District System until I get a hotfix out.

Not sure about the change in button style.
I know that's not really the kind of feedback you're chasing yet but that's as far as I've gotten.
Are you planning on making all buttons look like the new ones?
It'd be less jarring if they were all the same I guess.

I assume you're talking about the RND buttons? Or the Buttons on the world map?

RnD will probably go back to what they were. World Map buttons however will remain the big fat ugly grey. It's hip with the kids.

[Eric.B]

City Level Competition View issue has been fixed and will be included in a hotfix tomorrow.

[Shepherd]

When using the district production menu, the value for last month's sales demand is 0 for all vehicles.

[Frankschtaldt]

In the new factory UI the only way to tell how many lines you're allocating for production is to calculate it base on in the change in how many are available which is a bit tedious. It should show just above the slider how many lines are being allocated (see attachment). This is missing on all production screen now.

Also, I've suggested this before but it's even more important now. The left and right arrows should simply add or subtract 1 production line at a time (per click) rather than moving the slider a pre-determined % along. In massive games it'd be just about impossible to simply add one factory line (it's pretty hard with 120+ lines atm).
Yes, I know you can type in how many cars you want to build but there will be people who just want to quickly add 1 more line to production and jump out and keep playing.

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Yes, I know you can type in how many cars you want to build but there will be people who just want to quickly add 1 more line to production and jump out and keep playing.

Actually, you can't type in how many units you want to make.
You can put the curer in the box but it wont accept any input.

[Shepherd]

When using the district production menu, the value for last month's sales demand is 0 for all vehicles.

   

This basicly makes it unusable. Especially if you like me use the: just in time/no stock overhead strategy. Since I adjust production every month, I use this a lot. If you use the single factory screen the number is there.

   

And another bug I have noticed after I expanded into Europe, is that in Europe it's screwed up. If you look at the above image I should be building stock, which I do not.

The reason for this seems to be that it only counts sales in London (240 units). I have tried with the default Europe shipping lock, and my own custom made. It makes no difference.

   

If you look at the District sale view the number sold sold + missed sales = 386 units. Which is what it should have shown.

   

In the US where I started I do not see this problem.

On a side note, the unit cost marked in the square seems way out of wack. But they have not seemed to be accurate before either.

[Eric.B]

In the new factory UI the only way to tell how many lines you're allocating for production is to calculate it base on in the change in how many are available which is a bit tedious. It should show just above the slider how many lines are being allocated (see attachment). This is missing on all production screen now.

Noted, and will be added for 1.18.2

Also, I've suggested this before but it's even more important now. The left and right arrows should simply add or subtract 1 production line at a time (per click) rather than moving the slider a pre-determined % along.

And because you have suggested it before, it's in a ticket. In fact it's slated for 1.19. I can't do everything at once. If I did people would complain about the lack of updates!

In massive games it'd be just about impossible to simply add one factory line (it's pretty hard with 120+ lines atm).

Until the above is done, pop into a factory at the city level and add one line.

Actually, you can't type in how many units you want to make.
You can put the curer in the box but it wont accept any input.

Is this only happening on the district system? It works correctly on the city level yes?

This basicly makes it unusable. Especially if you like me use the: just in time/no stock overhead strategy. Since I adjust production every month, I use this a lot. If you use the single factory screen the number is there.

Shipping has moved to the branch side of things based on popular demand. I'm not sure if we'll be getting the "estimated units in shipping area" back in the factory menu, as it would require a bit of reverse calculations. Also now that shipping can be regulated to districts and not a shipping radius it makes it that much harder to calculate. We'll see though. In the meantime however, if you're trying to walk a fine line of supply, limit your branches to shipping from a certain area, then using the branch system, check the demand and set your factories in the shipping area accordingly.

And another bug I have noticed after I expanded into Europe, is that in Europe it's screwed up. If you look at the above image I should be building stock, which I do not.

The reason for this seems to be that it only counts sales in London (240 units). I have tried with the default Europe shipping lock, and my own custom made. It makes no difference.

I don't think this is screwed up. Selecting the London branch shows the sales you made in London, 256 units. It also says that the shipping to London is locked to "Europe West". Which means you're only shipping from factories in "Europe West".

When you click on "Europe West" it shows you the sales of that vehicle in all the cities in "Europe West" combined. So 256 in London + Paris + Leeds + Whatever that other British city is. = 354 Units + 32 missed sales (probably in Paris, Leeds, or whatever.)

If you look at the District sale view the number sold sold + missed sales = 386 units. Which is what it should have shown.

Shown where? In London? Why? You didn't sell 386 units in London, you sold 256 units there and didn't have any missing sales.

You won't get district specific data at the city level. Since Cities can be part of multiple districts. When you go to the City level you get City level data.

In the US where I started I do not see this problem.

If I read your problem correctly, you should have the same issue. Perhaps you're only getting sales from one city?

On a side note, the unit cost marked in the square seems way out of wack. But they have not seemed to be accurate before either.

It does seem transportation costs are out of wack since it's showing $700 to ship from London to London. Goes back to what I said earlier about moving shipping to branches. That being said, the costs have always been accurate, people just didn't understand how they're calculated. (All the money you spend in a month)/(all the cars you build and have in inventory) + unit costs + estimated transport = amount of money you need to charge to break even if you sold every vehicle built and in inventory.


I added the new manufacturing costs there to not include corporate expenses so people know what a single car's break even cost is. (Although this is not the breakeven for the company, you'll still lose money at price, which is the purpose of the other number...)

[Shepherd]

This basicly makes it unusable. Especially if you like me use the: just in time/no stock overhead strategy. Since I adjust production every month, I use this a lot. If you use the single factory screen the number is there.

Shipping has moved to the branch side of things based on popular demand. I'm not sure if we'll be getting the "estimated units in shipping area" back in the factory menu, as it would require a bit of reverse calculations. Also now that shipping can be regulated to districts and not a shipping radius it makes it that much harder to calculate. We'll see though. In the meantime however, if you're trying to walk a fine line of supply, limit your branches to shipping from a certain area, then using the branch system, check the demand and set your factories in the shipping area accordingly.

But it's there in the single factory view.

I don't think this is screwed up. Selecting the London branch shows the sales you made in London, 256 units. It also says that the shipping to London is locked to "Europe West". Which means you're only shipping from factories in "Europe West".

When you click on "Europe West" it shows you the sales of that vehicle in all the cities in "Europe West" combined. So 256 in London + Paris + Leeds + Whatever that other British city is. = 354 Units + 32 missed sales (probably in Paris, Leeds, or whatever.)

If you look at the District sale view the number sold sold + missed sales = 386 units. Which is what it should have shown.

Shown where? In London? Why? You didn't sell 386 units in London, you sold 256 units there and didn't have any missing sales.

You won't get district specific data at the city level. Since Cities can be part of multiple districts. When you go to the City level you get City level data.

In the US where I started I do not see this problem.

If I read your problem correctly, you should have the same issue. Perhaps you're only getting sales from one city?

In Europe only the sales of London get reported.

In New York factory you see it reports region sales almost correctly 759. The real sales figure in branch view was 804
   
Of which 260 was sold in New York.
   

[Eric.B]

But it's there in the single factory view.

Yes, single factory is a bit easier. As you only have to parse the branches for 1 factory. Multiple factories in multiple locations means exponiental amount of parsing. It's one of my higher priority tickets, and if I get it fixed within the next few days it'll be hotfixed.

In Europe only the sales of London get reported.

In New York factory you see it reports region sales almost correctly 759. The real sales figure in branch view was 804

Of which 260 was sold in New York.

Can you send me the save game please.

[Shepherd]

Ok, here it is.

[Shepherd]

Shipping has moved to the branch side of things based on popular demand. I'm not sure if we'll be getting the "estimated units in shipping area" back in the factory menu, as it would require a bit of reverse calculations. Also now that shipping can be regulated to districts and not a shipping radius it makes it that much harder to calculate. We'll see though. In the meantime however, if you're trying to walk a fine line of supply, limit your branches to shipping from a certain area, then using the branch system, check the demand and set your factories in the shipping area accordingly.

Could you not just sum the values from district sales and lost sales, and put it into the demand slot in district factory. As shown in picture under. That would be good enough I think.
   

[Eric.B]

Could you not just sum the values from district sales and lost sales, and put it into the demand slot in district factory. As shown in picture under. That would be good enough I think.

The problem with that is that factories can belong to multiple districts, and multiple districts and even places that are in no districts can still pull from a factory.

Just off the top of my head, your UK factory belongs to: Europe District, UK District, Europe West District, And City of London.

Paris Branch belongs to: Europe District, France District, Europe West District, and City of Paris.

So which summation I put there? If we use Europe, then you could have data from cities that are not being pulled from there. If we use UK, then you wouldn't have French sales data in the summation. If we use Europe West, what happens if you assign Canadian Branches to pull from UK? That data wouldn't be included because it's not in Europe West district. (The same issues if we use "Selected District" summation at the factory level. We have to parse shipping in every branch in the world for every factory in the selected district. I believe this is the only way to get the information properly.)

So no, that wouldn't work.

[Shepherd]

Could you not just sum the values from district sales and lost sales, and put it into the demand slot in district factory. As shown in picture under. That would be good enough I think.

The problem with that is that factories can belong to multiple districts, and multiple districts and even places that are in no districts can still pull from a factory.

Just off the top of my head, your UK factory belongs to: Europe District, UK District, Europe West District, And City of London.

Paris Branch belongs to: Europe District, France District, Europe West District, and City of Paris.

So which summation I put there? If we use Europe, then you could have data from cities that are not being pulled from there. If we use UK, then you wouldn't have French sales data in the summation. If we use Europe West, what happens if you assign Canadian Branches to pull from UK? That data wouldn't be included because it's not in Europe West district. (The same issues if we use "Selected District" summation at the factory level. We have to parse shipping in every branch in the world for every factory in the selected district. I believe this is the only way to get the information properly.)
So no, that wouldn't work.

I already defined my district, all the factories and branches should sort under the custom Europe west I created. Or under the default Europe if I had chosen that. If I build a new factory in any of the cities connected to that district it should also become a part of that district automatically.

The reason for wanting a big mega district factory is to simplify adjustments when having more than one factory in a district. The way it is now it has made the game a lot worse.

So for my Eu side of things. My defined district is Europe west, Currently built branches includes: London, Birmingham, Leeds and Paris. As you see of the picture under. They had 354 sales, 32 Lost sales.

Europe west production menu, should therefore show last months estimated sales of 386. At the moment there is only one factory and that is London.

But if you see in my old post there are 2 factories sorted under the default NA district I tried out there, I even split production of one model over 2 Factories. And adjusting production from the district controller works very well.

   

[Eric.B]

I already defined my district, all the factories and branches should sort under the custom Europe west I created. Or under the default Europe if I had chosen that. If I build a new factory in any of the cities connected to that district it should also become a part of that district automatically.

Anything you build in the cities with your districts are automatically in your districts. Because you assign districts as cities, not specifically factories or branches.

I think you're not understanding what I mean. If you have a factory in District A. It can still ship to district B, C, and D even if it's not a part of B, C, or D. Because of that, it would make no sense to show only cars sold in District A for a factory located in District A. Why? Because if A,B,C, and D each needed 100 cars, thus needing 400 cars from the factory. And that summation only showed 100 needed from branches in District A, then people would be bitching about not having all the demand needed for a factory in District A.

What I am proposing above is to show the demand from all the branches that would pull from the factories located in District A. So you know exactly how many vehicles you need to build at that District to fill demand. For me that means taking all your branches and seeing if they pull from a list of factories located in District A. This is difficult to do, thus why it's not done yet.

The reason for wanting a big mega district factory is to simplify adjustments when having more than one factory in a district. The way it is now it has made the game a lot worse.

So you don't run mega districts. You don't have to use Europe. You don't have to use even nation level districts. Hell you don't even have to use district system what so ever. That doesn't take away from the fact that a factory can be in multiple districts, and branches from other districts can still pull from any factory you want it to. Thus your idea for moving the summation of sales from a district to factory view would not work for anyone crossing districts.

So for my Eu side of things. My defined district is Europe west, Currently built branches includes: London, Birmingham, Leeds and Paris. As you see of the picture under. They had 354 sales, 32 Lost sales.

Europe west production menu, should therefore show last months estimated sales of 386. At the moment there is only one factory and that is London.

You are correct, it doesn't show 386 yet. Because of the reason I have explained twice. I have to write the code to parse ALL branches in the world for EACH factory in your district. This does not exist yet.

This is because if you built a factory in Cairo Egypt. And set it to ship vehicles from 5000km away. It would pull from your factory in London. Lets say you sell 100 cars there. Then your 386 figure would be in correct in the production view. Because the demand from your factories (in this case just london) in your Europe West district would be 486.

For that reason I can not move your sales figures for European West to European West Production. Because you need your London factory building 486 units to meet all demand required by it and not 386 units only required for European West.


HOPEFULLY that makes sense for you.


That being said, if you find the distracting system ruining the game, you don't have to use it. The game works perfectly fine without it.

[Shepherd]

You are correct, it doesn't show 386 yet. Because of the reason I have explained twice. I have to write the code to parse ALL branches in the world for EACH factory in your district. This does not exist yet.

This is because if you built a factory in Cairo Egypt. And set it to ship vehicles from 5000km away. It would pull from your factory in London. Lets say you sell 100 cars there. Then your 386 figure would be in correct in the production view. Because the demand from your factories (in this case just london) in your Europe West district would be 486.

For that reason I can not move your sales figures for European West to European West Production. Because you need your London factory building 486 units to meet all demand required by it and not 386 units only required for European West.


HOPEFULLY that makes sense for you.

It really does not, since i set district lock (not distance) on my Eu district, no vehicles should pass in or out of that district. It should be self contained. What I do In Cairo and for that matter the US should affect it no matter what the shipping distance is set as. I have region locked my US side district too and the game seems to respect that, because I have observed no trade leak from my New York factory over to London. Which I before would have had, if I not carefully watched and set the shipping limits to avoid it.

That being said, if you find the distracting system ruining the game, you don't have to use it. The game works perfectly fine without it.

It does not because of issue nr. 2: The now wrong reporting at single factory production screen (my London issue). It is broken in both ways.

[Eric.B]

It really does not, since i set district lock (not distance) on my Eu district, no vehicles should pass in or out of that district. It should be self contained.

District lock is for branches, NOT for factories. Shipping has been completely moved to branch level. Factories have nothing to do with shipping anymore.

What I do In Cairo and for that matter the US should affect it no matter what the shippng distance is set as.

If you set district lock for branches in the US to North America, then it would NOT pull vehicles from EU West Factories. It will only pull from factories in North America.

However if you do NOT set a district lock on Cairo branch, instead say you set shipping distance to 20,000km it WILL pull from every factory within 20,000km.

Again, this is because shipping is now done by branches NOT factories.

I have region locked my US side district too and since the game seems to respect that, because I have observed no trade leak from my New York factory over to London.

So your locked branches will only pull vehicles from factories located in North America.

You could for example set EU West branches to pull from North America as well. In which case your EU West Branches would pull vehicles from North America Factories. Your EU West Branches WOULD NOT pull from EU West Factories.

It does not because of issue nr. 2: The now wrong reporting at single factory production screen (my London issue). It is broken in both ways.

In a nut shell, locking has nothing to do with factories. Shipping is now branch level.
I haven't double checked the code yet, but assuming it's correct, individual factory "shipping estimations within distance" should be correct. As I mentioned before this is because multiple places can pull from a single factory. District lock does not limit a factory's ability to ship to places, it only limits a branch's ability to pull from places.

[Shepherd]

='Eric.B' pid='6883' dateline='1436747869']

However if you do NOT set a district lock on Cairo branch, instead say you set shipping distance to 20,000km it WILL pull from every factory within 20,000km.

This i just nonsensical. Why would you want to do that. I do not understand the need for having that option.

And personally I do not see the need to set the distance anymore. A well set up district works much better.

So your locked branches will only pull vehicles from factories located in North America.

Yes as it should be.

You could for example set EU West branches to pull from North America as well. In which case your EU West Branches would pull vehicles from North America Factories. Your EU West Branches WOULD NOT pull from EU West Factories.

Again why would I want to do that, I do not like shooting myself in the foot with added transport.

If I wanted to subcontract from lets say Mexico, I would just add my mexican factory to my Europe West district.

I haven't double checked the code yet, but assuming it's correct, individual factory "shipping estimations within distance" should be correct. As I mentioned before this is because multiple places can pull from a single factory. District lock does not limit a factory's ability to ship to places, it only limits a branch's ability to pull from places.

It's is bugged as I showed earlier I had 4 cities drawing from London, but it reported only the London nr., in other words to little.
   

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So basically what I am saying is that you really do not need the shipping distance anymore. Just force the player to add every new branch they build to a district. And have the option to change district later. If they do not set up or use smaller districts, global should be the default.

It will make the game easier to play, and faster to learn. And maybe less of a headache to program.