Drop down menus for Goods menu selections allowing all 4 time choices to be available for standard/sentient goods.

[Trehki]

I liked having a selection option of 3, 9, 24, 48 hour Goods factory runs. I know that with the addition of Sentient goods the options became 3/9 hour runs for goods with the addition of the additional goods options. But there are times when I know I will be away from my PC and cannot access the game on a mobile for the 3 or 9 hour runs.
Some days I am away for 6 or 7 hours and some days 12 to 16 or even 24 hours. I usually know when this will happen and could set the game for the different times. It drives me crazy knowing that if I set it for 3 hours I will waste anywhere up to 6 hours of none production Or I will have to set it for 9 hours and I will probably be away again before the 9 hour run would be done leaving an unknown amount of time where my factories are idle. I would love to see the options for goods be a pair of drop down menus with the options of standard or sentient goods with all 4 time options available (or more hour choices available if possible). It would just have two menus each allowing all four (Or even more time choices (3,6,9,12,24, 48 Hours...) of the options available for each type of good. Typically if I am gone for 48 hours or more most FSs want to be notified of lengthy in-active time, and some will bounce you if your gone for a 2 week vacation off the grid.
The ability should still be there- inherent in the game mechanics since the times were and still are available to players that have not reached the sentient goods levels yet. Each of the menus could have "spinner" menus that spin the type of job being done example: small potion/all-purpose potion or Phinola's beauty Set/Jolo's all-purpose cleaner... etc.

**Please forgive my original time posting. It was just a typing error. I should have typed 3,9,24,48. I just typed 3,6,9,12 -in multiples.... simple mistake forgive me please.

***But that also doesn't mean 6 and 12 hour intervals would be unwelcome. With a drop down for the time selections in the normal window provided there would be plenty of space to put all -even if adding 3,*6,9,*12,24 and 48 hours if wanted. I say use a drop down menu so that the entire box could stay the same size leaving standard goods as well as sentient goods selection areas. A major rebuild of the selection window would not be necessary. It would be possible to allow to select for sentient or normal goods but typically if you are using sentient goods factories you are using them for the sentient goods per normal game play, you build sentient factories for the sentient goods and not for your normal BOOSTED standard goods. And strict game archmages will dump you for producing standard goods on your sentient goods factories. It is rare that I use the factories I built for sentient goods to build non-boosted goods, very rare, and same goes for my boosted standard goods. So I was more interested in getting the options for time and NOT for selection of what goods to be produced. I would like the additional TIME choices for both types of goods however, standard boosted goods as well as for sentient goods. This is about the time that my factories sit idle when I can't access my game for times that 3 or 9 hours doesn't sync with my day. For example, when I go to my relatives for the holidays I will not have access to the game unless I drive into town. Which only occurs every other day or so.

 

[samidodamage]

I don't have an opinion yet on adding a drop-down for all goods types for all factory levels. But I wanted to point out one error:

selection option of 3, 6, 9 or 12 hour Goods factory runs

Until Sentient Goods (lvl 24+ factories), options have always been 3, 9, 24 or 48 hrs and they still are. I've never seen a 6 or 12 hr factory production option...

 

[ajqtrz]

I don't have an opinion yet on adding a drop-down for all goods types for all factory levels. But I wanted to point out one error:

Until Sentient Goods (lvl 24+ factories), options have always been 3, 9, 24 or 48 hrs and they still are. I've never seen a 6 or 12 hr factory production option...

Yep, that's the truth. But it sort of misses the point, doesn't it? Whether it 24 hours or 48 if I only have 3 and 9 hour choices and am going to be away 24 hours, that's a lot of hours wasted with non-production. Of course, it also means I'll be more pressure to not be gone 24 hours and that, from the developer's view, is probably a good thing. But it is also discouraging if you are once a day player.

So I think the basic idea, as I understand it, of having all four choices (3, 9, 24 and 48) for both the usual goods as well as the sentient goods, is a good one, in my opinion. It would make the T1 buildings at level 24 that don't have the 24 and 48 hour runs useful in FA's and other things that require those runs. As it is now, if I come upon something that requires that I have to stop and build something to make that happen. And, of course, if I'm gone for more than 9 hours, there's the wasted production time mentioned by the OP as well.

So I'm for the idea. eight boxes, 4 for sentient, and 4 for the regular or normal goods as well. The idea of a "drop down menu" implementation, I'm not sure about. I think just expanding the goods production menu box for level 24 and above factories would work just as well. But it's a quibble in the grand scheme of the idea.

AJ

 

[samidodamage]

I'd be more likely to support this idea:

having all four choices (3, 9, 24 and 48) for both the usual goods as well as the sentient goods,

Than the one presented in the original post:

3, 6, 9 or 12 hour Goods factory runs. I know that with the addition of Sentient goods the options became 3/9 hour runs for goods with the addition of the additional goods options. But there are times when I know I will be away from my PC and cannot access the game on a mobile for the 3 or 9 hour runs.

Ignoring the changes to existing production times (though clarification in the original post would be necessary before official voting), the original post will need to be edited to conform to the requirements from the devs to even look at a suggestion from us; those requirements are detailed in the Ideas and Suggestions Forum Guide
And I'll leave the discussion of the method of implementation (drop down menu or expansion of existing menu box) to folks who know more about what each of those methods requires.

 

[Silver Lady]

I’m retired and pretty much can play as I want, but I can see where keeping all four production time options for both regular and sentient goods would be useful for those players who have to spend more time coping with RL than me. So I would support the change.

 

[SoggyShorts]

So I'm for the idea. eight boxes, 4 for sentient, and 4 for the regular or normal goods as well.

How would that look? A bigger interface, smaller boxes, or different tabs? I don't want to switch to tab 2 for every single sentient factory- compared to the current system of click+hotkey that would be a significant downgrade.

 

[ajqtrz]

How would that look? A bigger interface, smaller boxes, or different tabs? I don't want to switch to tab 2 for every single sentient factory- compared to the current system of click+hotkey that would be a significant downgrade.

I find in the Browser version the 4 boxes are rather large and the 8 boxes would work well enough. We already have them with 6 boxes for the workstations so a couple more shouldn't shrink things too much.

OR you could have a check box that tells the system which 4 you prefer. Check it and it stays that way until you uncheck it. Check could mean either sentient or basic. Either way it would be "set and forget" until and unless you changed you mind how you were going to use that building -- or perhaps all the buildings of that type.

AJ

 

[Trehki]

No need to divide the box up even more I just figured use the same window they already have. Turn the left upper corner box into a menu that offers the 4 time slots and costs for the standard goods while the upper right corner box could be for the graphics of the items, no reason not to have the graphics since they have them designed already. And then the bottom left corner for the selection of time and costs of the sentient goods and the bottom right corner for the graphics. No need to change the size/placement of the UI box itself and no reason to add four more boxes. Upper section for standard goods and lower section for sentient goods. The Drop down menu in the left side showing the time/cost listing and the right half with the graphic for the time selected. Of course that would mean that additional graphics may be needed for the added time slots for sentient goods-but there already exists the graphics for the standard goods. But I think the game developers love to show off their graphics abilities any way and may already have extra sentient goods graphics created.

 

[michmarc]

Not a big fan of a drop-down menu in this space. Maybe tabs (regular-sentient) might work, but I think that would only work well if the game autoselected the appropriate tab (auto-selecting the sentient tab if it is your boosted good). However, I think 6 boxes (just like workshops) would work fine. You'd still lose the 2d production, but who does 2d productions anyway (except when forced by an FA)?

That being said, the six boxes on the Vault of Wisdom are considerably larger than the boxes on a workshop; doing 8 workshop-sized boxes in a window the same size as the Vault of Wisdom is probably fine too.

[Outside of an FA, I have never done a 1d/2d production in my life, so I don't care about enabling those options to come back. Inno should have telemetry on how often people do 1d/2d productions in levelled manufactories. I wonder if the fraction is so small that they don't see the loss of a 1d production option as a big deal.]

 

[Rocce Sqirl]

When I was in the early chapters I never did the 24- or 48-hour options because they did not provide the per-hour total of goods the 3-hour and 9-hour options did. The only time I used the 2-day option was if I was going to be gone all weekend. And of course, in the declinable quests, I always declined those.
Now I'm in the higher chapters and those quests to make the long-build things still keep coming up. They're actually more attractive now and I might choose them, but they are impossible because the option has been replaced by the sentient goods options (which I also don't do because they're not boosted). So it's just wasted buttons and wasted Quests.

 

[Yogi Dave]

Is there anyplace in the game that has a drop-down menu? I can't think of any. Assuming I'm right, that would make this a new interface making it a harder sell. Code being there from day 1 is often the hardest (shudder) to change. (Mobile can't use that excuse.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Is there anyplace in the game that has a drop-down menu?

The trade filters I guess, and honestly? It's part of why I never use them- it's just not a good interface for this kind of game. I use the check boxes constantly though

 

[Yogi Dave]

The trade filters I guess, and honestly? It's part of why I never use them- it's just not a good interface for this kind of game. I use the check boxes constantly though

I hadn't thought of them as drop down menu. But yeah, they are. I use them a good bit for sentient goods, especially when there are hundreds of pages of trades. I want some soap, but everyone is selling bis, except for those 3 trades buried in the middle. I actually started using it when there were hundreds of pages of cross-tier trades before Inno changed the ratio for 2 star trades.

 

[Rocce Sqirl]

Most are pop-up menus. I think what's essentially being asked is a redesign of the pop-up menu for factories. in a manner similar to the pop-up for workshops -- 6-8 options (4 regular goods, 2-4 sentient goods) instead of just four.

 

[Aritra]

<> Just wanted to add goods for guest races.

For example, I've been working through chapter seven, fairies. I keep my city in production nearly all the time as I have worked out a system for the 3 and 9 cycles (24/48 pretty much only for FA badges).

Fairies threw a bit of a wrench in the system when it was 1-3-5-10 hrs for day farm and 1.5-4-7-15 hrs for night farm. This is very frustrating because it reduces efficiency. Dwarves' copper ran in sync with the rest of the regular goods of the city, which was good.

I have not gone past fairies to know if this is a situation limited to this chapter (doubtful) or if these kinds of challenges will continue. If it is isolated, then I can deal with it. If it isn't, I'll deal with it but seems like an unnecessary obstacle.

I understand some inconveniences are part of the challenges by design (esp changing upgrade orientation and limited land). However, I see this inconvenience not part of that puzzle. It makes it more difficult to progress the city and balance with RL (not everyone has the benefit of visiting anytime they want). I understand production down times occur, even with the regular schedule, but this just takes inconvenience to the next level.

I don't believe this falls under a category of making it too easy.
Syncing production times shouldn't be too much to ask.

From the thread, it appears to be a supported concept, just guest races were omitted from the request when it is just as applicable (I believe). It seems the greater issue at the moment is the changes necessary to the interface/menus to accomodate. At the moment, I don't have an opinion on the different suggestions. I hope the logistics are worked out and guest race goods are added to the proposal.

[ based on the dates in this thread, not sure if opinions ran out of steam or something may already be happening... ]