Multiple Dock problem

[austex23]

Had a very frustrating thing happen last night and wanted to see if anyone else has run into it.  With a booming economy and piles of bauxite and fruit to export, I added a second dock, positioned around a bend in the shoreline so it was at a 90 degree angel to my original dock.  Apparently the freighter skippers were baffled by this arrangement because not only did my second dock receive no traffic, but the number of ships finding their way to my original dock was cut to almost zero too.  In a previous game, I had built a second dock with no problems at all, so I assume placement is everything . . . .

[SofondaCox]

I had a related problem.  I did not have a 2nd dock, but placed fisheries around my existing dock.  The greighters could not seem to get past it to the dock.  The odd thing was, I would get a message that it docked, and the immigrants would just appear on the dock.  The dock workers would drop the goods into the see also, but I did get paid for it.  Even though the ship was nowhere near the dock....

[caddet]

I always use multiple docks, with no problem.  Since my first dock is closely surrounded by the startup buildings, it is usually not convenient for any expansion resources and industries.  I always build a second dock as part of my industry expansion, and set both for freighters only.  Then I end up with food exports from the startup farms going to the original dock, and industry output going to the other.  In addition, I try to watch the ships at the beginning, to see which part of the map they come from.  If I can, I try to place my second dock close to that point.  That way, my more lucrative exports are on a dock very close to where the ship first appears on the map.  That speeds up turn-around time of the ships.  In the early phases of the development, that brings much needed capital in quicker.

[BananaBaron]

I also noted that a dock set for yachts only (keep the tourists away from a busy port when you have a lot of exports) DOES NOT need dock workers.  The yachts can dock and let the tourists off without them.

Might save ya a few pesos.

[caddet]

I suspected the same thing about yacht docks, Cruisden.  In the map I'm currently playing, I set the yacht dock for only half staffing.  I was too chicken to leave it totally un-staffed.  I didn't see any slow down in my tourist industry.

[Sleeping_Dragon]

Nice tip with the 'non-staffed yacht docks'

I've run multiple export docks in several games and have had no trouble; except, once.  One of the frieghters got 'stuck' at one of the docks for over 20 years (was fully staffed).   The workers would walk out the dock building and run straigh for the OTHER dock half way across the map.  That one frieghter sat there till games end with 7.0 output on the dock.  Odd thing was the teamsters stop using that dock also, like the game sorta forgot it existed.  Anyone else see anything like this?

[austex23]

The time I intitally posted about, that is essentially what happened, except that the freighter did not stay visibly stuck, just wandered around that part of the island.  In my case, I think both docks stopped functioning as docks.  Since then, I have played several games with multiple docks without any problem at all.  It is either a rare failure in the game's pathfinding routines or just a particular configuration (the two docks at right angles so the approaches to both were blocked).  Easy enough to avoid.  

[Mr.P]

Sadly Sleeping_Dragon my teamsters did not stop delivering goods to my faulty second dock, so I had almost 90 output stored at the dock before I noticed ships were just sitting off the ocast. I had to bulldoze it as well to create more space.

All those wasted Pesos!  

[Brian]

A weird thing happened today related to the docks.  The farmers brought their crops down to the dock, instead of the teamsters?  I thought only teamsters carried goods to the docks?  Is this a glitch, or will farmers carry their own crops if the teamsters don't fulfill their duties fast enough (and no, the farms were well across the city from the docks, so the farmers had a ways to go with their goods!)

[Mr.P]

I don't know Brian, you and your farm placement?!
(BTW, sorry for messing up your island!)  

I read that farmers will take goods to markets and docks if the teamsters don't pull their weight.

Time to start issuing some military-based edicts I think? Or just hire some more teamsters!  

[Brian]

Where did you read that?  I read the manual cover-to-cover and I didn't see that anywhere!

Okay, so in reality I flipped through the manual cover-to-cover and wanted to see if the dictator profiles do one of those "magic animation" things (which they don't)... but I still didn't see that about farmers taking stuff to the docks themselves!!  

[Sleeping_Dragon]

Ick!!   90 on the dock!  that SUX


Not sure about the 90 degree thing.  I think mine were at 90 but they were on nearly oppisite sides of the island.


Yep, workers will stop work and carry stuff to the docks if thier output get too full, NOT a good thing to have happen, they stop thier work and only carry 1/3 of what teamster carries

[Mr.P]

Yeah, 1/3 carrying sucks!

FYA the manual says, under Chapter 7 (Economics) - Exports - Hauling :

"If teamsters are unavilable, eventually the farmers, miners etc will stop their work and haul the goods themselves, but they are much less efficient than teamsters"

dadgumed them teamsters. They just never carry enough. I want to see pack-mule style, backs braking under the weight of my goods!

[caddet]

90 degree docks haven't caused me a problem, as long as they aren't blocking access to each other.  Railnut was telling me that he had that occur once, where the docks were on different sides of the same cove on his island.

[Junta_Joe]

PopTop released a number of dock fixes in their patches. Unless the docks are literally side by side, you should have no problems if you installed the latest patch. Most of my games have 2 docks within a few squares of each other with no problems, even at 90 degree angles. Hunt around in the Bugs board for my supercharging of docks in the "Bridges" thread.

[Mr.P]

I tend to have my Docks close together also and have found no real problems if, as Joe points out, they are not literally on top of each other.

This also helps as my factories tend to be located in one convenient location, and like to have around 3-4 ports all shipping goods continually. With 16 Dockworkers, and 4 Docks for the Teamsters to distribute good amongst, you will be hard pressed not to have both a continual flow of exports leaving your island and an even spread within the output queue over the 4 Docks.

Drop some good entertainment and health facilities nearby as well and all those workers passing will be only a short walk for a quick 'fix'.

[Olle_Petersson]

I guess there might be a problem if you have two docks close to each other and positioned in an L at a bay.

It's better to have the docks some distance apart, so that the ships don't have to evade hitting each other.

Another problem I've run into once was a ship (and a US gun boat) getting stuck between the dock and the shore.

When entering and leaving the dock the ships use some "runway" path at both ends, and keeping this path clear is essential for a smooth operation.

Cheers
Olle

[Coconut Kid]

Most of the original poster's problem has been solved by patches to fix incomplete or looping code which led to corrupted game files.

Players still need to be careful about the relative placement of buildings which involve pathfinding for boats. Don't place them where the path to the stopping point at two of them conflict.

port wharf marina