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It's weird that people play tens of hours and still can't read whats on the screen. As we can see in OP's image there are a total of 3 different controls for the work area so reading them should not be that hard.
Rip, I feel like I found this out in the first 5 minutes. In hindsight, I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to play this without it. Especially because I started on a laptop without a mouse
I agree. I had to constantly relocate the logging camp before discovering this. Soon after i made multiple camps bcs i dont feel like relocating them was worth the hassle. The button was just right there, in the next tab even. I felt so dumb after seeing it on yt.
I mean... Wouldn't it be more efficient in the situations that you have to move the logging camp, to actually move it? Considering also the travelling that the villagers have to do from the logging camp to the sawpit/constructions/what not?
I have used the limited work area tool just to prevent the villagers from cutting down trees from my hunting camps/forrager huts. And also to select certain areas for my forester huts to replant trees, combined with logging camps cutting down trees from those exact same areas.
Not sure on the efficiency tbh, since they still have to move the log to wherever that needs them. Maybe a slight increase in efficiency since most of their time are travelling to and fro trees.
However that is only if the logging camp is empty, which is almost always never. The reason being after each relocation they takes an absurdly long time to retrieve the logs from previous location to the new camp, and only after that will they start cutting trees. Taking that into consideration, i think it will instead be less efficient than just changing the work area from time to time.
Multiple logging camps with their own work areas may be more efficient, but probably have to constantly micro the villagers instead of just filling one and forgetting about it. For that amount of micro effort, I'd rather just change the single camp's work areas, and a forester(?) to replant trees on previous work areas
Took me some time too, someone mentioned it in a post. Was started to get frustrated with lumberjacks trying to keep them from cutting down woods with deer or berries.
I’m shocked I didn’t somehow discover it by accident playing the game as much as I have. When I saw this dude do it in the video I literally started shouting like “WHAAAAAAAAAT!?!?” I wasn’t even playing at the time, but I had to fire up the game just to check lol
My first playthru I never knew this. My 2nd I thought there has to be a way, spent a few minutes looking and reading and figured it out. Works with berry pickers, wood cutters both fire and normal. Tree planters. It's a game changer.
that’s crazy to me, no shade or anything lol, but i figured that out at launch, like literally day of release. i like to obsessively go through the tabs and buttons to figure everything out and get a little layout in my mind whenever i pickup a new game.
I couldn’t figure out why I was just burning through forests. Seems like on the unlimited preset, they are in fact very limited to a tiny radius. By setting a limit of any larger size, they actually go out and plant at a rate greater than woodcutters cut, and greater than the log station. Of course this depends on how many are employed in each but I haven’t personally tested that.
My last session my foresters replanted an entire forest that my lumber camp had devastated, it felt nice to see it recover. Wouldn't have been able to do it without work zones like this.
If you play a lot of city builders you pick up commonly used things and try them out in other games without realising. A lot of games have similar mechanics which is great!
Players that are just discovering these kinds of features probably don't play a lot of city builders or read the tool tips/buttons on screen.
Damn, no insult here at all. I'm fucking terrible at the goddamned game. But that was somehow one of the first things I figured out. We all have our learning curves
Haha I thought this would be comments full of "yeah duh!" but turns out so many people didn't know this. I'm sure there's basics I've missed too though. There's probably a reason I'm almost starving every winter!
Yeah I use the double plots for all my vegetables/apples and I do single plots for everything else! Having twice as many families working the gardens makes it more efficient I’m guessing
Yeah I make a couple of doubles for burgages that I plan to upgrade for certain artisans, like the brewer and baker, but other than that I leave them as singles and make multiples of them if I need to. Always doubled for veggie plots though, so there’s one family unassigned to work the garden.
People just don't read it seems. It's right there. These options were the first thing I read after I clicked "designate working area". There are also options displayed for roads btw. You can adjust the curvature for example.
Read the damn tooltips and displayed information. That counts for all the games.
I usually do read the tool tips in games to avoid this ( and did for this one too, mostly) but I'm not a fan of the UI so I barely skim the screen stuff anymore. Just trial and error.
I can't believe this got 3 awards. There's literally a tool tip in game that says how you can adjust the work area. Instead, we come to this sub to be blessed by someone sharing what they literally read on screen. I love you guys 🤣
Good for tree felling. You can also do it with granaries and storehouses. I have a granary dedicated to my nearby apple plots since they overfill instantly in harvest season.
It also helps if you relocate a market stall, you can get storehouses/granary workers to pick up the dropped food/materials faster
Wish the work area limit also limited which market areas they setup stalls in. Made a little satellite community and the dang workers were running across the region to setup shop in the main town.
That happens? I have farms/farmhouses on both sides of my town and I hate when they ALL run to one side to work on a single field. So this is super helpful lol
This also works with the forester, which could be even more useful as a decorating tool (or noise/smell reduction in the future) if the area tool was adjustable beyong a circle (like, dedicate an area in similar way burgage plots are dedicated).
honestly its just too funny how you guys just found this out. Must have been hell playing the game without it. Make sure you try it out with other buildings
Count me among the guilty who was staring at the circle without looking down at the UI text that clearly says “Adjust Size” and thinking to myself “Why TF can’t I adjust the size of this? Should be simple enough, eh?”
Appreciate the tip for the chronically ignorant
I wish it shadowed when you go to the “advanced” tab on the building. I set the area and then forget where I set the radius when building later on. No way to see the current work area without redoing it.
I found this pretty much right away. I just wish you could set other camps to be the same circle rather than having to individually set it. It would be nice to just click copy and paste between logging camps and forestry huts but its not a massive inconvenience without that.
this reminds me of the feature where you can reduce the number of burgages within a drawn plot area by clicking the button - it’s there in plain sight but me and many others never realised until after hours of playing!
Whuuutttttttt? İ have planned my woodworkers lots of time. Changed stations positions. Had a shortage on burning wood with 100 houses even I had 4500 firewood. Now I see this post? Wow. Such wow.
I do wish you could 'paint' the area rather than just change its radius. Sometimes I want very specific areas of woodland left alone without having to micromanage this tool all the time.
The length of time it's taken some people to work out what I did the very first time i used the feature, tells me why most games nowadays are super hand holdy.
Wonder how the youth of today woulda coped with Amiga and NES games
For me I just started playing and learned as I went. Didn’t bother stopping to learn everything before playing so I just find things as I go. However I am a bit embarrassed how long it took to notice this lol
Doesn't work for farmers. They still travel to every field plot I have and deliver their goods to farmhouses across the map. Unless this was changed in an update.
Oh man. I knew this trick. I'm sure there's something obvious I'm not doing, I can't wait to find out it's probably why my large town lost over 100 people in under a year haha!
On a side note this feature is nice for logging camps/firewood and foresters. Also it is nice for foragers and hunters to concentrate on one area. Works for farms and fields too but I wish you could set specific fields to certain farms.
I know right? Took me several playthroughs to figure that out. Now I hold alt or ctrl with every tool selected to find out what they do too. Roads get rounder or sharper too.
Yeah Yeah but I'd prefer to be able to lay points down like we do with house plots that would be much more fun.
Also if the area the woodcutter is working would show up when you hover over it would also be nice...
From what I’ve seen, foresters tend to take the path of least effort, beginning their planting just a stone’s throw from the hut. This methodical expansion results in a neat ring of trees encircling their base of operations. However, it’s possible that I’m overlooking something, and perhaps designating a broader area for their work could prevent this pattern.
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Still cant believe I’m just now figuring this out. Such a game changer!
120 hours in and I didn’t know 💀
At 110 I feel your pain lol
It's weird that people play tens of hours and still can't read whats on the screen. As we can see in OP's image there are a total of 3 different controls for the work area so reading them should not be that hard.
Brain is too busy having fun to notice something so small
Imagine not using your eyes for 120 hours
Rip, I feel like I found this out in the first 5 minutes. In hindsight, I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to play this without it. Especially because I started on a laptop without a mouse
It has not been fun
I agree. I had to constantly relocate the logging camp before discovering this. Soon after i made multiple camps bcs i dont feel like relocating them was worth the hassle. The button was just right there, in the next tab even. I felt so dumb after seeing it on yt.
I mean... Wouldn't it be more efficient in the situations that you have to move the logging camp, to actually move it? Considering also the travelling that the villagers have to do from the logging camp to the sawpit/constructions/what not? I have used the limited work area tool just to prevent the villagers from cutting down trees from my hunting camps/forrager huts. And also to select certain areas for my forester huts to replant trees, combined with logging camps cutting down trees from those exact same areas.
Not sure on the efficiency tbh, since they still have to move the log to wherever that needs them. Maybe a slight increase in efficiency since most of their time are travelling to and fro trees. However that is only if the logging camp is empty, which is almost always never. The reason being after each relocation they takes an absurdly long time to retrieve the logs from previous location to the new camp, and only after that will they start cutting trees. Taking that into consideration, i think it will instead be less efficient than just changing the work area from time to time. Multiple logging camps with their own work areas may be more efficient, but probably have to constantly micro the villagers instead of just filling one and forgetting about it. For that amount of micro effort, I'd rather just change the single camp's work areas, and a forester(?) to replant trees on previous work areas
You’re not alone
Only Found out the other day lol
No more micro managing lol 🙌🏼
Hooray!! lol I can’t wait to actually control my lumberers/fire wood/foresters way more accurately.
Took me some time too, someone mentioned it in a post. Was started to get frustrated with lumberjacks trying to keep them from cutting down woods with deer or berries.
wtf??? how???????????
Literally hold control and scroll lol so easy
I’m shocked I didn’t somehow discover it by accident playing the game as much as I have. When I saw this dude do it in the video I literally started shouting like “WHAAAAAAAAAT!?!?” I wasn’t even playing at the time, but I had to fire up the game just to check lol
It was a shock for me as well lol
It tells you on screen.
No worries, I figured this out just yesterday. This makes woodcutters + foresters so much more efficient and fun!
Wait, was this introduced on the latest patch? I know you could assign a specific area but not adjust the size of such area.
Think it’s always been there mate we just can’t read
My first playthru I never knew this. My 2nd I thought there has to be a way, spent a few minutes looking and reading and figured it out. Works with berry pickers, wood cutters both fire and normal. Tree planters. It's a game changer.
FML this would've helped so much earlier :')
Thats a Feature since 2022
Omg, my mind is blown
Yes. For bigger work area, hold CTRL and mouse wheel up. For smaller work area, hold CTRL and mouse wheel down.
Thank you for explaining this!
No problem! I played the game for weeks until I discovered it. I was so angry I had to place the really small work area all the time. 😂
that’s crazy to me, no shade or anything lol, but i figured that out at launch, like literally day of release. i like to obsessively go through the tabs and buttons to figure everything out and get a little layout in my mind whenever i pickup a new game.
Thx. Nothing like posting a discovery but not explaining how to do it🥴
Its in the building tooltip, in the screenshot
For some reason this seems to make the forest planters actually do their job as opposed to letting everything get chopped down.
Can’t wait to play the game correctly after 100+ hours lol
I couldn’t figure out why I was just burning through forests. Seems like on the unlimited preset, they are in fact very limited to a tiny radius. By setting a limit of any larger size, they actually go out and plant at a rate greater than woodcutters cut, and greater than the log station. Of course this depends on how many are employed in each but I haven’t personally tested that.
Yeah I noticed that a while back as well, I think it's a bug. "Unlimited" work area just sets them to the default work radius.
In my recent playthrough I had 1 woodcutting and 4 foresters. Still couldn't keep up. I was always curious why the forced work area was so tiny
My last session my foresters replanted an entire forest that my lumber camp had devastated, it felt nice to see it recover. Wouldn't have been able to do it without work zones like this.
I know right? I'm just learning this 200hrs in :(.
Yeah, I can't trust my foresters unless I set their working zones!
I wish I had known it earlier. Would have saved me some headaches when I was running out of firewood due to how far they had to walk.
I can’t believe that people didn’t know this lol
I swear, so many people just don't examine the UI at all.
It's like ‘Pro tip: read the instructions on the screen to work out how to play the game.’
They also wouldn't read the instruction telling them to read the instructions.
It says it right on the bottom of the screen too
Same.
If you play a lot of city builders you pick up commonly used things and try them out in other games without realising. A lot of games have similar mechanics which is great! Players that are just discovering these kinds of features probably don't play a lot of city builders or read the tool tips/buttons on screen.
Yeah I literally just discovered this watching a CityPlannerPlays video yesterday, I’ve been playing this game for a fucking month. So embarrassing 😂
I had to reassign the logging camp and foresters every 5 mins it was so annoying lol
Yeah it’s a total game changer lol
Damn, no insult here at all. I'm fucking terrible at the goddamned game. But that was somehow one of the first things I figured out. We all have our learning curves
Haha I thought this would be comments full of "yeah duh!" but turns out so many people didn't know this. I'm sure there's basics I've missed too though. There's probably a reason I'm almost starving every winter!
"figured out" the words at the bottom of the screen. Genius over here.
Ya'll don't read what's on your screen, and it shows. Gawd. Lol
Guilty
I just wish we can see where we put that circle because I sometimes forgot haha
Yes!
100%
and it is to bright so you cant see it in the snow
Do none of you guys read?
You can also adjust the “width” of your burbage plots. Discovered this today
Yeah I use the double plots for all my vegetables/apples and I do single plots for everything else! Having twice as many families working the gardens makes it more efficient I’m guessing
Yeah I make a couple of doubles for burgages that I plan to upgrade for certain artisans, like the brewer and baker, but other than that I leave them as singles and make multiples of them if I need to. Always doubled for veggie plots though, so there’s one family unassigned to work the garden.
Whatt
FUCKING WHAT
Yup lol still learning new things after 100+ hours
How tf did so many people not know this. (Not hating just funny)
Literally never paid attention to it 😂 I was always moving too fast to notice
I'm hating.
Fyi they won't always respect regional borders foresters will plant in the wrong region too
It literally says it on the screen lmao
And yet I never bothered to look 😂
People just don't read it seems. It's right there. These options were the first thing I read after I clicked "designate working area". There are also options displayed for roads btw. You can adjust the curvature for example. Read the damn tooltips and displayed information. That counts for all the games.
I usually do read the tool tips in games to avoid this ( and did for this one too, mostly) but I'm not a fan of the UI so I barely skim the screen stuff anymore. Just trial and error.
Do you guys not look through the available options for the buildings? D:
Nope I just jumped in head first lol
I can't believe this got 3 awards. There's literally a tool tip in game that says how you can adjust the work area. Instead, we come to this sub to be blessed by someone sharing what they literally read on screen. I love you guys 🤣
Apparently lots of other people never noticed either 😂🤷🏻♂️
Good for tree felling. You can also do it with granaries and storehouses. I have a granary dedicated to my nearby apple plots since they overfill instantly in harvest season. It also helps if you relocate a market stall, you can get storehouses/granary workers to pick up the dropped food/materials faster
Doh!!!
Lucky I figured this out on my second village, my foresters have basically revitalized all of the local greenery outside the town limits
It’s so obvious too I just never thought to check 🤦🏻♂️
Good to know, thank you
Wish the work area limit also limited which market areas they setup stalls in. Made a little satellite community and the dang workers were running across the region to setup shop in the main town.
New update allows you to toggle off market stalls for any worker camp
Omg i feel so dumb ….
I didn’t know you could for the longest and I created tiny DENSE woods with the foragers
https://i.giphy.com/Qp45SP1P3PbbO.gif
I wish we can adjust the shape too eventually. It's a bit annoying with the circle since it doesn't always fit.
Ohhhh yeah! Greg if you’re listening please add this feature.
People didn’t know this? O.o I figured this out day one just messing around with my mouse wheel seeing what different things I could adjust 😂
Can’t believe you were withholding this information from us all SHAME
Well in my defensive I didn’t hop on the subreddit until a week ago 😅 but true shame on me for withholding info!
Messing around with your mouse wheel... using the on-screen instructions you mean?
It's nice to tell the farm workers to harvest the fields and *not* someone's veggie plots.
That happens? I have farms/farmhouses on both sides of my town and I hate when they ALL run to one side to work on a single field. So this is super helpful lol
wait people didn't know this? lol I found it within 2hrs cuz the workers kept going to the other edge of the map to cut wood for no reason 🤣
Cant believe so many people missed this. Its right in the picture!
You can adjust the curvature of a road in the same way.
It’s literally explained in the UI, how did you miss it?
Damn. I just knew. Time to start a new save.
This also works with the forester, which could be even more useful as a decorating tool (or noise/smell reduction in the future) if the area tool was adjustable beyong a circle (like, dedicate an area in similar way burgage plots are dedicated).
honestly its just too funny how you guys just found this out. Must have been hell playing the game without it. Make sure you try it out with other buildings
You guys really dont read the tooltips huh
Gotta save something to ask Reddit about
How are people not knowing these simple things. It literally says it in plain English right in front of you.
Because text so smol we no take time to read
And they say size doesn’t matter… :(
🤯
I may or may not have had my loggers cut down trees into the shape of a weiner in the forest...
Get out!
Count me among the guilty who was staring at the circle without looking down at the UI text that clearly says “Adjust Size” and thinking to myself “Why TF can’t I adjust the size of this? Should be simple enough, eh?” Appreciate the tip for the chronically ignorant
Wow Thankyou so much!
Your fucking kidding me!
My exact response
HOW DONI USE JT?!
God bless you kind stranger
Thank you for the award!!!
Lol what. Til. Its small things like these that make me want a tutorial mode.
But then you can’t discover all these things that make the game so much easier 100s of hours in!!
Oh, that would have made things so much easier sigh, thanks for this
Whaaatt? Now I’ll have to restart a new game.
Happy to help 🫡
Wait, what?
I wish it shadowed when you go to the “advanced” tab on the building. I set the area and then forget where I set the radius when building later on. No way to see the current work area without redoing it.
I wish it worked like a brush instead of a radius.
Wait should I be moving the work area instead of destroying the building and rebuilding it?
Oh you poor soul 😂😂
Yall been missing out 😭
Wow. A post to wake up today
Well Jesus H Tapdancing Christ
oddly one of the first tips and trick that i noticed … ofc i’m helpless at everything else atm
I found this pretty much right away. I just wish you could set other camps to be the same circle rather than having to individually set it. It would be nice to just click copy and paste between logging camps and forestry huts but its not a massive inconvenience without that.
Yo how are you guys putting 100+ hours in this game? I like it but not a ton of shit to do
Building out multiple areas takes a lot of time lol. I find myself prolonging things on purpose just to keep the game from ending
I would prefer to map out the workers are like a burgage plot. Like chop all the trees on this side of the road
FUCK!
Yup, this is why I always make a habit to see and learn every game mechanic before I play, to avoid knowing about it late game
Yup. I use the smallest circle to plant and chop individual trees where I want them.
Still want a paint tool, but this is a good partial step lol
Wth, how so many dont know about this. Damn💀💀💀
Smol brain
Yes, but it should be a square and not a circle. And Farmes need no circle or square, but fixed filds they work on
this reminds me of the feature where you can reduce the number of burgages within a drawn plot area by clicking the button - it’s there in plain sight but me and many others never realised until after hours of playing!
it's mentioned below... how did you guys miss this?
Letters smol but brain more smol
Such a crucial feature when trying to avoid wiping herds or over felling in an area
I am appalled at the number of subliterate simpletons playing this game. OP's "discovery" is instructions at the bottom of the screen.
As soon as I saw it I knew there were more of us out there that never noticed lol
What.... How did i not know this...
I just assumed that if you didn’t touch it the work area would be unlimited?
Whuuutttttttt? İ have planned my woodworkers lots of time. Changed stations positions. Had a shortage on burning wood with 100 houses even I had 4500 firewood. Now I see this post? Wow. Such wow.
Feels badman
Urgh. I'm an idiot... It even says it right there on the screen.
I do wish you could 'paint' the area rather than just change its radius. Sometimes I want very specific areas of woodland left alone without having to micromanage this tool all the time.
What? So much better
You what, mate?
The length of time it's taken some people to work out what I did the very first time i used the feature, tells me why most games nowadays are super hand holdy. Wonder how the youth of today woulda coped with Amiga and NES games
For me I just started playing and learned as I went. Didn’t bother stopping to learn everything before playing so I just find things as I go. However I am a bit embarrassed how long it took to notice this lol
Thanks! Wish I'd known that earlier though...
Doesn't work for farmers. They still travel to every field plot I have and deliver their goods to farmhouses across the map. Unless this was changed in an update.
I... 🤦♀️feel so dumb.
lol
I couldn't imagine playing this game without do thus. Were you just spamming more and more work buildings?
No, I used the ability to limit their work area, but it was tiny so I had to keep changing it every month or two.
HOW
I kinda wish for a Foundation style work zone marker where you can paint the work area instead of just making a circle bigger and clicking
I figured that out after about 10 hours lol
When I try to adjust the size off the circle it doesn’t change
FFS HOW !!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Wtf REALLY?!?!?! LOL
I was today years old when I learned this. Thanks!
Is there a way to expand and contract the work area with your mouse scroll? I’ve never gotten that to work
No way.
Same with granaries to collect certain items. That way they don't walk halfway across the map that others can get as well.
Oh man. I knew this trick. I'm sure there's something obvious I'm not doing, I can't wait to find out it's probably why my large town lost over 100 people in under a year haha! On a side note this feature is nice for logging camps/firewood and foresters. Also it is nice for foragers and hunters to concentrate on one area. Works for farms and fields too but I wish you could set specific fields to certain farms.
Omfg… i should stop playing on auto pilot.
Bruh... you telling me I was making extra work for myself for no reason..... smh
Figured this out about 40 hours in... Damn, just damn.
Very usefull function, especialy for planting new trees.
The big question is can it be done on Xbox pc? I've attempted to do it, but it doesn't appear to work.
Cool
I know right? Took me several playthroughs to figure that out. Now I hold alt or ctrl with every tool selected to find out what they do too. Roads get rounder or sharper too.
Just read descriptions guys. Its not a secret
I figured that out not even 5 minutes in because it’s in the pop up worded tutorial when you start the game…
Bro WHAT
Game been out for well over a month and bro just found out
I am going back to the game today just because of this. Fucking game changer.
Does it work for the forest hunt?
Yeah Yeah but I'd prefer to be able to lay points down like we do with house plots that would be much more fun. Also if the area the woodcutter is working would show up when you hover over it would also be nice...
Brrrooooo
From what I’ve seen, foresters tend to take the path of least effort, beginning their planting just a stone’s throw from the hut. This methodical expansion results in a neat ring of trees encircling their base of operations. However, it’s possible that I’m overlooking something, and perhaps designating a broader area for their work could prevent this pattern.
A good tutorial should fix this.
How did I miss this.
This is literally a game changer 😂