Import / Export of Goods

[TornPr1nc3]

I appreciate all the responses, and just wish there was something official that was stated about the entire way industry works. It's head scratching that they would neglect to tell us this information since it is so important. I love the idea of the specialized industry, but until it's revealed exactly how everything works, it's far easier to stick with offices and import the things you need once that option is available.

 

[AmpsterMan]

That i agree with a certain extent; offices are a pain to get to level three and even then they don't employ many people. Manufacturers on the other hand can employ up 32 people and don't net that many college graduates. Ore and Oil employ 24 and forestry agriculture employ 16.

I think the issues are just oversupplying too much of any one zone and not having the right infrastructure to handle it.

 

[MayorofToronto]

Specialised industry manufactures goods with the raw materials it has under it, until they run out, which happens faster than you would think. Even specialised industry needs to import certain things to keep productivity high and to help them manufacture what they need. All industries need to import things regardless of specialisation and they all export when there are no commercial buyers in the city for their products.

Renewable industries do not run out of raw materials and specialised industries do not supply to commcercial.

Is there information concerning specialised industries need to import the very thing they are trying to produce to.......keep productivity high?!?!, that does not sound right.

 

[AmpsterMan]

They import raw materials and output processes materials. At the start, they'll import some stuff because your other industries haven't gotten up par yet but they eventually equalize.

 

[conao]

Hi,

I was also wondering why, after creating my first specialized ore industry, I seem to import as much ore as I export...

But I'm a beginner and I have a much simpler question, hopefully you won't mind me asking here. Do specialized industries need to be built right over the resources reserves or does it suffice to just have the reserves within the city limits?

Thanks,

Marconi

 

[Tim Bo]

Hi,

I was also wondering why, after creating my first specialized ore industry, I seem to import as much ore as I export...

But I'm a beginner and I have a much simpler question, hopefully you won't mind me asking here. Do specialized industries need to be built right over the resources reserves or does it suffice to just have the reserves within the city limits?

Thanks,

Marconi

1. Specialised industry needs to be built directly over the resource.

2. Renewable industries; forestry and agriculture, will never run out. Extraction industries; ore and oil, are finite, and run out. In your game you have run out of ore, so your specialised ore industries are importing the ore they need to function. Finite resources run out very quickly in CS, about 15 minutes of game time IIRC. I'd suggest using the Infinite Oil and Ore mod, so that they don't dry up.

 

[F1Dave]

even with full resource available oil and ore still import, i find that strange, also farms are importing constantly, its been bugging me because i want to know why they import stuff, the only one that works as expected for me is forestry but at the same time i see them exporting goods even tho local industry close by are importing forestry products,

Think i have to agree with some that this area of the game may need looking at, normal industry supplies the commercial just fine but specialist industry leaves question marks surrounding some of the ways it operates

 

[namuras]

even with full resource available oil and ore still import, i find that strange, also farms are importing constantly, its been bugging me because i want to know why they import stuff, the only one that works as expected for me is forestry but at the same time i see them exporting goods even tho local industry close by are importing forestry products,

Think i have to agree with some that this area of the game may need looking at, normal industry supplies the commercial just fine but specialist industry leaves question marks surrounding some of the ways it operates

Have you checked the resource availability under your industry? Even the renewable ones?
I had the same problem where my city was importing agricultural goods even thou i had zoned some for that. Same for forestry. The problem was, that the resource "hotspot" could not deliver the amount of resources needed for the specialized industry. So the aggri / forrestry imports where coming from my specialized industries and not the generic ones.

edit: also total resources available is not what you are currently working on, but is what is currently available on the purchased tiles.

 

[MN121MN]

What I understand is that
a. In order for specialized industry to be self-sufficient without imports, they would need to produce the raw materials, and then process them in the specialized industrial zones
b. The production of raw materials is quite clear: you need to have the resource base. You'll know you are producing said raw material from the type of buildings. Except for forestry, which is a bit weird how they work.
c. If specialized industrial zones don't have any material input from your region, they'll import the raw materials from other region.
d. How the half-processed materials are sold is an educated guess. They either get sold to Industry before they're exported.
f. It is unclear yet if a generic industry building requires a mix of all the materials or they only process one of the half-processed materials into finished goods
h. It is unclear how finished goods are distributed between commercial and exports. It seems that they don't prioritize sending finished goods to commercial, but it's split directly, since my city is importing some goods even though I export a major amount of finished goods.

 

[F1Dave]

f. yep not sure either at any given time looks like certain types of factorys import various materials not available
H. seems to take place in game for me the finished goods go to the commercial (local) first if they dont need them then they get exported, i have the industry exporting a little goods, its one part of this process that works well for me always keeping a eye on exports and imports each time i zone commercial.

@namuras yep what confuses me the most is lets say i set up a oil industry you can see how much is being pumped out on the resource tab, but at the same time they are importing oil, i dont understand why they are importing oil and pumping it out even once the industry is established still with the imports, makes no sense or at least needs explaining better somewhere , yep once it runs out it makes sense but not while the resource is plenty full,

and yes maybe you are right with the farms, my area is yellow enough imo but i would have to try a whole new map to test that as im on a patch in my current city thats about as fertile as its going to get on the whole map

edit: also just to clarify they are not importing extra to meet demand as they seem to export loads if you zone to big

 

[JerkyJerry]

Industry is sooooooo very easy
1. Build your industry as far away from the rest of the city as possible
2. Do not build a single road from your industry to your commercial, office or residential zones
3. Workers magically get to work
4. Goods magically appear in shops

For oil & ore
1. Find the proper colors on the map
2. Zone them yellow
3. Wait 11 - 20 minutes and the ground dries up

After I found this out and tested it a few times my cities never have industry of any type. It is a waste of time, space and energy. It makes as much sense to use these things right now as it does using 6 lane roads exclusively.

Guys stop beating your heads against the wall. They don't work, at all. Stop using them or trying to make sense of them. This aspect of the game is very SimCity2013'esk.
I'll put it another way............ it works as good as tunnels do!

 

[namuras]

[...]

and yes maybe you are right with the farms, my area is yellow enough imo but i would have to try a whole new map to test that as im on a patch in my current city thats about as fertile as its going to get on the whole map

edit: also just to clarify they are not importing extra to meet demand as they seem to export loads if you zone to big

They will produce as much as they can afaik, not only to meet demand. So if you zone too "much" specialized and the underlaying resource "hotspot" cannot deliever enough you will simultaniously import / export raw materials.
One has to keep in mind that imported forestry e.g. are logs that are made into planks in your specialized industry and then sold to local industry or exported. But those planks still count as forestry.

 

[IVIaarten]

There's something you need to understand about the specialized industries.

There are two types for every specialization
- producers of raw resources
- processors of raw resources

The processed goods can then be converted to Goods that are used by Your commercial districts.

So if you're seeing that you're both importing and exporting goods for the specialized industries, it most likely means that they're not producing enough raw resources (especially when oil and ore are running out), and that they're producing more processed goods than your generic industries can use, so they're exporting that. The in game imports/exports chart don't show the difference between these two.

Here's a reference chart:

 

[F1Dave]

There's something you need to understand about the specialized industries.

There are two types for every specialization
- producers of raw resources
- processors of raw resources

The processed goods can then be converted to Goods that are used by Your commercial districts.

So if you're seeing that you're both importing and exporting goods for the specialized industries, it most likely means that they're not producing enough raw resources (especially when oil and ore are running out), and that they're producing more processed goods than your generic industries can use, so they're exporting that. The in game imports/exports chart don't show the difference between these two.

Here's a reference chart:

nice chart, going off this in my city it seems forestry for example are exporting raw products rather than processing them for generic industry (or just exporting the processed ones), and the generic industry is importing processed forestry,kind of frustrating given there is a local demand, and the forestry is right next to the generic industry that requires it,

 

[F1Dave]

Not sure, maybe the author of the image might have missed some arrows.

I think specialized industries can import processed products as well if you're not producing enough locally.

my forestry is not importing, thats why i know its should be producing enough to cover local demand rather than just importing it away, this all must need some balancing along the line

generic industry seems to work as expected, if they need more goods to satisfy demand they import it and export if they have to much, just specialist where i cant balance things out

 

[IVIaarten]

I think I might have messed up there. The chart seems to be correct. But yeh, some careful balancing of production (and selective bulldozing between producers/processors seems to work for me.

 

[F1Dave]

I think I might have messed up there. The chart seems to be correct. But yeh, some careful balancing of production (and selective bulldozing between producers/processors seems to work for me.

yeah makes sense just hard to know what part of the process (raw or processed) is being imported/exported, do you happen to know where i may find the building types details for specialist industry ? if it exists

edit :no should be easy to find the right ones as they are highlighted in the outside connections tab .....i need a drink lol

 

[IVIaarten]

yeah makes sense just hard to know what part of the process (raw or processed) is being imported/exported, do you happen to know where i may find the building types details for specialist industry ? if it exists

edit :no should be easy to find the right ones as they are highlighted in the outside connections tab .....i need a drink lol

I think they show up as either white or with a colour if you look at the buildings in the import/export data view.

edit: Nice, you fixed that while I was answering

 

[EvilTom]

There seems to be a bit of confusion on this.

I think that there are extractors or primary industries which produce things like ore, oil, forestry goods and agricultural goods. There are drills/derricks, mines, woods and farms. These primary goods are then shipped to either general industry or to the specialised processors within the ore, oil, forest or farm areas. These then transform these into goods which are either sent to commercial or exported.

This works out quite well really and can be seen clearly which a small map and just a couple of industrial buildings.

For example I build just 1 4x4 industrial general industry. I found it was a Fish Stick Factory. After a while it required some goods to import. It requested some forestry goods. A wood truck rolls in from the highway and delivers to the fish stick factory. So that general factory imported wood (the name was irrelevant - RNG at play.)
So I build a forest zone and made sure there was 1 primary/extractor resource... a Woody's Wood forest popped up. That occasionally sent it's wood to the Fish Stick Factory and exported the rest. The fish Stick factory produced goods and then sent these to commercial and exported the rest.

I then built another industry within the wood zone. It was a Plank factory. It demanded wood from Woody's Wood and still produced goods that went to the commercial. This was a processor.

So primary/extractor industry is the farms, drills, mines and woods. They sent agricultural, oil, ore and forest supplies to ANY factory (processor) that is looking for those supplies. Those factories will just produce standard goods that will go to commercial or exported. So really to reduce your imports you need to have only primary industries in your specialized zones and general industry elsewhere. Having specialized processors will just use up the primary goods and your general industry will still have to import.

I have not found the 'processed' materials part of that diagram to be the case really, unless i'm doing something wrong.