Is there any point to staffing a maintenance depot beyond just one colonist?

[BebopCola]

The reason I ask is because I followed some of my colonists, both carriers and those assigned to the maintenance depot, and near as I can tell the maintenance depot staff don't actually do the repairs. Staffing a maintenance depot seems to auto-flag that repairs are needed within their work area, but the colonists staffed don't actually do that work. Rather, an unassigned colonist (a carrier) does. The maintenance depot staff, in the meantime, are actually running about carrying supplies instead.

This also syncs up with my observation that when I have zero carriers, maintenance doesn't get done, but supplies still get moved around.

Assuming my observation is correct, My thinking is it's a bug, because why have 3 colonists assigned to a maintenance depot if all they do is flag the repairs for an unassigned colonist to do? I'm glad to see that supplies are being carried around even when there are no carriers at the moment, so that's a nice feature to have otherwise unoccupied maintenance depot staff do, but my expectation is that the staff of that depot have their work area repairs as their top priority, literally dropping everything else to get that done when needed.

It would also suggest there is no point whatsoever to using anything other than the maximum work area radius. Normally doing that might over-tax a maintenance depot team if there are too many buildings in that area, but as it currently appears to work it seems better to have a single colonist flagging repairs needed, and the extra two colonists left as carriers to do the work instead.

 

[Ps2nic]

I often just use the depot for the Outhouses, Sauna, Fish Hatchery, and late-game extractors. Trick is to get lucky with some of the spawns.

If you ask me, MT depots (yes I shortened it) should be covering the whole colony. That, or more work areas, one resizable work area per employed Colonist. I know enough about the trade IRL they have storage facilities all over the buildings they service, with some guys at time assigned to specific areas.

Don't know if this will be implemented, it is late in development. Sounds like something a mod maker could do.

 

[BebopCola]

Even if used for only those things, it doesn't appear to be working as intended. The building description says the colonists assigned to the MT will perform all repairs in their assigned work area. However, if you have zero carriers at a given moment, those repairs won't get done even if you fully staff the MT. The extra two colonists don't seem to add any benefit to the MT, and are better utilized as carriers instead. That way the work actually gets done.

That's been my observation, anyway. Running my current colony that way now. With so many extra carriers, much more work is getting done. Just need to see how things go after the next electrical storm or meteor storm. If the MT with just one colonist staffed correctly flags all the repairs needed within the expanded work radius, and the repairs get done in a timely manner with the extra colonists as carriers, I think it will bear the hypothesis out.

 

[Ps2nic]

You should get footage. I would recommend OBS, but you literally need a beefy PC. Running a 3D game like Surviving the Aftermath is one thing, but recording it? You need good specs for that!

 

[BebopCola]

Shouldn't need footage of it. Easy enough to test and confirm. Just find a colonist assigned to a MT, and follow them to see what they do all day. Then, check a colonist performing a repair within the work area of a staffed MT, and see where they're employed. My expectation is that you'll see the MT colonist hauling supplies and the one doing the repair is not assigned to work anywhere (i.e. a Carrier).

 

[Ps2nic]

Fair enough. Takes time to get there, though. Besides, it is the holidays.

Speaking of, Happy holidays!

 

[TLHeart]

I agree with the OP. The maintenance staff ONLY carry supplies to building needing repairs. They do NOT repair or decontaminate the buildings. Carriers do that. It needs changed/fixed. Very use to see it happen, just follows a colonist who is assigned to a maintenance depot, they never do any repairs or decon.

 

[Joanna_ifs]

Hey all!

We are aware of the issues with the Maintenance Depot and the colonists working there and we are working on improving the functionality. In some cases, the colonists working as carriers can take over the tasks of repairing or decontaminating a building before the actual worker of the maintenance depot can perform the task. This can then cause the worker there to end up idling or performing other carrier tasks instead.

So yes, there are issues with it but we are aware of them and are working on fixes.