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  1. #1

    Piers Ship overload issue

    Some islands are small, so when mid to late game, the ship bloat due to massive trade routes traffic give problems with extended time to unload goods.

    Solution would be to have more piers yes, but those dumb ship still want to use the main islanf trading post instead of prioritizing piers or docklands piers on the other side of the island...

    Résult is 25+ ships waiting to unload at trading post instead of spreading on the 10+ other piers...

    Any solution for that ?
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  2. #2
    In Old World and Trelawney, use the Docklands if you have that DLC to add as many piers as possible. If not, place ONLY piers around your warehouse and other waterfront buildings on those other beaches. There are also some harbor items to speed up your unloading/loading speed, and items for each individual ship. The ships will always choose the closest pier, and then the next closest one if it is full. They will not go to the other side of the island. Have fun rolling at the NPCs
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  3. #3
    Already done that, but on my Hub Islands, where all beaches are docks / production buildings because i need those, docklands docks are ignored because on other side of the island and ships are stockpiling in front of traditional piers with low unloading speed (don't have access to harbour items for now) instead of going on the other side of the island, with docklands piers mostly free to use.
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  4. #4
    Asterix201252's Avatar Member
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    If you have one or two goods that you wish to prioritise, you can use the upgraded piers (Research Institute) to dedicate the pier to specific goods. For example, on a supply island (especially New World), I have a pier for each output good (say coffee and chocolate) and one for each input good needed to make them (say coffee beans and cocoa). The remaining things (maybe tortillas and rum) then trade through the trading post and normal piers. This way, you make sure your trade goods get a priority pier each and you control which side of the island they go to. It also stops multiple ships from the same trade route stacking onto multiple piers and blocking other routes if you are using the "Load Full ship" option on routes needing multiple ships..
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  5. #5
    I want to have a switch in the main trade port that forbids docking on it.

    Asterix201252; upgrade piers with a filter have no function for me, I would like a negative filter.
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  6. #6
    Originally Posted by Azarhiel Go to original post
    Already done that, but on my Hub Islands, where all beaches are docks / production buildings because i need those, docklands docks are ignored because on other side of the island and ships are stockpiling in front of traditional piers with low unloading speed (don't have access to harbour items for now) instead of going on the other side of the island, with docklands piers mostly free to use.
    It seems the max piers without docklands is about 16-18 on hubs in OW atm, in NW it is about 18-20, for now those islands can handle my streams, however, I split my hub recently to lower queues on my hub due "waves" of ships stacking up sometimes.

    To battle issues with a to depleting stock / huge sinus, in Crown Falls, I use balloons with Full Unload orders next to my regular routes.

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  7. #7
    If have the docklands DLC then be sure to build plenty of loading wharves. They massively speed up your (un)loading times. I have piers that push over 20tons per second. That means you can unload a 300t cargo ship in 15 seconds. A regular (non-docklands) pier only does 2t/s. So that's 150 seconds of waiting for your ship to unload. The difference is staggering!
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  8. #8
    Lamproly's Avatar Member
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    For me this prioritizing problem is a big issue. Ports on the other side of the island remain empty, while others are overloaded. Even changing the trade routes so that they pass the free docks does not make the ships change their minds. They just turn around and go back to wait at the overloaded port.

    I would also like to turn off trading at the main trading post.
    Another solution would possibly be to make ships recalculate to the nearest pier after they reach a stop point on their route.
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  9. #9
    I just remembered something that might help you, Lamproly. According to the fandom wiki the pier priority is not done by proximity to the route but by an internal ID number. This number is given to the pier when you construct it. The first available number is chosen as the destination pier.

    As by know you probably don't remember the order in which you built your piers the best way to organize your piers is by destroying them all and the rebuilding them as follows:
    (For islands with more than one harbour area)

    Pier 1 goes opposite of your main harbour.
    Pier 2 goes in the next harbour area.
    Pier 3 in the area after that.
    And then keep going around your island.

    That way your island will always have a low number pier in each of its harbour areas. It's still no guarantee but it should help with distributing ships around the island.
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  10. #10
    Originally Posted by Lamproly Go to original post
    For me this prioritizing problem is a big issue. Ports on the other side of the island remain empty, while others are overloaded. Even changing the trade routes so that they pass the free docks does not make the ships change their minds. They just turn around and go back to wait at the overloaded port.

    I would also like to turn off trading at the main trading post.
    Another solution would possibly be to make ships recalculate to the nearest pier after they reach a stop point on their route.
    Use the waypoints in the trade map, to have ships approach from dead corners on your island.

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