machine usage

[Claivuus]

I'd like to see some way of telling what machines are in use. I run 2 bakeries, and i can never find an open oven on my first try looking for one. I've always heard people IC asking about harvesters and drills, as well. I'm sure other people would agree that it would be so much more convenient for them to see if a machine is open.

I'd like to see what other people have to say about this, as well.

[T-shirt]

Good idea.

[Slayer]

Potatoe Harvester(occupied by -------)
That's a good example

[Nick]

Is it really that difficult to search the activity page for "harvesting","drilling", or "cooking"?
Do you really want the programmers to spend hours of their time on something like this, rather than fixing something important?

[T-shirt]

I would definately like to see which machines are available and which ones are locked on the objects-page.

[Nick]

Think of it this way. We have a limited ammount of programmers with a very limited ammount of time.
I doubt anyone will suggest anything worth their time more than fixing deterioration and whatnot.
SERIOUSLY, all you guys have to do is click the activity page, and search. Not hard. Already in game. Go do it.

[nitefyre]

Something I'd like to point out that is kinda strange- (which has been pointed out before but should be commented on again)

Each time you click on a machine, and use the back button on your browser, then click on another machine, the machine you clicked on before starts a project.

[SekoETC]

Nick, it's not JUST do a search on the activities page!

EXAMPLE: If there are three fire pits in town and two grilling meat projects, there is no telling which of the fire pits is free. So in the worst case you might first search if there's any projects that have "meat" in them, and even with this you might get extra trouble if someone was making pancakes. So you do the search. Find out that there are two grilling meat projects. Then you go to the objects page. You might have to click on all three of the fire pits before finding the one that's free. It loads a new page with the error message every time. Then you go back and try again. Not so much work? Well what if there were ten fire pits and nine projects? You see the problem now?

A clear indicator that a machine is occupied by a project would be a useful addition, and doesn't sound like a thing that requires loads of code.

[mortaine]

Nick, comments that basically boil down to "the programmers have better things to do with their time" aren't constructive and don't help foster future suggestions. Obviously, not every suggestion will be implemented-- factors like programming but also game balance and just feasibility have to be considered, and the non-staff players don't have much say in that process. The Suggestions forum is the only place where we can say "Gee, I'd like *this* thing" without considering its impact on the programming.

It is not up to us or --unless you're the entire Programming Department or Jos in cognito-- *you* to say whether or not an idea is worth the time it takes to program. So please don't shoot people's ideas down just because you want the programmers to work on something else.

[nitefyre]

Yeah, I think Jos created the suggestions section for a reason (though some ideas are much more ridiculous for their worth)

Anywho, onto a constructive suggestion on topic with this idea:

Perhaps we should make active "white-grey" for a machine in use, full "white" for a machine used by you and "dark grey" for a machine not in use. Just like the character's page.

[SekoETC]

But the problem is there might be a project started but no one working on it at the moment.

[Just A Bill]

I think all thats really being asked for is that any machine that if you cliked on it would give you the Machine in Use message simply be grayed out or something similar. It might slow down the interface slightly but probably is not a huge programming task and with the new server we should have clock cycles to spare (for now)

Also with the faster server, perhaps we could revisit the happy faces...

[Peanut]

I think all thats really being asked for is that any machine that if you cliked on it would give you the Machine in Use message simply be grayed out or something similar. It might slow down the interface slightly but probably is not a huge programming task and with the new server we should have clock cycles to spare (for now)

Also with the faster server, perhaps we could revisit the happy faces...

Or we could use an image pack?

[Nick]

If you have to supervise a machine, you really should have the time to bother checking the activity page.
Come on, is it really that hard?

[Anthony Roberts]

Nick, just shut up.