Food consumption and reporting on SI

[Indirik]

The reporting of food consumption on South Island is really screwy. (I don't know if other islands are affected.)  I've got food consumption reported ion three different places and giving three completely different stories. I could be out of food in anywhere from 6 days to 115 days, depending on where I look.

It's confusing as hell.

http://battlemaster.org/war/command.php
"You have 1148 bushels of food stored.
This store will last you about 73 more days."


http://battlemaster.org/war/FoodDistribution.php
"Food Stored: 1148 bushels
Current Food Consumption: 90 bushels/day
This should last for approximately 12 days
Normal Food Consumption: 176 bushels/day
At normal consumption, the food would last 6 days
Current Distribution: 50%"

(Also: 176 / 2 != 90)


http://battlemaster.org/war/FoodReport.php
"Sandalak   Production: 77   Demand:87    Deficit/Surplus: -10   Stored: 1148    Will last for: 115 days"



So... do I have 6 days, 12 days, 73 days, or 115 days? Do I get to pick the one I like best?

And why is my region on 50% rations? I know I never set that. And the FoodDistribution page doesn't say anything about automatic reduction to 50%, just to 25%. But even then, it says that quarter rations will only last until you have at least 4 days of food on hand. I have well over that (4 days = 704 bushels) , but I'm still on reduced rations. Can the banker set your region to half rations if they have warehouse control?

FoodDistribution also seems to completely ignore local production. That doesn't seem right, as my city produces pretty close to half the food it needs all on its own. At half rations, we only need 10 bushels a day, not the 12 it seems to be claiming we need.

In that respect, FoodReport *seems* the most accurate.  FoodDistribution is useless because it ignores production. Command ... well, it seems to be ... umm ... I dunno... taking FoodReport's estimate and factoring in rot? That would make it more accurate than FoodReport's estimate, but that's just a guess. It could just be math-challenged.

Food rationing is great and all, but it needs to be reported consistently, account for all factors involved, and make sense.

[Anaris]

The reporting of food consumption on South Island is really screwy. (I don't know if other islands are affected.)  I've got food consumption reported ion three different places and giving three completely different stories. I could be out of food in anywhere from 6 days to 115 days, depending on where I look.

It's confusing as hell.

I completely agree. The three places were using different calculations; I believe I have now adjusted them to use the same calculation (though it's not live yet).

(Also: 176 / 2 != 90)

Yes; the consumption calculation includes troop consumption and rot, neither of which are subject to the Food Distribution rate.

So... do I have 6 days, 12 days, 73 days, or 115 days? Do I get to pick the one I like best?

12 days is, I think, the most accurate estimate.

6 days is clearly marked as being "normal consumption," as opposed to "current consumption."

And why is my region on 50% rations? I know I never set that. And the FoodDistribution page doesn't say anything about automatic reduction to 50%, just to 25%. But even then, it says that quarter rations will only last until you have at least 4 days of food on hand. I have well over that (4 days = 704 bushels) , but I'm still on reduced rations. Can the banker set your region to half rations if they have warehouse control?

No; that happens automatically when your region comes off starvation rations. I think that it makes most sense to automatically move from 25% to 50% when you come back above the 4-day limit, rather than try to go back to your original level if that was higher.

FoodDistribution also seems to completely ignore local production. That doesn't seem right, as my city produces pretty close to half the food it needs all on its own. At half rations, we only need 10 bushels a day, not the 12 it seems to be claiming we need.

You're....absolutely right. I will fix that shortly, and have it live within a day at most.

In that respect, FoodReport *seems* the most accurate.  FoodDistribution is useless because it ignores production. Command ... well, it seems to be ... umm ... I dunno... taking FoodReport's estimate and factoring in rot? That would make it more accurate than FoodReport's estimate, but that's just a guess. It could just be math-challenged.

They're all challenged right now. Once I get the distribution calculations straightened out to allow for production, I'll double-check that they all say the same thing.

Food rationing is great and all, but it needs to be reported consistently, account for all factors involved, and make sense.

Yes. Very yes.

[Indirik]

If we're at 50% automatically, it needs explained that this could happen. Right now, there's nothing that even implies that. And maybe some explanation on that page about why you're at 50%.

Thanks for fixing the calculations tout make it consistent. I'll check out out tomorrow if i can.

[Anaris]

If we're at 50% automatically, it needs explained that this could happen. Right now, there's nothing that even implies that. And maybe some explanation on that page about why you're at 50%.

Thanks for fixing the calculations tout make it consistent. I'll check out out tomorrow if i can.

There's no way for it to know why you're at any level other than 25%.

I could have it indicate that when it disables starvation rations it will come up to 50%. Where do you think would be the best place for that?

[Indirik]

So what you're saying is that when it leaves the 25% state, it just goes to 50% and stays there forever, unless I manually set it back to 100%? That doesn't seem good. Maybe if you're at 50%, and you have enough food for 8 days at half rations, it goes back to full? Of course, you'd need some kind of status flag to let the game know *why* you're at half rations. But the "forever at 50%" doesn't seem like a good idea.


Also, maybe there could be a more explicit notification that you are still at low rations. It should be a red-lined bullet point in the daily reports when not at 100%, whether you are over or under that.

Also, a bullet-point on the Command menu in the "Important Information:" section when not at 100% rations.

As for the place to put the info, it should go right next to where it describes the process for going to 25%:

"* In addition, when the region is not producing a surplus and the amount of food in the granaries falls below what is needed to feed the region for 4 days at normal distribution, distribution will automatically be reduced to quarter rations, ......."

Right under that, you can add another bullet:
"* Once 4 days of food is available, rations will automatically be set to 50%, and remain there until the lord manually restores it to 100%."


Who else has access to the food rationing? The steward? Does the banker have access to it if the banker is allowed to access the warehouse?It seems like someone else should be able to handle it, too.



FoodReport and FoodDistribution now both say 54 days. Command still says 73 days.

[vonGenf]

I'm not sure I like the automated starvation rations. "Less than four days of rations" is arbitrary and not necessarily threatening, especially if you know for a fact food will be coming. As a banker on FEI it happened a few time in the spring that the realm was producing an overall surplus but I could never stockpile more than 2 days in any city. There is no need to halve the rations if the realm is in surplus.

Also, my rural region in SI found itself at half-ration even though the region produces a surplus on its own. I don't think that is supposed to happen.

[Indirik]

I got the following message on BT today:

"With enough food stored for at least 4 days, food distribution has automatically been reset up to half-rations."

My region was on full rations, produces a surplus, and has nearly 20 days of food in the warehouse.

[Vogelens]

This happened to me on Dwilight yesterday as well, despite having more than 4 days of food in graneries and producing a surplus.