Farms should have water priority

[cbrgamer2]

I've done a couple of tests and when a settlement has a water shortage, my farms have been deactivated while some of my houses still get water. Priority should be given to farms so they take up all the extra water first, as if they fail the food drops and the the houses are likely to fail anyway as a result even if they have water.
Also, I suggest making it so that farms still get their water even if there isn't enough "extra" available (ie, more than the number of settlers) and if that happens, they add unhappiness to the settlement (because they are taking up the fresh water, so the settlers don't get it).
Of course, this could be moot if KingGath is planning on implementing water and food in the virtual storage anytime soon (looking at the code, it was clearly the original plan).

 

[TheFarnz]

I agree this creates a frustrating cascade of failures. Industrial plots get stuck for some odd reason, then water fails, then food output, etc.

On the realism hand, though, in the western US we've had some very severe drought this year, and we definitely cut off irrigation for crops before shutting off culinary water. That's not a very good objection, since your fridge doesn't update to be immediately empty when your corn in the field starts drying out, but I can see the logic.

 

[RayBo]

Yeah, given a water shortage, I will drink rather than giving it to my vegetables.
Given the reverse logic
One might come back to a settlement after 3 days with dead settlers vs the hit to happiness due to food dropping off?

 

[cbrgamer2]

Yes, well if we are being realistic, when there is a water shortage settlers would FIX THE PROBLEM rather than let their crops fail while waiting for me to notice it ... I can't be the only person in the entire wasteland that knows how to build a water pump, something I would never have had to do before the bombs dropped ...

Anyway, I'm happy for there to be a reserve of water equal to the settler numbers (so they all have enough to drink). I'm talking about the extra water requirements of homes etc. I'd rather they fail before my farms, because if there farms fail the homes fail anyway due to the lack of extra food they want (In other words, I'd rather they have no "extra" water available than nobody in the entire settlement have anything to eat).

 

[cbrgamer2]

Okay, there definitely seems to be a problem here. I just assigned a new farm in a settlement and it put the required water for the settlement at one over what I had. EVERY farm in the settlement immediately failed due to water shortage. In reality, just that farm should fail (and I still think it should be houses that lose extra water first before farms).
I realise I could just turn off the water requirement for farms, but I do like the idea, if it can work in a way that makes sense.
It would also be nice if there was a timer before a plot failed due to water shortage (like a day or something). That way farms don't immediately fail just because I accidently cut off power to my water plot ... there could be a nice warning and everything.

 

[msalaba]

That way farms don't immediately fail just because I accidently cut off power to my water plot ... there could be a nice warning and everything.

I think this condition happens when you refresh a water plot. Couple that with the random objects becoming unpowered and you have a lot of hungry settlers.