Perfect Pinewood Production

This page is an extension of the comments made for "Making Production Chains Perfect" quest under Pinewood Plank Production. It offers an explanation for people who were not previously using the quest guide and ways to fix  problems people have with this quest.

The Pinewood Song
So you want to make some pinewood, eh?

Use build ratio and you'll be okay

Pause any coking plants in the way

Buffs ready in your star menu tray

Build 2 cutters, 3 foresters

By the trees and a storehouse free

Add your buffs to 4 sawmills

Wait for green economy

Extra foresters you've built can stay

Don't over log and you'll be okay

Explanation
This quest aims to show you how to set up a working production chain that supplies enough raw materials to the top of the chain. The quest itself has 3 parts: at least 0 production/12 h for pinewood deposits (trees), at least 0 production/12 h for pinewood logs and 360/12 h pinewood planks.


 * Building ratio refers to the number of buildings you need in order to supply enough raw materials. For pinewood production, it's 3 foresters to 2 cutters to 4 sawmills. So go ahead and make sure you have the recommended number of buildings for each type to start. For quest purposes, it's fine if you have more foresters. If you have more cutters and sawmills than recommended, pause them. (To pause a building, click on the building then click the stop icon to the right of the info window.)


 * Wait a moment, then check the economy overview to see how your production is doing. Click on the abacus icon (2nd icon) in the bottom toolbar, then choose pinewood planks from the list on the left. You'll see its production chain: trees at the bottom of the chain (foresters), log in the middle (cutters) and plank at the top (sawmills). Except for foresters whose output fluctuates and isn't shown, each has two numbers next to the icon. The top number is the total produced per 12 h, the 2nd number is excess raw material made. For the quest, all three need to appear green, and plank output will also need to be 360 or more. Green basically means the buildings are producing enough raw materials for the sawmills to make planks.


 * Buffing is optional, but often helpful. Buffing involves applying a buff to a work building to produce more for the same amount of raw materials for a limited time. You can make fish platter buffs that double output at the provision house. If you don't have fish and cannot build a provision house yet, ask someone in the help channel to buff your buildings for the pinewood production quest. Check your economic overview, and if 1 or more parts of your chain is showing red, ask another player to buff the building it represents, e.g. if tree output is red, ask for a buff on your foresters. You may also want to buff the sawmills if you are having trouble obtaining the minimum amount of planks needed.

Common Problems

 * All the pinewood buildings are paused. The quest requirements say at least 0 production/12 h, not exactly 0. Remember that the 3rd part of the quest asks for 360 planks/12 h. Sawmills can't make planks without logs, and your log supply will deplete fast without cutters active, so you really should get some production rolling again.
 * Too many cutters. Tree stumps are a sign that there are too many cutters than the foresters can keep up. Pause the excess cutters or build more foresters. Use the 3:2:4 ratio or its multiples, e.g. 6:4:8.
 * Buildings are too far away from mayor's house or tree deposits. Foresters and cutters should be placed near trees and a storehouse/mayor's house. Sawmills need not be near trees, but should be near a storehouse. If they are too far away, workers need to travel longer between buildings, increasing production time with less production. See the Building Placement page for another sample layout. Remove and rebuild it closer, or ask fellow players for a buff on your buildings (see note above about buffing). Later, when you reach level 8, you can move buildings at a fraction of the building cost.
 * Foresters and cutters are too far apart. Try to place foresters and cutters together in 3:2 groups, so that they will log and replant in nearby areas.
 * There are unsupported coking plants running. Pause any coking plants you have running for the purposes of the quest, unless you're very sure you have enough foresters and cutters for them. Coking plants consume logs, so keeping them running without enough foresters/cutters can result in not enough logs for the sawmills. You need 3 foresters and 2 cutters for every 2 coking plants.