Workload is too high. That is the pop-up you get when the workload is above 100%. It’s bad, I mean really bad. You need to give your settlers time to eat, drink, rest, and worship. Otherwise, your settlement can and probably will destroy itself.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. – The Shining
Settlers can find a time to eat, drink, and rest even in high workloads. However, high workload prevents them from worship and settlers quickly exhaust their morale. Which is a big problem.
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Low morale equals low work-speed. Low work speed means high workload and high workload is no morale. It’s all a cycle you see.
So, how to manage workload? I have included 7 solid steps to reduce workload and create functioning settlement.
Pro tip: Press 7 to see the workers. If they’re working on an unimportant project, simply right click to cancel task. They’ll probably go and do another job. Can also set important jobs to high priority such as farming, fishing, and crafting.
1. Manage Harvesting Seasons
Having too many pulse farms kills your workers. The main source of food is grain in Dawn of Man. You should have lots of grain farms, preferably barley for feeding animals too. The thing is grain farms are sowed at spring and then harvested at fall. That means your population will work extra hard at spring and fall. If you plant lots of pulse farms, your population will have to sow and harvest at all seasons.
- Grain: Spring > Fall
- Pulses: Winter > Summer
Populations can’t handle sowing and harvesting at all seasons. Now I’m not saying don’t plant any pulses, having one or two 15×15 pulse farm is okay. You want to diversify your food sources because one bad harvest (crop disease, harvest time raid) can starve your population for a year.
2. Limit Production to Reduce Workload
F4 hotkey opens the production limit screen. From there you can set the max production limits for every resource, tool, and item. This function is your friend in Dawn of Man because you don’t want to over-produce unnecessary items. It’s bad for workload and all items expire through time. So, there is no point to produce items you don’t really need.
Here is my production limit sheet for a population of 100 more or less:
- Unlimited meat, fruit, and grain. 20 fish, 20 flour, 50 bread, and 100 water.
- 100% wool and linen outfits. 20 skins outfits just in-case.
- 30 all ores, 25 all ingots, 50-100 charcoal, 50 stone, 100 sticks, and unlimited wood.
- 75% sickles, 100% bows, 50% knives, 33% axes, 20% picks, and 20 fishing tools.
- Generous amounts of carts, sledges, and plows.
- Enough sheep for full wool clothing, enough horses for plowing and carts. Rest of animals are for meat only, limit depending on your population. (Goats and cattle require lots of work because they need to be milked frequently.)
3. Correct Building Layout
Majority of workload is coming from walking long distances for work. To reduce the workload, you need to reduce the working distances with a correct building layout.
Let me explain it with examples: Farms built outside the gates. Granary, haystack, and stables should be built very close to the gates so that harvested grain and hay can easily transported and stored. Again, well should be build close to your stables because stables need water during winter. You see, it’s all about closing work distances.
Again, mortar and hearth should be built right next to each other. It’s a no-brainer really.
4. Don’t Work on Distant Places
Walking is working. To reduce workload, you need to reduce walking distances. How to? Don’t put workplaces to distant places when you can do it somewhere close. Don’t hunt distant prey for example. Also, don’t hesitate chop trees that are nearby. They’ll grow back anyway.
If you really must work on a distance place for wood, tanning, or ores, make sure you have carts and sledges for transport. That’ll save lots of going back and forward, reducing workload.
5. Have Best Tools
Move your cursor above the tools you can produce. And craft the best possible tool available for much faster harvesting/collecting resources.
Though latest technology doesn’t always mean the best. For example, flint, bone, and copper sickles have the same level of harvesting (2 star) rate. Whereas bronze sickle has 3 star harvesting power. Therefore, you should upgrade to bronze sickles whenever you unlock the required technology.
You want people to use latest equipment? Sell outdated tools to the trader to get rid of them. That way settlers will equip the tools you have in the storage.
6. Keep High Morale
Build enough funerary and religious buildings all over the place. That’s the main source of morale increase. Of course, they need free time to worship and bury their dead. Morale and workload are intertwined you know.
Also try to prevent deaths from wolves, raiders, and from other predators as much as you can. Because deaths reduce the morale of people a lot.
Finally, beer! Beer increase morale a lot. I know, you can’t go out your way to create a beer factory, however, try to have at least one brewery for every 75 people.
7. Increase Population
You did every step in this guide and still your workload is too high? Then you probably need more workers. It’s simple as that.
So, how to increase population in Dawn of Man? Manually defend your settlement against raiders to reduce death as much as possible. Then, build houses to have empty slots for new migrants and babies. That way you can increase your population enough to fill all worker positions. Want to delve deep? Check out my Dawn of Man population guide. You can find there population cheats as well.