Alloy will NOT import!

[Hybr1d 20]

I have 3 trade depots and a total of 3 alloy and 3 plastic slots. I have alloy set to import and it will not import. My plastic imports just fine and all of the plastic lots are filled to capacity. I need alloy for my processing plants. Any idea on how to fix this??

[arbogli 26]

alloy and plastic, I assume you are making electronics... could be too much alloy demand and too much traffic at your city entrance? An excessive demand a the traffic jams can destroy your productivity because you can refill the depots fast enough.

[Hybr1d 20]

I have no traffic in the city entrance. I do have a little traffic on the right side of the city, but that's it. My trade depots are on the north side of the city which you can't see in the picture.

 

[Shakey 0]

On that same note I couldn't keep traffic to cooperate reliably enough to use depots so I try to upgrade to ports as fast as possible cause then you can ship by rail or sea which like everything can be flakey but seems safer then by road. Granted ymmv if your region hasn't unlocked the storage you need.

[NovaBlazer 10]

arbogli, on 03 Apr 2013 - 11:33, said:

...could be too much alloy demand and too much traffic at your city entrance? An excessive demand a the traffic jams can destroy your productivity...

I have to admit when I read someone else's guide on this several weeks ago about traffic affecting my depots I was skeptical. They were saying that Global Trade trucks show up for one hour but will give up and go home if they can not get to the depot...

But long story short, I moved all my depots toward the front of the city, and as far as my depots go they were able to service exports and imports much better. Now, I personally always get my depots as close to the highway connection as possible.

[Hybr1d 20]

If traffic is the problem than why am I getting my plastic just fine, but alloy isn't coming in at all?

[Shakey 0]

If traffic is the problem than why am I getting my plastic just fine, but alloy isn't coming in at all?

Guessing but a cause could be from another city has a highway traffic jam and the alloy truck is stuck in it.

[Morticcia 0]

Hybrid,

 

I have no answer, but a similar situation:

 

 I demolished a large and successful trade depot imports>processor>computers industry the other day, keeping just one processor in the same location.  I put a new trade depot down right next to this.  For a few game-time days I then put down tons of trees to remove the excessive pollution as I went about doing other things in the city.    After time had elapsed I put down a computer plant next to the depot and it made computers.  Yet none of the depot trucks came to pick up the computers.  I watched my game with the trade overlay on, which I usually do in my industry cities, and not a single truck with a computer icon showed up.  

 

Now I had no traffic, as the town was mostly residential and just 33K with buses and streetcar.  In and out came alloy and plastic trucks.  I eventually changed the settings to sell the processers piling up at the depot.  These sold like hotcakes, leaving my city quite easily.  But nothing was picked up at the new computer factory.   The preponderance of trucks I saw were alloy trucks.  I grew frustrated.

 

I eventually destroyed the computer factory and put down another processor and haven't spent much time in that city since.   I figure I'll go back eventually and try again to find a work around.

 

I'll check back here to see if someone has a reason other than it being another bug with no fix.

[DHarrisG 1]

Morticcia, I may be wrong, and I have not sold computers, but I know a couple things about selling coal:

 

1.  The trade depots don't pick up coal from the coal mines - only coal mine trucks can move it to the depots.

 

2.  You can't sell coal directly from the mines, only from the trade depots.

 

 

So if computers are like coal, and I don't know why the depots and product source would work differently for computers,

 

1.  Your trade depot trucks won't pick up computers from the factory; you probably need trucks that are part of the factory to deliver them to the depots.

 

2.  You can't sell computers direct from the factory.

 

If you can edit the computer factory to add trucks, try that.  They should then deliver the computers to the trade depots which, if you've set them to export, should be picked up for sale to the global market by the global market trucks which the region sends.

 

Hope this works for you.

[AshTym 31]

Hybrid,

 

I have no answer, but a similar situation:

 

 I demolished a large and successful trade depot imports>processor>computers industry the other day, keeping just one processor in the same location.  I put a new trade depot down right next to this.  For a few game-time days I then put down tons of trees to remove the excessive pollution as I went about doing other things in the city.    After time had elapsed I put down a computer plant next to the depot and it made computers.  Yet none of the depot trucks came to pick up the computers.  I watched my game with the trade overlay on, which I usually do in my industry cities, and not a single truck with a computer icon showed up.  

 

Now I had no traffic, as the town was mostly residential and just 33K with buses and streetcar.  In and out came alloy and plastic trucks.  I eventually changed the settings to sell the processers piling up at the depot.  These sold like hotcakes, leaving my city quite easily.  But nothing was picked up at the new computer factory.   The preponderance of trucks I saw were alloy trucks.  I grew frustrated.

 

I eventually destroyed the computer factory and put down another processor and haven't spent much time in that city since.   I figure I'll go back eventually and try again to find a work around.

 

I'll check back here to see if someone has a reason other than it being another bug with no fix.

 

 

Products don't get imported, exported or used directly from a factory; they need to be shipped to a trade depot/port first.

 

For example, if you're making processors, then you need to import plastics and alloy to a trade depot/port first, then that port's delivery trucks will deliver those resources to your processor factory. Once the processors have been manufactured, the processor factory's delivery trucks need to take the processors to a trade depot/port for export. From the depot/port, global market vehicles will come to pick up the processors, at which point you'll be paid for them.

[Hybr1d 20]

Update: After a hell of a lot of time waiting, the alloy trucks FINALLY started delivering the alloy to the depot. I have no idea what took it so long...hardly any traffic at all in the city. So... I don't think that it's a bug causing the wait time for delivery... maybe it's just something wrong with the simulation.

[NovaBlazer 10]

Products don't get imported, exported or used directly from a factory; they need to be shipped to a trade depot/port first.

 

For example, if you're making processors, then you need to import plastics and alloy to a trade depot/port first, then that port's delivery trucks will deliver those resources to your processor factory. Once the processors have been manufactured, the processor factory's delivery trucks need to take the processors to a trade depot/port for export. From the depot/port, global market vehicles will come to pick up the processors, at which point you'll be paid for them.

 

I am going to have to respectfully disagree with this statement. 

 

• My ore gets moved to the smelter directly from the trucks at the mine. 
• My alloy gets moved by my smelter trucks directly to the processor factory. 
• My processors get moved by the processor factory trucks to my TV factory.
• My TVs are moved by TV factory trucks to my depots.

 

Do I sometimes get items moved out of the depot that were earmarked for export and instead they go to local delivery: Yes.

Do I sometimes get items moved out of the "Use Locally" depot that get delivered to the resource consumers: Yes.

 

In almost all cases the decision tree is thusly,

 

1. Resource is made/produced
2. Resource will be deliever by the producer trucks to another consumer of your resource in your city.
3. IF there are no consumers in your city for that resource the resource is taken to the depot
4. IF there are no depots the resources sit at the original producer (step 1) until there is a need for them.
5. IF there are no resources available at the producer site, delivery will come from a depot.
6. IF there are no resources available at a depot and there is a depot set to import the item, a depot import order is placed.

    

Now... questions I still have, and after many hours of watching the trade window... is IF a depot with resources is closer than a resource producer who gets the call from the consumer to deliver the resources...

 

Upon review... this is far more Trade Nerdy that I expected. 

[Morticcia 0]

 

Upon review... this is far more Trade Nerdy that I expected.   

 

 

Well this game is turning into a road and depot sim, so extremely apropos. 

[NovaBlazer 10]

Well this game is turning into a road and depot sim, so extremely apropos. 

 

 

Was thinking of taking my Trade Depot stuff into a new thread to spawn some conversation on it.  And yes, you are right... Road and Depot sim... VERY much so.  Seems the only real way to make profit.

[HugeF1 0]

It's brilliant.

 

I love this stuff, and it's one of the reasons I like SC'13 better than SC4. Trading is great.

 

I'm working on a region that will be comprised of completely self suficient cities. No importing at all. It's a challenge to make each city work, but I'm getting there. Having a rule that I won't ever gift money to a city makes it ard, but more fun. Ocasionally I lose a delivery, but hey, it's the Royal Mail, so what do you expect