Recycling Trucks

[Snugies 91]

So I was watching my recycling trucks. I really could not understand how they operated. I first thought the city was a grid and the trucks would goto their closest agent. But I realised all distance is based on the road system and thought then it would be road distance, but if all trucks went to closest agent they would all follow each other. Then I witnessed all trucks operating quite randomly in different parts of the city. I got curious does anyone know how the recycling trucks are programmed to operate? It seems like distance from agent doesn't matter as I see trucks passing the closest agent to got other ones. It seems quite complicated but a bit bugged at the same time as I see trucks taking a while to find agents. If you know the answer please don't get too technical just a generalized idea.    

[Anything 8]

i believe there was some effort made a few patches ago to make the location they decide to pickup from a little more random than just the closest. but its still pretty fail

i have high hopes for patch 7, the reservation system should make all service vehicles behave completely different

[Snugies 91]

oh interesting ya they used to follow each other around much more. What is the reservation system? and the problems with between city truck sharing I think is a really hard problem that will take awhile to fix. But they have conquered harder problems previously.

[Anything 8]

take a look at the patch notes, theres detailed descriptions about the place already

but in short; truck A says 'ive got those 20 houses over there', truck b says 'ive got the next 20', truck c .... etc. so they should all split up and hit the streets with a little more of a strategy

same goes for fire, police, everything. even residents looking for houses or work i think (which is the main cause of traffic issues)

 

i felt like giving patch 6 a go, but 7 sounds like its going to be such an improvement i cant be bothered and so waiting instead

.... now just waiting for EA to dissapoint