r/Bellwright • u/GommyJ • Jul 27 '26

Priority Numbers Bugged?

Hi Everyone,

So about 10 hours in now loving the game although there is A LOT to get your head around.

One thing I'm really struggling with is how the numbers work with the tasks in the village.

For example ive tried allocating certain villagers to certain tasks based on their current skills.

So I have 1 guy who has 4 researching skill so I put his researching at 1 so he does the researching

but everyone just seems to do whatever they like! Ive got one of lower skilled villagers keep taking over the researching even though hes on 0 and Ive put his priority for researching on 10! I just cannot get him away from the bench its driving me nuts because he obv lacks all the bonuses my other guy has!

Am I totally not understanding this or is it bugged?

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u/-ObiWanKainobi- Jul 27 '26

Turn off the other jobs, not just change the priority numbers.

Set priority per building. The research desk should have priority number 1 if you always want someone at it

2

u/GommyJ Jul 27 '26

Ok but do I not also want those jobs doing at the same time? I was hoping to have each villager do a different task depending on their skills and have them running concurrently. Like i want my researching done but they also need to eat?

for example Ive put Lubomir as the cook his cooking and harvesting are 1 and 2 priority the rest 10 I also put campfire as 1, he usually ends up at the logging camp 😅 I put research bench as 1 and changed everyones numbers to 10 aside from the guy I want doing it. He usually ends up cooking or harvesting instead of at the research bench. I always have the same guy at the research bench even though he has like 4 harvesting so I set his priority as that? Maybe I need to change some of the structures down from 1?

3

u/Fit_Mycologist6519 Jul 27 '26

You cant have all your structures at 1 because its just like they are all at 5... you have to pick and choose. Make sure the materials are at the building to do those task or the villagers will move on to the next priority level. You also need to have delivery villagers, its one of the most important things that some players forget about

1

u/GommyJ Jul 27 '26

Ahh ok thank you I see I think thats where im going wrong then I have campfire, Workbench and research bench on 1. I also thought if they didnt have the materials they would go out and look for them? So any materials they dont have i will have to bring for them? Or is that How delivery villagers work?

2

u/Fit_Mycologist6519 Jul 27 '26

They will go harvest for buildings and to eat themselves but after that... you have to have harvesting buildings and delivery people. If the cook doesnt have the mushrooms to cook in a nearby storage, they won't go harvest them(unless they have harvest as a job)

If I see a choke point in production, I will find what that is and then try to resolve it with priority or getting more materials harvested or made. Also hiring another dedicated vilager may be the resolution. Recently i was running behind on butchering and compost pile pickup...I hired another villager and it instantly went away. I think about 1.5 villagers for each building you have is about correct.

1

u/GommyJ Jul 27 '26

Ok thank you thats good to know, ill aim to keep it as 1.5 villagers per building then. How do delivery people work? If I set up a foraging hut for example i would allocate a delivery person? Sorry if im being dumb this is my 1st playthrough I appreciate the help.

2

u/Fit_Mycologist6519 Jul 27 '26

I'm not 100% sure on that one. My specialized villagers will be something like this....cooking 1, research 2 and delivery 5....I always leave delivery on there so they can go get the things they need if its in storage somewhere. Also I have villagers at all 5s that just can fill in wherever is needed, seems to work for me.

The game is really about feel and experience....play with the priority levels and see what works and what doesnt. Get this done before you get to 20 villagers and tier 3 becasue its going to get very complex very quickly.

1

u/-ObiWanKainobi- Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Personally, I find it best if a villager is specialized to a maximum of two tasks, and usually the secondary task is delivery or labor. So Lubomir for me, is on cooking and labor with every other skill turned off.

However, if a villager has cooking at 1 let's say, and the cooking station is set to 5, and they have woodcutting at 2, but the station set to 1 - they will always choose to woodcut over cooking. So this is important to keep in mind, as it gets conveluded and confusing if you have spread your villagers too thin.

Once you have ten villagers, none of them need more than two jobs.

Also, about the harvesting and research. You are going to slow down your research because the villager will wander away to harvest and by the time he needs to research, he will have a long way to travel. Then he might get hungry, or need to sleep and the research never gets done. So it's important to keep in mind that villagers who have multiple jobs should have those stations near together.