A Few Tips On How To Buff

Hey Peeps,

It seemed to me from today on chat that quite a few people were still not entirely sure how this buffing thing works - particularly in relation to the Pumpkin Fields.

So, what I'm about to say is not valid for just the Pumpkin Fields but to ANY PRODUCTION BUILDING.

First, let's look at how a production cycle takes place at our Building X.

The production cycle starts when our settler John leaves the nearest storehouse and makes his way to Building X (just X from now on). This physical distance is measure in seconds and you can find it in the details tab when you click on the building.

This is the initial time of the production cycle.

When John reaches X and enters it the making of the goods actually begins. This is the core cycle of the production. It does not shift wherever you may place the building - it's constant.

So John works for a while and, as soon as the goods are completed he will not leave them there but will rather make his way back from X to the nearest storehouse.

When John enters the storehouse, the goods are delivered, become part of your stock and this production cycle ends.

And a new one begins immediately after, as John  leaves the storehouse and returns to work.

Why all this?

Because people have been having problems understanding how buffs operate and what works - and what may cause things NOT to work.

People have been advised to pause Pumpkin Fields in order to save on buffs and intelligently increase the number of pumpkins obtained.

HOW CAN THINGS GO WRONG?

Well, if you pause X whilst John is away, walking or at the storehouse, he may not be able to re-enter X. This means that when you unpause the building the production cycle is still in its inception.

HOW DO YOU FIX THIS?

Simple: just make sure you pause the building AFTER there's a bit of green in the progression bar.

Because the KEY IDEA IS THIS: even if the building is paused, the core production cycle keeps going until the end.
And, as soon as you unpause the building the production finishes and you get your goods (even though John still has to travel to the storehouse...)

SO, if you BUFF the PAUSED BUILDING when you know that the MAIN PRODUCTION CYCLE has ENDED, then WAIT for the BUFF to become ACTIVE - then you can UNPAUSE BUILDING and get double the amount of goods (or more if you use a triple or quadruple buff).

The only thing left to do is to WAIT for John to return to X and the main production cycle to begin once more. Then you can PAUSE once more.

Obviously this is way too much work to do with everything.

But with certain buildings it pays off.

WHICH BUILDINGS?

The Pumpkin Fields, obviously... but also
Coinage
Gold Smelter
Gold Mines
Ornamentalsmith
Fairy Castle
and perhaps other high level buildings you might be running

(I certainly did this with my Exotic Wood Sawmill at least - it becomes quite easy after you get the hang of it... just wait for the buff and unpause, that's it. Then pause again shortly after the buff has ended, making sure there's a bit of green on the progression bar in the building)

Hope this helps clarify a bit better how a production cycle works - and how you can use your buffs efficiently!