published on September 21, 2026 in devlog
In this week's devlog Michi talks about material and shipment loading and unloading steps for the shipping route feature.
Michi (molp)
The work on routes progressed well this week. I was able to implement the remaining steps and even a pair of steps that weren't part of the game design document.
The load and unload steps are now functional:
Each of these steps lets you define a material, as well as a minimum and maximum number of units that should be transferred. For a load step, setting the maximum to "capacity" will load as much as fits into the hold. Conversely, for an unload step, it will try to unload as much as possible, limited only by the amount carried and available space at the waypoint. Similarly, a minimum set to capacity will try to fill the entire cargo hold. If for any reason a load or unload step cannot be executed, it will be marked as blocked. Once the required materials or room becomes available, the step will be executed.
I also added a simple wait step that just waits at a waypoint for the specified amount of time.
I imagine that the wait step could be improved in future releases by providing more options than a simple timer.
The game design document for routes was only specified for materials, not shipments. But it didn't feel right to leave them out. So I added another pair of steps:
The load shipment step will try to load as many shipments as possible that are to be delivered to any of the following waypoints. The ones with the shortest deadline will be loaded first. If the route is looping, it will also load shipments for the waypoints that came before the current one, so they can be delivered in the next execution of the round.
The unload shipment step will just unload all shipments for this waypoint, given there is enough room at one of your stores at the waypoint. If a shipment cannot be unloaded the step will be marked as blocked and automatically executed once there is enough space. Alternatively, it is also possible to fulfill the delivery condition to move the shipment to the recipient directly.
The shipment steps do not interact with the contract system. You will have to fulfill the pickup and delivery conditions yourself.
As always, we'd love to hear what you think: join us on Discord or the forums!
Happy trading!