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Logistics Guide: Transport, District Crossings & Hauling Tips

Logistics in Timberborn covers how goods and workers move around your colony: path networks, district layout and crossings, worker roles (haulers, builders, crossing workers), storage placement and behavior, and transport tools (ziplines, tubeways). Good logistics minimize walking time, prevent bottlenecks between districts, and keep production lines fed.

Districts, paths, and how logistics are formed

  • Districts are defined by path networks. Any building or path connected by an unbroken chain of paths to a District Center becomes part of that District. If you connect two District Centers with a continuous path and no District Crossing, the areas merge into a single district.
  • Build paths deliberately. Paths are free and placed instantly on any solid surface. Use at least 2-tile-wide main arteries to reduce congestion and create loops (ring roads) to avoid dead-end traffic jams.
  • Stairs, spiral stairs, suspension bridges, slopes and platforms can act as paths or have paths placed on them; ziplines and tubeways extend the reachable network but are not traditional path tiles.
  • Pause the game to plan large path changes (or move District Centers) to avoid unintended merging and to reassign import/export settings.

Key worker roles

  • Builders: Employed by Builder's Huts (and District Center), builders handle construction, demolition, rubble reclamation and material transport to build sites. Builder's Huts increase construction workforce; a District Center provides builder slots too. Builders will help remove workplace output when idle.
  • Haulers: Employed by Hauling Posts, haulers have double carrying capacity and specialize in moving goods between storage and production buildings within a district. One Hauling Post serving about 8–12 production buildings is a practical ratio; haulers dramatically increase throughput by freeing production workers from fetching inputs and delivering outputs.
  • Crossing workers: Work at District Crossings to transfer beavers, bots, and goods between two connected districts. Each District Crossing side can employ up to 10 crossing workers (20 total when staffed from both sides). Crossing workers also have double carrying capacity. They move goods from buildings to the crossing to send and move arriving goods to appropriate storages.

District Crossing — inter-district logistics

  • District Crossings are the primary lifeline between districts. Each crossing connects exactly two districts and exposes two sides (one per district). Crossing workers are drawn from the connected districts.
  • Crossings store up to 30 units per resource type on each side. They attempt to balance goods between districts based on available storage percentages.
  • Import settings per resource: Do Not Import, Import If Needed, and Import Always. Also set an export percentage (0–100%) per resource to limit what a district will send. Use Import If Needed for most resources; use Import Always only for resources a district cannot produce.
  • Regular haulers do not pick up from or deliver to District Crossings. Plan crossings and surrounding storage to minimize crossing worker travel.
  • To reduce crossing bottlenecks:
    • Place warehouses/stockpiles within ~5–8 tiles of the crossing.
    • Provide sufficiently large storage on both sides and mark storage near the import side as "Obtain goods from other warehouses" and storage near the export side as "Supply goods to other warehouses".
    • If one crossing is saturated, build a second crossing between the same pair of districts (ideally at the opposite end of the border) to double throughput and reduce internal travel.
  • Crossings attempt to balance by storage capacity. If the sending district has a lot more storage than the receiving side, transfers will appear slow — increase receiving storage or adjust export/import settings.

Warehouses, storage behavior, and supply modes

  • Place Small Warehouses or Large Warehouses close to crossings and production clusters. A tight cluster of warehouses within 5–8 tiles of a crossing reduces transfer time and improves throughput.
  • Storage buildings have behavior toggles:
    • Supply (or Supply goods to other warehouses): actively use haulers and crossing workers to pull items from other storages and distribute them while still accepting incoming goods.
    • Obtain (Obtain goods from other warehouses): receive items from other storages.
    • Accept/Spill/Request toggles (spillage/obtain mechanics): setting a storage to actively fill will make haulers prioritize moving that good into it from other warehouses.
  • Export percentages and Do Not Import settings prevent unnecessary back-and-forth shipments. Set Do Not Import for resources you have excess of; set Import Always only when a district cannot produce a resource at all.

Hauling post placement and utility

  • Centralize Hauling Posts within production clusters so haulers have short trips. One Hauling Post serving 8–12 production buildings is efficient; fewer Hauling Posts spread too thin will reduce production throughput.
  • Haulers and crossing workers both have double carrying capacity — they are the backbone of logistics. Ensure you have enough haulers to move goods from bulk storage near crossings to remote warehouses and production lines.

Transport structures: Ziplines and Tubeways

  • Ziplines: Consist of Zipline Stations, Pylons, and Beams. Beavers and Bots traveling on ziplines move much faster (+150% movement speed). Ziplines can extend the effective working range of many workplaces (gatherers, foresters, lumberjacks, scavengers, efficient farmhouses, etc.). Nodes can be built underwater; travellers are visible and exposed to fluids (can get Wet/Contaminated). Nodes automatically connect (connections adjustable in the building detail). Maximum connection length is capped (connection limit listed in building UI).
    • Ziplines can only connect to two other nodes each; to build junctions place several Zipline Stations close together.
    • Travel distances shown in Zipline Station and Path UI adapt based on zipline distances and can affect path selection.
  • Tubeways / Vertical Tubeways: Allow vertical/horizontal fast transport and can extend builder reach. Builders inside a Tubeway/Vertical Tubeway can build while physically inside the tube, enabling rapid vertical construction. Tubeways extend reach but are not standard path tiles for normal walking beavers.

Path optimization and commute reduction

  • Path optimization reduces average commute time and raises productivity. Place housing close to workplaces and create looped routes rather than dead ends. Multi-level paths (platforms + stairs) create useful shortcuts.
  • Keep Hauling Posts centrally located within production clusters. Group production buildings tightly so haulers can serve many buildings in short trips.
  • Use platforms and bridges to create direct routes over obstacles (buildings, reservoirs) to shorten walking distances.

Multi-district strategy and scaling

  • Choose a district layout that fits the map:
    • Hub-and-Spoke: original district center with satellite districts—good for central rivers.
    • Linear Chain: districts linked along a narrow corridor—good for long valleys and mountain maps.
    • Specialized Cluster: assign districts roles (farming, forestry, industry, residential) and route resources through crossings.
  • For large colonies (100+ beavers), specialize districts and plan crossing staffing. A guideline: for every 10 production buildings that rely on imported inputs, plan for about 5 crossing workers on the receiving side.
  • For colonies beyond 150–200 beavers and 4+ districts, map out roles and resource flows ahead of time, consider redundant crossings between critical district pairs, and use population migration controls to rebalance during droughts or crises.

Trade routes / Distribution Posts (advanced logistics)

  • Distribution Posts (and equivalent distribution buildings) create Trade Routes. Each Distribution Post can have up to 10 Routes (varies by building capacity). Each route requires a continuous path from Distribution Post to the destination Drop-off Point and cannot deliver to buildings within the same district unless configured.
  • A Distribution Post will hold a limited stock per resource for each Route (viewable in the UI). Create one Route per resource per destination district.
  • Drop-off Points can accept many Routes; ensure the receiving building has storage and the connecting path is uninterrupted.

Common troubleshooting and tips

  • If goods aren’t arriving: check crossing worker staffing, storage capacity on the receiving side, and import/export settings. Large disparities in storage sizes slow balancing.
  • If production stalls locally: ensure haulers are present and that local storage isn’t set to Do Not Import for needed inputs.
  • If a crossing is constantly busy: add a second crossing between the same districts and/or add more nearby storage to spread transfer load and reduce internal travel.
  • Move your District Center only when necessary — moving can disrupt paths and requires reconfiguring imports and population assignments.

Good logistics are an ongoing task: monitor crossings and storage, cluster production, keep paths short and uncongested, and use ziplines/tubeways strategically to speed travel. Well-designed logistics let your production chains run smoothly and scale your colony reliably.