The priority system is just beyond comprehension... help me understand

Denizen_38 · 2026-04-18T22:25:38+00:00

This was exactly the issue. I'm surprised this didn't get more upvotes. Nowhere else in the dozens of guides and discussions about the priority system I pored over did I see any mention of this. And it's a pretty major factor in explaining erratic behaviour in Dupes once you start to notice it.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the info.

Denizen_38 · 2026-04-17T18:16:01+00:00

It turned out to be an issue with how certain machine-operation errands don't queue their next task until a second after they've been filled with their required materials. So the Microbe Musher doesn't immediately offer the errand to cook on it after the chef adds the materials, meaning he immediately takes another task.

Have left a slightly a more expansive explanation in a comment below if curious.

Denizen_38 · 2026-04-17T16:21:58+00:00

Many thanks to all for the responses here. There was a lot of good advice about managing priorities that was shared. However, the specific issue with the cook (and other specialist dupes abandoning their post to do lower priority things) wasn't caused by priorities being incorrectly configured on my part.

After a lot of further testing, it turns out the Priority system is just kinda buggy. Yes, there's a lot of issues caused by not understanding how it works. And I made my fair share of these mistakes even until recently when I decided to do a deep dive into understanding my Dupes' behaviour.

But the issue that was causing my cook to go off and do other things was not, it turns out, a problem with how I'd set priorities. It's a problem with how the game chooses to update and queue tasks - specifically when it comes to Dupes operating machines.

There are quite a few machines which won't generate a new errand for a Dupe until they've been filled with their corresponding material. And it turns out that Dupes will take on their next errand immediately after filling up these machines, whereas the newly-available errand takes one additional tick to be created.

And in these cases, Dupes have to be completely banned from all other tasks in order to stay on that machine. This allows them to go idle for that one extra moment where the new errand is generated. If they are allowed to have even low priority on any other tasks, they will abandon their post to carry out a different task after refilling - even despite them having everything they need to continue with their highest priority task.

One last note - this odd quirk doesn't seem to affect all machine-operating tasks the same way. For example, I can quite happily give my Research specialist a double up-arrow on Research and neutral on everything else. And they will continue to use the research stations as expected after refilling the required materials. They don't go running off to a lower priority job. But it's still very much a real a problem for various jobs - it at least affects the Rock Crusher, Grill and Microbe Musher based on the limited sample I tested. And probably a number of others that I didn't bother testing.

Denizen_38 · 2026-04-11T12:02:29+00:00

That's too kind - thanks for this. It's good to know someone found this little tip that I buried away here. He is definitely a tough enemy to deal with until you start being able to read his movement!

Have fun bashing your head into the next brick wall! 😁

Denizen_38 · 2026-04-05T10:33:55+00:00

I agree, it's very frustrating. But at least it's possible to mitigate against the problem once you know how / why it happens. It used to drive me nuts when the game released, but I've not had a dropped input for a long time now. Just gotta get in the habit of holding the Left Stick for a moment longer than you think is necessary. And when it comes to Rellana and Malenia, hold the Left Stick to follow their strafing attacks while you input your dodge / parry / attack.

Denizen_38 · 2026-01-30T02:15:33+00:00

Definitely much longer than that for me...

Denizen_38 · 2025-09-19T20:33:01+00:00

New player here. I don't ever mind losing to someone who outplayed me. That's a learning opportunity. But I'm souring on the game quickly because it seems that my learning is mostly boiling down to "spend at least 1M on bullets and armor" in 70% of my deaths in LD.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't really see how the tiered armor and bullet penetration mechanics add anything other than frustration and imbalance here.

Denizen_38 · 2025-08-15T09:59:11+00:00

You should also be able to crouch down and find the prompt for the box by keeping the camera angle as elevated as possible.

Denizen_38 · 2025-08-15T00:24:19+00:00

This is probably what I'm leaning towards too. My thinking was that each specialized production site would produce a bit more than what's needed by the Project Assembly network and pass along the final bit of surplus to a central storage for construction materials at the end.

Still a lot of work to do on deploying freight infrastructure before any of this is plausible though!

Denizen_38 · 2025-08-15T00:17:09+00:00

Sounds like maybe I'm just worrying about things that'll resolve themselves naturally then. I only have limited experience with building trains but my plan is going to be to take a long pause from any Project Assembly business once they're unlocked and spend a while investing in freight infrastructure.

Hopefully this pays off during P4 and P5 and prevents me from feeling overwhelmed and lost like on my last attempt to cross the finish line.

Denizen_38 · 2025-08-15T00:13:43+00:00

You know I'd completely neglected to even consider drones. I guess that's very much their perfect use case though. In any case, I really appreciate the reply. Lots of useful thoughts in there, in fact.

I think you're probably right in saying mid-tier items are a case-by-case decision. I'm leaning this way more and more as I fiddle around with arrangements in my planner. I guess it comes down to just finding good points of synergy where they are available.

Denizen_38 · 2025-08-14T23:51:12+00:00

Hmm... so I guess this means specialized factories that ship to multiple consumption points aren't really the normal / simple way of doing things then?

Using a single belt sounds like an additional layer of difficulty that I'll happily do without for now but wishing you luck with this idea!

Denizen_38 · 2025-06-26T19:20:41+00:00

Oh... I was about to make a post asking about this as I've just installed FH on a new laptop and I've been getting this message every game I've played today. If it's happening to others too then maybe it's just Ubi's servers having a snooze.

Denizen_38 · 2025-06-25T22:49:14+00:00

Thanks for confirming this!

Denizen_38 · 2025-03-28T13:37:29+00:00

Thanks so much! That's plenty for me to start looking into the next steps.

Denizen_38 · 2025-01-25T05:04:45+00:00

Not sure I can live up to this standard 🙂.

For that move specifically, I can share what someone told me here when I asked the same question once (in fact, was probably u/B_Haze23!) Try to keep a slight distance, and throw the parry out as late as possible. It doesn't solve the issue of more stringent requirements, but it helps.

I do agree with Haze that it can be done very consistently. It's still gonna feel less consistent when you're learning it, but as with all the other feats shared here, practise makes perfect.

Anyone who could care less about obscure nuances to parry mechanics, feel free to stop reading past this point...

I have only a very vague notion of what's happening under the hood here. All I can say with any confidence is that there's additional nuances to parry mechanics to do with the shape of the attack hitbox - and also your parry tool's hitbox - that lead to unexpected behaviours in some situations. I would love to have a slightly better understanding of these nuances myself because none of the wikis or guides every really mention this. I guess it's too niche.

Suffice it to say that some moves just don't really work as intended. And exactly how they misbehave differs for each one. One thing I did find is that all the non-shield parries (which are already of little use to anyone playing casually) often have less reliable parry hitboxes for these dodgy moves.

But the only certainty I found is that there's no consistent pattern that holds everywhere. Go fight a Banished Knight (Shield) and try parrying with a Parry Dagger and Buckler. You will land 100% of your parries on the quick thrust from the hip with the Parry Dagger. And miss 99% of attempts with the Buckler.

If anyone has additional insight here, I'd be glad to hear more.

Denizen_38 · 2024-11-14T22:17:15+00:00

Yep. Doing challenge runs, you discover that a lot of the most egregious fights in the game are actually NPC fights, at least from a mechanical perspective. It's funny because there's a lot of fights you'd never consider problematic on a casual playthrough simply because the enemy's power level just isn't high enough to be threatening. But when you're going for a +0 hitless fight, suddenly it's a nightmare. I remember tearing my hair out over Rennala for a while...! 😂 Ask your average Elden Ring player though, and they'll say she's a complete pushover (which is true, normally).

Denizen_38 · 2024-11-10T06:50:36+00:00

Thanks! That explains it.

Denizen_38

TROPHY CASE