Homeland layout: storage placement and hauler workers

Placing storage in the middle of or near each production area cuts down on Aniimo hauling time. That covers crop fields, resource plots and crafting stations alike. If you have three working areas, each one wants its own box rather than all three sharing a single store at the edge of the map.

The middle of an area is the strongest spot when the area is spread out. A box in the centre of a field is close to every corner of it. A box at one end leaves the far rows with a long walk every time.

This is not about tidiness. A single central warehouse looks neat and turns every delivery into a trek across the Homeland.

Hauler Aniimo move between Homeland areas as needed, carrying picked-up items to the nearest storage unit. They are not tied to one station's output, so they go where the stockpiles are.

Aniimo with the hauling ability also have a catch built in. They move stockpiled produce from facilities to storage boxes when they are not busy at their main station. Hauling is the job they do in the gaps. Every metre of a delivery trip is time spent away from their main work, and the shorter the trip, the sooner they are back producing.

That is why the nearest box matters so much. You cannot point a hauler at a particular store, but you can make sure the nearest one is also a close one.

A single worker Aniimo cycles between several facilities of its type, such as two electric machines, when one runs out of supplies. Facilities of the same type therefore belong near each other. Put them side by side with a storage box between them and one worker can switch machines without a long walk, while the produce from both lands in the same nearby box.

Scatter those machines across the Homeland and the same worker spends its cycling time on the road instead.

Your personal Homeland includes a customizable house and a garden, and both start out covered in clutter that must be cleared. You are laying out storage on ground you have had to clear first, so it pays to think about where production areas will sit before you fill the space.

Unlocking a Homeland plot instantly grants a large amount of Wood Blocks and Mineral Sand. New land arrives with materials to start building on it, which makes it a natural moment to set out that plot's storage alongside its first facilities.

Layouts rarely come out right the first time. In edit mode you can select multiple placed furniture items together and move or store them at once. If a field and its storage box need to shift, take them as a group so the box stays where it does its job.

Staffing has its own guides on this site, so here are only the points that touch layout. Duplicate copies of the same Aniimo, including duplicate Prismana, can work in the Homeland at the same time, so spare copies make useful house workers. Prismana are strong workers, and along with legendaries they are the only Aniimo whose work skills reach level 4. Dark-type Aniimo handle harvesting, cutting, pickling and drying, which makes them the obvious crew for crop fields and the processing stations near them.

06Where to start

Give every crop field, resource plot and crafting station its own storage box, ideally in the middle of the area. Keep facilities of the same type together. When something needs to move, select it as a group in edit mode so the storage goes with it.