Relationship between # of copter orders and proximity to housing?

[dnana1]

I believe that if you have all of your buildings on the very edge of your town, you sometimes don't see all your heli orders. I think the buildings have to be on the map shown in the heli tab for you to see orders, so occasionally people only see 7 or 8 instead of nine. But if you move your buildings on to the map, all orders show up again.

If this were true, I would think there would be something here or in the wiki stating that and I cant find anything in the wiki at all that talks about the variable number of active orders you may see at the helipad and what conditions could change that number. The OP posted a screen shot of his open orders when he started the thread and there were 6 people and no timers and he asked if the reduced number of orders was because he had sold houses to gain XP. This is when people started telling him to move his helipad closer to his houses and he would get the orders back. I just couldnt believe that so I checked the wiki and it just says that 'the higher level you are, the more customers will appear, up to a maximum of 9.' Nothing specific about it being tied to population, but you cant move up without increasing population, and nothing at all about the position of your helipad increasing or decreasing the number of customers. The wiki page is pretty old, tho, is there someplace else to look for more current info?

I never looked at the helipad background as an actual map of how far the copter would go, just a cute rendition of my town in the background because there has to be something there!

[JJay]

If this were true, I would think there would be something here or in the wiki stating that and I cant find anything in the wiki at all that talks about the variable number of active orders you may see at the helipad and what conditions could change that number. The OP posted a screen shot of his open orders when he started the thread and there were 6 people and no timers and he asked if the reduced number of orders was because he had sold houses to gain XP. This is when people started telling him to move his helipad closer to his houses and he would get the orders back. I just couldnt believe that so I checked the wiki and it just says that 'the higher level you are, the more customers will appear, up to a maximum of 9.' Nothing specific about it being tied to population, but you cant move up without increasing population, and nothing at all about the position of your helipad increasing or decreasing the number of customers. The wiki page is pretty old, tho, is there someplace else to look for more current info?

I never looked at the helipad background as an actual map of how far the copter would go, just a cute rendition of my town in the background because there has to be something there!

Sorry to confuse you. Was just trying to be helpful. I've not had the problem myself, but it's an explanation I've seen several times for the same issue.

[Mayfield]

That mini map in the copter order display doesn't leave much out, just the far right and left corners. Those look to be areas that used to be cliffs, which were changed into expansion parcels over the past year or two.

I'd never heard that copter orders destined for those corners won't display, but it seems possible. I don't think I've ever seen an order even close to the edges, though. I guess I need to pay closer attention.

[rain_city]

The heli orders are not only for the houses but also for the factories and community buildings. Building your town or positioning your buildings based on the heli map just doesn't make sense. I have buildings in the corners not showing on the map but there hasn't been any issue with how many orders appear on my board (always 9). I believe this is managed by the algorithm. And because we have this 'visit to your friend's town glitch' it really shouldn't matter where your helicopter pad is.

[cdosr]

That mini map in the copter order display doesn't leave much out, just the far right and left corners. Those look to be areas that used to be cliffs, which were changed into expansion parcels over the past year or two.

I'd never heard that copter orders destined for those corners won't display, but it seems possible. I don't think I've ever seen an order even close to the edges, though. I guess I need to pay closer attention.

I don't believe it will ever generate an order for something "outside the displayable area of the mini-map", that is, no "hidden orders" that you'll never see. All of my houses are outside the right edge and I've never seen less than 9 orders.

It is possible to move things around enough so that there are not enough factories, houses, or CBs to be visible in the mini-window so you won't see 9 orders. Someone in one of the FB groups demonstrated that my doing some extreme moves to the edges.

What is unclear is what happens if I have an order for a building / house / factory and I actually move that building / house / factory off the edges of the mini-map. Does the order follow the building and become invisible? Since orders themselves do not timeout are they gone until you move the building back? If the "pin" is for the 30 minute waiting period (after dumping an order), those are not replaced "in situ" but disappear and are replaced by a real order dropping down. If they "waiting pin" is off the mini-map at the time it expires is it replaced by a real order.

These are things I'd be willing to try out if I had a baby town to fiddle with but I'm leery of losing a helicopter order since I do a lot of regatta tasks.

Any volunteers?

[Cuddz]

Think we are aware that the heli goes to every building rain_city lol

The maximum orders you can get from the heli pad at any one time is 9. Once that maximum is reached you should always get 9.
The maximum orders is achieved according to population, deleting houses also depleted population, hence less orders.
The map is as Mayfield states, it used to cover your whole town, but as those expansions have been added the map has not expanded.
The heli does not go to those corners no matter what you have in them, it will always go to a part of your map that can be seen.
The idea of moving the heliport closer to the houses was suggested originally to lessen the time the heli takes to deliver an order as it would be closer.
This was to help get the achievement “Impressve Efficiency 1V” which requires 30 orders in 30 minutes.

[Mayfield]

Looking again, my map is missing quite a bit on the left - all my ducks, bees, chickens, pigs, the mine, and smelter and three or 4 community buildings.

Still, I seem to always have 9 orders, 10 with video guy.

Right now, the Don want his order delivered to the circus tent. Lol. I guess he moonlights as a clown.

[cdosr]

What is unclear is what happens if I have an order for a building / house / factory and I actually move that building / house / factory off the edges of the mini-map. Does the order follow the building and become invisible?

The heli does not go to those corners no matter what you have in them, it will always go to a part of your map that can be seen.

So I performed one experiment. I had an order for a CB near the right edge. So I moved the building so it would be outside the mini-map.

To my surprise the order "pin" stayed where it was and is now over an empty patch of grass. So I filled the order.

To my second surprise, the helicopter flew to the building in its new location. It did not drop the goodies in the patch of grass buy flew off the mini-map to where the building was relocated to.

Then a replacement 9th order dropped down in some other part of town.

Interesting, it's not that the helicopter will not fly off the mini-map it's more that orders will not appear there so normally there's no reason to fly off the mini-map except when I moved the building.

[dnana1]

You guys are awesome for running with this goofy question! Thank you for all the info! This game is way more complicated than a lot of people even know!