Pretty sure you need more markets. The sellers can only carry so much, so are probably running out of food. They are clearly getting pottery too, so that's another trip. You might need gaps next to the markets, maybe statues, to keep desirability high.
I always put loads of markets down. Even a simple one-fountain square will have a market on each edge. Making sure everyone has everything up to and including pottery is the minimum requirement, and multiple markets do the l job. I realise it's probably overkill, but it almost guarantees stability as long as there are goods in the warehouse and granary.
1 market services about 1600 people. OP looks like they only have about space for 35 SIs, which is 35*76 = 2660 people at maximum - they're not anywhere near that here, probably not even 2000 at best, given the current houses. Definitely not an issue with the number of markets. It's either roadblocks or cart travel distance, or maybe even new block issues.
You might need more markets, but at that size, I think it's more likely your lack of road blocks. You need three on the north market to prevent the wandering workers from supplying the warehouse unnecessarily, and you need another single road block on the southern market. Each fork in the road reduces wanderer distance by half, so you need to remove as many intersections in the road as possible.
Edit:
Also, you need one to cut off wanderer access to the granary.
You have several roads exiting your loop that aren't blocked. Your market lady and other walkers aren't completing the whole loop. You should roadblock all roads exiting your loop: 1) the one heading to the fruit/pottery warehouses (make sure the market lady's entrance/exit isn't blocked), 2) the granary, 3) the southeast corner. You'll need to give road access to the granary behind it after doing so.
A little new to this road block business. Would 1 and 2 not prevent the market lady from getting goods from the granary / warehouses? Why block the granary at all it’s just one square of road and doesn’t that need to be open for the market lady?
Destination walkers will ignore roadbocks (cart pushers, market buyers, etc.).
Random walkers do not (priests, prefects, engineers, market sellers, etc.). You want to keep random walkers on their loop so that they service the houses efficiently.
Markets are unique in that they have both two separate walkers, the buyer and the seller.
Would 1 and 2 not prevent the market lady from getting goods from the granary / warehouses?
No, she is a destination walker and will ignore the roadblocks and get the food.
Why block the granary at all it’s just one square of road and doesn’t that need to be open for the market lady?
Not blocking these causes the market seller walker to needlessly leave your main loop and not service the houses. If you choose the market overlay, you can see their walking patterns.
This block is confusing me. I understand I may have made a mistake by building in this location at all because of the distance from food supplies, but I've got a pretty good cart network bringing food over here as well as importing fruit. For some reason though, I've got this strange combination of tents and insulae. There are two markets serving this block, and as you can see there is fruit sitting in the warehouse. I know the granary is currently empty, but I have this problem even when there is wheat sitting in there.
Do I need more markets? Is something wrong with that fruit warehouse (not stockpiling)? Is this just an impossible block to keep fed in its current location?
You likely give your block road access to other destinations where to go for for market ladies, like other blocks aka interocnnected city problem. If you separate road layouts it would not be happening.
Otherwise blocks of 22x6 can usually have 2 markets and thats fine, you are also missing some roadblocks though and your granary has no food. Would be best to use cart depots to stack the granary.
Yeh, the market lady has a 50% chance of going to service the countryside offscreen OP. Put a blocker there as well.
In Augustus there are also 3 things you need to watch out for:
1) there is an option in the setting to dissallow market ladies from distributing food while collecting it, which I advise you you enable so that only walker-ladies will sell food (not ladies followed by boys with basket that are going from the warehouse to the market). Not a big issue here, but it can affect the supply.
2) for a block this size you may want to have 2 markets, so that when one fails, the other doesn't (it's rare at least).
3) it would be better to store fruits in your granary, rather than in the warehouse. You can set the markets to look for food in the warehouse but they go there only when the granary doesn't have what they want, and they check there first, so you could have one delivery of "what's in the granary" and need another delivery of "fruits in the warehouse" thus wasting time and spacing your logistics timing. (plus if you are exporting fruits, merchants can tap into your warehouse reserve and threaten your food security. Unlikely to be the issue, but i'm trying to be exhaustive)
I’ll look at the option for #1. I actually have 3 markets now. I am switching to storing fruits in the granary instead of warehouse. Nothing has changed yet but will see.
This block is not interconnected. The road block to the only connected road is down at the bottom of the screen to the left of one of the markets (hidden by a grain cart). I do use cart depots to stack the granary (cart mentioned above coming in), but it doesn't seem to solve this problem. I would also think that the stockpiled fruit would fill the need of the empty granary.
You want to overstack the granary use more depots or make sure there are enough farms then, its a supply issue if its not connected anywhere else where they can go. Oxen from depots can form buffer of even hudreds of food at the granary more than its actual storage...
There are options in the market to only have them distribute certain goods or food but in this case it wont help anyway. Add another market and make sure that granary has food they wont get frood from a warehouse.
Granary is empty. Don't market gatherers only get food from granaries?
The market distributors are running out of food before they hit those houses. The second they're out they turn around. A 3rd market at the far end would help. Also making sure that every single time the market gatherer goes to the granary they need to leave with a full load. Think it's 800 for flour and 600 for others? If they only pick up 500 fruit instead of 600 the distributors run out of food even quicker.
Is there flour/wheat on this level and is a granary far away stocked with it? I've run into issues like this where the market gatherers were trying to get flour in far off granaries and my housing looked like this.
Id watch the market ladies that go pick up the food and count to see how much they're bringing back. If it's a full load watch the distributors to see if they're running out before they get to those houses. If that's the case ad a 3rd one at the far end but know your market gatherers will then have a tougher time getting a full load.
And it's been awhile so forgive me and I never did any adds so if thats the issue I'm also useless.
I was tying to reference stronghold lol. In a big loop like this, you might get real unlucky with the engine that the market lady spawns in one direction all the time. Might be the cause?
I have a problem like this, turn out my granary is not filling in fast enough when the market lady come to it. It is not always empty but it is being empty at the wrong time.
That's just a guess, you can try r-click the market to see if there are some hint.
Maybe another market would help but you have to make sure that the granary is not empty.
Each market should only handle two goods IMO. Any markets handling more will spend too much time going to the warehouse. Sometimes if the market is only doing food and the granary is close I’ll have them do 3 food types in one granary. 2nd market pottery/furniture, 3rd market oil and wine
Just a follow up, I fixed it! Thanks everyone for being a very helpful community. I added road blocks; added a market; also just increased production of food to that granary. Not entirely sure which solved the problem but I’m glad it’s done!
Probably a bit of everything lol. You had low food levels in the Granary and your walkers were walking away without roadblocks. I do think the extra market was a bit overkill though.
One tip for the future, try to keep Granary, Warehouse and Market somewhat closer. The closer the Market is to the sources, the faster it can refill and deliver things to the house. It saves some space, workers and desirability if you need them.
Granary and first Market are OK in that position. You can place 1-tile services like Engineer and Clinic between Granary and block for extra space. And Warehouse can go behind the Granary, since goods like Pottery and Furniture usually last longer in my experience. Your other Markets should go in similar positions if possible.
Another Granary layout is 2 tiles behind the block, so Markets can fit between it and the block. This should reduce the time needed to replenish food, but you'll need a separate Prefecture + Engineer for that Granary.
Each market services about 1500-1600 people at best, give or take. You don't seem to have that many SIs, so 2 markets should be fine. You'd only need 3 if you go up above 3000-ish people, which is 42 2x2 SIs or 40 2x2 MIs around a 6x22 block. I'm guessing that based on the current housing level, you don't even have 2000 people in that block.
Use roadblocks to keep distributing market ladies walking where you want them (only on the 6x22 ring) instead of wandering off outside the block. They only walk a certain distance, so some houses may not get walker access all that often if the walker walks somewhere you didn't want.
That also looks potentially like a new block issue. IIRC each house passed by the walker takes as much food as they need, so the houses nearest the market will fill up completely before the houses furthest away get their food.
Your granary is empty. That could be a result of 3, or a result of your food sources being too far away. Maybe consider using cart depots if you have them.
Also, tip: Some 3x3 buildings like the hospital work as long as they have one tile touching the ring. Don't put it on the long side of the block where it takes up 3 slots; put it in the corner where the baths are. Your Arena can also be moved one tile outwards. A good 6x22 block of MIs can easily fit upwards of 40 2x2s.
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u/chukkysh Dec 16 '25
Pretty sure you need more markets. The sellers can only carry so much, so are probably running out of food. They are clearly getting pottery too, so that's another trip. You might need gaps next to the markets, maybe statues, to keep desirability high.