Auto-Sort by Quality

[Erik_the_Blue]

Trying to sort large quantities of stuff (i.e. seeds) is a mind-numbingly tedious task that keeps me from *playing* the game and decreases my mouse's lifespan, what with all the clicking that's necessary. This isn't fun at all, but necessary if I'm concerned about the quality of the stuff I'm working with. It would seriously decrease the tedium if containers had a button to auto-sort the contents by quality. I'm not asking for anything instantaneous; if the auto-sort function had a "work timer" like crafting things, I'd be satisfied with that. I just want something that doesn't require me to click hundreds of times just to sort a few containers worth of stuff.

[Laremere]

I was going to suggest that, but then I figured out a useful process to sort by quality. I thought ahead and use 4x4 fields, so this may be more or less elegant if you do the same (well, doesn't have to be, but you'll see.) First have an empty straw basket. Go and start harvesting, putting the seeds in the basket as your inventory fills up. When you reach a point where no more seeds fit into you working storage (as we'll call it, aka your basket), look over your seeds in your working storage and see what the lowest quality is (call this quality base quality). Automatically dump any seeds at or bellow your base quality in your inventory. Then see how many seeds in your inventory you have left. Dump the seeds in your working storage that are base quality, until the number of open slots in your working storage equals the number of seeds higher than base quality in your inventory, moving the seeds in your inventory over as space is made. If they don't fit, raise your base value by one quality level, then go through your inventory again automatically dumping seeds of that quality (as there is no way they'll end up being higher than anything in your working storage.) Continue by making space in your working storage by dumping seeds at base quality and moving in the higher level seeds from your inventory, raising your base value by one and continuing the process again and again harvesting more and sorting out the lowest quality. This is where 4x4 fields work very well, as your working storage could be a single straw basket, or multiple straw baskets if you're doing several fields of the same crops at once, though as long as your working storage is as large as the space you wish to plant, it all works out.

Sorting by quality would still be nice, but not as needed using this technique. If this all went over your head (I may have explained it badly...) just say so and I'll try to explain it in a different way.

[Erik_the_Blue]

How long does it take you to harvest and replant a 4x4 field that way, assuming you only plant the highest quality seeds, and don't leave anything on the ground to disappear? I use 4x4 fields with four baskets for sorting goods, and for wheat, the full process takes about fifteen minutes (thus I average one tile per minute or there about). Of course, I'd prefer to only plant the highest quality seeds across all fields, but that'd take a massive number of containers until seed bags are implemented.

Anyhow, though I mentioned seeds, I've also run into sorting issues with intestines, poppy flowers, straw, fibres, meat, and possibly other things that escape me at the moment, so my request for this feature still stands.

[Laremere]

I wouldn't know how long I actually spend sorting, as I do it while harvesting, but it is not near 15 mins of work.