Did you ever try having two adjacent docks? I don't remember they operate the way you describe. If there are ships waiting in line for a single dock, it helps to build one right next to it, so the ships will be handled in parallel. Try it.

I've read in this forum how ships will go from one dock to the other in the order they were built.

Don't believe everything you read.

When there are 2 docks, ships do tend to go to one dock first and then the other. (They might tend to go first to the first dock built--I have my doubts, but it's not important.) However, they do not always do that. I've seen a pair of ships enter the map and each ship go to a different dock. I've also seen a ship park (waiting to trade) near a dock, then (without trading at that dock) go to another dock.

If that's so, does it ever make sense to build two docks side-by-side?

If that was always so, then it wouldn't make sense to build two docks side-by-side. But it isn't always so.

It sometimes makes sense to build two docks side-by-side.

To trade a lot, you should have an efficient dock (one where dockers never go very far). With an efficient dock and no more than 3 water trade routes open, it is probably best to have a single dock, with no ship remaining very long at the dock (which sits idle much of the time). This is especially true if you want to do a lot of water trade with one city.

If the dock is inefficient it may be better to have multiple docks. I don't recommend it, but if you have an inefficient dock (perhaps you've adopted a "personal rule" that makes it difficult to have an efficient dock, such as "all roads are connected") then having multiple docks side-by-side may increase total trade.

If there are 4 or more water trade routes open, then it might be better to have multiple docks even if a single dock was efficient. (If there is already a ship trading and 2 ships waiting at a dock, a trade ship enterting the map will not go to that dock. In that case, if there is no other dock then the trade ship will simply leave.) However, it is possible to have a lot of water trade with 4 water trade cities and a single dock--my On and my Baki (both in the Downloads) are examples, although it is possible that they avoided problems simply by luck (the timing of when trade ships enter the map).

How do I get the stevedoring split between two docks?

I don't know of anything that you can do to improve the game's handling of multiple docks--it seems to work OK. (Again, my preference is to have a single efficient dock and avoid the problem.)

[This message has been edited by Brugle (edited 09-23-2008 @ 05:09 PM).]

The following is from fairly casual observation of docks in Caesar 3 (i.e. not exhaustively tested). It may or may not apply to Pharoah.

Ships do appear favor the first-built dock, if it is not already reserved by another incoming ship. They will favor a free dock over waiting at anchor, so if the first-built is busy (or reserved) they will go to the second-built rather than wait off the first. If no docks are free they will wait at anchor at any dock where the designated 'waiting tile' is accessible. I'm not sure if the first-built is favored for waiting but I would expect it is.

Ships that are waiting will go to any dock that becomes free, not necessarily the one near which they are waiting. However, incoming ships can get ahead of them in the queue, resulting in them continuing to wait off a free dock.

In my experience, where you have multiple docks connected to a single road network (ie all docks have access to the same storage yards) ships will usually leave the map when they have finished trading without visiting any of the other docks. Maybe I just haven't made enough observations.

Apart from what Brugle says about trade volumes and efficiency, there are at least two other situations where multiple docks are advantageous - (1) In a narrow river it may not be possible to find locations for docks with accessible waiting tiles. A single dock will then only handle one ship at a time and no others can enter the map. (2) If docks are a significant distance from entry point the available targets (free docks and waiting tiles) are more likely to be tied up for more of the time, since these are 'reserved' by ships entering and tied up for the whole time it takes to reach them.

'Side by side' docks are generally, IMHO, a good idea (if a single dock is struggling) so long as they are both connected to nearby storage facilities for all traded commodities so it won't matter much to you which ship trades at which dock. Disconnected multiple docks are a nightmare and definitely Not Recommended.

Quoted from Trium3:

(1) In a narrow river it may not be possible to find locations for docks with accessible waiting tiles.

It is certainly possible to put a dock in such a place (as Trium3 knows, it's happened to me), but I expect that very few missions won't have better places to put a dock.

Quoted from Trium3:

free docks and waiting tiles ... are 'reserved' by ships entering and tied up for the whole time it takes to reach them

At least in Pharaoh, I think a ship heading for the dock can reserve the dock itself but not a waiting tile. (In my Baki, I often see two ships enter the map fairly close together when there is already one ship at the dock plus one ship waiting, and both of the new ships head for the other waiting tile.)

Quoted from Trium3:

Disconnected multiple docks are a nightmare and definitely Not Recommended.

Connected multiple docks that are far apart may be worse, since they will probably be highly inefficient.

Some players have reported success with unconnected multiple docks, other have reported a nightmare. I haven't tried them.

Been playing this game for about 10 years now and have tried every combination possible with docks - but I always come back to the same solution - as Brugle says - you can't beat ONE good efficient dock!!
PS Brugle - I've done Baki and On numerous times with one dock and no problems - could be we were both lucky!

[This message has been edited by Annie1 (edited 09-29-2008 @ 08:56 PM).]

Multiple Docks may be a nightmare, but if they are close and connected they're less a problem usually, like it's said here. Though there's one thing I saw recently which isn't in your comments, and which I didn't understand: I had three Docks side to side (or nearly) and of course connected, and saw several times a ship anchored waiting for free Dock just in front of a free Dock...
As I was as usual short of money, I was very anxious of him coming to buy my so useful and high-quality goods, but he didn't move until a new ship came from outside of the map, sailed through the Holy Nile, docked, bought goods and sailed away. Only then did the lazy (or stupid?) boat understand that the Dock was available.
Is it a known bug or what? Is there a way to prevent this?

Since I've first posted this, I've learned the following:

(1) Side-by-side (adjacent) docks that are CONNECTED are no more efficient than a single dock. Every ship will want to visit every dock which will nullify the benefit of having multiple docks.

(2) Widely separated CONNECTED docks are a nightmare. You could have goods ready for export in a yard next to ONE dock, and the stevedores from the OTHER dock will make the long trip to get those goods and load them from their own dock.

(3) UNCONNECTED docks can speed up shipping considerably. Set up each dock to handle only certain goods, such as flax and linen at one and reeds and papyrus at the other. Or maybe have one dock for import and one for export. To move goods from one road network to the other, you would need storage yards with get orders.

And of course, dock efficiency is always important, whether you have one dock or multiple docks.

I don't recall seeing your name here before, Lien---are you new to this site? Welcome.

Regards,

Henipatra

Quoted from Lien Rag:

I ... saw ... a ship anchored waiting for free Dock just in front of a free Dock ... he didn't move until a new ship came ... docked, bought goods and sailed away ... Is it a known bug or what? Is there a way to prevent this?

This might be a bug, but I doubt it. I think it is the way that docks were designed to work. Note that the same thing can happen with a single dock.

What happens is that a trade ship must "reserve" the dock before sailing to it. A ship can "reserve" a dock when it enters the map, when it finishes at another dock, or when it is anchored and another ship finishes trading at the dock.

For example, ship A is trading at the dock when ship B enters the map, so ship B starts sailing to the "anchored and waiting" position since it cannot reserve the dock. Ship A finishes trading at the dock and sails away. Ship C enters the map and reserves the dock. Ship B arrives at the "anchored and waiting" position but ship C has the dock reserved. Eventually, ship C arrives at the dock, trades, and leaves, which allows ship B to reserve the dock and trade (unless ship D happens to enter that map at exactly that moment, since it could reserve the dock and make ship B wait even longer).

As far as I know, there is no way to prevent the docks from working as designed. You can minimize the probability that the delay you described will happen by putting the dock(s) close to the ship entry point. That will also lessen the impact when it does happen, as will not letting ships remain at a dock for long.

Quoted from Henipatra:

Side-by-side (adjacent) docks that are CONNECTED are no more efficient than a single dock.

That is true in many situations: if there are no more than 3 or 4 water trade routes open, if the dock is close to the ship entry point, and if the dock is efficient. However, multiple docks (connected together) may be more efficient if there are more than 3 or 4 water trade routes open, if the docks are far from the ship entry point, or if the docks are inefficient.

[This message has been edited by Brugle (edited 08-22-2009 @ 06:46 PM).]

Quoted from Annie:

PS Brugle - I've done Baki and On numerous times with one dock and no problems

Yes, but could you buy and sell ALL that is possible within a year, and this every year?

Thanks Brugle for your explanations, but this trouble came again in the fourth Deir-el-Medina scenario: now it's two ships from Pi-Ramesse that are stuck together, waiting for a free dock, and staying there for years, even if I delete the docks or if I quit Pharao and come back.
As both ships are from Pi-Ramesse, I can't get any other ship from this city to come, and so not only my paint stays in my storage yards (which I can manage since my financial balance is now positive even without selling paint) but I can't import neither papyrus for my Scribal Schools and Libraries nor weapons and chariots as burial provisions...

Quoted from Lien Rag:

but this trouble came again

No, it sounds like a completely different problem. In reply #6, a ship would wait at a dock until another ship docked there, traded, and left. (That is normal and unavoidable.) In reply #10, ships are stuck permanently. (That is a bug.)

I've never had that bug, so I don't know much about it. If I did have that problem, I would try to determine what caused it, by loading saved games from right before the problem occurred and then seeing if I could reproduce it. But you probably don't want to do that much work.

The easiest solution would be to load a saved game from right before the problem occurred and continue from there, avoiding anything that seems likely to cause problems (such as using UNDO or deleting a dock that has ships sailing for it).

If you want to continue from where you are, you could try deleting all docks and waiting for a few months to see if the ships stuck waiting sailed away (or disappeared). Assuming that that doesn't work, you could try rebuilding an old dock and waiting a few months, then doing the same in each location that ever had a dock.

Other players might have better advice. Also, you might try searching this forum for threads about docks or dock problems.

In all cases where I had ships seemingly stuck at a dock, it helped to delete/undo the dock (or delete/rebuild, which is safer). If you tried that and it doesn't work, you can send me a copy of the file, and I will try to find out the problem.