Agree Hykelion, real-time building would be so slow. Plus (and even though I disagree) I remember seeing some negative feedback about this game being basically 'waiting for things to happen'.... and having something so slow and not really fun except for perhaps a longer more detailed construction animation wouldn't add alot. However I do agree that maintenance workers should be in this type of game because Frontier have said it's a management game, perhaps it's too late to add this into JWE now but if they can include this in a sequel it could add several layers of depth - possibly designed around:
1) Fence repairs: Improve dino AI so that more intelligent/aggressive or even large clumsy species just randomly attack the fences but not always to the conclusion of a complete break, just a little damage.... this could then lead to your maintenance crew coming to that part of the fence and either being manually tasked to repair the damage or have a mechanic that automatically lets them do this linked to the level security camera upgrades. This could further be enhanced by giving certain carnivores the ability to sense the workers carry out a repair, and if the repair takes too long they attack them while working (like the cinematic trailer).
There could be a way of 'levelling up' your crew (in research) e.g. level 1 allows them to repair the light fences in 10 seconds, heavy fences in 20, concrete in 30. Then higher level crews can do the job quicker e.g. a level 5 crew could repair light fences in 5 seconds, heavy in 10, concrete in 15. This would therefore give carnivores less time to sense and get to the fence and attack & breakout if you've successfully upskilled your maintenance crew.
2) Cleaning Guest Areas: Similar to JPOG, just have them complete scheduled cleaning jobs. Have this work in a percentage manner similar to the shelter/storm mechanic where the areas of the park with the most attractions/hotels get dirtier more quickly and therefore you need a larger/higher skilled crew to cover those radius's. If not enough crew is allocated to a given area, then it should result in lower spend in that area in the shops/foood & drink outlets and also a lower number of guests visiting attractions in those areas. Maybe this could give us a very small 'maintenance quarters' building too... at most the size of the storm defence stations. Again this could be upgradable, with the higher upgrades expanding the radius covered and/or reducing the cost of the crew.
3) Cleaning Dino Enclosures: Same mechanic as above - but linked to dino population density, feeders and dung. Consequence of an absence of a skilled enough crew would be low dino comfort and increased chance of disease outbreak. Have the crew need to go into the enclosure and take a certain time to perform the cleanup activities. I think for realism we should have to move or tranq carnivores to allow this to happen.
4) Operations Maintenance: The crew should also need to maintain our Ranger & ACU equipment, not doing this should result in losing certain building upgrades. E.g. if the building isn't in the radius of the crew building then we progressively lose the accuracy and reload speed upgrades over time, until crew are allocated to these buildings. Another thing it could influence is possibly the speed of the vehicles themselves, e.g. a lower skilled crew would allow a lower top speed of the jeep and chopper, with better maintenance increasing their speed. This mechanic could also possibly apply to the research and fossil centres too - slowing down and speeding up research and DNA extraction depending on how poorly or well they are covered by the maintence crew.
Thoughts?
