OK, I've only just finished the 2nd Econ mission but I have some issues / questions and some strategy ideas that may help resolve them.

1) UI Clarification: a rotating red circle means the building isn't being worked, a building with a roof on it means it is being worked but the person isn't there, a building with a roof off means the building is being worked and the person is in it. Is that correct?

2) Does more than one person work in a building? All buildings or just some?

3) Bakeries... wth? So in the 2nd mission I needed like 15 bakeries for my 7 grain farms and I still wasn't keeping up. I don't get what's happening here. Is it that my bakeries were too far from the stockpile (flour) and the Granary so the people working them were taking too long to travel? I must be doing something horribly wrong here because I can't imagine that this is the economic balance the devs had intended.

4) Placement strategy: Do you build your stockpile right next to your granary? What do you put closest to your stockpile? What do you put closest to your granary? I suppose a general tactic is to leave room around your keep for your hovels. Looking for placement ideas for the rest of the buildings. Woodcutting probably doesn't matter if it is as close as the food production buildings I suppose.

5) Lastly, how come when I put archers in a tower on Hold Position always end up on the ground getting killed? It seems that they climb down for some reason - or maybe blink down, I've never seen one do it. How can I get them to stay up there?

Thanks

2. There are only few buildings where more than one person works in, all of them in the resource collecting business: wood cutters and quarry = 3 persons, iron mine = 2 persons

3. Wheat Farms (Wheat)-> Stockpile -> Mills (Flour) -> Stockpile -> Bakeries (Bread) -> Granary
So, something along this line oftransport ways seems to be inefficient in your game (because of this it is definitely ideal to place your wheat farms and mills near to the stockpile, whereas bakeries should be located near the stockpile as well as the granary)

4. I place the granary in a short distance of the stockpile (for my bakeries, who need access to both) ... I put all my food producing buildings (i.e. Orchards, Pig/Cattle Farm) near to the Granary (Bakeries between stockpile and granary) ... all other important economic buildings go near the stockpile (and Housings of course, near the Keep)

5. Because there are still many bugs/problems with SH3, I assume

For 5, you have to zoom in and click on the actual platform on the tower itself. In regards to 3, I've always run 3 wheat farms and 8 bakeries with a mill and that works fine. Are you placing the bakeries as close to the Granary as you can?

1:
- yes red circle indicates no workers so building isn't working
- the roof will disappear to show you a veiw of inside but it doesn't indicate whether someones there or not just a graphical thing, at least as I understand it as you can hover over it and it disappears.

2:
yes more than 1 person can work in a building but not all buildings require more than 1 so most food production buildings only have one but quarries, woodcutter and iron works have 2 -3 people

3:
there were issues beofre the patch supposedly (only got SH3 after patch) where food consupmtion was out of whack and I still feel its a little over the top but to answer put your bakeries and mill as close to the stockpile as possible, I use around 4 wheat fields 6-7 bakeires and 1 mill

4: I put my stockpile closest to stone (if available its more stable than wood as in workers don't have to keep going further out to get stone) if not then nearest to woodcutters (as I need lots of wood early on)
-I put my granary in the middle of the field where I'll be putting farms eg: apple, pig etc..
-I put apples the furthest away from my granary as it takes them less time to replenish their stocks and pigs, dairy the closest.
- I leave all the space around keep for housing
- wood I place as close to the source of wood as possible even if this is a fair way away from my stockpile or I put them next to an area I need clearing

5:not sure maybe this was patched as I don't have any issues, I actually use aggresive stance so they fire earlier on troops then change to defensive stance when enemy is close