Default swarm direction

What direction does

Swarm direction is a bias in the live scoring that shapes the shape of how your fleet clears an area, anchored to the depot. It's one factor in the score, not a hard rule — the swarm still weighs travel time and density — but it sets the overall sweep pattern.

The three modes

• Outside-in — start at the perimeter of the service area and work inward toward the depot. Good when the far edges are the hardest to reach or the most exposed to drifting, and you want them handled while the fleet is fresh.
• Inside-out — start near the depot and expand outward. Good when your densest, highest-priority properties cluster near the yard and you want them first.
• Nearest-first — no directional bias; each tractor simply takes its highest-value nearby property. The most opportunistic pattern — often fastest raw coverage, least predictable order.

This is the default, not a lock

The value you set here is the organization default. It's the starting bias for a storm; direction is a per-storm property, so a dispatcher can run a given event with a different direction when a particular storm calls for it. Setting a sensible default means most storms need no thought.

Choosing

If you're unsure, nearest-first gives the quickest overall clear and is a safe default. Choose outside-in or inside-out when the order of coverage matters to your customers or your route geography — for example clearing exposed perimeter properties before they re-drift.