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Author Topic: Garbage dump problems  (Read 964 times)

vonduus

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Garbage dump problems
« on: September 03, 2012, 04:10:45 am »

My dwarfs are stupid (Surprise!). When I have two garbage dumps, like one in my stone stockpile and another one in my refuse stockpile, they insist on dumping stones in the refuse dump and worn clothes in the stone dump.

I have heard that they dump whatever is marked for dumping into the nearest garbage dump they can find. But I tend to believe that "nearest" isn't defined as the shortest walking distance, but as the shortest line between the dumpee and the dump, disregarding walls and z-levels.

My walk-around solution is to delete the stone dump and make a refuse dump, and then do a lot of clothes dumping, and then later I do it the other way around, deleting the refuse dump and make a stone dump. But this is not optimal, as my dwarves dump stuff not when I say so but when they kind of feel like it, which means I always have some residual to-be-dumped-stuff belonging to one category when I change over to the other.

How are you guys managing this?
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AutomataKittay

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Re: Garbage dump problems
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2012, 04:32:20 am »

If you're using the versions with minecart, you can use ( or abuse, depends on how you feel ) cart stops to automatically dump things. That's how I handle my dumping tasks if I'm playing with minecarts around.

Otherwise, I just do it the hard way, switching zones on and off using a key ( for Active toggle ) and use stockpile near them for faster hauling/observability. I only switches zones after checking job list to see that all of the dumping is done.
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aoxoa

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Re: Garbage dump problems
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2012, 04:41:41 am »

I only ever have one garbage dump, but if my refuse is getting really filled, you can remove the first one, make one near the refuse then dump it all. Probably not that great a fix, but easiest way I know of.

Also in my experience they do take the dumped stuff to the nearest garbage dump. Since you dont even need to remove the first as I said above but just put one near the refuse and dump it all.

Maybe at one point dumping zones can be instead made like stockpiles, so you can choose what goes in it.
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vonduus

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Re: Garbage dump problems
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2012, 05:00:14 am »

Ah, the active button, why didn't I think of that myself? It is certainly easier than deleting and rezoning. But still it is a workaround, as it can take forever to get the dump list cleared.

I am using the minecarts for quantum stockpiling. Problem is, that most of the time the stuff to be dumped is all over the place, and nowhere near my tracks.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions  :).
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AutomataKittay

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Re: Garbage dump problems
« Reply #4 on: September 03, 2012, 05:04:11 am »

Ah, the active button, why didn't I think of that myself? It is certainly easier than deleting and rezoning. But still it is a workaround, as it can take forever to get the dump list cleared.

I am using the minecarts for quantum stockpiling. Problem is, that most of the time the stuff to be dumped is all over the place, and nowhere near my tracks.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions  :).

You don't need a long run track, I just have one tile track, with stop on it set to dump in a direction ( with stockpile tile on it ), and set to only take from the other pile right next to it, that it's not dumping in ( I believe you can do away with track, too, but I like having one )
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MarcAFK

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Re: Garbage dump problems
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2012, 08:41:57 am »

You could try using a dump and a stockpile nearby, when the stockpile is full of the specific item you want justset everything there to dump and it *should* be dropped into the correct nearby dump.This works well for most quantum dumping operations as you generally just want items you have a large quantity of to be dumped this way, also the dump is easy to find because it's right next to, or even in the middle of your regular stockpile.
Just make sure there isn't a closer dump, like you already mentioned z levels are considered the same as a single space for pathfinding reasons, just like for most other pathfinding operations.
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They're nearly as bad as badgers. Build a couple of anti-buzzard SAM sites marksdwarf towers and your fortress will look like Baghdad in 2003 from all the aerial bolt spam. You waste a lot of ammo and everything is covered in unslightly exploded buzzard bits and broken bolts.