Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Rvlion]

I tend to use the manager for large orders... 120 beds, cabinets, coffers, coffins anyone? And don't forget the huge amounts of doors I need through out the fortress.

1).. First place then craft
Although the manager would be a lot more usefull if a change was made to the game.
1... As player to always be able to designate items for placement.
2... When I place for example an (Obsidian) Rock Door, this order is send to the manager.
3... The manager approves the order and...
A. When available the item is placed right away.
B. When not available the order to craft is send to a workshop, item dumped in storage and later placed as well.

2).. Setting minimal required amount for items
Alternatively I read about the dfhack for creating a "IF x < set amount, THEN craft y amount of item x" order... This should become a standard option for the manager.

Both examples I mention above required a (partial?) duty merge of the Manager and Bookkeeper, but for me it would make the whole micromanagement a lot easier.

Also I can imagine that giving the order to craft 30 steel "insert any item" can be difficult to program because in that case it would require the game to not only craft the steel items, but also first give the order to craft the steel bars needed to create them when not available including a calculated amount of ore and flux stone required.

For some the fun in the game is partially in the whole micromanagement, but for others it can be quite tedious at times.

[CognitiveDissonance]

Conversely, I could not live without a manager. I like barrels, bins, cages, doors, grates, blocks, more blocks, more blocks, clothes... you know, everything that can be produced in bulk. And I like it in bulk. It is quite rare that I want specific items, and those generally receive a custom-built and stocked workshop elsewhere, complete with the living necessities of the crafter.

((Note to self: Learn to use the damn minecarts))

[evictedSaint]

Also it's required to use DFHack's Workflow plugin, which can keep stock levels.  I don't worry about running out of drinks anymore, I just get a manager and then DFHack, "Keep 500 drinks in stock" and it toggles the job on and off as needed.  Works with almost every job, some trouble with things like dying and encrusting, but works gloriously when trying to keep food, drink, and ammo in supply.

How exactly do you operate this function in DFhack?

[VerdantSF]

Workflow Instructions

It's definitely one of the best DF tools out there.  It works especially well with Seedwatch & Autobutcher (instructions for those are also found at the link above).  Micromanaging food and drink is now a thing of the past.  My duke has ammo mandates, otherwise I'd use it for those, too.  One thing to note is that "amount" and "count" are two very different things.  "Amount" is for the total quantity of an item, while "count" is the number of stacks.

[Weylyn]

The manager is NOT particularly suited to situations where you care about quality and you have workshops for high skilled workers and others for low skilled workers, or if you care about the input materials (and there is variance in the input materials).  Masonry is the prime example.

That statement can use a little qualification, since there are ways to avoid the issue. I use crap factories to train dwarves and get rid of stuff a lotm and I still couldn't live without the manager.

The method I use to get around that is to not have one order for blocks on repeat on the block factory. I've got ten of them, all on repeat.

This ensures that the manager can't put new orders into the block factory since it's full up on orders, and anything ordered from the manager screen gets build from the skilled mason workshop which uses exclusively obsidian. I do the same thing for mechanics and, sometimes, jewelers. (Make shitty glass gems, stud crappy stuff with said crappy gems and then toss the now-shiny crap in the volcano. You can use the output of the newbie mason's shop for practice. )

[Azerax]

Well, I sure have been edumacated.. Manager it is

[Nobu]

You need a manager to use Workshop Profiles.  For masonry workshops, I have one or two that require high levels of skill for producing a list of continuously repeating furniture, while all others are left alone and permit only lower skill levels.  The list at the high-skill workshops is always kept full (like, four doors, two cabinets, two coffers, two coffins for example) so the manager never adds the mass-produced items to the list.  I order things from the manager like huge quantities of blocks, and he only adds the block-making jobs at the other workshops, giving the multitude of less skilled masons things to do.

[jwest23]

Also it's required to use DFHack's Workflow plugin, which can keep stock levels.  I don't worry about running out of drinks anymore, I just get a manager and then DFHack, "Keep 500 drinks in stock" and it toggles the job on and off as needed.  Works with almost every job, some trouble with things like dying and encrusting, but works gloriously when trying to keep food, drink, and ammo in supply.

You don't need the manager position to be filled for that.  It might have been the case at one point, but I have a fortress humming along happily using workflow and no manager has ever been assigned.  This doesn't obviate the usefulness of the manager, but it does mean you can get workflow going with one less trivial-to-minor hassle.