Print

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

[denemelikfierro@gmail.com]

I want to play the game as vanilla as possible so I don't use dwarf therapist but I miss some of its features.

For example, instead of checking which dwarf has which skill one by one with u-z, is there a screen that shows which dwarf has experience with a specific skill? For example, is there a screen that lists dwarves with experience in the crossbow skill or dwarfs with experience in the carpenter skill?

I hope I was able to explain my question with my terrible english

[Quietust]

Unfortunately, no there isn't - that's one of the main reasons why Dwarf Therapist exists.

DFHack could be used to add that screen into the game itself (and it could also add a screen that does the same thing as Dwarf Therapist - see "Dwarf Manipulator"), but that would arguably be even less Vanilla than using Dwarf Therapist.

If you want to stay "as vanilla as possible", then you're going to have to do without all of these things - in order to find a dwarf with a particular skill, you'd either have to manually check all of them one-by-one or you'd have to keep a notebook on your desk where you can keep track of each dwarf's skills and assignments (and periodically recheck them to keep track of when their skills improve and/or get rusty).

[denemelikfierro@gmail.com]

Thanks for your reply. Is Dwarf Manipulator something in-game or a separate program like Therapist? Also how can I add it to the game?

[Thisfox]

I play vanilla.
When a skill seems to be lacking in a dwarf community (no one is building the glassforge!) I simply choose a dwarf with not very useful skills (what is this gelder doing? Cooking. Okay, what is this cheesemaker doing? Hauling and nothing else? Okay, you're a glassworker now, go build the glassforge!) and set them up to practice the skill. It doesn't seem that important that there might be a fisherdwarf over there who has better skills, it's really not that much of an issue and there is a limit to extreme manipulation of every single dwarf in the fort. Perhaps you should try that way too?

[anewaname]

As mentioned, Dwarf Manipulator is one of the dfhack utilities.

This is the forum thread for dfhack and the first post includes links for download and installation.

[Ziusudra]

Thanks for your reply. Is Dwarf Manipulator something in-game or a separate program like Therapist? Also how can I add it to the game?

It's in game when running the game with DFHack https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/docs/Plugins.html#manipulator

[Salmeuk]

I would eschew the notion DF should only be played vanilla. There is little intention behind the awkward interface, it is an admitted stopgap - see Steam version.

Thus, using dwarf therapist is OK. But the best option is the already mentioned dwarf manipulator - it fits seamlessly within the existing df interface, and allows efficient keyboard strokes to assign labors.

DFhack is a trusted and well-used utility that is not in -any- way going to prevent you from experiencing DF "as it was intended."

[Starver]

From some of the demo/preview material surrounding the Steam Release, it looks like 'vanilla' DF might be better at serving up some of this tool-calculated information. Though I think I'd still be inclined to suggest DT is used for its other advanced features that I don't think are bubbling into the main project.

I would not think of DT as a 'cheat' (truly, when you can manually turn off sieges, temperatures, cave-ins, etc, and describe it as "choosing your playing field", and with the full capabilities of RAW-modding already granted to tou by design) merely more quickly serving to you information that you could discover if only you were to check all 150+ of your dorfs, in-game (or upon that spreadsheet you've been trying to manually keep updated with in-game info as a standard life-hack-without-hacking thing). And if it's just information you want, why not? Ignore the "click on things to set intentions and then up-synchronise those with the game" bit, if you feel like just manually entering the very same choices directly.

Really, though, it's entirely up to you and "doing it without DT" is as good a self-limiting challenge as any. But, by definition, has limitations. Have fun finding your favoured balance-point!

[Mobbstar]

Personally, I have grown to like Dwarf Therapist specifically because it doesn't change the game unless you tell it to.

I would not think of DT as a 'cheat' (truly, when you can manually turn off sieges, temperatures, cave-ins, etc, and describe it as "choosing your playing field", and with the full capabilities of RAW-modding already granted to tou by design) merely more quickly serving to you information that you could discover if only you were to check all 150+ of your dorfs, in-game (or upon that spreadsheet you've been trying to manually keep updated with in-game info as a standard life-hack-without-hacking thing). And if it's just information you want, why not? Ignore the "click on things to set intentions and then up-synchronise those with the game" bit, if you feel like just manually entering the very same choices directly.

This is verbose but it expresses my sentiment well.  If you can't keep backups and are worried of save corruption, don't "commit" anything in DT and use it as read-only instead.

In my experience, DFHack crashes on occasion, but vanilla + DT is smooth sailing.

[denemelikfierro@gmail.com]

I would eschew the notion DF should only be played vanilla. There is little intention behind the awkward interface, it is an admitted stopgap - see Steam version.

Thus, using dwarf therapist is OK. But the best option is the already mentioned dwarf manipulator - it fits seamlessly within the existing df interface, and allows efficient keyboard strokes to assign labors.

DFhack is a trusted and well-used utility that is not in -any- way going to prevent you from experiencing DF "as it was intended."

Actually, the reason why I avoid Therapist is not exactly vanilla obsession. While using Therapist, I spend little time on the game screen and have to constantly alt-tab, moreover since I am new to the game, I also have to look at the wiki page every now and then. All these different windows and alt-tab processes make me feel like a white-collar office worker

Apart from that, I realized that, without Therapist I can be more interested in dwarves just like in Rimworld, by keeping in mind who is who in the fortress. In Therapist, dwarves become creatures made only of boxes and numbers.

But I didn't know about an in-game Therapist, it might be just what I'm looking for. Many thanks to y'all.

[PatrikLundell]

You can avoid alt-tabbing by playing DF in windowed mode, so the wiki (etc.) are reachable by just bringing a different window to the foreground.

I agree with Thisfox that aptitude and prior skill usually isn't that important, as dorfs learn fairly quickly on the job. I tend to find smithing (in its various versions) to be an exception, though, as I tend to be limited in how much I can keep them training due to material availability (resource limited worlds, with goblinite as the main metal resource).

[Uthimienure]

To help with your choices, check out https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/index.html to see what DFHack can do.