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[AllomancerJak]

Hi there! I've been playing DF for quite a while but I'm new to the forums.

I've noticed that dwarven children like to play in specific spots (and come back to them repeatedly). Unfortunately, their favorite spots include my minecart track (only a couple dead just yet...) and the bottom of the cistern I'm trying to fill.

Is this a behavior that others have observed? Any thoughts on controlling where children go?

[Salmeuk]

welcome, lunatic.

I believe they respond to burrows. so if you chuck a bunch of children in a burrow (assigned them within the burrow menu) then they will only play within that particular area. it make take about a month to assemble them, since the burrow designation only seems to control new tasks taken by the selected dwarves.

you would be one of the more sympathetic players should you choose to worry about the lives of the younglings. search "dwarven day care" for .... interesting .... solutions to your problem.


I like to imagine dwarves as terrible parents, more like certain species of shark where they live-birth their young and immediately GTFO, leaving the offspring to fend for themselves. This makes the strange, selfless behaviour of the children less immersion breaking: only the strongest, smartest and luckiest survive, and this is the dwarven way.

[Thisfox]

Hello! Welcome!

I'm not a burrower, so if you don't want to burrow, here's another method:
I found the best way to control children playing was to build them bedrooms around a large wellroom, and stock that wellroom with good quality food and unbinned toy storage areas, unassigned beds and unassigned pieces of good quality furniture. And make that area down the corridor from anywhere else. The kids eventually return to their bedroom to sleep, then go to the toys to play, or the food and booze to get some vittles.... and rarely leave. That said, there are attractions which take their attention. Temples, libraries, the odd tavern (there don't seem to be age limits on taverns) and the wonderful occasional opportunity to deconstruct a built structure. Kids LOVE deconstructing furniture for some reason.

[AllomancerJak]

Thanks for the advice-- two good (though very different!) suggestions. I definitely didn't know they would work with furniture.

I think I'll give the room idea a shot for a start-- in the long term, I'd love to start a daycare program but am feeling a little lazy now. The burrows are definitely something I should do as well. The biggest problem until now was that we had a fun cycle going (kid gets hit by minecart, dwarves rescue kid/pick up clothing, dwarves get hit my minecart, etc.).

Thanks again!

[Thisfox]

One of the beautiful things about this game is that there are often several solutions to things, making playstyles different and results various. I hate those games where everyone is "This is BIS! Only do this way!" and so on. More fun to have a game with so much variety, so many different ways for things to be "solved".

[anewaname]

Kids play near beds, drink, food, and clothing stockpiles, because when a kid is done eating/sleeping/drinking or putting on new clothing, they start playing alone or with another kid. Keep those commodities away from multi-tile minecart tracks and you'll have fewer accidents.