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Author Topic: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone  (Read 1361 times)

Yourself

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Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« on: January 21, 2008, 03:17:00 pm »

And, no, this isn't about dwarves going long distances to get stones on the z level above or below.  I actually have a craftsdwarf who is walking across my entire fortress to grab a stone probably about 120 tiles away (and a few z-levels down) instead of grabbing the stone that's in the same room (and isn't forbidden).  The z-level stone thing is annoying enough, but watching my dwarf walk the entire length of the fortress to grab a stone is far more irritating.  The stone chosen seems almost completely arbitrary since it's not the most recent stone that was mined.  They're simply grabbing stones in my WIP metal smithing area.

EDIT:

And just as mysteriously they stop doing it.  Posting about it helps, I guess.

[ January 21, 2008: Message edited by: Yourself ]

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penguinofhonor

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2008, 03:48:00 pm »

I think they like grabbing newer stone, too. For some reason.
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numerobis

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2008, 05:56:00 pm »

They grab the "nearest stone" as measured if there were only one z-level, and no obstacles.

It's bloody annoying.

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Yourself

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2008, 12:51:00 pm »

quote:
Originally posted by benoit.hudson:
<STRONG>They grab the "nearest stone" as measured if there were only one z-level, and no obstacles.

It's bloody annoying.</STRONG>


Which is exactly what I said they weren't doing.  They weren't walking across my fortress and then back to grab a stone that was under them.  They were walking across the fortress to actually grab a stone that was nowhere near them.

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Sykirobme

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2008, 01:57:00 pm »

I'm still trying to figure out how they choose stone to work with.  They do seem to favor newer stone, but not always.  My current fort has tons of gypsum and jet rocks that my masons don't seem to like; they keep using limestone or gneiss (the map is about 90% limestone; no iron so far).

Since the z-level version was released, I don't think I've ever seen workshops prefer the nearest stone like they did in the 2d version.

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Draco18s

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2008, 03:21:00 pm »

quote:
Originally posted by Sykirobme:
<STRONG>Since the z-level version was released, I don't think I've ever seen workshops prefer the nearest stone like they did in the 2d version.</STRONG>

I'm pretty sure I have, I put stockpiles right near my workshops and myy legendary stonecrafter can quickly empty one, not grabbing any other stone on the map until that stockpile is gone (though I've never seen it empty, I've got enough idle dwarves that they can fill the stockpile as fast as he empties it, keeping it at roughly 6 stones).

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Sykirobme

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2008, 04:39:00 pm »

I wasn't referring to stockpiles, sorry for the confusion.  I've never used stone stockpiles since my first couple forts in the old version.

In the 2d version, your dwarves would go for the nearest stone if there were no stockpiles.  This doesn't happen anymore.  I suppose a small stockpile is called for to overcome this, though, but it doesn't necessarily help clean out newly mined areas as well as the old routine did.

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numerobis

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2008, 12:15:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by Yourself:
<STRONG>Which is exactly what I said they weren't doing</STRONG>

Let's pretend I can read.  What's this?  You claim to have proof to the contrary?  I categorically deny it.

I had a less-messed-up version of the same thing, where the stone my mason was using was a bit off of straight down, rather than the "proper" broken behaviour of grabbing stones straight down.  I only noticed now.

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Draco18s

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2008, 12:37:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by benoit.hudson:
<STRONG>

Let's pretend I can read.  What's this?  You claim to have proof to the contrary?  I categorically deny it.

I had a less-messed-up version of the same thing, where the stone my mason was using was a bit off of straight down, rather than the "proper" broken behaviour of grabbing stones straight down.  I only noticed now.</STRONG>


He said the distance was farther XY than it was Z.

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Nate879

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #9 on: January 30, 2008, 07:55:00 pm »

I am having this same problem with dwarves hauling stones to stockpiles.  I am digging a very long one-tile-wide hallway, and the haulers are getting the FARTHEST stone, which is also the most newly dug stone.  Z-levels aren't the problem.
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Fedor

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2008, 08:23:00 pm »

quote:
Originally posted by Yourself:
<STRONG>And, no, this isn't about dwarves going long distances to get stones on the z level above or below.  I actually have a craftsdwarf who is walking across my entire fortress to grab a stone probably about 120 tiles away (and a few z-levels down) instead of grabbing the stone that's in the same room (and isn't forbidden).  The z-level stone thing is annoying enough, but watching my dwarf walk the entire length of the fortress to grab a stone is far more irritating.  The stone chosen seems almost completely arbitrary since it's not the most recent stone that was mined.  They're simply grabbing stones in my WIP metal smithing area.</STRONG>
That's very odd.  It might or might not square with my own experience.  

If I stack stone near enough to workshops, the masons will normally use it.  However, if they get a job assignment when far away, they will (sometimes? always?) grab the nearest stone to them (vertical distance always?/often? ignored) at that moment, bring it to the workshop, and bang away.  I think that's the behavior anyway...  This can be a problem if, say, lots of stones I don't want worked on are somewhere above or under the main liquor stockpile.

A partial work-around is to 1) forbid the offending rocks, and 2) prefer not to mine directly above or below the main fortress.

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Bogdanov

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Re: Craftsdwarf not grabbing the nearest stone
« Reply #11 on: January 31, 2008, 05:45:00 am »

There's also this thing :

Imagine your mason is also a miner

You tell him to dig a place, and while he's doing that, you order construction of 3 rock tables at your mason workshop, far, far away...

Once the guy is done with the mining, he'll turn to "no job" for a second, til he figures out what he has to do next

Then, when he realises his next task is to make 3 rock tables, he'll grab the nearest stone from his current spot, not from the workshop, and walk all the way back to the masonry workshop carrying the stone he just mined

But normally, once he finished the first rock table with the stone he brought back with him, he'll then look again for another stone, and then pick up the closest (z-level bug included) to make the other 2 tables

At least, thats what i've noticed...

If your guy makes all 3 rock tables using far, far away stones, going back and forth a long way each time, neglecting the closer stones, then i dont know what it is.. But if you just saw him once bring a stone back from a far away place to make something in the workshop, it can mean that he was just doing something else there when he figured he had to go work at the workshop..

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