Print

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

[Antmf]

Hey guys, it's the noob again. I have a few questions that came up while I was playing and I know you guys can help me out. Well, without further ado:

1- What is the deal with min max bins and wheelbarrels for a stockpile? Don't the dwarfs just automatically use them once made or do I have to adjust the wheelbarrels and or bins for a certain stockpile? For example I set up a SP for stone, now will the dwarfs use the wheelbarrel that I have made automatically?

2- How can I tell what kind of metals I have and what they are used for?

3- I am using the manager screen to assign jobs like make wheelbarrel, doors or what have you. But now all of a sudden I now see a red X at the end of the order in the u,m screen under his orders. What does the red X mean? It was working before and now it seems he is not giving the dwarfs orders.

 Thanks again all... You guys are most helpful.

[Garath]

1: If you don't want things stored in bins or barrels (it happens), you can set it to 0 for example. As long as the max is above the number of barrels/bins used in the stockpile, they'll automatically grab a new one when they need it. As for wheelbarrows, as long as a stockpile has a wheelbarrow assigned and there is one free, they'll automatically use it. Negative side is that the stockpile will generate no more jobs than available and assigned wheelbarrows. So a stone stockpile with 1 wheelbarrow will only get one stone hauled to it at a time and if there are many stockpiles asking for wheelbarrows, nothing will happen at all, nothing will get hauled without a wheelbarrow

2: the wiki will always help. Otherwise I thing z - stones lets you check various stone uses

3: after a certain fort size manager jobs don't get automatically aproved and the manager has to actually sit down and work on processing them. It symbolises (I think) the moment where a group of people just shouting at eachother "hey can you do that?" get replaced by a guy handing out assignments like a manager. The red x just means the manager hasn't gotten to processing the jobs yet.

[Tarqiup Inua]

1) the wheelbarrows are bound to certain stockpile as are the bins... sometimes it's better to have this number lower, sometimes it is not.

For example - in case of stone stockpiles it is good to increase the number of wheelbarrows to maximum (3, I think, unless it is size dependent) - it means the stockpile will have 3 wheelbarrows on it and also that there will be up to 3 dwarves hauling the stone from it... sometimes, sometimes it's better to leave it at 0 - dwarves will haul stone more slowly, but they will be able to haul any amount of stone from or to the stockpile.

Bins are generally good thing, but there are, again, cases when you don't want bins... I use 0 bins setting for my forges so I see the items I want to melt right away without examining the bins. I believe that due to a bug some jugs with food can end up in bins and stop being accessible to kitchen.

Also - if you don't have many spare bins, it is good to set them to 0 on all stockpiles and then increase only on those where you really need them.

2) If you mean on the map, I heard there are some programs that tell you (DFhack, maybe?), otherwise you have to mine to find out.

If you mean in the storage, then it is z -> stocks -> stone (for unrefined ore) or bars (for bars)... make sure you have bookkeeper assigned in the (n)obles screen (and set on the said screen to highest precision via (s)ettings) and that he has an office (room made by looking at built chair). What are they good for? magmawiki might know... copper, (bismuth & regular) bronze, iron, steel and adamantine are for any weapons and armour, silver is for weapons only, rest is mostly for decoration. Lead bins can be used so that items are not that scattered when you reclaim fortress...some heavy metals like platinum or gold are good in case your moody dwarf decides to create blunt weapon.

3) it means your managed didn't get to approving the order. Make sure you have manager position filled at the (n)oble screen and that he has an office (room made from chair)

[greycat]

If you make a brand new stone stockpile, the number of wheelbarrows assigned to this stockpile will be 1, because that's the default.  (For any other kind of stockpile, the default is 0.)

You can see how many wheelbarrows are assigned to a stockpile, or change the number, by doing a q(uery) on the stockpile.

When a stockpile has a wheelbarrow in it (or when the wheelbarrow is in use), all hauling jobs to that stockpile must use the wheelbarrow(s).

So, let's say you make a brand new 10x10 stone stockpile and don't change any settings.  Then you unpause the game.

At that moment, up to 100 "bring stone to stockpile" jobs can be created, and you could have up to 100 dwarves hauling stones on their backs at the walking rate of a wounded tortoise.  In addition, one "bring wheelbarrow to stockpile" job will be created.

Let's suppose that you don't have 100 idle dwarves at that time.  Maybe you've only got about 10.  So, 1 dwarf brings a wheelbarrow to the stockpile, and 9 more dwarves are still carrying rocks on their backs.

Once that wheelbarrow is actually in the stockpile, then no further "bring stone to stockpile" jobs will be created.  Instead, one "bring stone to stockpile using this wheelbarrow" job at a time will be created.  One dwarf will go to the stockpile, get the wheelbarrow, then go to the nearest qualifying stone, put it into the wheelbarrow, and return to the stockpile.  All of this will happen at normal walking speed.

If you're clever, you can alter the stockpile settings before you unpause the game, to prevent the "bring stone to stockpile" jobs from being created before the wheelbarrow is in place.  What I like to do is assign the desired number of wheelbarrows and disable all stone types until the wheelbarrow(s) are there; then turn on just the specific kind(s) of stones I want in that stockpile.