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[Sutremaine]

I'm trying to find a job that can be done en masse, so I can order it done and have every dwarf in the fortress turn up and fulfil their crafting needs. It'd be nice if engraving counted, because it's just what I'm after. Select a 10x10 area of floor, generate 100 jobs, and by the time the first few dwarves have finished with a tile a lot of the rest will be reserved for other dwarves.

I've tested an assortment of jobs, and so far all the ones not based in a workshop are unsatisfying. Architecture, building stone forges (it grants Mason XP), smoothing, engraving, plant gathering (didn't think it'd work).

One idea would be to use the manager's ability to add a job to a workshop with ten suspended orders. Have a bunch of workshops you otherwise have no use for, fill them with suspended orders, and then order enough jobs for everybody. Since there's a delay between the workshop's job list being emptied and it being refilled by the manager, each dwarf will have a chance to wander off and not be the closest for the next job.

In my current fortress the best workshop would be the screw press, I think.

1. It's a 1-tile workshop. Space-efficient.
2. No bees, and tallow soap only. Don't need the workshop for anything else.
3. Pressing is not a moodable skill.
4. The reaction is in the raws, and so should satisfy crafting needs. I haven't tested them all, but I tried an assortment and edited the 'tan a hide' reaction down until it was just an ID, a name, and an associated building. The dwarf walked to the tannery and immediately left, satisfied with have practiced a craft.

[Bumber]

2. No bees, and tallow soap only. Don't need the workshop for anything else.

Making paper?

[PatrikLundell]

Another (wonky) need fulfilling crafting approach would be to have one workshop for each dwarf (possibly in the bedroom) profiled to be used only by that dwarf. All the regular workshops of that kind would be profiled to be usable only by the "real" professionals. Whenever you feel it's time for a dorf to do some need therapy you'd order a job in the appropriate workshop. You might also use the managers ability to screw workshop allocation up by ordering X time 30 jobs to get them spread out over all the workshops if you decide it's need fulfillment time.

[Sanctume]

How about Gem Cutting, since you can cut stone cabochons?
Make however many jeweler's shops, use manager to Profile and assign each dwarf.
Set maximum skill to however 100 jobs will do, Competent level maybe?
Put a cut stone on repeat on each.

[MobRules]

I've been meaning to experiment with setting up a workshop of each type  to only be used by dwarves UNDER a fairly low skill limit. These would be set to continually produce simple bulk items that don't require expensive resources: copper bolts, stone blocks, yarn bags, and the like. Once a dwarf gains the skill limit in a craft type, they'll stop using the workshop. Next time they feel the urge to be crafty, they'll pick up a different skill.

Haven't gotten around to all the set-up necessary to try this, yet. And it doesn't play nicely with priming for certain moods -- although setting a higher maximum skill on the workshops you want moods for could push things in the right direction.

[mobucks]

A cheaty option is to make every dwarf a weaponsmith and use a magma forge to make giant steel axe blades on repeat. Will create a population with a desirable mood skill, while using no resources but actually generating them since a giant axe blade costs 1 bar but melts to 1.5. Create a stockpile that accepts everything except masterwork and mass designate it for melting when it fills up.

[Sanctume]

Magma forges are great for making bolts on repeat, I set max level to Professional. 

I make about 9 magma forges usually, 3 with special bars stocked nearby (steel, plat, and gold which is replaced whenever candy happens)
6 are for training.

This works great with a quantum stock pile for bolts near the archery training center.

It is even better when i make magma forges near the surface where the training happens.

[Sutremaine]

2. No bees, and tallow soap only. Don't need the workshop for anything else.

Making paper?

Oh yes, good point. I need some job to actually assign to the workshop.

How about Gem Cutting, since you can cut stone cabochons?
Make however many jeweler's shops, use manager to Profile and assign each dwarf.
Set maximum skill to however 100 jobs will do, Competent level maybe?
Put a cut stone on repeat on each.

That could work as well, since the gem-cutting workshop is so specialised. (The bowyer's workshop also falls into the same category.)

I've been meaning to experiment with setting up a workshop of each type  to only be used by dwarves UNDER a fairly low skill limit. These would be set to continually produce simple bulk items that don't require expensive resources: copper bolts, stone blocks, yarn bags, and the like. Once a dwarf gains the skill limit in a craft type, they'll stop using the workshop. Next time they feel the urge to be crafty, they'll pick up a different skill.

Haven't gotten around to all the set-up necessary to try this, yet. And it doesn't play nicely with priming for certain moods -- although setting a higher maximum skill on the workshops you want moods for could push things in the right direction.

There are quite a few craftworthy jobs that don't mood, so you could have those jobs enabled on every dwarf. If enough of those jobs are available, then each dwarf should get to one often enough to not get to the 'badly distracted' stage. That'll happen to most dwarves due to the cultural beliefs on crafting.

With the following (partial) list, any job with an asterix next to it can produce items with a quality level.

Furnace Operating: 'Make...' jobs are fine, 'Smelt...' jobs aren't. Kiln-based jobs are fine too.
Cooking: Render fat, make meal*.
Soapmaking: Yes.
Milling: 'Mill to paste' is fine, anything else isn't.
Pottery: Blocks, anything else*.
Threshing: 'Process to bag' yes, 'process plants' unknown.
Glazing: Yes.
Pressing: Yes.
Brewing: Booze-making is fine, 'extract from plant' unknown.
Lye Making: 'Milk of lime' is fine, others unknown.
Bookbinding: Yes. Haven't messed with this enough to know what produces quality items and what doesn't.
Papermaking: 'Mash into slurry', anything else*.

So far the rule with hard-coded jobs seems to be that any job that can produce an -item- or better is craftworthy. Jobs that can't produce -items- might or might not be craftworthy. Rock and wood blocks count, but metal from ores doesn't.