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[Fleeting Frames]

Suppose that, say, I wished to give my guardsmen decorated cloaks, or shields with insignia.
Pig tail cloaks dyed red, with gold trim and silk image of the symbol of my civilization on them.
Currently, it is possible - but one needs to use customized linked stockpiles for each such use case, and whenever one changes what one wants to do (say, for other pieces of equipment) they'd better just build entire new set of workshops for maintenance lest they apply the trim or the like to inappropriate items. And even then, dwarves may still randomly drop their old cloaks on your feeder stockpile when deciding to use a new one - even if you're currently giving trims to shields.

Suggestion 1:
When a work order is set to "<work order> must be completed first", also have option of "use product from linked work order" option.

If the previous work order fails to produce any usable items (as can happen with, say, smelting galena, or when the item was destroyed), it should give a cancellation warning (we wouldn't want to waste gold randomly on something else, would we now?).

(Given use cases like making soap, it could be even enabled by default when orders with usable products are linked to another order.)


Currently, when setting details for materials in workshops, you can already see what options you have - not just based on linked stockpiles, but also on burrows, closed doors, walls, etc. But work orders don't check that, and result in cancel spam when they, say, consider willow logs in rivers, limbs on treetops or products in segregated forts fair game.

Suggestions 2/3:
Option to not place work orders in workshops that don't have the required materials accessible, even if all other reagant/product conditions are met.

For orders linked to workshops, they should only consider what they have available when checking reagant/product conditions.

There may be a legitemate use case for cancellation warning and counting everything in fortress. Informing of that may be desireable on some occassions, even if generally player knows why and only wants orders that can be fulfilled posted.

However, other way around doesn't work at all: when workshops in different caverns, airlocks or the like deal with same produce, you can have one of them fulfil the product requirements for all, thus leaving the other ones out to dry.

Therefore, inability to limit the range of items checked is more than just cosmetic issue.



(PS: Searched for previous suggestions with manager and "work order" keywords in past 1170 days; for first no results, for second suggestions relating to stockpile traits/looking in linked stockpiles, which this is a more general version of.)

[Iduno]

One issue I see with that is dwarves may not be able to find the product they want, if it is being moved at the time. If it's linked, there might be a way to prevent that batch of lye or whatever from having any other jobs assigned to it until the linked job is assigned (or just assign it instantly, without an opportunity for a dwarf to try to move it to a stockpile, right after they have lunch then a break).

[Fleeting Frames]

I contemplated mentioning assigning instantly, and that would be ideal when the work order has no other conditions.

When the work order has other reagant/product conditions and item is being moved but still extant? My unvoiced thought was that could handle it how work orders currently handle that case (i.e. I obtained some alabaster briefly and work order fired up - but it's lost in an aquifer right now, and work order keeps firing.), but this may not play too well with "perpetually unusable", like when a dwarf claims ownership of item.

Marking the items as tasked would work to prevent that, but would also prevent ability to go "ok, use these plain bronze shields 'till mountainhome brings fresh load of platinum". Though that'd be micromanagey no matter how you slice that apple, it'd at least allow you to de- and reconstruct buildings or other such minor stuff.

So, there's options, and I'm not sure which is the best of those options.