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[Lummox JR]

I just sent a messenger to request workers from an economically linked site that was founded all on its own. My purpose in doing this was to replenish squads I emptied out in conquest missions, so I specifically chose dwarves with at least some weapon skill (best available was novice). I got a wave of about half a dozen in, but they're all tagged as "Merchant" and I can't assign them any labors or assign them to a squad.

Am I missing something? I know if I recall a former citizen I have no trouble assigning labors, but I would've thought immigrants I requested would count too.

[Shonai_Dweller]

That's odd. Do you have a save?
I've requested workers who weren't previously my own dwarves before which has worked.

[Lummox JR]

I do have a save; not sure what the best way is to share that.

[Shonai_Dweller]

I do have a save; not sure what the best way is to share that.

Dwarf Fortress has a file server, dffd. That's where saves are usually posted. Are you using any mods? Latest version of DF, etc?
http://dffd.bay12games.com/

[Lummox JR]

Thanks. It's a bit late for me to register for that and upload the save right now, but I'll get to that when I can.

[Loam]

I've had this happen as well: called in some dwarves from outlying settlements, they show up as "merchants" and can't be given any labors.

My guess is that they were merchants who came to the fort in previous years to trade; once they were "created" by the game they became historical figures, and when they left my fort they went off to live their now-real lives, including moving to my hillocks. I don't know why that would prevent them from having labors assigned - maybe it's something to do with the "merchant" profession (which isn't tied to any skills AFAIK)?

In my case, I "solved" the problem by using Dwarf Therapist (lets you assign labors despite game limitations), but I guess that wouldn't work for military assignments.

Also, funny related note: I only requested these dwarves because they were married to some of the dwarves I sent out on missions. As in, while my soldiers were on campaign they met these useless merchants and got hitched. I guess that's probably a bug as well.

[Staalo]

My guess is that they were merchants who came to the fort in previous years to trade; once they were "created" by the game they became historical figures, and when they left my fort they went off to live their now-real lives, including moving to my hillocks. I don't know why that would prevent them from having labors assigned - maybe it's something to do with the "merchant" profession (which isn't tied to any skills AFAIK)?

I don't think it's about them being former merchants; I once had most of the last year's caravan come in as migrants, and they were just normal working dwarves. Only Legends revealed that they had been merchants earlier in their life.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Yeah, merchants are one of the things that don't exist (except abstractly) outside of the player fortress right now. There won't be any historical merchants hanging out at your holding.

It's surely related to the unretire issue where you find yourself with a bunch of "merchants" in your citizen list.

[Torla]

In my case, I "solved" the problem by using Dwarf Therapist (lets you assign labors despite game limitations), but I guess that wouldn't work for military assignments.

I think you can assign them to squad using  Dwarf Therapist. In game they can't be assigned to squad but CAN as military commander, so you can use that workaround.

[Lummox JR]

So it's a bit of a late reply, but I haven't been able to play DF for about a week. Anyway I solved the problem by changing the dwarves' professions. In DFHack's Lua console I changed the profession to whatever military skill was the best fit. For instance if I wanted to make them hammerdwarves:

Code: [Select]

dfhack.gui.getSelectedUnit().profession = 75
dfhack.gui.getSelectedUnit().profession2 = 75
I used the reference here.

The change showed up in the UI right away while paused. I then unpaused briefly, and the game automatically reassigned a primary civilian profession based on the dwarf's highest skills. Repeated for each merchant in the citizens unit list; there were six of them in total. Even before unpausing, once their profession was no longer "Merchant" I could assign labors without any problems.