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[Shazial]

Hello,

I'm playing the newest Steam version and am stuck with a ton of ghosts (13 ghosts currently) 'cause my dwarves refuse to construct coffins and memorial slabs.. I say refuse but it's probably something to do with the construction queuing, as I do have the hauling and other labors all set up and it works with everything else... I'm also running a rather big fort, almost 600 inhabitants, so it's not exactly a lack of labor force either. If memory serves correctly, furniture is built with the first in, last out queue technique, so I do recognize a part of the fault's been me assigning many, many big construction jobs after placing all the coffins and slabs. With this in mind I do have a couple of questions to my fellow fortress keepers to see if you can help me solve this mess:

• Is the queue type still the same (first in, last out) or has that changed? Wondered about this, since it should also mean last in is first out, yet the dwarves seem to go haul and build whatever they want, even if I put in new coffin and slab assignments up, and then assign no other furniture, wall, floor, road, etc. to be constructed.
  

• Would creating a specialized labor policy with nothing but furniture construction related labors in it help the matter, if I turned everything else off, or is the current priority such that the dwarves would just.. go socialize or pray instead, like the seem to prefer to do? I've seen this suggestion float around in many boards and wondered if it actually works.

• If I suspend all other construction tasks from the tasks menu except for slabs and coffins, does the whole construct building -queue stop to wait for that task to be completed or do the dwarves skip the suspended building task and pick up the next unsuspended one in line? Thinking about this, since I'm sort of testing it out, and now they're not.. constructing really anything, just focusing on other things like hauling items to barrels. Or does it just take time for the game to catch up to it?

• Related to the earlier question, does the tasks menu screen actually show the construction line in the actual order you've put the furniture down to be constructed in, or is random / alphabetical?

• Do having a zone over the construction zone mess with the building queue? With how tedious setting up graves is currently, I've pre-emptively set up zones over the construction slots. Does this sort of mark the grave as "Done" and thus the dwarves will not get around to doing it?

• Would the best solution be to one by one cancel all the current coffin and slab setups and then place them back? Would this push them to the front of construction queue or does the game remember that hey, you set this coffin up to be constructed 15 ingame years ago so I'ma put it back into its original queue slot?

[Schmaven]

The tasks list does not appear to be sortable like the units list, and also, dwarves are doings tasks from all sorts of different positions on the list.  Planting seeds for example, has many entries, and a dwarf is planting the 2nd cave wheat in the list, not the first, and there are dozens of plant seeds tasks above that for other crops.  So the task list is not the order in which to expect things to be done.

I made a bunch of tomb zones over a floor, and then built coffins in those spaces, so that works just fine.

I would definitely cancel the construction and re-build the coffin/slab if more than 2 in game years have passed and start looking into other aspects.  I was having trouble getting a bismuth jeweler's workshop built, and was stumped for a while (about 2 years).  I managed to finally getting it built as soon as I assigned jewelry to a few dwarves.  I suspect that having created another custom profession that included jewelry, but only having that assigned to just the broker and king, locked out any other dwarf not specifically designated to jewelry.  I would try playing around with some custom work details and assign it to a bunch of dwarves idling around.  I'm willing to bet that if you made a custom detail including all of: Other Jobs; Hauling; Woodworking; Metalsmithing; and Stoneworking, then re-build your coffins and slabs, they'd get constructed right away.

Aside from projects involving 100s of blocks, everything seems to get built almost immediately in my fort of 275.

[anewaname]

Here's a mix of considerations if you don't have a solution yet...

Removing the constructions and re-designating them to be built should put those jobs at the top of the list to be done. Last in, first out.

Ensure the labor screen says "Everybody does this" for the job type. So all dwarfs are eligible to do the work.

When there is work to be done, dwarfs who are eligible for the job will end their socialize and pray jobs. It is only the dwarfs with socialize and pray jobs who will ignore jobs that they are eligible for.

When there is a massive log or stone hauling operation using all your dwarf labor in some area of the embark, sometimes dwarfs will stay in that area and continue taking new jobs there, ignoring jobs of other types that are not nearby (this is the moment you will notice mining or workshop jobs are not getting done because your miner or carpenter is busy hauling with the other dwarfs, and I think it applies to most jobs). In those cases, disrupt the massive hauling operation somehow (mass forbid the items they were moving, set stockpiles to from-links-only, lock a door, etc). You just need a temporary disruption so all the dwarfs take a moment to see what other jobs are available.

[Saiko Kila]

I would suggest hauling enabled only for selected, and select all (or almost all, see below). Once you need something done in bigger quantity, like engraving slabs, disable the hauling for the dwarfs you need for the job. After some time you probably will settle on a particular setting and won't touch it again, or for long time.

Now, I suggest disabling the hauling from the beginning for dwarves who have a particular fondness for items you want for specific purposes, like trade. That is because haulers of items which they have preference for will occasionally "acquire" this item, owning it, and making unavailable for other jobs from now on. I have hauling disabled for coin lovers, for example.

Regarding the priorities, dwarves don't wait for suspended job before doing next one, but the item needed for that job is RESERVED for it, and won't be used for another job, unless this first job is completed or cancelled.

Whether they do something or not is not depended on any order on any list, but on priority and distance. For example dumping close is done much faster, and with high priority, compared to dumping items located far away (which can be selected by job scheduler, not picked up by a dwarf, and dropped, only to be scheduled some time again later).

Also, if you have ghost problems, I would suggest forgetting coffins for now, prioritising engraving and setting slabs. You can create zone over a coffin later, and even if the corpse is a skeleton, it will "claim" the zone and then some dwarf will bury it.

I prepare rows of coffins early in the life of the fortress, with space set for future slabs under each coffin (rooms 10x10, but 50 coffins in each), and enable a 1x1 grave zone on a first coffin in a row. When a need arises I create a second zone, or further ones. Slabs are technically not needed then, but I think them a nice touch (they tell who the deceased was, for my citizens). Other set of rooms is reserved for each historical figure which is not buried (like invaders or my war animals with kills, or forgotten beasts). There I set slabs for them. If I was overwhelmed by deaths, I would create and build slabs first, and then build the coffins in the reserved spaces.