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[zakata69]

So i'm fairly new, and am recently having some issue's with my stone stockpile. Every time i set up a stockpile, my dwarfs decide to march outside of my fort all the way across the map to gather stone from a mine i dug off site (to search for metallic ore without potentially disrupting the design of my fort). I have a room full of freshly mined minerals a few floors down inside the fort, yet they still opt for the further, more dangerous path. This really kills my fps, and allows ambushers to pick them off like fish in a barrel.

I've set it so dwarfs can no longer go outside, but the second they catch whif of that stockpile order, they gather at the entrance like zombies,too frightened to step out into the sun, yet too stupid to gather from the safer pile. I've even blocked the entrance to the mine with a hatch, but when i designate the stockpile, the dwarfs simple carry on like nothing was ordered.
Any suggestions?
(Not that this is really killing my fortress. It's just a chance to learn something new )

Note: the dwarfs have perfectly fine access to the stonepile i want them to gather from, though it is a possibility that its further away. 

[Malicus]

What your dwarves are doing is known as the "entrance dance".  It's...  exactly like that.

The fact that they do NOTHING when the path to the mine is blocked suggests that there's something preventing them from taking the stone you WANT them to take.  Is it forbidden or marked for dumping?

[Albedo]

Much of what a dwarf does, and how they do it, is based on their "path", the route that the game thinks they should take.

If they have a path to something outside but aren't allowed outside, unfortunately the game doesn't tell them that until they're there - the "entry dance" mentioned by M.  There is a path, but they're not allowed to use it.

When you seal the hatch, there is no path, so they don't have that job to do.

You need to find a (valid) path to the stone you want.  Try <A>ctivating a dwarf for the military, and marching them there and back - that's the only sure fire test for a valid path. Visual inspections are notoriously unreliable. 

[zakata69]

I've sent a dwarf to mine down there, and he had no issue doing his job. I'm very sure access isn't an issue (i haven't fiddled with traffic designations, if that were to be an issue)

[Malicus]

Can this dwarf get back to where the stockpile is supposed to be?

Traffic destinations would only affect the route taken to get somewhere, not whether or not a dwarf can actually get to that spot.

[zakata69]

I just tried setting a stockpile in the same area as the stone i want gathered, and nothing happened. 40 idlers. i limited the stockpile settings to only accept the stones i want, yet that also does nothing. Miners and Militia have no problem going down there.

[BlazingDav]

Technically the hatch thing should have worked considering that if you blocked off the only path then they would attempt pathing there to find they couldn't and then path somewhere else to do the job, I presume you forbidded the hatch from being opened (may want to change that to a bridge in the event a building destroyer comes by and destroys the hatch and your idlers path there only to collide with the siege and be slaughtered)

One thing I recall is that workers can path in 'cubes' from their starting point when they get a job, going to the nearest thing related to the job (item to pick up for example) from within a cube radius, meaning if a stone is 5 z levels below them, but requires a path of 20 tiles, while another stone is 10 tiles north of them, guess what, they go for the one 5 z below even though the journey is longer.

Though that may just be workshops, it'd be better considering sealing off that exploratory mine from the surface and then just mine to it and fill it in later for the sake of design, to save your dwarves getting slaughtered and tantrum spirals occuring..

[blue emu]

Have you tried bulk-forbidding all the stone in the off-site mining area?

'd' - 'b' - 'f' (that's designate - bulk - forbid) should get you the bulk-forbid designation cursor. Then <enter> - arrow keys - <enter> to forbid all the stone in an entire area.

[Malicus]

If dwarves can easily get to and from there, then I still say that there must be something wrong with the stones you want them to stockpile.  Maybe they're forbidden or marked for dumping or otherwise tasked.  Also, stones will only be stockpiled onto spaces on the stockpile that are already empty.

[zakata69]

Things are working now. I set all the stones in the mine hatred to forbidden, and after a quick lag spike, all was well in the kingdom.
Thanks for the help; the 'bulk' forbid/reclaim tool is a feature that i'll be using a lot more in future. Thanks all

[Aspgren]

Dwarves - too frightened to do the dumb thing. Too dumb to do the smart thing.

Dwarves < Lemmings