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[Chiefwaffles]

Its basically the topic title. I want to get some people to be miners... etc. Can i get a dwarf to do something they don't have any skill in, or do i have to cross my fingers i'll get what i want in the next migrant wave?

[nomad_delta]

Any dwarf can do any job regardless of their "profession" as long as you assign them that labor.  Of course, if they don't have any skill in that particular labor they might do an absolutely miserable job of it, but they'll gain skill and eventually become more proficient the more they do that task.

Just press "u" to bring up the list of dwarves, select the dwarf, then press "c" to zoom to that dwarf.  Then press "p" for preferences, "l" for labor, and then scroll through the list and press enter to toggle on/off the labors for that dwarf.

If you don't already have it, I *strongly* recommend getting Dwarf Therapist -- it's a separate utility you run alongside DF that lets you manage all your dwarves labor settings with a nice GUI, and it's a *lot* more efficient than using the built-in interface when you get to managing more than a dozen of the little buggers.

cheers,

--nomad_delta

[celem]

also, consider using v, z, y to give custom profession titles to dwarves.  In some cases it helps when you later want to find them ingame.

[Chiefwaffles]

Ok. I did everything which was suggested. I changed it through the menu. I even installed Dwarf Therapist and tried it. Yet the dwarves i switched professions aren't doing their new profession(S), Why not?

Thanks,
Chiefwaffles

[nomad_delta]

Did you press "Commit Pending Changes" in Dwarf Therapist?

Also, which labor are you trying to enable?  Some labors require special tools -- like a pick for mining.  Dwarves will automatically go pick up a pick if you have an extra one lying around, but if not they won't mine even with the labor enabled.

[Chiefwaffles]

GAH. Oh yeah! *facepalm* I forgot all about the tools!

[nomad_delta]

Hooray! Glad I could help, I'm usually asking for advice more than giving it around here. 

My last game I was pulling my hair out because one of my miners utterly refused to perform *any* task I assigned him, no matter what I did -- he just sat around with "no job" all day".  After going through everything I could think of in the menus and his labor designations, I finally realized where he was standing -- he'd gotten stuck on the far side of the river because he'd gone over there to pick something up during the winter when the river was frozen and it thawed before he walked back.  I had him dig a channel underneath it to get back to the fort and he was back in business.  Severe facepalm, there.

--nomad_delta

[Larry421]

Be advised also that there's a minor, confusing bug with Dwarf Therapist: If you try to assign miners or woodcutters it won't actually work because of the tools thing.
Removing the mining/woodcutting labour then re-assigning it through the game, instead of using Therapist, should work.