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[dav]

So my masonry and carpentry are set to repeat on items.  Often I'll catch Idlers: 2, go and look.  Surprise!  It's my mason and carpentry, pretending they can't find *anything* to do!

So then I have to make sure that I didn't turn off their skill set, and eventually (10-30 seconds) they'll catch on, but it's irritating.

I wonder if they could check especially hard for jobs in their field (i.e. masons check for masonry construction/creation) before appearing as idle.  It's not a big problem with farmers/haulers, as I figure they'll catch on shortly, but when there's a 20-bed shortage and my carpenter wanders around, it makes me crazy.

[dav]

Update: This is getting to be more and more of an issue as my cave expands.  Even if I have only the one skill on, my dwarves will wander helplessly through the halls.  Eventually, they'll cotton on to a task - often "Check a chest" or some such rot.

Is it a proximity issue, perhaps?

[Toady One]

Oftentimes there's a delay because the building had previous checked, found nothing, and set a timer on itself to prevent lags.  There are a number of things like this.

[dav]

Ah ha.  That makes sense.  Thanks.

[Toady One]

But given that system, it can get caught in some vicious cycles sometimes.  Carpenter eats, carpenter building check fails -> carpenter building pauses, carpenter free, carpenter stores coins, carpenter building check fails -> carpenter building pauses, repeat

By having the checks smear a bit through registering invisible job applications that last a few seconds and some other things, the building could still pick the best (ie nearest etc) applicant and they can avoid other lower-priority jobs while they wait to hear back.  Rentals were also going to have something like this, which would also set the prices more properly based on demand.  Internal fortresses item prices have a bit of this, but I haven't touched the world economy at all, and I won't until the caravan arc.

[bbb]

i've noticed that no job doesn't necessarily mean no job.

when they go out to haul in rock/wood to build the things.. that can be a no job for some reason

... though that's not quite the same thing as above

[Gakidou]

Just a suggestion, not sure how useable it is: Could you maybe let the game have buildings make checks when the game is paused, or when dwarf jobs get assigned? It would be nice to be able to pause, set job assignments, and see what jobs dwarves are going to do quickly without having to unpause and wait half a minute in the hopes that the dwarves get the message...

[Zereth]

quote:Originally posted by Gakidou:
<STRONG>Just a suggestion, not sure how useable it is: Could you maybe let the game have buildings make checks when the game is paused, or when dwarf jobs get assigned? It would be nice to be able to pause, set job assignments, and see what jobs dwarves are going to do quickly without having to unpause and wait half a minute in the hopes that the dwarves get the message...</STRONG>

I wonder if it would be possible to change it so the _dwarf_ with the job checks for workshops with things he can do instead of the workshop checking for free dwarves?

[Toady One]

If the game makes periodic job checks while you are using the interface, certain issues might come up, both from an annoyance/confusing angle and a technical one.

If dwarves seek out jobs, then dwarves that are far from buildings will take jobs you don't want them to have more often.  I was going to handle this by the system I described above.