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[James009]

I've just had a ponderance, what are some good ways to multi-class your nobles? First, related to the noble positions? Second, related to general occupations?

For example, is it wise to have your Expedition Leader also the Militia Commander and Sheriff and Manager? At what point do they become overworked? Can the Militia Commander also make a good Sheriff or does being on duty make the Sheriff unavailable? I like to make the Bookeeper also the Broker because they seem to work together well, good idea? Doctor also the Psychiatrist, is that insane?

Then we've got all the occupations... can a Captain also continue to hunt or trap effectively? Miners probably wouldn't be good in most active noble positions.

Just wondering things out loud seeking some feedback. What do you think?

[Quietust]

I always make the Bookkeeper, Broker, and Manager the same dwarf, and it's always worked reasonably well.

[Karadan]

I always make the Bookkeeper, Broker, and Manager the same dwarf, and it's always worked reasonably well.

I generally do the same, and then toss on something like engraving or stonecrafting for when they aren't busy with anything else.  Actually, those are good matches for any noble slot.  Rarely is engraving or stonecrafting needed immediately, and it is generally easy to have a second one for times when you absolutely need to have that fortification carved out right now.

Make sure to avoid time sensitive or intermediate tasks.  A noble butcher for example is a terrible idea because butchers need to get to work ASAP to prevent kills going to waste.  Tanners are bad for the same reason.  It's also a good idea to avoid things like thresher, furnace operator, wood burner, weaver, etc. because having a stall on producing thread can screw up an entire industry.

You could also go for something like weaponsmith as you aren't likely to be making tons and tons of weapons, however that can occasionally be time sensitive when a siege is on the way.  If weapons are going to be a big export for you though, you'll want to reconsider.

So, to sum it up:  Stone/wood/bonecrafting and engraving are great and avoid time sensitive/intermediate jobs.

[Dutchling]

I always make the Bookkeeper, Broker, and Manager the same dwarf, and it's always worked reasonably well.

I do the same. The broker is usually too busy to trade though. Not that it really matters as most caravans get slaughtered by goblins anyway.

[Xen0n]

I always make the Bookkeeper, Broker, and Manager the same dwarf, and it's always worked reasonably well.

I do the same. The broker is usually too busy to trade though. Not that it really matters as most caravans get slaughtered by goblins anyway.

I always use the 'burrow over the trade depot' trick and add the broker to it whenever a caravan shows up.  Then you just want one with a strong work ethic personality trait so they aren't always on break/drinking during trade time (like my last fort, with Urist Diskon, the Broken Broker...)

For Bookkeeper, it seems like it doesn't really matter who you give it to, since they spend like 1 day a season doing it once it's set up, so their stats don't even seem to affect it much.  My current bookkeeper / manager has his organiser and record keeping skills at "V. rusty" and "rusty," so that must be an indication of how little time they need to spend doing those tasks, if it's not even enough to prevent rust. (Bookkeeping set to highest accuracy, tons of orders through manager)

[Dutchling]

Thanks for the burrow trick, haven't thought of that..

[Xen0n]

Thanks for the burrow trick, haven't thought of that..

Ditto for getting your baron/count/duke to stay in his office when liaisons/diplomats come for meetings  . 

[khearn]

I wouldn't put the manager in the military at all. Nor any dwarf with important skills. All it takes is one lucky arrow and you've lost the guy that keeps production flowing and have to train up a new one. Training a new manager from scratch in a busy fort can be painful. You queue up orders and they sit there for months with red X's by them, waiting for Urist McNewManager to figure out which end of the pencil is which.

I usually make my expedition leader my manager/broker/bookeeper, plus giving him mining duty. Early on he's not very busy with the administration, so he can be available nearly full time for mining. Later on, as the administration load increases, I'll probably have a few other miners trained up, so I'll turn off mining for him. He can go back to mining when I have a lot of digging to do, and then have it turned off again when a caravan arrives.

If/when the manager/broker/bookeeper dies, I often end up replacing hims with 2 or 3 dwarves, depending on who I have with appropriate skills. If I've got an immigrant with decent organizing, but no record keeping, and one with record keeping, but no organizing, then one becomes manager and the other the bookeeper. And I set up a new office because they both need one. Someone with some appraising/negotiating/judge of intent becomes the broker at that point.

My Chief Medical Droid is also set to mining at the start, since he seldom has anything to do. If there are injuries, it's easy enough to turn off mining for him. But he generally is available full time for mining and is always my first legendary dwarf (except for strange moods).

I hardly ever assign a sheriff/captain of the guard, and when I do, I usually regret it. I'd rather have a noble slightly miffed about someone going unpunished instead of half the fortress tantruming because a dozen popular haulers got executed for taking stuff to the depot that was export-forbidden after it was already traded.

The militia commander is just the first dwarf on the list of the first squad, as far as I can tell. No special duties that I know of. Like any other soldier, he's in a somewhat high-risk position and only available part time for other duties, so I wouldn't give him any important tasks that might be time sensitive.

Soldiers of all ranks are good candidates for masons, mechanics, wood cutters, etc. Any job where you want a bunch around, but skill doesn't matter too much for most of them. Just make sure you have a full-timer also doing the job. For example, have a primary mason and set the mason's shop to only allow novice or better. So the hoard of unskilled masons can crank out construction work en-mass, while the skilled guy is back at the shop making masterwork doors. Since soldiers are typically scheduled to be soldiering most of the time, and off duty some of the time, having a few more or less of them is no problem if they're doing unskilled labor. Or you can just give them no jobs and let them do hauling when they're off duty.

[Moonshadow101]

I use a one-job-per-dwarf ethic. One dwarf who is an manager and nothing else, one who is a bookkeeper and nothing else, and one who is a broker and nothing else. It's obviously inefficient from certain points of view, but it mostly guarantees that the guy will be free when I need him. I have over 100 dwarves, it's not a big deal if a few of them spend 90% of their time goofing off. If I was playing a game with a very low pop limit then I might reconsider this approach, but currently I don't see much reason to do so.

[Xen0n]

~~snip~~
Soldiers of all ranks are good candidates for masons, mechanics, wood cutters, etc. Any job where you want a bunch around, but skill doesn't matter too much for most of them. Just make sure you have a full-timer also doing the job. For example, have a primary mason and set the mason's shop to only allow novice or better. So the hoard of unskilled masons can crank out construction work en-mass, while the skilled guy is back at the shop making masterwork doors. Since soldiers are typically scheduled to be soldiering most of the time, and off duty some of the time, having a few more or less of them is no problem if they're doing unskilled labor. Or you can just give them no jobs and let them do hauling when they're off duty.

That's a good point about skills for soldiers.  Recently I've tended to leave my militia more free time since they could use the extra combat drills, and have all the hauling hordes with the dabbling mason labour, then set the mason's workshops up like you.  Really makes those bigs constructions fly by.

[Ethnar]

Baron/Major/Bookkeeper/Broker/Manager all in one. Cheap to get away ith the rooms, just 1 each for single dwarf.

Militia commander is just a regular soldier in my eyes, no special treatment (aside what soldiers get).
I also keep chief medical dwarf separate since i want him ready for emergencies around the clock.