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[Jerm]

So I'm in year three or so, and I did very aggressive farming.  I had plenty of stocks of drinks and food for awhile.  Now my brewers constantly cancel because there are no free barrels.  I've got 50 or so drinks, and 800+ meals/food items!  I'm trying to create more barrels, but I'm having trouble getting them produced fast enough.

Is there a good solution here?  I'm sure that I can stop farming for a bit, dump some food, and free up barrels, but I wonder if there is a non-micromanaging way to fix this problem?   For instance, it would rock to be able to set X number of barrels for use only as drink containers...

[kamikazemoose]

Try limiting the amount of barrels allowed in the food stockpile, maybe make a separate one for the drinks. SHould do the trick.

[Brent Not Broken]

Have you tried cooking a bunch of lavish meals to consolidate your food items? Other than churning out tons of barrels to stay ahead of demand, I'm not sure what else you can do to address this.

Frustratingly, I don't think you can specify what dwarves should do with their various containers-- my problem is usually not food in my drink barrels, but seeds in my sand gathering and quarry bush processing bags. I just swear at my dwarves until I can make more bags.

Edit: Whoa, I learned a lot of things in this thread.

[ May 15, 2008: Message edited by: Brent Not Broken ]

[Kagus]

When you bring up the stock[p]ile list, there's a little thing in there called "reserved barrels" or something like that.  If you raise that number, that amount of barrels will be saved for use only by workshops.  They won't be used for storage, so dwarves will always try to keep that number of barrels free for putting syrup and booze into (but not both at the same time, naturally).

Don't bother with the similar bins-related option.  Bins aren't used by any workshops, so you'll just end up with some bins that aren't used for anything.

[Osmosis Jones]

Try this (doesn't help with micromanagement too much, but is kewl);

eg

code:

 
  ^To Fort
X///\\\\X
X///\\\\X
X///\\\\X
XXXXXDXXX   X=Wall
X////\\\X   D=Door
X////\\\X   /=Wood Stockpile
X////\\\X   \=Booze Stockpile
XXXXXDXXXXX  |=Seed/plump helmet stockpile
X~~~BBBCCCX  B=Still
X~~~BBBCCCX  C=Carpenters
X~~~BBBCCCX  0=Bed
X000 |||||X  ~=Farm
XXXXXXXXXXX

Farmer, Brewer and Carpenter live in the room, no one else allowed in, an airlock setup is the only means of interaction.

Keep the top doors forbidden most of the time, bottom doors open. Stockpiles outside the airlock feed wood to the airlock stockpile so that when top door is open wood can be refilled quickly, and likewise, another stockpile is ready to grab the booze (You will need a few haulers to minimize the production dead time).

The farm must be big enough to provide enough plump helmets, without flooding the brewing squad (size in diagram is not a good guide  :p ), and the food stockpile should be set to 0 barrels. The carpenter should produce enough barrels provided you keep him topped up with wood through the airlock.

It'll take you a while to set up, but after its done, you just need to toggle doors occasionally. It worked for the little while I had it set up, until I flooded my fortress with magma in an unrelated accident (the carpenter promptly went nuts from grief, and killed the other occupants... good times).

I like to think that outside, the dwarves marvelled at the magic room that turned wood into booze, while inside the slaves slowly went nuts.

[Solara]

quote:Originally posted by kamikazemoose:
<STRONG>Try limiting the amount of barrels allowed in the food stockpile, maybe make a separate one for the drinks. SHould do the trick.</STRONG>

This is what I've found to be the best solution. (though cooking more prepared foods at the same time also helps) If you allow them to put as many as they want in the food stockpile you'll constantly see empty barrels or ones with a single item inside them.

[Samyotix]

Maybe you have a huge plants stockpile?
I'd forgotten about that 10x10 plants stockpile in the cellar for a year or two  

If you do: Milling plants (on repeat) (with several querns) is a good way of cleaning out that plant stockpile, though you'll need lots of bags :-) Or processing ... whatever really, anything that uses plants and does not produce stuff that goes into barrels  

I'd also suggest putting most of the farms on (z)fallow for a season.

[ May 15, 2008: Message edited by: Samyotix ]

[Fooster]

Like Brent said before, for me, it ends up being bags that are a bitch to manage.  Seeds are like the black hole of all bag-dom.  My poor millers/sand gatherers/leaf processors have no chance against the Evil Seed Empire when plants are actively being eaten or brewed.

[chaoticag]

Have two or three barrel producers. If that still dosen't work go for more and/or combining them with other suggested methods.

[RickiusMaximus]

Seeds really ain't that big a deal IMO- you can only ever have 200 of each seed type so you just make enough bags to have 200 of each and that's an end to it.

Same for the barrels, just churn the lil' buggers out- two or three carpenters workshops, and buy as many barrels (regardless of content) off the traders, soon you'll have so many barrels the clutter in the kitchen will be your biggest concern!

[Derakon]

quote:Originally posted by RickiusMaximus:
<STRONG>Seeds really ain't that big a deal IMO- you can only ever have 200 of each seed type so you just make enough bags to have 200 of each and that's an end to it.</STRONG>

So, up to 200 bags per seed type? You have absolutely no guarantee that dwarves will use the existing seed bags; in fact, they seem to use the closest bag that can hold the seed, i.e. the nearest bag which is either empty or already holding seeds of that type.

[InquisitiveIdiot]

I've run into this bag problem before.  The solution is simple: make sure your dining halls, breweries and workshops are closer to your seed storage than your empty bag storage.  

Loose seeds will pick the closest "good" place to put themselves; the seed pile and the empty bag pile are on the same list.  If the empty bag pile is closer, one seed will go into one bag, which will go to the seed pile.  The next seed will go to the next empty bag.  Soon, you have no bags.

[Lyrax]

Make barrels and bags.  Lots of them.

I mean LOTS.

[Solara]

quote:Originally posted by Derakon:
<STRONG>So, up to 200 bags per seed type? You have absolutely no guarantee that dwarves will use the existing seed bags; in fact, they seem to use the closest bag that can hold the seed, i.e. the nearest bag which is either empty or already holding seeds of that type.</STRONG>

I think each bag holds like 100 seeds. So make a tiny 1x2 stockpile and set it to hold no barrels and only one kind of seed. Repeat for each type of seed you have, and dwarves should have no choice but to fill up the bags.

[Derakon]

quote:Originally posted by Solara:
<STRONG>

I think each bag holds like 100 seeds. So make a tiny 1x2 stockpile and set it to hold no barrels and only one kind of seed. Repeat for each type of seed you have, and dwarves should have no choice but to fill up the bags.</STRONG>

My point was that the dwarves do have the choice. The problem with stockpiles is that there is no requirement to use them. Dwarves can and will pick any handy bag to dump a seed into if it's closer than the one in the stockpile. As noted, the only way to keep your seeds in one place (short of not making more bags) is to ensure that seeds are always located closer to the bags you want them stored in than to any other bags.