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[i2amroy]

Ok, I'm new to this game and I know personally that is nothing... I was facing a food shortage crisis in my new fortress (too busy focusing on other things, I forgot I had to keep a supply of food). I got to the stage of calling everyone back and making them all do their best to get food... Out of a population of 72, i had only 38 that weren't children... They were eating me dry

Just a note here, but you realize that in times of food crisis it's better to have 3-5 farmers who do all of your planting and quickly skill up then it is to have 40+ dwarves all becoming dabbling farmers? 1 skilled dwarf will generate more food then like 20 unskilled ones in the farming industry. Now if you were having them gather plants that's fine, because though skill helps a lot having multiple dwarves also helps some too, but farming really requires skilled dwarves to be worthwhile.

[Broken]

I us Dwarf therapist to enable hauling in the childs, then use then as slaves in the coal mines.

[toomanysecrets]

I us Dwarf therapist to enable hauling in the childs, then use then as slaves in the coal mines.

This is cheating.

[Trance]

I us Dwarf therapist to enable hauling in the childs, then use then as slaves in the coal mines.

This is cheating.

Not if your world year is younger 1842!

[krenshala]

Hmmm. Seems I spoke to soon with my post earlier.  28 dwarves, 7 of which are children born in the fort.  This is going to be ... interesting since I'm getting about one per month during the second year.

[Mimodo]

Ok, I'm new to this game and I know personally that is nothing... I was facing a food shortage crisis in my new fortress (too busy focusing on other things, I forgot I had to keep a supply of food). I got to the stage of calling everyone back and making them all do their best to get food... Out of a population of 72, i had only 38 that weren't children... They were eating me dry

Just a note here, but you realize that in times of food crisis it's better to have 3-5 farmers who do all of your planting and quickly skill up then it is to have 40+ dwarves all becoming dabbling farmers? 1 skilled dwarf will generate more food then like 20 unskilled ones in the farming industry. Now if you were having them gather plants that's fine, because though skill helps a lot having multiple dwarves also helps some too, but farming really requires skilled dwarves to be worthwhile.

Oh no, I was at the stage of everyone gathering random plants too... Literally, every single dwarf could do nothing but gather plants and haul food

[Xenos]

I us Dwarf therapist to enable hauling in the childs, then use then as slaves in the coal mines.

How do you enable the child labor?  Therapist tends to not allow me to do this...

[Broseph Stalin]

I us Dwarf therapist to enable hauling in the childs, then use then as slaves in the coal mines.

How do you enable the child labor?  Therapist tends to not allow me to do this...

I don't think it works anymore, older versions of 34 allowed it but no more.

You can build a big area of constructed floor tiles then order them all deconstructed while the adults are burrowed elsewhere. Once their in one spot you can kill them with a cavein (if they all die at once they aren't reported as killed.) or just throw food down at them till they grow up.

[khearn]

I don't see why everybody gets their panties in a twist over this. Once you have a decent food and booze industry set up, it's no problem to feed dozens of kids. Eventually they grow up and become semi-useful. Until then I just ignore them.

If they're eating/drinking you out of house and home, the problem is that you're not getting your food industry going. At the rate that farms produce crops and birds produce eggs, if you can't feed a hundred extra mouths you have no excuse.

On the other hand if you're playing a "only eat/brew stuff gathered from outside while in an evil husk-making region", then yeah, the extra kids could add to the challenge. But you still only have yourself to blame.

[Xenos]

I don't see why everybody gets their panties in a twist over this. Once you have a decent food and booze industry set up, it's no problem to feed dozens of kids. Eventually they grow up and become semi-useful. Until then I just ignore them.

If they're eating/drinking you out of house and home, the problem is that you're not getting your food industry going. At the rate that farms produce crops and birds produce eggs, if you can't feed a hundred extra mouths you have no excuse.

On the other hand if you're playing a "only eat/brew stuff gathered from outside while in an evil husk-making region", then yeah, the extra kids could add to the challenge. But you still only have yourself to blame.

I don't mind the food production, this is simple.  I just don't want my dwarves idling and becoming best friends with everyone and their kitten since I get lots of insane migrants from failed forts who are related to Urist McSocialButterfly.  These will sometimes trigger spirals which end forts and lead to more insane migrants in future forts.  It is pre-set Fun.  (I had a melancholy and a mad dwarf in one migrant wave who were related to about 25% of my fort.)

[Scruffy]

Indeed. Having a fort full of underage bearded menaces doing nothing but socializing is the last thing most players want.

..which is why I try to keep the lil' buggers occupied with hauling and other productive work instead of letting those ticking timebombs "idle", "attend party" and infest each others with those horrible things called "friends" or "grudges". Bah!

I wish I still had my vampire who seemed to only eat children. I liked that guy. (Drained 8 children and a potash maker over a couple of years but I had to wall him in after he ate my legendary weaponsmith )

[darkrider2]

Indeed. Having a fort full of underage bearded menaces doing nothing but socializing is the last thing most players want.

..which is why I try to keep the lil' buggers occupied with hauling and other productive work instead of letting those ticking timebombs "idle", "attend party" and infest each others with those horrible things called "friends" or "grudges". Bah!

I wish I still had my vampire who seemed to only eat children. I liked that guy. (Drained 8 children and a potash maker over a couple of years but I had to wall him in after he ate my legendary weaponsmith )

You should have burrowed all the children in a room with him and locked the door.

[Panando]

The best way of dealing with children that I've thought up is to dig little holes, each with only a constructed ramp to allow escape. Then occupy or burrow all the adults and order the ramps to be de-constructed. The kiddies each go down a hole and de-construct the ramp trapping themselves, 1 per hole.
Originally my thinking was to brick them in and let them starve to death, but alternatively they could have an open water tile and a food stockpile in their hole and could be released upon attaining adulthood - assuming they're made of stern enough stuff to survive years of solitary confinement without going insane from unhappiness or failed mood. (actually solitary confinement doesn't bother dwarves in the slightest. Dwarves do not get bored. But they do get unhappy thoughts about a lack of bed, chair, table, booze, clothes etc. So if their solitary confinement is nice enough, they'll be ecstatic permanently and can probably even endure the death of their parents in the case of a tantrum spiral)

Unfortunately my last two forts have had very very few children (only about 1 per 20 adults) so I've not got to implement this strategy. Tis' almost as if they know.

[Xenos]

Indeed. Having a fort full of underage bearded menaces doing nothing but socializing is the last thing most players want.

..which is why I try to keep the lil' buggers occupied with hauling and other productive work instead of letting those ticking timebombs "idle", "attend party" and infest each others with those horrible things called "friends" or "grudges". Bah!

I wish I still had my vampire who seemed to only eat children. I liked that guy. (Drained 8 children and a potash maker over a couple of years but I had to wall him in after he ate my legendary weaponsmith )

Dump food into the burrow through a pit to keep the children boozed up and let the vampire manage work orders and stockpile records.  If the children survive to become a peasant then go ahead and draft them to the Army or Engineering Corps.
You should have burrowed all the children in a room with him and locked the door.

[Sutremaine]

The best way of dealing with children that I've thought up is to dig little holes, each with only a constructed ramp to allow escape. Then occupy or burrow all the adults and order the ramps to be de-constructed. The kiddies each go down a hole and de-construct the ramp trapping themselves, 1 per hole.

Alternative idea:

Have the pit consist of one ramp tile over empty space, and one retracting bridge tile. The dwarven child deconstructs the ramp, gets stuck on the bridge, and can be dumped into a childcare chamber via lever. Or maybe the bridge could be linked to a repeater, which would make the deconstructor fall down before they had a chance to finish work on the ramp, possibly triggering a slow lemming rush to the dropzone.

Once a child hits the ground below, they find themselves in an area containing several other children, one farmer, and the odd confused-looking dwarf. This area is furnished with bedrooms and other nice pieces of furniture, but with food and drink being water and plump helmets. This is the only area of the fort that grows the plants, and anything that exceeds the capacity of the small food stockpile are left to rot in the field. There will always be enough seeds.

Any adult dwarf except the farmer may leave by attempting to pull a lever at the end of a long corridor containing a pressure plate and a retracting bridge. This lever is set to be pullable by any adult dwarf but the single farmer, and may permit one automatic extraction of any adult dwarf accidently dropped into the chamber.