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[JRHaggs]

Is there a way to make these fools stop eating the prison cells' food supply?

I have loads of transcendant food in my lovely dining hall, but no, these drunken buffoons insist on eating in the the food stocks in the prison....

What gives?

[Larix]

Hungry dwarfs head for the food closest to the place where they noticed they were hungry. Vicinity to a possible eating location is utterly irrelevant. If the dining hall is away from the main work space and isn't assigned as meeting hall, food in there is _least likely_ to be eaten.

Put the prison (and its food stocks) a bit out of the way, put the big food stockpiles near the main workshop zones and meeting areas.

[Pirate Bob]

If you don't have any prisoners right now, you could forbid the food in the prison, so that at least it won't get eaten for the time being.  But then you have to remember to unforbid it when you have prisoners.  Alternatively if there is a door on the prison you could lock the door once the food is stocked (if you have not prisoner).

I *think* what might be happening is that dwarves will grab whatever food is closest to them when they decide that they are hungry, and then go to the dining hall.  I am not sure about this, and have not tested it, but it seems like this is what happens in my fort just based on casual observation.  I know there is also a tendency to eat food containing ingredients that they prefer (so if the food in the prison has a rare ingredient that lots of dwarves like you could have a problem), but I am not sure if they choose food based on overall quality.

If this is true, then you could eliminate the problem by placing your prison in at out-of-the way area so that dwarves will not be near it most of the time.  Keep in mind that "near" means straight-line distance in 3 dimensions, not the distance of the required path.

You could also designate burrows to which you assign the majority of your dwarves, which do not include the prison, to prevent them eating from there.  Then you of course need to make sure at least a few haulers have access to the prison to stock it.

If none of this works, you could create a 1x1 dump zone on top of a level-controlled floor hatch directly above the prison food stockpile.  Then disable all other dump zones and designate desired food+booze to be dumped.  Then open the hatch to drop the food into the prison, and make sure to reclaim it.  Then keep the door to your prison locked except when a prisoner needs to enter/exit.  This requires an annoying level of micromanagement, but should guarantee that no one touches your prison food stockpile. 

Edit - it appears I was ninja'd, but Larix has confirmed my suspicions so that's good that we agree on the solution.

[Borge]

I put the dungeon in the deep dark reaches of my labyrinth, with a single long corridor with restricted traffic.

[JRHaggs]

I forgot about the non-path-related distance calculations.

I had made the prison difficult to access from a pathing perspective, but it isn't far from everything else.

Dammit. What about the setting to prefer eating in designated areas? Would that do it? I've never touched that option...

[Hans Lemurson]

They'll probably still grab the prisoner's food, but at least make sure to take it to the Dining Hall instead of eating it on the spot so they can get the happiness boost from it.

[Illogical_Blox]

If you don't have any prisoners right now, you could forbid the food in the prison, so that at least it won't get eaten for the time being.  But then you have to remember to unforbid it when you have prisoners.  Alternatively if there is a door on the prison you could lock the door once the food is stocked (if you have not prisoner).

I *think* what might be happening is that dwarves will grab whatever food is closest to them when they decide that they are hungry, and then go to the dining hall.  I am not sure about this, and have not tested it, but it seems like this is what happens in my fort just based on casual observation.  I know there is also a tendency to eat food containing ingredients that they prefer (so if the food in the prison has a rare ingredient that lots of dwarves like you could have a problem), but I am not sure if they choose food based on overall quality.

If this is true, then you could eliminate the problem by placing your prison in at out-of-the way area so that dwarves will not be near it most of the time.  Keep in mind that "near" means straight-line distance in 3 dimensions, not the distance of the required path.

You could also designate burrows to which you assign the majority of your dwarves, which do not include the prison, to prevent them eating from there.  Then you of course need to make sure at least a few haulers have access to the prison to stock it.

If none of this works, you could create a 1x1 dump zone on top of a level-controlled floor hatch directly above the prison food stockpile.  Then disable all other dump zones and designate desired food+booze to be dumped.  Then open the hatch to drop the food into the prison, and make sure to reclaim it.  Then keep the door to your prison locked except when a prisoner needs to enter/exit.  This requires an annoying level of micromanagement, but should guarantee that no one touches your prison food stockpile. 

Edit - it appears I was ninja'd, but Larix has confirmed my suspicions so that's good that we agree on the solution.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, GIVING PROPER FOOD TO PRISONERS, REFORMIST HIPPY ELF SCUM!

[JRHaggs]

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, GIVING PROPER FOOD TO PRISONERS, REFORMIST HIPPY ELF SCUM!
[/quote]

Is it a choice to tantrum? Is it not in the genetic makeup of dwarves to instinctively ignore all manufacturing orders?

If we cannot declaratively say "No!" to either of these questions, we must then, too, examine the assumption of free will. And when the foundational claims germane to the assertion of free will begin to show cracks? What then?

I'll tell you what: Prisoners get legendary turkey egg roasts, that's what. My fortress may as well be Finland.

[se5a]

I put the dungeon in the deep dark reaches of my labyrinth, with a single long corridor with restricted traffic.

Unless something has changed, this wont necessarily help much, as they don't take path into consideration when deciding what food to go get when they get hungry. it's as the bird flies (and this bird can fly through the wall/ground)

so having a prison directly underneath where dwarfs are working will cause the working dwarfs to go get the food from the prison, even if it means walking *through* a stocked dining hall to get there.

[Flare]

Try surrounding your prison with food stockpiles, all 26 3-dimensional surrounding areas.

[Repseki]

I usually end up forbidding the food, just so I know it will actually be there if I ever get any prisoners.

Make sure you forbid any Tables/Chairs you have in the cells as well, or Dwarves will try to use them as their personal dinning room half the time. At least in my forts.

[JRHaggs]

Try surrounding your prison with food stockpiles, all 26 3-dimensional surrounding areas.

This is such dwarven overkill, I can't even tell if you're serious.

[Pirate Bob]

To put all this another way, I'll give an example setup.  I like to put my prison laterally (not vertically), separated from the main fortress, preferably with the barracks in between (in case the prisoners decide to lose their minds or whatever).  Something like this:

Code: [Select]

          |------------------------|
          | prison        barracks |
          |---------------------   |
outside     entrace hall              main fortress
          |------------------------|
I think this should solve the problem.  At least, I've never noticed this problem.

[khearn]

Except that all your wood cutter/haulers, hunters and fishers who get hungry while outside the fort will head straight for your prison food stocks. Not a problem if you never let anyone outside, though.

   Keith

[Pirate Bob]

Except that all your wood cutter/haulers, hunters and fishers who get hungry while outside the fort will head straight for your prison food stocks. Not a problem if you never let anyone outside, though.

   Keith

Yeah, I didn't think of that.  And also yes, I tend not to let people outside much.  I usually create a "tree farm" by mining out large areas of soil and breaching the caverns (not sure if this works any more with the new multi-z-level trees), and I don't allow hunting or fishing.   

Bottom line - no matter where you put it there's going to be the occasional jerk who takes food from it.  But if you put it much farther (by direct line) from your workshops and meeting areas than your food stockpiles then you can significantly reduce the problem.  If it really pisses you off, you could put it in the corner of your map many z-levels below your main fortress, but then you have to haul food to this out-of-the way location, and you probably will still have the odd miner or whatever eat from it.