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[StagnantSoul]

Okay, odd title, but I can't think of any other way to say it. I was working on some buildings, being completely ocd about it, working with supports and separate mini-buildings just so there wasn't a weird shadow or down staircase left behind. Problem is, where did that thing about paths go? Like a low movement path, high movement, restricted path, etc.? I used that a lot in 34.11, is it still around? I can't seem to find it...

[PatrikLundell]

Yes, the path designations are still there, although they have been totally useless when I've tried to stop the morons from bricking themselves in by building from the wrong side, or NOT getting stranded on top of the wall I intend to cave-in when channeling it lose.

Try 'd'esignation-'o'rders.

[StagnantSoul]

Thanks! I swore they had their own button on the main menu? Ohwell, thanks! No more having to stop them mid-floor removal... Removing the floor under their buddy, ten z-levels up.

[PatrikLundell]

There is actually a MUCH better way to do most of it now, namely designation priorities. Both digging (in its various forms) and building removal can be given one of 7 different priorities (defaults to 4). You can still get screwed by the allocation being performed in the correct order, but the execution ending up in the reverse order, so you still need to take care. Building doesn't have priorities, however.

I have some vague recollection of path priorities being shifted to another key, but can't swear on it.

[Loci]

Yes, the path designations are still there, although they have been totally useless when I've tried to stop the morons from bricking themselves in by building from the wrong side, or NOT getting stranded on top of the wall I intend to cave-in when channeling it lose.

In the v0.40 branch, dwarves construct walls from the direction that they approach the job site *after collecting the material*. So, if you're building walls using rough stones or wood, there's a fair chance that the closest material is outside the wall, and your dwarf will become trapped. If you construct walls using materials only available inside your fortress (e.g. stone blocks) then your dwarves (generally) won't wall themselves out.

No more having to stop them mid-floor removal... Removing the floor under their buddy, ten z-levels up.

In my tests with v0.40, dwarves wouldn't actually remove a floor under a fellow dwarf. They would, however, gleefully remove the floor under their own feet.

[PatrikLundell]

@Loci:
Well, "generally" is the operative word, unfortunately. However, even when I've made sure the stone is first hauled to the correct side of the hole to plug (build a wall there, and then cancel the building while it's under way), and THEN ordered to plug the hole, after the dwarf has gone away in the "right" direction (to arrive from the correct side), the buggers tend to brick themselves in, as if the stone had a memory of where it originally came from. I have had better luck with forbidding stone on the wrong side originally.

In 0.40.13, or something like that, I ordered a U shaped section of floor to be removed (since you can't put a wall on top of a floor), and dwarves came rushing from all over the place to share the joy of destruction (while the crops were withering in the fields), and obviously decided to stand on the floor tiles their neighbors were removing. The managed to synchronize this so well that three of them fell at the same time. I don't think I've seen any dorfs remove the floor they stood on themselves, but I've seen the strange behavior of falling as a result of removing a floor tile being the sole support of more floor further out, while still standing on the wall beside it.

[Putnam]

0.40.20 changed all that, so 0.40.13 is irrelevant to the latest version.

[Niddhoger]

Dorfs will specifically ignore pathing priorities if they have a job that specifically requires them to pass into/through a restricted zone.  So if you restrict one side of a building site, a dorf might still go "w/e, I gots to be here" even if you mark the "right" side with a high-priority zone... dorfs are stupid.  I blame all the booze. 

However... dorfs will never stand on a construction designation to build something else.  You can set up "dummy" construction jobs (designate but immediately suspend) on the "wrong" sides of construction sites.  This will force dorfs to stand on the right side of construction and deconstruction jobs.  When the deed is done, you can cancel the dummy jobs to instantly clear them out of the way.  The draw-back is that it ties up building materials, as you have to select something before suspending the job.  You can use stockpiled metal bars, stone blocks of the wrong color, spare logs, SOAP, etc.  However, you can tie up the building materials of your choice this way too, if you aren't careful. 

[PatrikLundell]

The "don't stand at a construction tile" rule isn't absolute. Usually, that's fortunate, because you can then designate the building of the next wall segment while the dorf building the previous one is hauling the building material towards the building site. However, I've frequently seen (0.40.24) that a designated pair of wall segments in between two stairs designated at the same time with the game paused are still sometimes built from the "wrong" direction, i.e. approaching using the shorter path to build the further segment, standing on the other designated tile. I've also seen dorfs suddenly give up building of wall segments due to "no path" because the designated segment beside the intended one was built and thus blocked the shorter path from the wrong direction selected.

[Niddhoger]

No... it pretty much is absolute.  Its why when you are building upper levels of a wall segment, you have to construct the corners first.  Otherwise, said corners will be un-buildable due to the only accessible tiles to build them from being other construction sites. 

[PatrikLundell]

Well, it could be like the diagonal building case, as long as the dorf could have build from a non designated tile they may chose to do it from a designated one, but if no non designated tile from which the building could be performed exists, the building could not be done.

[Loci]

However... dorfs will never stand on a construction designation to build something else.  You can set up "dummy" construction jobs (designate but immediately suspend) on the "wrong" sides of construction sites.  This will force dorfs to stand on the right side of construction and deconstruction jobs.

No, this "trick" hasn't worked for years. Dwarves will indeed stand on a suspended construction tile in v0.34 and v0.40.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014_Talk:Suspend#trick

[Skuggen]

I've never had Dwarfs wall themselves in after I started using that trick, neither in .34 or .40. It might not be absolute, but it certainly seems to help.
'course, I haven't actually done any hard science on this, so it's just a «seems to me...»-observation

[Loci]

I've never had Dwarfs wall themselves in after I started using that trick, neither in .34 or .40. It might not be absolute, but it certainly seems to help.
'course, I haven't actually done any hard science on this, so it's just a «seems to me...»-observation

Well, should you ever decide to investigate, the link I provided has an easy 10-minute procedure which clearly demonstrates that it doesn't work. But until then feel free to keep waving your rubber chicken.

[Niddhoger]

Huh... I'll have to check this out, but corners are still never built when I am setting up squares.  Does FILO not work either? The corner would be before one of the adjacent construction jobs but after the other.  Or perhaps they will stand on suspended but not ongoing construction jobs *shrugs*