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Author Topic: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first  (Read 2486 times)

em1LL

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Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« on: July 20, 2015, 09:52:06 am »

Hi all!

Will dwarves eat the best quality food first or just random stuff? And will they prefer to eat food contains their favorite ingredients?

Thanks in advance.
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Wheeljack

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2015, 10:55:51 am »

I know for a fact they will eat their favorite food first. After that point, I'm not sure of the mechanics. I've seen dwarves pull out plump helmets to eat when I have barrels full of lavish meals. This suggests the answer is no, but it could have been something like proximity that made them eat the mushrooms first.
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Madventurer

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2015, 03:52:39 am »

Next step is obviously to selectively breed -or use 'natural' selection- to only have dwarves that like plump helmets, thus making sure they are actually eaten.
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soulsource

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2015, 06:02:57 am »

My experience is that first they'll go for their favorite food, and if that isn't available, they'll just eat what's closest to the dining hall. That's why I now decided to have the raw food stockpile a bit away from the central staircase, just to ensure that all prepared meals are closer to the dining area than the raw plump helmets.
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FrankMcFuzz

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2015, 08:29:32 pm »

I'm still confused how you can actually put a bowl of stew or a turkey plump helmet roast in a barrel and move it around. Have dwarves invented the magic of cling wrap and refrigeration?

Yeah, I have no idea of their actual mechanics. Sometimes I see them grab the nearest thing to the dining hall, sometimes I see them grab the nearest thing to them, and sometimes I see them go completely out of their way to the prison and eat something from there.
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Dunamisdeos

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2015, 08:44:21 pm »

I feel like non-favorite food selection must be random. I've also seen dwarves go across the fort for a plump helmet rather than grab one next to the dining hall (or even next to their current position).
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SyrusLD

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2015, 08:59:32 pm »

Weirdest thing I saw were constant "cancels eat: item inaccessable" while I had some herbalists outside gathering plants (so I could vary up the booze) while I have a few thousand units of masterfully prepared lavish meals ready on my stockpiles...

They were clearly trying to go for the plants being gathered. It made me curious whether the dwarf trying to get at those plants had a preference for them, but he didn't, the only preference he had towards food was some kind of meat I think and sewer brew, definatly not any kind of plant I was gathering...

The plants being gathered were also much farther away from the dining hall and the dwarf than the lavish meals.
So I really don't understand how they decide what to eat next.


Maybe he was vegetarian and didn't like all the sheep/crundle/etc.-meat meals and got sick of all the "dwarven sugar*4"-meals I have.
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Goatmaan

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2015, 07:12:56 am »

Try buying or making some cheese!!!
It'll go fast!!!
Every fort I've had, the little buggers scarf
the cheese!!! Doesn't really matter the kind.

Don't believe me?

Test it and see.

   Goatmaan
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Oaktree

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2015, 07:49:13 am »

Weirdest thing I saw were constant "cancels eat: item inaccessable" while I had some herbalists outside gathering plants (so I could vary up the booze) while I have a few thousand units of masterfully prepared lavish meals ready on my stockpiles...

They were clearly trying to go for the plants being gathered. It made me curious whether the dwarf trying to get at those plants had a preference for them, but he didn't, the only preference he had towards food was some kind of meat I think and sewer brew, definatly not any kind of plant I was gathering...

The plants being gathered were also much farther away from the dining hall and the dwarf than the lavish meals.
So I really don't understand how they decide what to eat next.


Maybe he was vegetarian and didn't like all the sheep/crundle/etc.-meat meals and got sick of all the "dwarven sugar*4"-meals I have.

That observation might be implying that the dwarf is looking for the most recent item on the "food stack" once his favorite is not in stock.  Similar to dwarves fetching the most recently produced bolts when looking to reload their quivers and not paying attention to where the closest bolts are.
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SyrusLD

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2015, 10:06:00 am »

Oh yeah, that makes sense. That also explains why my archers always wait when I produce new bolts during a siege: new bolts get put into a minecart, which is supposed to deliver them closer, first, making them inaccessable to my marksdwarves.

So far I'd say: "preference first, then going by what's newest"?!
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Borge

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2015, 04:30:39 pm »

If a +Crundle liver roast+ has 1 Apple baked into it, will a dwarf who loves apples still pick this roast and get the truly decadent meal happy thought from it?
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Eldin00

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2015, 03:26:27 pm »

I'm pretty sure they get the happy thought if any ingredient in the meal is a favorite food. I'm less sure that they'll prioritize eating meals containing a favorite ingredient if that ingredient isn't the one which the name of the meal is derived from.
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Loci

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #12 on: July 23, 2015, 03:32:44 pm »

Weirdest thing I saw were constant "cancels eat: item inaccessable" while I had some herbalists outside gathering plants (so I could vary up the booze) while I have a few thousand units of masterfully prepared lavish meals ready on my stockpiles...

They were clearly trying to go for the plants being gathered. It made me curious whether the dwarf trying to get at those plants had a preference for them, but he didn't, the only preference he had towards food was some kind of meat I think and sewer brew, definatly not any kind of plant I was gathering...

The plants being gathered were also much farther away from the dining hall and the dwarf than the lavish meals.
So I really don't understand how they decide what to eat next.

There's a known bug that could explain this, if the dwarves in question were choosing plants from a plant-barrel that was then selected as a destination for a hauling job.
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SyrusLD

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Re: Will dwarves eat the best quality food first
« Reply #13 on: July 23, 2015, 04:55:59 pm »

Weirdest thing I saw were constant "cancels eat: item inaccessable" while I had some herbalists outside gathering plants (so I could vary up the booze) while I have a few thousand units of masterfully prepared lavish meals ready on my stockpiles...

They were clearly trying to go for the plants being gathered. It made me curious whether the dwarf trying to get at those plants had a preference for them, but he didn't, the only preference he had towards food was some kind of meat I think and sewer brew, definatly not any kind of plant I was gathering...

The plants being gathered were also much farther away from the dining hall and the dwarf than the lavish meals.
So I really don't understand how they decide what to eat next.

There's a known bug that could explain this, if the dwarves in question were choosing plants from a plant-barrel that was then selected as a destination for a hauling job.
Since I don't have any barrels except for those for drinks and 4 for my military, I believe it is rather that they try to eat the newest food first.
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Slayer of a Giantess, whom he burned alive.
Died in a Heroic Fight with a Grizzly Bear.