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[Shonai_Dweller]

Why not just...look at the fella in the workshop making crap weapons?
Military pick the best stuff anyway, so it's not a big deal really.

Ok, sure, there are probably other similar situations where it's not so easy. Therapist/manipulator are great tools if you're into micromanagement. It's just that I came to realise a successful fortress doesn't actually need that level of micro if you don't want to.

[Linkxsc]

Why not just...look at the fella in the workshop making crap weapons?
Military pick the best stuff anyway, so it's not a big deal really.

Ok, sure, there are probably other similar situations where it's not so easy. Therapist/manipulator are great tools if you're into micromanagement. It's just that I came to realise a successful fortress doesn't actually need that level of micro if you don't want to.

Cause they slip in and make the stuff while you just had the jobs set up but werent sitting on it watching.
Ive done it before. Annoying as hell.
Worst part was, i had 500+ dorfs in that fort, framerate was terribad so id let it just run overnitt. And a random migrant came and sterted doing that. So amongst all my masterworks from my 4 smiths, there were a handful of crap that militia kept geabbing

[Shonai_Dweller]

Why would the militia grab crap?
I've never known militia to grab anything other than the best available. That's what makes military bearable, they manage themselves.
Sure the last guy in line in your last squad will end up with a crap sword until someone crafts up a masterwork, but is that really a big deal?

Well, perhaps it is, perhaps he'll get attached to it or something before you get round to crafting something better. Wouldn't bother me at all, but the utils make sure everyone's playstyle is covered so that's cool.

[Linkxsc]

I make 10  sets of gear for a squad. 2-3 sets turn out crap, but when starting the squad of 10, 2-3 are gonna get crap.

[khearn]

Same issue applies for masons or carpenters. You tell the manager that you want 10 beds, cabinets and coffers for the new bedrooms, and when you go to install them, they'd crappy.

[Untelligent]

I used to use Dwarf Foreman and the sequel, Dwarf Manager, to manage labors, but when they stopped being updated and Therapist was the only tool for that, I stopped bothering because it just had too much stuff I didn't want to use.


Ever since DF2010 or so I've just set dwarf labors when they migrate based on what I need and generally leave the labors alone afterward.

[Zac]

I'm amongst the 20% that just can't play without utilities. Not like I love min-maxing (although, I do sometime) but I love roleplaying in dwarf fortress. Setting up a caste based society without Therapist is just too much hassle and I prefer to waste my time efficiently.

[Salmeuk]

My trick is that every single dwarf is assigned a custom profession at the time of their migration, along with the corresponding labors. I also change the .init setting that auto-enables labors based on arriving skill. If you catch them as they walk on the map, it's easy enough to modify them one-by-one. This system means all the dwarves profession names match up with their labors, making it absurdly simple to manage from the vanilla 'u' list. Even if a dwarf is colored blue from his fisherdwarf skill, his title designates him a 'mason' so I know what he's actually going to be working on. Eventually the color flips with enough skill. DFhack's in-game labor grid is really nice for mass-drafting engravers or whatnot, but I can manage without. Oh, and I still designate a majority of migrants 'haulers' and use them as my generic worker supply pool.

It's true, min-maxing is practially impossible just by using the z-screen, but I've never had an interest in that style of play anyways.

[i2amroy]

My trick is that every single dwarf is assigned a custom profession at the time of their migration, along with the corresponding labors. I also change the .init setting that auto-enables labors based on arriving skill. If you catch them as they walk on the map, it's easy enough to modify them one-by-one. This system means all the dwarves profession names match up with their labors, making it absurdly simple to manage from the vanilla 'u' list. Even if a dwarf is colored blue from his fisherdwarf skill, his title designates him a 'mason' so I know what he's actually going to be working on. Eventually the color flips with enough skill. DFhack's in-game labor grid is really nice for mass-drafting engravers or whatnot, but I can manage without. Oh, and I still designate a majority of migrants 'haulers' and use them as my generic worker supply pool.

I pretty much do the exact same thing, though I do it with therapist since it lets me just work my way through the whole migrant pool at once and right click -> assign custom profession is a lot faster to do than manually changing their profession name and setting up their professions right.

Personally other than that the only real thing I use therapist for is for mass enabling/disabling of certain labors when I want to do large scale tasks, for example turning on stone smoothing for everybody when I decide it's finally time to smooth all of my floors in my huge underground fortress, and then turning it off again when the time comes that I need to start doing productive things again.

[celem]

I've always used Therapist.  I can manage most labours ok with the in-game, I like DT for mass designates...but there are a few things I simply have to use it for:

A) Animal Eugenics.  I need their Attributes.
B) Sort by Happiness (lack of)
C) Sort by Missing Clothing Slots

The last two are hugely helpful when you are managing large populations.  I can see the military gearing up with m-e, but its hard to judge the decay of public clothing just by how many x(foo)x turn up in the finished goods bins.

[Feathermind]

Sometimes you get migrants with 1 weaponsmith, who then start taking weaponsmithing jobs instead of the legendary weaponsmith you embarked with and had been training for the life of the fort. Usually this 1 level of weaponsmith is less than another professional skill the migrant has so they appear to be a planter or fisherdwarf instead.

I always adjust [SET_LABOR_LISTS:NO] in d_init so that new migrants start with all labors disabled in order to avoid those sorts of situations.  I find it's easier to enable their primary skill (or whatever I feel they should do instead) when they show up or later when I catch them lounging in the mess hall than it is to catch every dabbling hunter, armor smith, gem cutter, etc. as they enter the map.

It does mean you'll miss out on the extra equipment those with hunting/mining/woodcutting labors enabled would have brought along though.

[Psieye]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I know I could have used workshop profiles to exclude non-proficient weaponsmiths. But I do want my crappy metalcrafters to use the forges too dammit.

If I don't have more (magma) forges than dwarves who want to use them, I feel I'm doing it wrong.

[CURRENTYEAR]

You are just one of those 80% of DF players.
I, for one, can't stand unknowingly having farming enabled on white skinned male dwarf

Ah, /pol/ Fortress...

[hun]

I'm also one of those who barely can play without DT. For 20-30 dorfs microfort it's fine, but for any regular fortress it's unbearable for me. There are some tasks for which DT is so good, but doing it manually in DF is terrible. Fast checking for the highest particular skill in the fortress (and maximum suitability), fast checking of tattered clothes, happiness, massive assignments when you need 20 plant gatherers for a while - those only some examples.

[Viking]

I mean... I could play without it I guess... But it is useful. I don't want hunters and fishers.  Also is useful when assigning dorfs to militias so I make sure they are not also miners and loggers.
Is essence I use it more from laziness than from OCD per se.