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[Khalari]

I can't really understand how people complain about idlers. In my 120 dwarf-strong fort (96 adults) I usually have around 0-10 idlers. What's up with all those idlers people have?

[SebasMarolo]

I used to have tons of idlers... then I made a temple and a tavern, and they started partying and praying.
that lowered both the idler count... and the production count. Seriously, right now my legendary bonecarver is praying and comuning with the mountains instead of imprinting my civ symbol on every mug used on the tavern. and dont get me started on the armourer. he's been at the tavern for a year now.

[Khalari]

Huh, most of mine are storing items (either in stockpiles or their own)

[nimbus25]

Idlers seem to come in groups. I either have 0-8 idlers at once, or half my fort population just slacking off doing nothing productive and crowding the tavern.

[King Kitteh]

In my experience, Dwarves only go to the Tavern when there isn't any work to do. I can have 20 Dwarves socializing, but then as soon as I designate a mass hauling they stop partying pretty fast.

My Fortress are usually pretty stacked with idlers though, maybe they never party over work because they have already fulfilled that desire in the times when there is nothing to do.


If you work a Dwarf nonstop will he eventually take a break to party and socialize?

[saltmummy626]

Mine are always hauling stones or logs or something that needs hauling. The only idlers I have are miners and masons, dwarves too important to haul stones. The masons are rarely idle and the miners only go idle when I dont have a need for stones.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Complaining about idlers (outside of roleplay) just shows a misunderstanding of the game mechanics. Dwarves with no jobs assigned idle, so it's 100% your fault if the idler rate is high (not that it matters). Dwarves avoiding work to do other things are listed as doing those other things, not as idlers.
There's a lot less 'idlers' since temples, libraries and taverns were added.

[Loci]

Most of the idler complaints are from prior versions where dwarves with no jobs would just sit idle for most of the year. With taverns, temples, and libraries, dwarves with no jobs will pick a personal task to keep themselves busy, resulting in few "idlers".

In the current version, "idle" dwarves have finished their previous job and are waiting for the next "job assignment phase" to get a new one. If the number of idlers is high it means that dwarves are finishing jobs very quickly, usually because they take and immediately soft-cancel the same "impossible" jobs over and over again (often caused by civilian alerts, pathing problems, etc.).

[Foxite]

I used to have tons of idlers... then I made a temple and a tavern, and they started partying and praying.
that lowered both the idler count... and the production count. Seriously, right now my legendary bonecarver is praying and comuning with the mountains instead of imprinting my civ symbol on every mug used on the tavern. and dont get me started on the armourer. he's been at the tavern for a year now.

I don't have any of this. When there's no job available, my dwarves are usually either socializing, praying, or just plain having "No job". As for the first two, the dwarves will forego them as soon as a real task becomes available.

Are you sure they actually have their labours enabled?

[King Kitteh]

I really hope Toady adds a new count for Dwarves that are socializing, and even another for Dwarves eating, drinking or sleeping.

My actual idler count is almost always 0. Although it is handy for realizing that one dwarf that got stuck in a tree.

[PatrikLundell]

I would like dorfs with "no job" because they're between jobs (as opposed to being unable to find a job to perform) to be excluded from the idle count. The jobs rewrite made the idle count virtually useless, since the number fluctuates wildly, inflated by job switchers, so it's quite easy to fail to catch the tree dweller before he's "been missing for a week".

[King Kitteh]

Or you know. Stop Dwarves from getting stuck in trees in the first place...

Is this canon now? Are dwarves like frightened puppies that can't walk down stairs? Is... Is this real life? Help... Please... Someone...

[Saiko Kila]

Or you know. Stop Dwarves from getting stuck in trees in the first place...

Is this canon now? Are dwarves like frightened puppies that can't walk down stairs? Is... Is this real life? Help... Please... Someone...

Since the time dwarves gained ability to drink themselves to death I don't believe in anything "canon". An now Toady's talking about the game without dwarves. Dwarf Fortress without dwarves! I suppose the time will come when the dwarves are only the stuff of legends, like centaurs.

[Urist McVoyager]

Or you know. Stop Dwarves from getting stuck in trees in the first place...

Is this canon now? Are dwarves like frightened puppies that can't walk down stairs? Is... Is this real life? Help... Please... Someone...

Since the time dwarves gained ability to drink themselves to death I don't believe in anything "canon". An now Toady's talking about the game without dwarves. Dwarf Fortress without dwarves! I suppose the time will come when the dwarves are only the stuff of legends, like centaurs.

To a point you're right, but only to a point. The goal is a high degree of end user modification. Fact is, there actually isn't much of a canon. The idea is to put more control in our hands while giving us a workable baseline we can play if we just want to play without worrying about all the choices. That baseline is probably the only place where a specific canon will exist.

[PatrikLundell]

Well, the stuck in trees issue isn't common for me. I've more cases of dorfs stranded in sealed caverns, morons that decide that removal of stairs below a tile that's never been pathable makes it so, so they climb out, climb sideways, and then strand themselves an inaccessible ledge, miners that defy digging order designations to strand themselves, and so on (plus additional cases where the blame is wholly mine, like the sealed cavern case).