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[Scorpios]

quote:Things were going swimmingly for Ushulmeng, "Realmlash". Sixteen dwarves occupied sixteen rooms, each 3x3 plots of smoothed Siltstone with matching coffers and cabinents. Suddenly, migrants! Not eight or ten but nineteen, nineteen migrants more than doubling the fortress's population. A look of glee crossed the face of Lolor Dastgusil, Expedition Leader, as they began to pour in. First an Armorer. Then a Blacksmith, a Planter, a Marksdwarf. Then the other migrants arrived. That's when Lolor knew there would be a problem.

Though this is a question, somewhat, I'm asking more for a discussion. How do you handle useless migrants?

I'll use my case as an example. I had a group of sixteen. Each dwarf had a job and each did it well. Only a single Jeweler had little to do and he spent most of his time hauling. The Animal Trainer was somewhat useless as well, but he carved bones and made bows in a pinch. Then the migrants came.

quote:The Good:
Armorer
Blacksmith
Marskdwarf
Planter

The Meh:
Cook
Fish Cleaner
Siege Operator

The Ugly:
Bowyer
Engineer
Gem Setter (x2)
Lye Maker
Milker
Peasant (x4)
Soaper

I immediately drafted the Lye Maker, Milker and Soaper but I'm a bit lost with what to do with the others. In a fortress of thirty-five I have a six dwarf military and four professional planters. Now, I'm lost. I don't need more of anything really. I have three miners and no major mining operations under way, two carpenters, two masons, two fishers and two fish cleaners, two cooks, a butcher, a legendary engraver, enough wood to last a lifetime, ect.. I'm not really lacking anything other than maybe someone to outfit my military and the new metalworkers can do that.

tl;dr - How do you handle useless dwarves? Kill them? Is there some profession for them all to go to? Or do I now begin superfluous construction projects?

[Blacken]

Closet. Ten spikes. Lever.

I don't usually need to make many trade goods. The corpses generally have giant cave spider clothes worth enough to buy the good stuff from every caravan.

I let most peasants live, as they serve as haulers. But the ridiculous numbers of milkers, etc. go in the death closet or join the military.

Usually the death closet.

[ February 04, 2008: Message edited by: Blacken ]

[Untelligent]

I just give them more useful jobs. Like miners, or masons.

[Vugor]

smooth and/or engrave alot of stuff

[Scorpios]

How many Masons do I really need though? I can only use so many coffers and cabinets.

As for miners, I don't really need that many either. All I have to mine are rooms and workshops, mostly.

I'm thinking I can shove some into starting up weaving (I have cave spiders) and stonecrafting, but still...

EDIT: And as for smoothing/engraving...
I have a legendary engraver and the only thing I haven't smoothed pretty much is exploratory mining. No good.

[ February 04, 2008: Message edited by: Scorpios ]

[umiman]

You can never have enough masons.

I don't know why you guys hate engineers so much. I find them vital in any decent sized fort.

Especially when you start doing megacontructions. Engineers + masons + miners. Never have enough. How else are you going to build that fortress that can fly away by the sheer amount of windmills?

[Scorpios]

I've never had need for much more than one.
Then again, I have a tendency to abandon before I get deep into a fort.

[Mulch Diggums]

Put them all in the military and give them the most powerfull weapons you have and watch them cut eachother to bits. Its fun stuff.

[Hypcso]

I usually have anywhere from 10 to 25 engravers/masons/architechts. Anywhere from 5 to 10 miner/engravers and as many as 30 craftsdwarves of various professions, as well as wood burners ( Magma lags the crap out of me ) planters, butchers cooks and brewers. However, I normally make large, pointless outdoor structures so I really need all the extra labor to haul stones and make walls/floors/roofs/giant pointless statues of a buxom dwarfess.

I also usually fully engrave every square inch of my fortress ( Even mining tunnels ) so they're all legendary after a while. Good military fodder. The soapers/millers/threshers/other useless farming related professions and animal professions generally go to the military, or if i'm feeling particularally nasty they might test out my latest trap technology. I really tend to get carried away when I start that though. Many lost fortresses that way.

Peasents normally haul crap all day long. I usually have less than 5 idlers, and they are usually on break guys hanging out near the well partying with the 40 children this fortress somehow has. Kinda creepy.

[Scorpios]

quote:Originally posted by Mulch Diggums:
<STRONG>Put them all in the military and give them the most powerfull weapons you have and watch them cut eachother to bits. Its fun stuff.</STRONG>

I'm liking this suggestion.

[Toaster]

I build a room with twelve screw pumps.  Any "useless" dwarf goes in the Pump Squad, getting Pump Operator turned on.  Much later, when I have legendary pump operators, they get the pump job turned off and are given a useful job, such as miner, mason, military dwarf if I need more, or whatever is needed at the time.  They may still be useless, but at least they have some stats now.

EDIT- They're also the Army Reserve, getting activated in dire straits.  They usually just die, but they do a decent job of distracting Bronze Colossi.

[ February 04, 2008: Message edited by: Toaster ]

[Scorpios]

Ooh, in exciting news, a dwarf from my first migrant wave has been taken by a fey mood (My first ever). She was a former peasant turned PumpOperator as I trained her. She's taken over a Craftsdwarf's workshop with a piece of granite and a turtle shell. Let's see what she makes.

EDIT: Err, she became a Legendary Stonecrafter?
She made Nomazin Mezbuth Stokid, "Godwatch the Oar of Impaling", a Granite harp. It menaces with spikes of Granite and is worth 2400.

Apparently, even though she said "I need shells!", she didn't?

[ February 04, 2008: Message edited by: Scorpios ]

[Skanky]

I have my specialists who do one or a few jobs and that is it. For everyone else, they do everything else, normally hauling but also bowmaking and wood burning and such. Things that I don't do often enough to need specialists for. They all double as pump operators for stats training, once they reach legendary they "graduate" they just lose the pump operator job. I have enough work for a certain number of haulers and beyond that the game runs too slow anyway.

[Alaern]

If you have 30 dwarfs, you really should start doing something nice. Like engraving all your working/living sections and forging masterwork suits of steel armor. Self-powered waterfall for your legendary dining room goes without saying. You should also think about creating a personal waterfall in every noble's living quater (of course, with a little remote controlled floodgate at the drain so an over-demanding noble could have an accident).

[Helmaroc]

I set them all on hauling, farming and engraving duties as soon as they arrive, if they are useless. Many of them turn out to be skilled engravers, and some pretty good farm-hands.