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Author Topic: Dwarves adamantly refuse to smelt adamantine  (Read 699 times)

muldrake

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Dwarves adamantly refuse to smelt adamantine
« on: December 27, 2016, 04:07:00 pm »

Note that actually figuring this out may be complicated by the fact I have lots of workshops set to do various things via profiles, feeding their output to workshops, feeding those workshops into the magma forges I need, and that this is a hopelessly snarled mess.

I have been having trouble keeping adamantine production going for a while but it has come to a complete stop.

I started watching the dwarves who were regularly reporting task cancellations and saw this bizarre behavior.

A dwarf picked up adamantine thread, the first I'd been able to catch a dwarf doing this in the act, as often the dwarves extracting the threads refuse to dump it in the stockpiles right next to their workshops and set to take only from those workshops.  So it stays in the shops and the dwarves refuse to use it from there.

This dwarf then went over to the magma smelter, carrying the adamantine thread, which was listed in inventory as "Hauled." 

And immediately canceled the make adamantine wafers task with the familiar "needs 1 adamantine thread" message.  Looking at the workshop's contents, the adamantine thread is now in the workshop itself.  Why would this happen?  Why would a dwarf take the specific item needed for a task to the workshop where that work was to be done, and then cancel the task while holding that very item in his crazy, filthy dwarf mitts like some kind of goddamn moron?
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Skorpion

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Re: Dwarves adamantly refuse to smelt adamantine
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2016, 04:42:53 pm »

You need more threads to create a buffer. I have similar issues with pig iron, and having 4-5 spare bars solves it.
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The *large serrated steel disk* strikes the Raven in the head, tearing apart the muscle, shattering the skull, and tearing apart the brain!
A tendon in the skull has been torn!
The Raven has been knocked unconcious!

Elves do it in trees. Humans do it in wooden structures. Dwarves? Dwarves do it underground. With magma.

Reyajh

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Re: Dwarves adamantly refuse to smelt adamantine
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2016, 04:45:42 pm »

Wish I could help you as I am having similar problems with steel production. Just beginning to learn the nuances of WS links & such.., but I think this is why they call them Dorfs :p

P.S. Ahh, as I was posting Skorpion's reply was posted which is something I did not know...
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Loci

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Re: Dwarves adamantly refuse to smelt adamantine
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2016, 11:42:14 pm »

Note that actually figuring this out may be complicated by the fact I have lots of workshops set to do various things via profiles, feeding their output to workshops, feeding those workshops into the magma forges I need, and that this is a hopelessly snarled mess.

Due to an annoying bug, stockpiling things in containers often conflicts with using other container-stockpiled items. The easiest way to avoid stockpiling problems is to have no stockpiles that accept the problematic items. If your adamantine strands cannot be stockpiled they will always be available for workshop jobs. (In general, stockpiling things other than food and refuse is almost never necessary, and only creates problems and pointless jobs.)


Why would a dwarf take the specific item needed for a task to the workshop where that work was to be done, and then cancel the task while holding that very item in his crazy, filthy dwarf mitts like some kind of goddamn moron?

Are you sure it was the same dwarf who hauled the thread and cancelled the job? Is that dwarf allowed to use that smelter (by profiles, burrows, labors, etc.)? Could that thread have been a remnant left from a hospital job (too small to create a wafer)? Was the thread/workshop/anything forbidden during the job? Is the magma smelter constantly powered by a sufficient amount of magma? There are any number of reasons; the best way to diagnose these types of problems is to post a save so someone can directly investigate the issue.
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muldrake

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Re: Dwarves adamantly refuse to smelt adamantine
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2016, 02:11:36 am »

Are you sure it was the same dwarf who hauled the thread and cancelled the job? Is that dwarf allowed to use that smelter (by profiles, burrows, labors, etc.)? Could that thread have been a remnant left from a hospital job (too small to create a wafer)? Was the thread/workshop/anything forbidden during the job? Is the magma smelter constantly powered by a sufficient amount of magma? There are any number of reasons; the best way to diagnose these types of problems is to post a save so someone can directly investigate the issue.

Yes to all of the above, except the leftover thing.  That's a maybe, although where it came from suggests it was directly from the stockpile attached to the craftsdwarf's workshop that is generating the thread.  (I was having an issue with dwarves squandering threads on suturing jobs until I destroyed the hospital to stop the little monsters from doing that any more.)  I watched the dwarf carrying it every step of the way from the stockpile to the workshop, and under the general view, his job was listed as making adamantine wafer exactly until he canceled the job while I watched him do it.

What about this buffer thing?  Is this described anywhere that anyone knows about?  I think I've experienced that in both my steel production (with pig iron) and bismuth bronze, although both of those are now going more smoothly (until I ran out of bismuth).
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Melting Sky

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Re: Dwarves adamantly refuse to smelt adamantine
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2016, 03:16:08 pm »

This is an interesting bug. Get a copy of the save and report the bug on Mantis. I imagine this is one Toady would want to see.
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muldrake

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Re: Dwarves adamantly refuse to smelt adamantine
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2016, 04:05:31 pm »

This is an interesting bug. Get a copy of the save and report the bug on Mantis. I imagine this is one Toady would want to see.

I don't know if I can duplicate it, and the only save is rather distant from the event.  I'll watch for it, although this current fort is in the process of blowing up spectacularly so I might not.

I tend to do things the same way, though, so if I see this in the next fort, I'll try to get a save file that would actually be useful.
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