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Author Topic: Fortress grinding to a halt  (Read 831 times)

Daris

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Fortress grinding to a halt
« on: August 07, 2018, 06:11:49 am »

So I like to play generation forts with no migration.  I hadn't played for a while, so I picked up the newest version with the latest LNP.

I'm discovering that no-migration forts are unfun because dwarves eventually stop taking non-workshop jobs.  They won't dig, cut down trees, or haul.  My latest fort, the last caravan almost left with nothing because only one dwarf would haul items to the depot.  I can't dye cloth because the dwarves won't haul the many, many empty bags in the fort to the empty-bag stockpile linked to my quern.  However, they will plant seeds, harvest plants, construct whatever I ask in workshops, and visit the temple.

Is this a matter of unmet needs?  They get unfocused and/or distracted after a couple of years, because setting up a new fort with only 7 dwarves doesn't leave a lot of extra time for me to cater to their needs.  They'll still take workshop jobs without a problem.

My first fort took 4 years for the dwarves to go on strike, and my second one took only 2.  There's no possible way for me to get a needs-fulfilling fort up and running in only 2 years, and I'm not even sure that unmet needs are the problem in the first place.  Is this intended behavior, or a bug of some kind?  Are generation forts just infeasible these days?
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2018, 07:07:36 am »

None of this is vanilla gameplay. Strikes don't happen. Unmet needs only slow dwarves down a little (or met needs speed them up, I forget. Maybe it's both - either way it doesn't cause them to stop).
Your problem is something else entirely. Using any mods?
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2018, 07:32:56 am »

Hauling to the trade depot trumps almost everything else except harvesting. Workshop jobs typically trump hauling (except to the trade depot and harvesting). When you're short on dwarfpower you have to micro manage them to get the things you need done in a timely manner.

If they're not hauling to the trade depot I'd check that trade goods hauling is enabled, burrows, and pathability.

Who's got time to haul bags when there are workshop jobs to perform?

My dead civ (i.e. 12-24 dorfs) fortresses are season based so I get time to catch up on low priority hauling and needs fulfillment. However, the first 2-3 years usually go by without any rest.
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Daris

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2018, 05:07:34 pm »

Hauling is fully enabled (I never turned any of it off).  I promise you, I watched 5 dwarves faff about, with only 1 hauling to the depot and the final one being the broker.  Every couple of game days three others would break off their nonsense and haul 1 item each to the depot, and then go back to playing with their toes or whatever.  I can excuse the doctor, because he's a scholar and was likely having trouble with the little gears between his ears, but I don't get the others.

No burrows either - I never use them.

They will harvest plants, but won't take plants to stockpiles unless it's straight from the farm plot.  They aren't hauling seeds away from workshops either, but simply taking seeds directly from the (for example) quern and planting them.  They'll put the sand bags in the sand bag stockpile after collecting sand, but won't even pasture the loose dogs anymore.

Quote
Who's got time to haul bags when there are workshop jobs to perform?

Only a couple of them have workshop jobs.  The rest are idling or pondering pulmonary medicine.  Here's a cap:



For bonus points, I have some tiles designated for mining, and the free miner is still doing nothing.
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Daris

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2018, 05:25:52 pm »

Here's another cap, showing my broker obediently at the trade depot while NO dwarves haul the ~30 glass corkscrews I've made for trade goods to the depot to be traded.

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Loci

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2018, 05:46:12 pm »

Hauling is fully enabled (I never turned any of it off).

Those are *not* equivalent. Some packs automatically enable "helpful" modifications which significantly change the way the game works. For instance, autolabor, labormanager, etc. will automatically change labors without player input. Check that the dwarves standing around instead of hauling actually have hauling labors enabled in the v-p-l menu.
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Daris

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2018, 06:07:23 pm »

All hauling is enabled.  I can show you if you'd like.
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Loci

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2018, 06:49:31 pm »

If you upload a save to DFFD perhaps someone can figure out what's going on.
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lethosor

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2018, 07:29:52 pm »

Can you confirm that you have not selected anything like "automatic labor management"?
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There was a typo in the siegers' campfire code. When the fires went out, so did the game.

anewaname

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2018, 09:48:49 pm »

Also take a look at the 'j'obs list. You should see all the jobs that you have been expecting to see dwarfs doing, all marked Inactive. If you see few jobs and jobs you expect are not listed, something else is the problem (example: no job for hauling items to that the stockpile because the stockpile was set to 'links only').
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Daris

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2018, 06:11:45 am »

What I ended up doing was suspending all workshop jobs and deleting the temple so that everyone would congregate in the relatively-small library during their many hours of idling.  This forced the dwarves to come in contact with one another.  After about another season the strike ended and everyone suddenly started to pasture dogs and haul bags and dig and chop trees.  I don't know if what I did had an effect or if it was just something that needed to run itself out, but my dwarves are working normally again.

I'm willing to share a seasonal autosave from when the strike was in effect, if anyone is interested in looking at it, but my problem has resolved itself.  Thank you to everyone who replied.
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Xyon

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Re: Fortress grinding to a halt
« Reply #11 on: August 08, 2018, 08:20:16 am »

was it like a dwarf holy month where it goes against their backwards simulated religions to haul things for that month?
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