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[Antmf]

If so how is it working? Does it do what it is supposed to do efficiently? And can anyone one tell me which is better to use and why?

[mikekchar]

At the risk of derailing your thread, I don't use either.  There is no real game reason to frequently have dwarfs change professions.  The main thing I find is trying to keep track of what the dwarfs actually do -- so that you can debug problems if some job isn't getting done.  I have 2 ways in the current game to deal with this at the moment.  First I set the custom profession to all the labours that a dwarf is set to.  This is a PITA in the early game because some dwarfs will end up with 4 things.  But as the game progresses, there isn't much need to have more than 2 labours on each dwarf.  Eventually one of them even becomes their normal "profession" (so they get the appropriate colour and are sorted in the "U" screen appropriately).

The second things I've started doing is restricting workshops to specific dwarfs -- each workshop allows only 1 or 2 dwarfs.  I then label the workshops after the dwarfs.  You can use the "R" command to then browse through the locations to zoom to the workshops (or just "k" over it if you happen to see it).  This tells you what dwarf is supposed to work there.  What's even nicer is that if you only have one dwarf assigned to a workshop, when you "q" over the workshop, it tells you what the dwarf is currently doing!  Since I've started doing this, I've come to the conclusion that this might be Toady's intent on how workshops are supposed to be set up (which is probably why there are like 20 of each kind of workshop in world gen fortresses).

DT provides a lot of other handy information.  It also allows you to more easily choose dwarfs that are suited for a particular task.  I've never actually used DT myself, but I can see the appeal.  The one thing I find, though, is that for most jobs the traits a dwarf needs is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things -- even the worst dwarf can train up to legendary status in 2-3 years for some jobs.  Even where it is significant (usually you need strength to haul things around efficiently), you can often train up the stats in the military.

I fully admit that when I first started playing DF, I had tons of spreadsheets where I manually kept information (I might as well have been using DT).  As I've continued playing, I've searched for in game ways to give me the information I need.  I recently started keeping a "shopping list" for foods I want to buy to satisfy dwarf preferences (this would be something that would be a great addition to DT if it's not already there).  Otherwise I keep no out of game notes.  In a lot of ways it seems to work better than when I was trying to track every detail.  YMMV.

I guess one other small thing -- I use the manager for virtually every job in the fortress.  I *highly* recommend this approach.  It takes time to learn and a lot of experimentation.  It also means doing some upfront thinking about your workflows and probably how you have your stockpiles set up.  It pays off in spades, though.  Once I have my fortress set up, I can just concentrate on solving problems and not have to micromanage the whole thing.  More than anything, this is the thing I think people should concentrate on if they don't have experience with it.

[Fleeting Frames]

labormanager is newer and considers attributes or what priority you want to give to jobs, so it should in theory work better. In practice, though, you might prefer autolabor for reasons like "I'd like 1 fisherdwarf, but no more than that" or "I'd like to only affect haulers/crafters/<insert personal class>". I recall a post mentioning preference depending on fort population as well.

@mikekchar: Yeah, dwarf preferences are already available and sortable in DT. Though PatrikLundell's script for actually handling the caravan for that might be quicker overall.

The biggest advantages for automatic job management is that it saves you hours of managing dwarf labours.
The biggest disadvantage that I know of is that it, by default, doesn't allow you curating moodable dwarves (or oddball situations i.e. only caring for preference for slabs and basalt in a mason).

[Halnoth]

If so how is it working? Does it do what it is supposed to do efficiently? And can anyone one tell me which is better to use and why?

I started using autolabor and labormanager a while ago. I used to use DT but I found myself getting into a rut using it.

Both auto and labor are nice because you basically don't have to worry about managing jobs and you can focus on other aspects of the game. Both are completely customizable as well so if you find for some reason the program is not doing what you want then all you have to do is tweek the settings a bit.

I tend to use laborm early on because it focuses on completing jobs quickly. Later I switch to autolabor so that some dwarves will specialize.

[Fleeting Frames]

How do you customize them for mooding?

[The Riddled Basement]

I used to use DT, however, autolabor is just so easy its great!

I want not be micromanaging that kind of stuff, if only I could flag specific dwarves to be exempt from autolabor so I can make them fit specific roles. This for me would be the best of both worlds!

[Dorsidwarf]

I tend to use DT more for spying on how my dwarves are doing and seeing what jobs need doing than actually managing the labors, which I tend to do through the game menu

[Sarmatian123]

If so how is it working? Does it do what it is supposed to do efficiently? And can anyone one tell me which is better to use and why?

I don't use any. You risk bugs, plus they are incompatible when new DF version rolls out.

You can customize all Dwarven names and professions. When you dedicate a Dwarf to single or more professions, then it is simple to change it. For example: "woodcutter-1,carpenter-4", there number refers to skill's rank, 0-none, 1-dubbing,...,16-legendary. It keeps things simple, when new dwarves are arriving. You just need to zoom to everyone individually and flip professions on and off on them. You don't need a horde of cheese-makers usually and if they make cheese, then they also better know how to milk too, lol.

Though I wish for a good and stable 3d graphic interface skin, which could run with any version of DF. Doing name to "newb" for new arrivals lets you keep track for possible vampires. Those don't drink alcohol and don't eat. Easy to spot. It takes about 1-2 months to find odd ones. When your favorite carpenter gets snuffed, the guilty list is rather short.

Another thing, not featured, is save files. You need to use file browser and manually make copies of save directory after saving the game. Very useful, when rooting vampire out of your fortress before he/she strikes. Or it can save you from making mistakes, when forgotten beast shows up and you and your dwarves panic, lol.

[thompson]

I use autolabour extensively. Before I switched, I hated migrant waves as they forced me to divert my attention to set up their professions. Now I don't have to do anything. Everything just works. Now if someone could just make a plugin that completely automates trade...

Edit: Also, if you still want to personalise your dwarf professions you can do this by restricting workshops to specific dwarves.

[Pvt. Pirate]

i use autolabour too, because once i reach 50 dorfs, i lose track of their professions anyway even with DT.

the only downside i've seen so far is that rookies start engraving and creating furniture, so you get a lot of low level crafters and a lot of low level furniture etc. and making a godlike meeting hall takes much longer.

[anewaname]

With autolabor, is it possible to control product quality by setting up one workshop with a minimum skill level (set to Accomplished or higher) and then enter the job within that workshop's profile?

[Pvt. Pirate]

With autolabor, is it possible to control product quality by setting up one workshop with a minimum skill level (set to Accomplished or higher) and then enter the job within that workshop's profile?

that still works.
the only downside to me is that it automatically reenables jobs for dorfs you just disabled if it thinks it's necessary.
your only smith might end up hauling stuff all the time and your woodcutter starts a blacksmith carreer instead of cutting those darn elvish passive agressive tree invasion down and the peasant is hauling the woodcutter's axe around the fortress just for fun.

[Dozebôm Lolumzalìs]

With the new “everyone needs to occasionally craft” need mechanic, perhaps you could enable all workshop labors on all dwarves and just use a specific skilled-only workshop for important tasks? Ferex, it doesn’t really matter how long it takes to make spare crutches, or how high-quality they are. So your manager does it and gets Focused. Meanwhile, the bed for your king is done by the Legendary Carpenter.

[Pvt. Pirate]

did that on my current fort and just by setting all workshops to only accept novice and better using autolabor, i got masses of masterwork stuff in my first year.
well, still having atleast some workshops so the uneducated peasants can learn a trade by producing goods that don't require high quality levels can be a good advice - otherwise if your legendary dorfs die by having too much FUN, your fort comes to a full halt.

[thompson]

There is value in having many, many, many novice armourers. Great value.